LOGINEric's POV The scent hit me before we even crossed the ridge. Old smoke. Dried blood. And something else — something foul. Anton moved beside me quietly, scanning the snow-covered terrain below. The tracks were subtle, but to a trained eye, impossible to miss. It wasn't scattered. Nor panicked. Directed. “They’re moving in the same pattern,” Anton murmured. I nodded. The rogues we had fought days ago hadn’t retreated randomly. They had withdrawn in calculated intervals .... leaving minimal traces, but not enough to disappear completely. Which meant one thing. They didn’t want to be found. But they also weren’t trying very hard to hide. That alone told me this wasn’t simple aggression. It was strategy. We followed the trail down into a shallow valley bordered by rocks and frozen brush. There ... partially concealed beneath snow .... sat the remains of a camp. Anton crouched first. I joined him. The fire pit was still visible. Cold. But recent. Ash patterns to
Third Person's POV The room was carved deep beneath the earth. No windows. No visible entrances. Only stone. Only silence. At the center of the chamber burned a single flame suspended in a black iron bowl. The fire did not flicker naturally ...... it moved as if responding to unseen air currents, bending gently toward the shadows. John Snow knelt on the stone floor. His posture was rigid. Across from him stood a man wrapped in darkness. Not because the room demanded it. Because he preferred it. The hood he wore obscured his face completely. Even the flame’s light refused to expose him. Shadows clung to his shoulders like a second cloak. He did not sit. He did not pace. He simply observed. The silence stretched for several seconds before he spoke. His voice was calm ..... controlled ..... almost conversational. “Is she awakening?” John Snow kept his gaze lowered. “Yes.” The word echoed softly in the chamber. The shadowed figure did not rea
Cora's POV The fire crackled softly in the hearth, casting golden light across the royal study. Outside the tall windows, snow fell in steady silence, turning Frostbite into a world of white and stillness. Inside, however, the air felt heavier ..... not with cold, but with history. My mother had asked me to meet her alone. She sat across from me at the long oak table, hands folded calmly in front of her. The room smelled faintly of parchment, wood smoke, and the lavender oil she always used. Her presence was steady .... but her eyes carried something thoughtful tonight. “You’ve been feeling the pressure,” she began gently. I didn’t deny it. “Power changes everything,” I said quietly. “It changes how others see you. How they move around you.” She nodded once. “Yes. And it changes who comes forward.” That made me pause. She leaned back slightly, studying me the way she had for the past month — assessing, but not judging. “There is something in our history you
Eric's POV The broken iron target was still on my mind hours later. Not because it had shattered. But because of how it had shattered. I had seen strength before. Alpha strength. War strength. Rage-fueled power. But what I felt in that training circle wasn’t any of those. It was controlled. Focused. Intentional. Cora wasn’t just growing stronger. She was evolving. And that meant the people hunting her would eventually notice. Which meant we couldn’t afford to be reactive anymore. We had to be ahead. Anton met me in the strategy room just before midday. Maps were already spread across the table again. This time with fresh markings. “We tracked the rogue retreat from last night,” he said without preamble. “Good.” “They didn’t scatter.” That caught my attention immediately. “What do you mean?” Anton tapped the map. “They regrouped two miles north of the forest line. Then split into smaller units.” “Purpose?” “Unknown.” I leaned o
Cora's POV The morning after the attack felt heavier than the snow outside. Frostbite was repairing fences, tending to injured wolves, and reinforcing patrol lines. The entire pack moved with quiet urgency. I stood in the training circle again, the same stone arena where my mother had trained me yesterday. The air was crisp, biting against my skin. My breath formed faint clouds in front of me. My mother stood across from me, hands clasped behind her back. No weapon today. “This will be different,” she said calmly. I nodded. “I’m ready.” She studied me carefully. “Are you?” That question lingered. Because ever since yesterday’s training session, something inside me had felt… different. Restless. Alive. Almost impatient. “Yes,” I answered. She walked toward the edge of the stone circle and placed a small iron target on a wooden stand. “Focus on it.” I frowned slightly. “That’s it?” “For now.” I turned to face the target. It was simple. Circ
Eric's POV The alarm horn split through the night like a blade. One long blast. Then another. My eyes opened instantly. Cora stirred beside me in the dark room. “What is it?” she whispered, already sitting up. “Stay here,” I said immediately, throwing the blanket aside. Another horn sounded outside. Attack. I was out of the bed and moving before the second echo faded. By the time I reached the balcony, wolves were already flooding into the courtyard below. Torches flared to life along the walls. Guards took positions with practiced precision. Anton ran toward me from the main hall. “Northern fence breach,” he called. “Smaller group this time.” My jaw tightened. “How many?” “Ten to fifteen at most.” Not a full assault. A strike. I turned toward the forest. They were learning. Testing. Improving. “Evacuate civilians to the inner structures,” I ordered immediately. Anton nodded and ran off to relay commands. I leapt down from the balcony and landed in the snow b
Cora's POV Happiness doesn’t arrive all at once. It doesn’t crash into you like pain does, loud and merciless. It settles instead, quiet, careful, almost shy. Like it’s afraid you’ll send it away if it makes too much noise. I wake up smiling before I realize I’m doing it. Sunlight spills t
Eric's POV The council hall hummed with the low murmur of wolves discussing strategy, but my attention was elsewhere. I couldn’t shake the tension radiating between the Lincoln pack’s Alpha son and Cora. Even from across the room, I could feel it—like a storm barely contained, dangerous and unpre
Cain's POV I didn’t expect to see her. Not here. Not now. Not like this. I had assumed she was still hiding somewhere in the forest, nursing the wounds of my rejection, still broken, still unsure of herself. But there she was, walking along Frostbite’s border with a girl I didn’t recognize a
Cora's POV Morning comes quietly in Frostbite. The air is crisp, sharp with pine and earth, and the training grounds are still damp with dew when Eric calls a break. My muscles ache in the good way now, the earned way. Sweat slicks my skin, my heart pounding steady and strong in my chest. I neve







