MasukSerena’s POVThe forest looked endless under the moonlight, quiet, wet, and merciless.I didn’t know how far I’d gone, only that I had to keep moving. Every step was agony. My lungs burned. My vision blurred. But stopping meant remembering, and I couldn’t survive that.Lily’s voice trembled in my mind. Serena, we should rest.“I can’t.” My voice cracked. “Not here. Not anywhere near him.”You’re bleeding again.I pressed a trembling hand to my side. The scent of blood faint but real drifted into the air. I swallowed hard. “It’s just the bond backlash. It’ll fade.”You broke the tie of an Alpha, Serena. The pain doesn’t fade that easily.She was right. The bond rejection had cut deep into bone, into soul. Every few steps, a flash of heat ran down my spine, like claws raking from the inside out. The pup shifted uneasily within me, reacting to my distress.“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tears slipping down my cheeks. “I’ll protect you. I promise.”The forest swayed. The world tilted.Lily whi
Serena’s POVThe room went still.For a heartbeat, I didn’t feel my own pulse. The air was thick with the scent of betrayal, Nathan's musk, Clara’s perfume, and the faint, bitter edge of my own heartbreak.Lily stirred beneath my skin, her growl low and dangerous. Kill him.“No,” I whispered to her, my hand trembling. “We don’t do that.”Then let me. Her voice was pure fury, claws scraping against my control. Let me rip his throat for what he’s done.Nathan stepped toward me, bare chest gleaming in the lamplight, his eyes sharp and commanding like nothing had happened. “Serena ”“Don’t.” My voice shook, but the power beneath it didn’t. “Don’t you dare say my name.”He froze mid step, sensing the shift in me. My wolf was rising, hurt, betrayed, protective. The air pulsed with my energy, faint silver ripples tracing down my arms.Clara clutched the blanket to her chest, eyes wide. “Serena, please, it’s not ”“Not what?” I snapped. “Not you in my bed? Not his scent all over you?”Lily sn
Serena’s POV“I’m leaving, Lucien.”He didn’t even look up at first. His hands were clasped behind his back, shoulders tense, staring at the far wall like he’d been expecting this. “When?”“Tomorrow.”He turned slowly, eyes dark and calm in that dangerous way of his. “You sound sure.”“I am.”His gaze swept over me, steady but unreadable. “You can barely stand for more than five minutes without swaying. And yet you think you can walk out of here and go back to the man who nearly had your child ripped from you?”My chest tightened. “I have to hear it from him, Lucien. I need to know if it was really his idea. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe ”“Maybe you’re still hoping the monster has a heart,” he interrupted, stepping closer. “Don’t lie to yourself, Serena. That kind of hope kills.”“I’m not lying.”“You are.” His voice lowered, soft but sharp. “I see it in your eyes every time you flinch when I mention him.”“Because you talk like you know him.”“I don’t need to know him. I know what he did.”
Serena’s POV “Don’t move,” a voice said.My eyes snapped open. A woman leaned over me, pressing her hand to my shoulder before I could sit up. “You’ll tear your stitches.”“Where’s my baby?” My voice broke.“He’s fine,” she said quickly. “Alive. You both are.”I gripped her wrist. “Where am I?”“Nightshade territory.”The words froze me. I tried to push myself up anyway, but my arms trembled. “No. No, I can’t be here.”“You are,” she said. “And you’re not leaving until the Alpha says so.”“Then bring him here.”“He’s coming.”The door opened. I turned, heart hammering.He was the man from the border, the one who’d caught me before everything went black. The same dark eyes, unreadable; the same quiet strength that made everyone else in the room still.“You’re awake,” he said.I glared at him. “You had no right to bring me here.”“You would have bled out if I hadn’t.”“Then you should’ve let me.”He didn’t react, didn’t even blink. “That’s a poor way to thank someone who saved your lif
Lucien’s POVThe forest was not supposed to stir at that hour. Not with that kind of scent.Blood. Rain. And something elsewild, ancient, feminine.My wolf, Rheon, prowled beneath my skin, restless. She’s not one of ours, he growled. Silvercrest. Nathan’s.“I know,” I muttered, scanning the clearing where I’d found her.She lay crumpled at the base of a pine, half-shifted, trembling, the soft shimmer of fur fading from her skin. The rain slicked her dark hair against her face. Even unconscious, she looked defiantjaw tight, fingers curled into the earth as if she’d fought the storm itself.When I touched her, the jolt nearly made me lose control. Her skin burned with magic untamed, unstable, powerful.Rheon went silent for a breath, then said quietly, She’s Luna.“I can see that.”No, he snapped. I mean she’s the Luna. Nathan’s mate. The one he betrayed.I frowned. “How do you know that?”Rheon’s voice was sharp. Every Alpha in the North knows. Nathan’s Luna disappeared two moons ago
Serena’s POV“It’s positive.”The words left my mouth like a prayer and a curse at once.My hands trembled around the parchment from the healer, the faint rune still glowing gold against the thin paper.Nathan didn’t answer. He stood at the window, back to me, watching the rain fall over the Silvercrest grounds. His reflection in the glass looked carved from stone handsome, hard, distant.I waited for something. A smile. A spark. Anything.“Nathan,” I tried again, softer this time. “We’re having a pup.”He finally turned, his gray eyes unreadable. “You’re certain?”I swallowed a shaky breath. “Yes. Dr. Wynn confirmed it twice.”He said nothing just pressed a hand to his jaw, the way he did when something complicated threatened to ruin his plans.“This is good news,” I whispered, forcing the words through the ache in my chest. “It’s what we wanted.”His eyes flicked to me, cold and distant. “It’s what you wanted.”The quiet that followed pressed against my ribs until it hurt.“What do







