LOGINThe private meadow stretched before us, a swathe of green bordered by ancient trees that provided perfect privacy from the palace windows. I walked beside Lukas, our shoulders nearly touching, as we led the elders along the well-worn path from the palace to the clearing. Behind us, Nico and Dominic followed in silent formation, along with a full contingent of royal guards positioned strategically throughout the forest perimeter. Despite the apparently peaceful setting, the atmosphere remained tense, alert, everyone aware of the threat the Voice still posed.The shifting shack stood at the meadow’s edge, a simple wooden structure we’d erected specifically for privacy during transformations. I ducked inside first, the familiar space smelling of pine and the essential oils we used to keep the clothing racks free of insects. I stripped quickly, hanging my clothes on the hooks mounted on the wall, before stepping back to the doorway.
I watched Amelia as the elders spoke, studying every subtle shift in her expression, each tightening of her jaw, each momentary furrow of her brow. My mate had always been skilled at maintaining a mask of composure, but I’d learned to read the emotions she tried to hide. Right now, beneath her careful control, she was processing something monumental. The revelations about her birth, about Amala Luna Velasco, had clearly shaken her, but there was more. Something she needed to know but couldn’t quite bring herself to ask.Alara noticed too, her violet eyes warming with understanding as she studied my queen. “You want to know what your birth means, my Queen?” she asked, her voice gentle.Amelia gave a small, almost hesitant smile. “I’ve imagined so many scenarios over the years,” she admitted. “So many reasons or events that could have led to me ending up with Marcus and Elena. But just appe
The private dining room glowed in the morning light, casting warm patterns across the polished wood table where Elder Alara and Elder Orion waited. They rose in unison as Lukas and I entered, their eyes widening slightly at the crown nestled in my copper hair. I felt a flutter of nerves beneath my ribs, not from their scrutiny, but from the weight of history about to unfold. Yesterday, I’d been too exhausted to fully process their revelations. Today, with the crown’s gentle pressure against my temples, I couldn’t hide from who I truly was, or from the forces that had been manipulating my destiny since before I could walk.“Alpha Queen Amelia,” Elder Alara greeted, her unusual violet eyes lingering on my crown with unmistakable satisfaction. “The new crown suits you well.”“Alpha King Lukas,” Elder Orion added with a formal nod to Lukas. “Thank yo
I woke to the steady rhythm of Lukas’s heart beneath my ear, his arms wrapped around me like a fortress against the world. Morning light filtered through the curtains, painting our bedroom in soft gold that seemed to push back the shadows of yesterday’s revelations. Amelia Blackwood. Amelia Volkov. Amala Luna Velasco. The names tumbled through my mind like stones in a river, each one catching the light differently, each one a piece of who I was, or who I might become.Lukas’s fingers traced lazy patterns on my bare shoulder, telling me he was awake without words. I tilted my head to find his ice-blue eyes already watching me, corners crinkled with a smile that hadn’t quite reached his lips.“Good morning, my Queen,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to my forehead that lingered like a promise.“Morning,” I replied, my voice still rough with sleep. I shifted slightly, testing my body
I wiped at my eyes with the back of my hand, embarrassed by the tears that had escaped despite my best efforts to contain them. The whipping was ancient history, a pain I’d buried beneath layers of newer memories, yet speaking it aloud in this room, before these elders who claimed to have smuggled me to safety as a child, made it fresh again. I took a steadying breath, forcing myself past that old wound to the question that had been burning inside me since Sera first called me Amala Luna Velasco.“So do you know my actual parents?” I asked, my voice steadier than I felt. “My birth parents?”Orion and Alara exchanged a glance loaded with meaning I couldn’t decipher. Something passed between them, a silent communication born of decades together, perhaps, before Orion turned back to me with gentle eyes.“Really, child, we are your parents.”I froze, the words not making sense at first. “What do you mean, ‘really’?”Alara leaned forward, her unusual violet eyes holdi
I watched Amelia’s face as she absorbed what the elders were telling her, catching every subtle shift in her expression, the widening of her eyes, the tightness around her mouth, the slight furrow between her brows.My mate had always been skilled at maintaining a mask of calm, but I’d learned to read the emotions she tried to hide. Right now, beneath her careful composure, she was reeling. The revelation that she truly was Amala Luna Velasco, the subject of prophecy, smuggled away as a child, had shaken her in ways even the Voice’s mental invasion hadn’t managed to do. I squeezed her hand beneath the table, letting her feel my presence, my support.Amelia’s fingers tightened around mine, her knuckles white with pressure. When she spoke, her voice was steady despite the storm I could feel brewing within her.“So... why did I shift late?” she asked, her emerald eyes fixed on Alara’s violet ones. “If I’m this prophesied copper wolf, why didn’t I shift until I was eighteen?
I broke the kiss reluctantly, my body humming with a strange mix of pain and desire. "I love you too," I whispered against Lukas's lips, feeling his hands tighten protectively around my waist. The fight had left me battered but oddly exhilarated. Athena still prowled close to the surface, her cop
I woke to Lukas's gaze, his ice-blue eyes fixed on my face with an intensity that suggested he'd been watching me for hours. Dawn light filtered through the curtains, painting gold across his features, softening the hard edges of the Alpha King. The bruises from yesterday's fight had faded to yel
The royal arena loomed before us, its ancient stone walls catching the first pink fingers of dawn. Guards swarmed the perimeter, more than I'd ever ordered for any event in my thirty years as Alpha King. Dominic had taken no chances, his security measures exceeding even my own paranoid standards.
I picked at my breakfast, appetite diminished by the knot of tension in my stomach. In five hours, I would meet the wolf who wanted me dead. The private dining room felt unnaturally quiet despite the presence of Lukas beside me and Dominic and Nico seated across from us, their expressions grave a







