The man’s presence filled the room like thunder.
Ava stood frozen, her heart hammering as she stared at the stranger who had burst into her home without warning, without invitation, and somehow without fear. “Who the hell are you?” she demanded, trying to keep her voice steady despite the adrenaline roaring through her veins. “I already told you,” he said calmly. “Xander Vale. Headmaster of Halewyn Academy. Your legal guardian, as of this morning.” Clara stepped between them, protective despite her shaking hands. “You had no right to come here like this.” “I had every right,” Xander replied, pulling a sealed scroll from the inside of his coat. “This decree was signed under the Northern Clan Accord. The Moon-Blessed has manifested. She belongs to the Trials now.” Ava’s breath caught. “Excuse me? I don’t belong to anyone.” He raised a brow at her. “You will. If you survive.” The fire behind his silver eyes wasn’t hostile. It wasn’t even angry. It was colder than that—dispassionate, practiced. This man wasn’t here to argue. He was here to collect. “I’m not going anywhere,” she snapped. “You don’t have a choice.” He turned slightly, revealing the hilt of a dagger strapped under his coat. Its grip shimmered with runes matching the ones on her pendant. Ava’s blood chilled. Clara gripped her arm. “Ava… please. You have to listen.” “No,” Ava said, eyes narrowing. “I need answers.” Xander stepped forward, silent for a moment, then inclined his head just enough to seem respectful. “You want the truth?” he said. “Fine. You’re not just Moon-Blessed—you’re the key to an ancient power. A living tether to the Alpha Bond, a magic older than any pack alliance or clan treaty. When the Trials begin, five alpha heirs will compete for the right to claim you. If they fail to form the Bond…” His eyes flicked to the crescent mark on her neck. “You die.” Ava’s lips parted. “What kind of sick, archaic—” “Law,” he interrupted. “One that predates your entire bloodline. You didn’t ask for this. I know. But you are this.” Clara touched her shoulder gently. “He’s telling the truth, sweetheart. The mark proves it.” Ava turned away, suddenly overwhelmed. Her mind reeled—wolves, power, death by full moon. Was this what her life was always meant to be? She pressed a hand to the mark, now pulsing like a heartbeat. “And if I don’t go with you?” she asked Xander, without looking. He hesitated. “Then the Trials will come to you. And so will the alphas.” By nightfall, Ava was gone. The drive to Halewyn was silent. Rain lashed against the black SUV’s windows as the forest grew darker and denser. Ava sat in the back seat, her eyes locked on the pendant around her neck. Xander drove like a soldier—calculated, unbothered by the winding cliffs or the distance growing between Ava and her old life. When they finally pulled through a towering iron gate, Ava sat up straighter. The academy was a fortress. Moonlight bathed the stone towers in silver, and firelight flickered in windows set high above. The manor was massive—part castle, part prison—and the air around it thrummed with magic. “Welcome to Halewyn,” Xander said as the gates clanged shut behind them. “This will be your home… and your battleground.” Inside, everything felt colder. Ava followed Xander past long stone corridors, ancient portraits, and runed lanterns that glowed without flame. She passed students—some human-looking, some not. They watched her with wary curiosity. Finally, they stopped before a thick oak door carved with five animal sigils: a bear, a wolf, a serpent, a raven, and a lion. “The heirs’ quarters,” Xander said. “They’ll be arriving soon.” Ava blinked. “I’m staying with them?” “They’ll be living near you. Watching you. Competing for you.” A flicker of fire shot through her spine. “They don’t even know me.” “They don’t have to. The Bond will decide.” Xander turned to her fully now, his voice lower, quieter. “Don’t trust them too quickly. Don’t fall for their games. These heirs were raised to conquer. Not to love.” She crossed her arms. “You speak like you know them.” “I do,” he said grimly. “One of them is my brother.”—AVA—The girl they called Alpha.The woman the gods named Sovereign.She took a slow breath.“I didn’t rise for power,” she said, voice steady.“I rose to protect what we kept losing—our people, our peace, our pride.”“I won’t let it be taken again. Not by fear. Not by the gods. Not by anyone.”They bowed.And that was the first moment Ava realized…She was no longer fighting for a crown.She was the crown.—THE ASSASSIN’S WHISPERThat night, the wind changed.The flame torches flickered.The skies thinned—just enough for something to slip through.A figure cloaked in night drifted into the valley—neither wolf nor man, but something older. A god’s shadow. A myth wrapped in flesh.The warriors on watch never saw it.The guards around Ava’s tent never heard it.But inside her dreams?She felt it.A voice like cracking bone whispered:“The gods crown no mortal without cost.”“Wake, Sovereign. It is time to pay.”—THE WARNINGAva jolted awake, breath caught, pulse racing.Cassian sat up
—AVA—She awoke at dawn to the sky split in half.One side crimson. The other obsidian.In the center, hanging like a cruel promise—was the Mark of the Moon God, burning like a wound.Selene stood frozen as Ava approached.“This is the final trial,” her mother whispered.“And the most cruel.”Ava didn’t flinch.“What does it demand?”Selene turned, pain in her voice.“It demands a life.”“Yours…”“Or someone you love.”—THE SUMMONINGOryn appeared once more—silent, cloaked in divine fire.He raised a hand, and instantly, Cassian, Darius, and Lucien were pulled into a glowing circle. Trapped. Still. Conscious.Ava screamed, rushing forward.“What are you doing?!”Oryn’s voice was like thunder.“One soul for the gods.”“One soul to anchor the new world.”“You must choose.”“Or lose them all.”—THE CHOICEAva fell to her knees.Her mates’ eyes locked onto hers.Lucien shook his head fiercely. Don’t.Cassian growled, baring his fangs. “Pick me. You need the others.”Darius whispered, “No.
