LOGINThe crack comes again.This time, it is louder.It travels through the sealed gate like a scream trapped beneath stone.I stare at it, unable to breathe.My wolf is still whispering inside my head.The gate did not close.It chose a new door.My hand presses against my stomach.The baby moves.A sharp kick.Then another.Kael notices."What is it?""I don't know."His expression hardens."Aria.""I said I don't know."The black stone behind us cracks again.A thin line of golden light appears across its surface.Selene's face drains of color."Everyone move away from the gate."Elias grabs her arm."Why?""Because that isn't the Hollow King trying to come out."I turn toward her."Then what is it?"Selene looks at my stomach."It's the heir."My heart stops."What?""The child is reacting to the gate."Kael steps closer."Can the gate reach the baby?"Selene shakes her head."Not yet.""Not yet?""Kael," I say quietly.He looks at me."Get Aria inside Bloodmoon."Marcus laughs.We all
The creature steps through the gate.Everything stops.For one heartbeat, there is no screaming.No steel.No wolves.No wind.Only the sound of something ancient dragging its claws across the stone.Then it emerges.It is enormous.Its body is covered in black armor that looks grown rather than forged. Long horns curve from its skull, and its eyes burn with a pale, unnatural light.The air around it smells like ash and death.My wolf trembles.Not from fear.Recognition.Hollow King.The creature looks at me.Then at my stomach.And smiles."At last."Its voice doesn't come from its mouth.It comes from everywhere.The ground.The sky.My bones."The Lost Queen."Kael steps in front of me."You're not touching her."The Hollow King tilts its head."First Alpha."Kael's black eyes narrow."Don't call me that.""You carry his blood.""I carry my own."The creature laughs."You still believe you are separate from him?"Kael's hand closes around his sword."I don't care what I carry."He
The gate opens wider.A sound comes from inside it.Not a growl.Not a roar.A breath.Slow.Ancient.Something is breathing behind the darkness.My entire body goes cold.Kael stands beside me, but he doesn't look like the man I know anymore.His eyes are completely black.The black mark on his chest pulses beneath his torn shirt, spreading like ink beneath his skin.I stare at him."Kael?"His head turns toward me.For one terrifying second, I don't recognize the look in his eyes.Then his hand finds mine.His fingers tighten around mine."Aria."His voice is still his.Rough.Low.But underneath it, something else speaks.Something ancient.Something that makes every wolf around us lower its head.The First Alpha.The First King.Whatever he is, he has awakened inside Kael.The gate trembles.Marcus laughs."Finally."I turn toward him.He stands near the black opening, blood running from the corner of his mouth, his silver threads still attached to the gate."You see it now?" Marc
“FIRST SON.”The words echo through the battlefield.Kael freezes.I feel it through our bond before I see it on his face.Shock.Fear.Recognition.His wolf goes completely still inside him.“What did it call me?” he whispers.The black gate trembles.FIRST SON.This time the voice is louder.Kael takes one step backward.“No.”I reach for his hand.He doesn't notice.His eyes remain fixed on the darkness beyond the gate.“No,” he repeats.Marcus laughs.It is a broken, desperate sound.“You finally understand.”Kael turns on him.“Understand what?”Marcus's smile widens.“Who your father really was.”Kael's face hardens.“You killed him.”“Yes.”“And now you're going to tell me there was more?”“There was always more.”Kael raises his sword.“Talk.”Marcus glances toward the gate.“You're not the son of an ordinary Alpha.”“I know what my bloodline is.”“No.”Marcus shakes his head.“You know what they wanted you to believe.”The words hang in the air.I look at Elias.He has gone p
The black gate rises from the earth.I can barely breathe.Stone tears through the battlefield, cracking the ground beneath our feet as ancient symbols burn across its surface.Kael grabs my arm.“Aria, move.”I don't.I can't.I'm staring at the gate.At the symbol carved into its center.A crescent wrapped around a golden wolf.My mother's necklace.The same symbol.The same one Selene showed me.The same one that has followed me since childhood.Marcus laughs.“You finally recognize it.”I turn toward him.“What is that?”“The beginning.”His eyes shine with triumph.“The place your mother spent her entire life hiding from me.”Selene shakes her head.“Don't believe him.”Marcus tightens his grip on her.“She knows.”“Marcus,” Kael growls. “Let her go.”“Soon.”The gate groans.A wave of darkness rolls across the battlefield.Every wolf freezes.Even Kael's wolf retreats for a heartbeat.My unborn child kicks.Hard.I gasp and press both hands against my stomach.Gold light leaks b
The horn sounds before dawn.One long, brutal note cuts through Bloodmoon.I jolt awake.For one second, I don't know where I am.Then I feel the cold stone beneath my palm.The blood.The distant screams.Kael.I push myself upright.My hand instinctively moves to my stomach.The baby moves beneath my palm.Alive.Safe.For now.The door bursts open.Vera stands there, breathing hard, her sword already in her hand.“Aria!”“What happened?”“The eastern scouts are back.”Her face tells me everything.“They're here,” I whisper.Vera nods.“Silver Crescent?”“Not only them.”My blood turns cold.“How many?”“We don't know.”A second horn sounds.Closer.Kael appears behind Vera.His shoulder is wrapped in fresh bandages, blood already seeping through them.My chest tightens.“You shouldn't be fighting.”He gives me a look.“Neither should you.”“I'm pregnant.”“And I'm wounded.”“That isn't the same thing.”“No.” His jaw tightens. “It's worse. Because if you fall, I'll lose more than my
Kael came back three days later.I felt him before I saw him. The bond — the thing he kept calling a bond — pulsed in my chest like a second heartbeat. Warm. Demanding. Pulling me toward the front door.I was in the kitchen. Eating bread I didn't taste. Drinking tea that had gone cold an hour ago.
The kiss followed me to bed.Not Kael. Just the memory. Just the way his mouth felt against mine. Just the sound he made when I didn't push him away.I lay on the left side of his bed. The same spot as last night. The same clothes. The same bite mark throbbing on my neck.Kael wasn't here.He'd dis
The border looked like any other tree line.Snow-covered pines. Frozen ground. Grey sky pressing down like a ceiling. But I could feel the tension in the air — the way the wolves on both sides stood too still, watched too closely, breathed too carefully.Kael stood beside me. His shoulder brushed m
The pack stared at me like I was already dead.I felt their eyes the moment I walked into the dining hall. Dozens of wolves. All of them Bloodmoon. All of them hungry for something I couldn't give them.A blonde woman near the window whispered to her friend. The friend laughed. A man by the fire pl