LOGINChapter 92: The Trap in the Study ROWAN’S POV Sunlight crept through the shutters and warmed the new sheets tangled around my legs. I woke slowly, expecting to feel Anya’s weight against my chest or her hair tickling my throat. Instead the bed stayed empty on her side. I opened my eyes and found her sitting in the chair by the window with her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped around them. She stared out at the courtyard below like the world had paused and she was the only thing still moving inside it.I sat up fast so fast the mattress dipped under me. “Anya?”She blinked and turned her head. For half a heartbeat she looked startled, like she hadn’t heard me come awake. Then she flashed a small, and tight smile, the kind that never reached her eyes.I swung my legs off the bed and crossed the room barefoot. When I reached her I rested one hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “You’re up early. What’s going on?”She leaned her cheek against my knuckles for a second before she
Chapter 91: Shadows on ParchmentANYA’S POV Moonlight slipped through the half-open shutters and painted pale stripes across the new mattress Rowan had dragged in earlier this morning. The old one, along with every pillow, blanket, and scrap of linen Cassandra had ever touched, sat in a charred heap outside the pack house window. He had set it ablaze himself right after we moved back in, flames licking high while he watched with that quiet, satisfied look he got whenever he destroyed something that had hurt me. Now the room smelled of fresh cedar and smoke instead of her perfume. I loved it.I lay on my side with my head propped on one hand and watched him stretch out beside me. He wore nothing but loose sleep pants that rode low on his hips. The firelight from the hearth caught the ridges of muscle along his stomach and the faint scars that mapped his skin like old stories. He caught me staring and raised one brow.“What?” he asked, his voice low and rough from the day.I reached ou
Chapter 90: The Blade In The PackDAMIEN’S POV The war room felt smaller than usual with the morning sun slicing through the tail narrow windows and throwing long sharp shadows across the scarred oak table. Dust motes drifted in the light like tiny sparks waiting to catch. I paced the length of the room with my boots striking the flagstones hard enough to echo off the stone walls. I’d sent a trusted scout, Thorne to the Veil to find Anya, there was no way I would sit here and wait for Cassandra’s plan to start making shape. But I was disappointed to hear that she’d left the Veil. My first suspicion was Crescent Moon Pack, but I wasn’t sure enough until I confirmed it. I stopped at the head of the table and planted both palms flat on the map of Crescent Moon Pack. Red ink slashed across the gates and circled the pack house. The eastern ridge bore a black X where her family home still stood like a taunt. My knuckles whitened and my nails bit into the parchment. I could feel Maximus p
Chapter 89: The Pond and the Lie ANYA’S POV Morning light filtered through the pines and turned the pond into a sheet of molten gold. I sat on the wooden bench with my knees drawn up and my arms wrapped around them, staring at the water while tiny ripples spread from the center where a fish had jumped. The air smelled clean and sharp with dew and pine needles. I hadn’t slept more than an hour after Rowan finally drifted off beside me. My mind kept circling back to the Codex Lunaris hidden under the bed, to my name circled three times in my mother’s ink, to the weight of everything I still didn’t know how to carry.Just then I heard footsteps crunching the gravel path behind me. I didn’t turn because I already knew the rhythm of his walk.Rowan’s arms slid around my shoulders from behind. He pressed his chest to my back and rested his chin on top of my head. His warmth soaked through my thin sweater and chased some of the chill away.“What are you doing out here alone, little star?”
Chapter 88: The Moon in Ink ANYA’S POVRowan’s heartbeat thumped steady under my cheek while sweat cooled on our skin. Moonlight still spilled across the tangled sheets and painted pale stripes over his shoulder. I traced the scar that curved along his collarbone with one fingertip and felt him shiver at the touch. His arm tightened around my waist, keeping me draped half across his chest. Neither of us spoke for a long stretch. The room smelled of sex, lavender soap, and the faint dust that still clung to the corners.I lifted my head just enough to look at him. His gold eyes watched me back, soft, and unguarded, the way they only ever got when no one else could see. My throat tightened.“I know you’re curious why I insisted on coming back here,” I said quietly. “Well, I came back for something.” He didn’t flinch or push. He simply waited as his thumb stroked slow circles on my lower back.I swallowed once and pushed up on one elbow. “When I was little my mother had this book. Thic
Chapter 87: Midnight HomecomingROWAN’S POV Moonlight sliced through the narrow window of my room and painted silver bars across the floor. I lay on my back with one arm thrown over my eyes and stared at nothing. The bed felt too large and too empty. I hadn’t seen Anya since we came through the gates that morning. She had slipped away while I dealt with elders and reports and the endless questions about her return. I let her go because she needed space. I sat up and scrubbed both hands over my face. The clock on the wall showed half past two. That was enough time to let her stay by herself. I swung my legs off the mattress, pulled on a shirt, and walked to the door. The corridor outside stayed dark and silent. I moved down it with bare feet silent on the rug and stopped at Lior’s room. I knocked softly.The door opened almost immediately. Lior stood there shirtless, his hair mussed, his eyes sharp despite the hour.“Alpha Rowan.” “Anya,” I said without preamble. “Where is she?”Lio
Chapter 36: A Queen in Waiting CASSANDRA’S POV I walked into the council chamber with my red dress clinging to every curve and my heels striking the stone like gunshots. The elders sat around the long oak table faces with their faces lined with worry and their hands fidgeting over papers and m
Chapter 35: The Cold Between Us ANYA’S POV I stood outside Damien’s door from the moment the first bird sang until the sun climbed high enough to burn the mist off the training fields. My feet went numb against the cold stone and my back ached from leaning on the wall but I didn’t move. Every tim
Chapter 37: The Gift DAMIEN’S POV I never slept a wink all night. I spent my entire night in the study as I paced from one point to another thinking about my next move. The study stayed dark around me with the broken glasses I’d created in my anger glittering on the floor like stars fallen from
Chapter 34: Broken Crown DAMIEN’S POV Her words hit me harder than any blade ever could:“I love you, Damien, I really do. But my heart still beats for him. I can’t help it.”I stood there in that doorway staring at her tear-streaked face and felt something inside me crack wide open. The room til