—AVA—She stood in the circle of stone once more.Bruised. Burned. But breathing.And then—Oryn appeared again, the starlight around him dimmer now. Colder.“You have passed regret.Now face the realm where many queens fall.”“Desire will test not your strength... but your loyalty.”Ava narrowed her eyes.“Loyalty to who?”“To yourself,” Oryn said. “Or to the ones you love.”The world shattered again—And Ava was pulled into the fire.—THE FIRST ILLUSION: DARIUSShe blinked and found herself in a moonlit forest—soft grass, glowing flowers, the hum of distant water.Darius stood beneath a tree, shirtless, golden-eyed, glowing like a god.But something was… different.He smiled, took her hand, and said—“Stay with me. Here.No gods. No Trials. No pain.”The temptation in his voice was honeyed, soothing.And for a moment, Ava believed it.But then he said:“You’ve already won. You don’t need them anymore—Cassian, Lucien. Just me.”She stepped back.“Darius would never say that.”He bega
—AVA—She stood in a circle of ancient stones, the mark of the gods burning on her palm.Behind her, her mates waited—tense.Ahead of her… a rift in the air, glowing silver, pulsing like a heartbeat.Selene’s voice trembled as she spoke:“This is not a realm of flesh or magic.”“It’s memory.”“It’s guilt.”“And only you can walk it.”Ava turned to Darius. He tried to mask the fear in his eyes.Lucien gripped her hand one last time.Cassian whispered, “Come back to me.”She stepped forward—and vanished.—THE ENTRYEverything went still.The air around her shimmered, folding in on itself.Then—Darkness.Cold.When Ava opened her eyes… she was standing in the middle of her childhood home. Before the raids. Before the Trials. Before the world broke her.Except—Everything was wrong.The fire was too warm.The moon outside too full.And the voice that called her name?“Ava?”It was her father’s.—GHOSTS OF THE PASTHe stepped into the room—whole. Smiling. Alive.“Are you hurt?” he asked g
—AVA—The air had never felt this still.Even with the fires still smoking from Raven’s fall, and the fortress in ruins, there was a strange calm Ava had never known.A calm that felt borrowed.Stolen from a higher force.She stood alone atop the broken spire, wrapped in golden flame. Below, her people knelt—not as rebels, not as outcasts—but as citizens of a new reign.The Sovereign Flame had risen.But in the skies above… something shifted.A second moon appeared.Blood-red.Watching.Waiting.—THE CROWNINGThey rebuilt the ancient temple from the rubble.It wasn’t regal. It wasn’t perfect.But it was theirs.Selene placed the ceremonial mantle over Ava’s shoulders. Her mates—Cassian, Lucien, and Darius—stood at her back, silent sentinels.Orion lifted the flame dagger and held it to the sky.“By blood, by fire, by fate,” he declared, “we crown Ava Pierce as the Sovereign Flame of the Broken Moon.”Wolves howled. The earth shook.And for one beautiful moment…Ava believed it was ove
—AVA—The camp prepared for war.Torches blazed. Armor was strapped on. War drums echoed in the valley.But Ava stood alone on the edge of the cliff, staring into the dark where Raven’s stronghold waited—knuckles white around her blade.Selene joined her, silent.Then quietly asked, “Are you ready to kill her?”Ava didn’t blink.“If it saves him, yes.”“Even if it costs you everything?”Ava’s voice cracked.“Especially then.”—THE TRUE PROPHECYJust before they marched, Orion returned with a scroll he’d uncovered in an abandoned Lunar archive.Ava read it slowly.“One born of night, one born of flame.Both shall rise, but only one remains.For the curse of the bloodlineShall claim its rightful heir.”Lucien frowned. “We already knew this.”“No,” Orion whispered. “We didn’t understand the final line.”He looked Ava in the eyes.“The rightful heir… isn’t Darius.”Ava’s heart stopped.“It’s you.”“The curse was never on your mates.”“It was on you.”—DAWN OF WARThey rode fast.Storm cl