FAZER LOGIN“Kael is one of the few who really gets this weight. He thinks years ahead instead of jumping at the next fight, someone added.
“Speaking of Kael,” I cut in, pulling the talk back on track. “Where is he right now? Is he with you?”
“He’s accurately where he needs to be,” the man answered, keeping his voice low and careful. “Learning something that will change how both of you look at
Kael’s voice stayed flat.“She wants you to abdicate as Luna. Step down. Submit yourself to her for… judgment.”“Judgment,” I repeated.“Her word, not mine.” He took one step closer. The familiar scent of pine and smoke followed him, wrapping around me like it always did. “She says you destroyed centuries of her work. That you’re responsible for countless deaths and the instability tearing through wolf-kind. She wants you to answer for your crimes against the future.”“By letting her kill me,” I finished.“She didn’t say the word ‘kill.’ But yeah. That’s what she means.”I let the silence sit for a second.Seraphine wanted me to trade my life for the kingdom’s safety. My death for peace.“And if I refuse?”Kael’s jaw tightened. “Then she comes at us with everything she’s got. She’s be
I could still turn back.Lock the door again.Return to bed and let the gray reclaim me.I need you to be there when I get back.Alaric’s voice—real or imagined—whispers through my memory.I unlock the door.Turn the handle.Step out into the corridor.Erica is there.Of course she is.Slumped against the wall across from my door, asleep while sitting up.Her face is swollen from crying.Dark circles shadow her eyes.My daughter.Who lost her sight saving everyone.Who has been sitting outside my door for three days, begging me to acknowledge she exists.Guilt crashes through me.I ha
The blanket does not smell like him anymore.I know this in my head—three days of holding it, breathing against the fabric, my scent slowly replacing his. Milk and honey fading into something else.Something that is not my son.But I keep it pressed to my face anyway.It is all I have left.Outside my door, Erica is crying again.She has been there for hours. Maybe days.Time moves strangely in this room, pooling in corners like water, refusing to flow properly.“Mom, please,” her voice cracks through the wood. Young. So young. My daughter is sixteen, and she sounds like a child begging for comfort I cannot give. “Mom, just say something. Anything. I need to know you are alive in there.”I am alive.Technically.My heart beats. My lungs draw air. Blood moves through veins, sustaining biological processes that seem increasingly pointless.But alive?No.I think I died in the Black Real
“There,” Giga pointed ahead. “I see it.”The refuge.Stone walls built into the side of a rocky outcrop, just as I remembered. Light glowed from within—warm, real light that cut through the Black Realm’s constant gloom.I did not wait for the others.I urged my horse faster, ignoring Kael’s shout to slow down.The curse pulled harder, sensing my desperation, but I did not care.Could not care about anything except reaching that light.Reaching Alaric.I dismounted before my horse fully stopped, stumbling on legs that had gone half-numb from the curse’s touch. The refuge door stood open—just a crack, as if someone had left rushing.“Alaric?” I called, pushing through the door. “Alaric, it is Mom! I am her
Week three started with something that felt almost like hope.Not the bright, burning hope I had before the war wore us all down.This was quieter. More fragile.It came from watching four hundred and thirty-seven wolves choose to stay when they could have run.From seeing them train together, eat together, and live together, without that tired drag at every step, like they were hauling the weight of their doubts.They were trying.That had to mean something.At dawn, I stood at the training field, watching Thorne run the defensive drills.The air still carried winter’s bite, cold enough to see your breath.My fingers, gripping the wooden rail, were numb. But I did not move.Every minute I stood here, watching the pack get ready for a fight that might kill them all, was a minute I was not thinking about the other timeline.The one where, in seven days, I would see my son again.“You are going to freeze out here.
“I’m sure.”My voice stayed steady. Controlled.“I need some time alone.”“Alright. But Sophia, if you need to talk, I’m here.”“I know. Thank you.”Her footsteps faded down the hall.I waited until the sound disappeared completely, then let my head fall into my hands.Four more weeks.I could do this. I had to. For Alaric. For the kingdom. For every wolf who had chosen to stay and fight.I just was not sure what it would cost me.That night I lay beside Kael and stared at the ceiling.“You are not sleeping,” he said quietly.“Neither are you.”“I am worried about you.” He rolled onto his side
The morning after my talk with Erica dawned cold and brittle. While Helena and I were elbow-deep in medical supply inventories, trying to stretch our reserves to cover the influx of Silverpine wolves and the impending raid casualties, a young scout burst into the tent, her chest heaving.&ld
I stood in the chaotic heart of camp, surrounded by problems with no easy solutions. The weight of command felt like a physical yoke. “One thing at a time,” I muttered to myself, then raised my voice. “Helena, coordinate with Silverpine’s h
The camp stretched out below us—thousands of wolves sleeping in tents and under makeshift shelters. They trusted us to keep them safe. They believed in the peace we’d promised.And somewhere among them, more traitors waited.“Three days,” I said, the memory sharp in my mind. “Derek said three days
The council tent was packed. Twelve Alphas, their Betas, and key advisors—all crammed into a space meant for half. The air was thick with tension and the scent of wolves forced into close quarters.I took my seat at the head of the table, Kael beside me. Some Alphas didn’t bother hiding their displ







