Lila didn’t have to look up. She felt him.The air bent when he stepped closer—an invisible shift, like the earth recognized his weight and grieved the arrival. That scent she’d tried to scrub from her skin, tried to forget between Dante’s lips—iron and cedar, sharp power veiled in pain—returned and crashed through her like a damn tidal wave.Alpha Connor. He was once her obsession.Her chest caved in on itself.No. No, no, no. Not yet. Not here. Not now.He was supposed to be gone. Chasing ghosts. Hunting dead trails. But now he was here. And if he was here—then he knew. That meant the illusion was cracking.Panic bled into her bones.Run, her mind screamed.But her limbs didn’t move.Lie, her wolf begged. We can still win this.And Lila... obeyed.She clutched her chest, staggering back a little against the pole with the most pitiful whimper she could muster, and pointed at Connor with a trembling finger.Her voice broke as she gasped. “It’s him. It’s him—he—he kidnapped me!”A beat
Lila’s POVAfter several rounds of bone wrecking sex, we finally decided to put our plan into motion.I needed to look the part to appear more believable, so I sliced across my upper arm slowly, not too deep, but deep enough for the blood to well and trickle. I needed it to look real. Raw. Like I’d been dragged through hell and barely crawled out. Dante knelt beside me, his jaw clenched, watching as I smeared the blood down my shoulder, across my chest, even dabbing a bit at the edge of my lip.“Here.” He handed me the small bottle of ash.I dusted it across my cheeks, rubbing some into my thighs and calves. The torn edges of my dress clung to my skin, the overall effect pitiful—perfectly so.“Mess me up more,” I said, my voice low, breath catching as I bit my bottom lip—right as his gaze darkened, lingering on the curve of my mouth.Something in him snapped deliciously.He stepped closer, fingers sliding into my hair with a firm yank that tipped my head back. The sting of it made my
Connor’s POVIt was a fight I had to win.And I did.Two days. That’s how long I stayed back after showing them the picture—two whole days of hellish back-and-forths with Ryland. And still, the bastard refused to release Ivy. Claimed the photo wasn’t enough. Claimed he didn’t know what I was talking about.But Ivy saw it.She saw herself—well, her twin—standing next to me. Her fingers had hovered over the image like it might burn her, eyes wide, like her entire world shifted a little in that moment. There was curiosity in her. Hunger. A haunted kind of wonder. She wanted to know who she really was.And I needed answers too.What the hell did they do to her? Why did they say she doesn’t speak? What happened in that damn house?Eventually, after I threatened to involve the police—after I made it crystal clear the law wouldn’t be on the side of a man hiding a girl who clearly wasn’t his—Ryland caved. Not because he had a change of heart. Because he couldn’t take the risk.Still, he tried
A low, menacing growl froze every heart in the chamber.“Who dares sit on my chair… while I still draw breath?”The voice wasn’t loud—but it cut. Deep. Ice and fire laced in every syllable.Every single Alpha, councilman, elder, and warrior shot to their feet. The weight of the King’s presence slammed through the hall like a war hammer. Heads bowed instantly. No one dared look up. The sheer force of Leo’s aura drove even the most hardened warriors to lower their gazes in reverence and fear.All… except Boyd Ashton.And Isabella, who trembled like a branch in a storm.Boyd stood leisurely, brushing invisible dust from his tunic. “You were supposed to be locked away,” he muttered, almost to himself. “You’re not meant to be here.”He turned on her, wild with rage and blistering shame, his face red with more than fury.“How dare you lie to me!” Boyd roared, eyes bloodshot and wild as they locked onto her trembling form. “You told me the king was mad—insane—you filthy, scheming bitch! And
Meanwhile back in the realm…The king hadn’t moved in weeks.No improvement. No flicker of lucidity. No escape from the prison of shadows festering inside him.The chamber—once a holding room for ancient weapons—had become a tomb of whispers. Leo lay chained by Shina’s binding light, unmoving, but never quiet. The shadows inside him writhed and fed on his torment, his fury, his grief. Sometimes, they spoke through him. Names. Curses. Promises of vengeance.And sometimes… just silence. The kind that scraped under your skin.No guards stood at his door anymore.The last two were found strangled by their own shadows—expressions of terror twisted across their corpses. Since then, no one dared stand watch. Only Shina dared to enter.Zane sat now at the long table in the Great Hall, surrounded by the regional Alphas and council members—most restless, all suspicious. His shoulders ached. His temples throbbed. He hadn't seen Ruby, his mate, in three nights. Had barely slept in five. Malrik’s
Lila’s POVWe lay tangled minutes later, a heap of sweat and blood and lust, our limbs knotted like vines choking the last breath out of sanity. The makeshift mattress was half off the frame, the air thick with the scent of sex and something deeper—something dangerous. Like ozone before a storm. Like violence held by the throat.His chest rose and fell beneath mine. One hand sprawled lazily over my ass, the other rubbing slow, absent-minded circles across my back, like I wasn’t the reason his world had just cracked open. His skin was hot, flushed, and damp. Still trembling from what we did. What we are.I dragged a finger down his chest, letting my clawed nail skim his nipple, watching it pebble. Then I circled it, soft and slow, until his breath hitched.“Tell me your story,” I murmured, lips brushing his ear. “Why are you really after my sister?”His body stiffened. The hand on my butt flexed. The other dragged over his face like he could scrub the truth off it.“Fuck…” he muttered.