LOGINScarlet’s POVJoel’s question stayed in the air long after his words stopped.Who are you going to choose?I didn't answer him. I couldn't. Looking into his dark, tired eyes, my heart pulled in two completely different directions.Part of me remembered Damien’s face covered in tears over Kaeler’s cot—the mate who had broken iron chains and dragged his bleeding body through miles of dirt just to see his pups. And another part of me remembered Joel’s steady hand holding mine on the birthing bed, whispering that I wouldn't die while the doctors soaked the sheets in blood."Sasha," I said, my voice shaking as I turned my back on Joel. "Wrap the children tightly in wool. We're moving them up to the stone quarters on the third level. The vault smells too much of death.""Yes, Luna," Sasha whispered, scrambling to pick up Kaelia.Joel let out a slow, quiet breath behind me. He didn't press the matter. He reached down with his uninjured arm, lifted Kaeler's wooden cot with surprising balance,
Scarlet’s POVThe vault was dead quiet except for Damien’s muffled sobs into Kaeler’s blanket.I stood right behind him, my hand hovering over his broad, shaking back. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck, pull him against my chest, and tell him the nightmare was over. But every time I moved, the silver mark on my collarbone pulsed hot, reminding me that the nightmare hadn't ended—it had just changed shape.Damien slowly lifted his head from the crib. He gently pulled his finger free from Kaeler’s tiny grip, tucking the wool blanket tight around the boy's chest before glancing over at Kaelor and Kaelia. His dark eyes were red-rimmed, wet with tears, but the wild, crazed look he had carried since walking through the courtyard gates was gone.He pushed himself up to his feet, groaning as his ribs protested. He wiped his face with the back of his dirty forearm, smearing soot into his beard, and turned around to face me."Scarlet," he said, his voice quiet, thick with emotion."Damien
Scarlet’s POV"Damien, no!" I screamed, lunging to pull him away.I thought his rage had won. I thought he had completely lost his mind and was ripping Joel's throat out while the man lay helpless on the straw.Before my fingers could even touch his shoulders, Damien's massive hand shot up, shoving me backward. I stumbled, hitting my hip against the wooden edge of the cradle, crying out as the blunt pain flared through my lower body."Stay back, Scarlet!" Damien growled through clenched teeth, his mouth still buried deep in the rotting meat of Joel's shoulder.Joel’s body violently seized. His back arched off the floorboards, a strangled, wet scream tearing out of his gray lips as Damien’s fangs dug deeper. His fists clenched into the bloody straw, veins bulging on his pale forehead until they looked ready to burst.Damien wasn't tearing. He was drinking.He sucked the black, foul-smelling witch poison straight out of the wound, his throat bobbing in hard, rhythmic gulps. The sickly p
Scarlet’s POVThe stone floor split right down the middle with a loud crash. I watched my blood sink deep into the ground. Dust flew everywhere, thick and black, stinging my eyes and making me cough. Sasha screamed from inside the nursery, holding the crying babies tight against her chest. I threw the witch hard against the wall. She slid down to the ground, holding her neck, gasping for air while her burned clothes smoked.I didn't care about her anymore. I turned and stared at the dark hole in the floor.A huge, bloody hand shot out of the rubble, grabbing the broken edge of the stone.The fingernails were gone, replaced by thick, black wolf claws covered in dried dirt and fresh blood. Then another hand reached up, pulling hard. The rock groaned under the weight.A man hauled himself up into the dim light of the vault.It was Damien. My blood must have done something I know nothing about. But right now, I feel so weak. He looked like he had just climbed out of a grave. His bare ch
Scarlet’s POVThe purple lightning split the damp vault air, moving so fast it smelled of burnt copper before it even hit.My Instinct took over. My wolf was still too exhausted to lend me her strength, but the dark witch magic boiling in my veins did not need a beast.I dropped low, skidding across the wet limestone floor. The lightning slammed into the stone wall right behind my head, blowing out a shower of sharp granite fragments that stung my bare shoulders.Before the first warlock could conjure a second volley, I surged upward.The heat from my daggers radiated against my knuckles, the blue flames going wild. I didn't fight like an elegant court lady, and I didn't fight like a trained swordsman. I fought like a feral mother protecing her kids.I rammed the right dagger straight up through the opening beneath the warlock’s steel gorget.The white-hot silver sliced through flesh and gristle like warm lard. The blue fire followed the blade, sinking deep into his throat, boiling hi
Scarlet’s POVThe stone floor felt like ice beneath my knees, but the heat coming off Joel’s skin was hot enough to scorch wood."Stay with me," I ordered, my voice trembling as I hauled his good arm over my shoulder, dragging his dead weight toward the dry straw pallet. "Joel! Look at me! Don't you dare close your eyes!"He choked out a wet cough, spattering dark, foul-smelling blood over the front of my silk gown. The wound running from his ear down into his shoulder wasn't a clean sword cut; it was rotting from the inside out. Black veins crawled across his neck like spiderwebs, pulsing with the sickly purple glow of something that was similar to witch-craft."The abyss..." Joel murmured, his eyelids fluttering, his body shivering violently against mine. "The ground split like dry wood, Scarlet. He went down swinging his broadsword... taking three of their high lords with him. He was screaming your name until the rock closed shut.""Be quiet," I hissed, tears spilling fast down my
Damien’s POVIt had been days since she left, and still, I’d heard nothing.Not another letter. Not even a reassurance that she was going to really come back—I’m left with just memories of her. My head spun as I wrestled with what to do next. That was when the guards’ voices boomed from the palace
Damien’s POVI don’t know if it was instinct, but something deep inside me whispered that something was wrong.Even though she tried so hard to conceal it, everything was brought to light tonight. All through the night, as I took Scarlet again and again, she kept calling my name—and another.A nam
Scarlet’s POVI blinked, forcing myself back into the moment, steadying my breath as I looked up at Damien.He was still watching me, the soldiers standing rigidly behind him, guiding us forward.None of it was real.None of it had ever been real.I had only been standing there—watching Joel being
Scarlet's POV Just as I slipped from the bed, my eyes lingered on Damien. He looked so peaceful, so fragile—that my chest tightened. I released a quiet sigh and tiptoed out of the room. Quickly, I wrapped my hair into a bun and grabbed a thick cloak from the wardrobe before leaving.“Luna—”“Shh.”







