MasukZara’s POVWhatever those witches thought they were whispering about, I could hear every damn word.Not clearly at first. It started like distant buzzing somewhere beyond the stone walls while I laid flat on the bed staring at the ceiling and trying very hard not to lose my mind again.The voices came again. My head snapped toward the wall immediately. I slowly sat upright while pain dragged across my spine and pressed my palm carefully against the cold wall beside the bed.The voices sharpened instantly. “…that girl could be the one.”I frowned immediately. One of the elder witches spoke again, her voice rough and uncertain now. “Are you sure about this? The girl is unstable.”“Unstable?” another one muttered. “She almost killed Mimi yesterday. If Lois had not stopped her..”“I know what happened.”“Well then maybe we should stop pretending this is normal.”I leaned harder against the wall automatically while my pulse started climbing faster beneath my ribs.What the hell were they
Alpha’s POVAthdal Haven felt louder after I returned from the south. Torches still burned across the stone halls. Wolves still trained in the lower yards before sunrise while elders barked orders like the world around us wasn’t quietly rotting from the inside out.But now I noticed everything.Fear had spread through the pack while I was gone, and fear made wolves stupid.I walked through the eastern corridor slowly with Karin beside me while younger wolves moved out of our path almost immediately. Some lowered their heads respectfully. Others didn’t. That irritated me instantly.“They’re getting bolder,” Karin muttered quietly.“No,” I replied. “They’re getting restless.”Big difference.The corridor opened into the lower council chamber where arguments were already exploding loud enough to hear through the doors before we even stepped inside. Wonderful.Karin sighed beside me. “Should I kill somebody before you go in or after?”“Depends how annoying they are,” I said as I opened th
Zara’s POVThe witches of Kesh Ina were starting to piss me off collectively.Like one giant creepy magical hive mind that apparently woke up every morning and decided the best possible use of their time was staring at me like I might explode if somebody blinked too hard.Which honestly felt rude considering I was already having a terrible week.“You’re doing it wrong.”I looked up from the glowing symbol carved into the dirt beneath my feet and glared straight at the old woman standing across from me. “Fantastic. Really specific.”The woman didn’t react. “You are forcing the spell,” she said calmly.“I literally do not know what that means,” I said as I struggled to sit up straight.“Magic breathes.”“Oh my God,” I muttered, throwing both hands into the air. “You people cannot explain anything without sounding haunted and weird.”A few younger witches standing near the training circle exchanged looks immediately.The training grounds sat deep inside Kesh Ina beneath massive black tr
Sean’s POVBlood Carticons Blood Carticons had never felt quiet before. The prison always breathed. I stood inside Zara’s old cell staring at the shattered restraints still hanging from the wall while something ugly kept clawing through my chest hard enough to make breathing irritating.The room still smelled like her. Like blood, smoke and wolf, and underneath all of it… Me. My jaw tightened instantly.I looked away from the broken chains and slammed my fist straight into the stone wall hard enough to crack it. The guards outside the corridor immediately went silent.Three days. Three damn days since she escaped and Blood Carticons still looked like a graveyard after the prison collapse. And none of it mattered because she was gone. I could still hear her screaming when I closed my eyes. Not the prison screams. The bite.That sound kept replaying in my skull over and over until I genuinely started losing sleep over it.I lost control. That part terrified me more than anything else.
Alpha’s POVI should have killed him the moment I saw him standing inside that cave. That thought stayed lodged inside my skull while torchlight flickered across Macha’s face and turned old memories into something uglier than grief.Because dead things were supposed to stay dead.Instead my brother stood in front of me breathing like the last thirteen years meant absolutely nothing, and the worst part was that some small broken piece of me still recognized him instantly.He had the same eyes, the same crooked mouth.Same irritating calm right before violence. Except now there was rot beneath it too. Madness.Behind me Karin shifted carefully beside Zero, but neither of them spoke yet because even they could feel this moment cracking open into something dangerous.Then another scent drifted through the cave. Familiar. My stomach dropped immediately. No.I turned sharply toward the shadows near the burial stones just as a figure stepped slowly into the torchlight. Elder Sira.For one s
Zara’s POVThe first thing I heard was a heartbeat that was not mine. It slammed into my skull so loudly that my eyes flew open before I even realized I’d fallen asleep, and for one horrible second I genuinely thought somebody had shoved drums directly inside my ears.Thump.Thump.Thump-thump.Thump.Different rhythms. Different speeds. Everywhere.I sat upright too fast and immediately regretted it because pain ripped through my throat hard enough to make my vision blur white. My hand flew to my neck automatically. The bite wasStill there.Still burning.“Jesus fucking Christ…”The room around me spun slowly while candlelight flickered against dark wooden walls carved with glowing symbols I still didn’t understand. Rain tapped softly somewhere outside, but underneath that sound.. I still kept hearing heartbeats. Too many heartbeats.I could hear blood moving inside people.“Oh no.”My stomach twisted violently. I felt damn hungry and that hunger was for blood.I froze immediately b







