LOGINLUCIAN Burn the bridges. It was a phrase I’d forever carry with me so long as I still had fire burning through my veins.The first howl shattered the night like a blade through glass. It rose from the front lines, raw, furious and unrestrained. It was answered immediately by dozens more.The fight with nukes and guns were long gone now. Now, we’d go back to primal instinct. Tristan wanted blood, I’d give him every bit of that. The sound of more howls rolled across the forest, echoing through the trees and vibrating through bone and blood alike. It was the sound of centuries of restraint finally breaking, of old wounds torn fresh and bleeding.The war was coming to an end. and only one side would be the victor.I stood at the edge of Dark Moon territory, the air heavy with tension and an armour strapped tight across my chest. Torches burned low, casting flickering shadows over the warriors assembled behind me.Their eyes glowed in the darkness. Gold, brown, silver, blue and the likes
VIOLET“Stop!”I woke up with a scream tearing though my throat. Or at least, I thought I did.What else was the appropriate reaction to having your enemy keeping you bound, while subjecting you to all sorts of psychological torture?My throat burned, chest heaving as I jolted upright. Only to find that no sound came out. The panic hit me immediately, sharp and suffocating, as I clawed at my own throat, fingers trembling.It hurt. It hurt so bad. I needed those chains off. I couldn’t take anymore. Please. No more. No more of all this pain.Nothing.No restraints this time. There were no chains or ropes holding me down anymore.That realization came slowly, almost painfully. My wrists were free. My ankles too. I was lying on a narrow bed, thin mattress beneath me, rough sheets scratching against my skin. The stone from before was gone.My gaze dropped to the bruises around my wrists. My neck was lined with them too. He’d been less than patient the last tie.The room was dim. The cell w
LUCIANYou don’t mean that.Everything that could have gone wrong had utterly gone wrong. I’d known something was wrong the moment the bond went quiet.At least it had been a bit faint before. But now it was muted in a way that felt unnatural. It was too faint, too unsteady, and all sorts of wrong.All this time we’d been together, all the time we’d spent together, that bond had been a constant presence. Almost like a golden thread of warmth connecting us even when distance separated our bodies.I'd grown so accustomed to feeling her that her absence felt like losing a sense. Like going blind.I rose from my desk so abruptly the chair scraped hard against the stone floor. The room felt suddenly too small, the air too choked, and pressing in from all sides. My wolf stirred beneath my skin, restless and agitated as if it was sensing something I hadn't yet put into words.I reached inward instinctively, searching for her presence the way I had done a thousand times since the bond had for
VIOLETI woke up to darkness.Not the soft kind that came with sleep, but the suffocating, absolute kind that pressed against my eyes and made it hard to breathe.For a moment, I didn't remember where I was, or even who I was. Only that my body felt wrong. Heavy. Aching. Cold in places that shouldn't have been cold.My wrists throbbed first. Then, my head followed right after. I inhaled sharply and regretted it immediately as pain flared behind my eyes. I groaned and tried to move, only to be met with resistance.The chains cut into my skin when I shifted, anchoring my arms to something solid beneath me.Stone. I was chained to a stone. The memory crashed back in jagged and unfitting pieces. First it was the forest. And then that damn needle.Tristan’s smile flashed in my head. My heart slammed against my ribs as I forced my eyes open.I was lying on a narrow cot, my wrists bound to iron rings set into the stone on either side of me. My ankles were restrained as well, keeping me flat
LUCIANThere’s a certain saying that’s always stuck in my mind. I liked to interpret my own way. Before shit actually hits the fan, you notice the stink little by little.The first thing that went wrong was how quiet the east wing felt.Dark Moon was never silent. Not truly. Even in the dead of night, the pack breathed. Guards rotated. Doors opened and shut. Wolves moved through corridors with the low, constant murmur of shared territory.But as I walked toward our room, something felt oddly hollow. The hairs along the back of my neck rose.I slowed, my steps instinctively cautious and my senses stretching outward. The corridor lay completely empty. There were no scent trails across the threshold that lead to her room. No recent movement, no familiar presence.I stopped outside the door. It was open. That alone was very wrong. Violet never slept with the door open. Not since the first night she'd we’d shared a room. According to her, it made her feel exposed and vulnerable. I remembe
VIOLETI came back to myself slowly.Not all at once. It never happened all at once. It came in fragments that didn't make sense. Sound came first. A low hum, like sound of blood rushing through my ears. Then cold. Stone beneath my back. Something tight around my wrists.I tried to move. Something I probably shouldn’t have done. The pain hit sharply, and my breath caught in my throat.“What the…?”I groaned softly, my head pounding as I forced my eyes open. Light stabbed into my vision, harsh and unforgiving, and I squeezed my eyes shut again immediately. My body felt wrong. All sorts of wrong. It felt heavy and sluggish, like it wasn't entirely mine anymore.A sedative.The thought came accompanied with a stab of dread, and my heartbeat instantly quickened. I forced myself to breathe slowly, even as panic tried to claw its way up my throat. When I opened my eyes again, I did it gradually, letting the blur resolve inch by inch.A stone ceiling. This wasn’t Dark Moon's. The realization
VIOLETSince when did Lucian become a gentleman? So…soft. Or was I tweaking? It wouldn’t be far off to assume this was some fever dream.And yet when he’d kissed the back of my hand, I’d felt something jolt through my body. It could just be my nerves. I had a tendency to read too hard into things a
TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter deals with sensitive topics, including mental health struggles, suicidal ideation and emotional crisisVIOLET“Do you understand how many we’d need?”“What?” I raised my head to look at Reese.She frowned, eyes raking all over me suspiciously. “You’ve been zoning out m
VIOLET“You’re not actually serious, are you?”Except, there was nothing about Reese’s expression that gave off the slightest impression that maybe she didn’t mean what she was saying. She had meant every single word of it.“Come on, just think about it,” She insisted. “We’ve spent so much time foc
VIOLET“Eh?”Lucian blinked. “Got something in your ears?”“I heard you the first time.” I grumbled. “What do you want to show me?”He gave me a blank stare for a couple of seconds before rolling his eyes. “Would you pipe down first?”I folded my arms, staring me down in hopes of whatever he had in







