LUCIEN'S POV:The world is spinning sideways. My body is feeling nothing but lead and pain. Varein’s blow had felt like the fist of a god... if gods could be cruel and made of pure malice. My ribs are splintering with every breath, my vision swimming between bursts of black and blinding white. Somewhere in the chaos, I hear Kaia screaming my name, but I can’t move and can’t even lift my head.I’m dying. I know it. The earth beneath me is slick with my own blood. My wolf’s voice is distant now, like he’s standing on the other side of a thick glass wall. My fingers twitch once, useless. The metallic taste of iron fills my mouth, and the night sky above is a smear of color and shadow. Then, I hear footsteps. Light, deliberate, fast. Rhea. Her face is pale in the moonlight as she drops to her knees beside me. Her hands hover above my chest for a heartbeat, trembling, not from fear, but from something I can’t name. “No. No, you don’t get to leave,” she breathes, the words jag
AUTHOR'S NOTE: SO SORRY FOR THE SLOW UPDATES. I'VE BEEN IN AND OUT OF DEPRESSIVE EPISODES. THIS BOOK WILL BE COMING TO AN END THIS MONTH. THERE ARE JUST FEW CHAPTERS LEFT. THANK YOU FOR COMING THIS FAR!CHAPTER : THE BOUNDLESS KINGSONG OF THE CHAPTER: “The End Is Where We Begin” by Thousand Foot Krutch~~~LUCIEN'S POV:The air splits open like it’s screaming. I stagger back as the world itself seems to rip apart, the edges of the Veil curling outward like torn flesh. My lungs burn from the sudden pressure change, and there’s this taste which is metallic and bitter on my tongue. It’s not just magic. It’s something older and wilder. The creature that steps through is wrong in every way a thing can be wrong. Its body shifts like it’s made of both shadow and molten light, parts of it flickering between forms faster than my mind can process. A dozen eyes blink in places no eyes should exist, and when it breathes, I feel my heartbeat stutter, like it’s trying to match the rhythm of som
CHAPTER 161: THE FALLING VEILRHEA'S POV: SONG OF THE CHAPTER: "Wings" by Birdy~~~ It starts with a hum that sounds low and ancient, vibrating in my bones like something older than time is whispering directly into me. I’m in the middle of the meadow outside Kaia’s family house, my palms to the earth, trying to ground myself. But the ground is shaking or maybe I am. Energy pulses through my veins like lightning not the pretty kind that streaks the sky in silver-blue veins, but the kind that burns forests down. My breath is shallow, clipped, and my magic is no longer answering me. It’s screaming. “Rhea!” someone calls behind me, it is probably Ezra, judging by the worried lilt to the voice, but it sounds distant. Distant, like everything else that isn’t this storm building inside me. I don’t mean to lift from the ground, but I do. I hover, untethered, as the air thickens around me, crackling with power. My hands blaze with light, fingers curling against the pain the pow
CHAPTER 160 : OF WOLVES AND FLAMEKAIA'S POV: SONG FOR THE CHAPTER: “Control” by Halsey~~Before the strike: The war table is quiet... too quiet for a room filled with people whose blood runs wild with magic and vengeance. The air buzzes with restrained tension. I can feel my heartbeat in my throat, in my fists, behind my eyes. “We can’t wait for them to strike first,” Ezra says, voice sharp as a blade. “They’ll expect that. It’s how they’ve always fought. Cunning and calculated.” “They’ve taken too much,” Rhea murmurs, fingers clenched around the silver feather pendant hanging from her neck. “Too many lives and in so little time.” Lucien nods, arms crossed over his chest, his aura sparking faintly. “We hit them now. On our terms. Catch them off guard.” Rowan leans over the map, tapping a small cluster of stones that represent the Nightowl outposts. “Here. The Northern ridge. Weakest point. We strike hard. We don’t stay long.” My voice finally breaks through the fo
CHAPTER 159 : WHEN THE SKY BLED LIGHTNINGLUCIEN'S POV: SONG FOR THE CHAPTER: "Start a War" by Klergy ft. Valerie Broussard~~~My hands shake. Something has been beneath my skin like a scream trying to crawl out. For days now, this has been happening: a tingling buzz in my spine, a heaviness in my limbs, a pull in my bones toward something I can't name. When I breathe, the air flickers with energy, little arcs of light zipping between my fingertips.Something's changing in me.I can feel it and I absolutely hate it. I drag my nails across my forearm to remind myself I’m real. The friction anchors me... for a moment. But even pain feels distant now. The magic is stretching inside me, ballooning with a pressure that wants to burst. Ezra says it started after the battle at the pack house. After Boundless tried to siphon my soul. Maybe he's right. Maybe whatever he left in me is waking up. I pace the edge of the hill, the one that overlooks the entire northern valley. W
SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER: "Dynasty" by MIIA CHAPTER 158: SECRETS IN THE ASHES POV: LYSS ~~~ I sit cross-legged in the ruins of the Guen pack library, my fingers brushing over soot-stained pages that crinkle under the weight of time. Ash clings to my skin like a second layer, but I barely notice. The fire that tore through this place weeks ago was meant to erase everything; the names, truths, bloodlines. But something survived. Something waited for me and now it’s in my lap. A letter. Sealed with the moon symbol I used to wear around my neck before I learned how heavy it could feel. Before I began to wonder if the moonlight was meant to guide or blind me. The parchment trembles in my hands, the wax seal cracked but still holding strong at the edges, as if resisting revelation. I hesitate, breath shallow. Something in my chest warns me that once I open this, I won’t come back the same. I open it anyway. > To the one who follows the silver trail when all others have turned t