Mag-log inAdrian’s POV Kira’s eyes widened in pure disbelief, her chest still heaving from all the shouting and punching.“Are you serious right now?” she exploded, voice cracking with disbelief and fresh anger. “I’m standing here telling you my father was imprisoned unfairly for years, that everything he went through was because of lies and betrayal, and all you can think about is biting me?! Biting me?! Like some horny vampire from a bad romance novel? What the hell is wrong with you, Adrian?!”I couldn’t wait any longer. Time was slipping through my fingers like sand. Elise was already waiting, and every second counted. I needed to be sure Kira wouldn’t slip away from me while I was gone. The mark would bind her to me, make it harder for her to run, harder for anyone else to claim her. Selfish? Yes. But right now, I didn’t care. I stepped closer, my hand sliding up to gently but firmly hold the back of her neck. Her skin was warm, pulse racing under my palm. I leaned down, bringi
Adrian’s POVElise’s words hung in the air like a death sentence wrapped in silk as I kept replaying them in my head.To break the curse completely, I had to leave the palace immediately and go with her. No contact with Kira or anyone else. No seeing her, no speaking to her, no scent of her near me until the entire ritual was done. The separation had to be total. She said the royal curse fed on emotional bonds, especially the mate bond. Any connection to Kira would keep the darkness anchored inside me.She told me that her circle told my father about this…about the only way to break the curse…but he didn’t want to leave my mother. And now, the curse has been passed down to me. Isn’t that a little selfish? I mean… I could have been safe from all these drama but no. He didn’t want to leave my mother.I didn’t want to do it either. The thought of walking away from her right now, especially after everything that had just happened, felt like ripping my own heart out. But I had no choice
Adrian’s POVWasn’t that the plan? To kill him?Silas kept throwing words like knives, even trapped inside the glowing circle. “Empty threats! All of you!” he spat, voice dripping with venom. “You think mixing a little blood will end me? Go ahead and try it! I cannot be destroyed. I’ve walked through centuries while fools like you turned to dust. Do it! I dare you! Do whatever you think you can do to me!”The three priestesses stepped forward. Sheila gently took the bowl from my hands. Elise peered into the mixture of blood…mine and Kira’s…her lips curving into a slow, satisfied smile that sent a chill down my spine.Then, without warning, Elise drew a small blade across her own palm. Fresh blood welled up and she let it drip straight into the bowl, mixing with ours.Sheila’s eyes widened in shock. “Elise, what are you doing? That wasn’t the plan!”Elise tilted her head slowly, looking at Sheila. Her voice turned eerie, low and hollow, like it came from somewhere much older than her
Adrian’s POVThomas moved fast. One second Kira was still arguing, her voice rising in that familiar stubborn pitch, the next her body went limp as he hit his hand against her neck. Not too hard, just enough.Her eyes fluttered once, then rolled back. He caught her before she hit the ground, scooping her up like she weighed nothing.I watched him carry her away, robe and all, her head lolling against his shoulder. Good. She didn’t need to see what was about to happen here. Whatever came next, I wanted her far from it.My hands curled into fists at my sides. The thought of her father…Tristen…being the one who killed my mother still sat like ice in my gut. I wasn’t ready for that conversation. Not even close. But one thing was crystal clear in my head… I wasn’t letting any of this destroy what I was building with her. Not Silas, not her father, not old blood feuds. This time, I was going to be selfish.She almost ran away with Tristen. The image of her slipping through my fingers, d
Adrian’s POVI stared down at her for what felt like forever.For a moment, everything else…the chanting, the crackling magic, the furious roars shaking the courtyard…fell into a dull, distant hum.She was wrapped in my robe now, swallowed by it. The fabric draped over her small frame, sleeves too long, collar slipping slightly off one shoulder. Her hair was a mess. Her face…My jaw tightened as I imagined what she must have gone through trying to escape that bastard.There was a dark smear across her cheek. Dirt. Soot. There was something else stuck to her scent. I didn’t need to look twice to know what it was.Blood.Dried.Did that bastard hurt her?The faint metallic scent lingered in the air, sharp against my senses.Something inside me snapped taut.She ran through hell to get here.And she made it.To me.My gaze softened, just slightly as I squeezed her shoulder while she tried to catch her breath after transforming.I was indeed worried for nothing. I thought this one would b
Kira’s POVI gulped inside.Slowly.Very, very slowly.Leah turned her head around.And I screamed so loud inside her that I was pretty sure birds dropped dead somewhere in the kingdom.It came out as a howl through her…but I was screaming!Standing behind me was not a man.Not a beast.Not anything that should have been allowed to exist.He was tall.No…tall was too weak a word. Long?The scrawny horror towered so high I had to crane my neck all the way back just to find his face. His head nearly brushed the stone arch above us, neck bent at an unnatural angle like he had grown too much for the world to contain him.His limbs were long and thin like dead tree branches.His fingers dragged against the floor.His skin hung loose over jutting bones, gray and stretched tight in some places, sagging in others. Veins pulsed black beneath it.And his face…Dear Goddess of the seas.His eyes were too deep. Too dark.His mouth split far too wide, filled with jagged teeth that looked borrowed
Kira’s POV Nightmare. The day I died. It never plays out the same. My brain kept remixing it, making it worse every time, like it’s punishing me for surviving…or for not seeing it coming. First version…the one that felt almost real. I’m standing on the roof of the Summers Group skyscraper,
Kira’s POV The knock came again…three sharp raps that made my heart slam against my ribs. Liana’s face went ghost-white, her fingers still pressed to her lips like she could suck the whole conversation back in.I grabbed her wrist before she could bolt. “We’re not done,” I hissed, low enough that
Kira’s POVMorning came too fast and too bright. Sunlight stabbed through the heavy curtains like it personally wanted to punish me for last night. I sat on the edge of the bed, toes curled tight into the fluffy rug, hands clamped between my knees, eyes glued to the floor like a kid waiting for th
Kira’s POVI froze with the coat still over my arm, the casual vibe in the room suddenly gone ice-cold. Victoria’s voice had dropped to this whisper, like she was about to spill state secrets or confess to murder.“It’s about your personal maid…”She trailed off. Just stood there, lips parted, eyes







