LOGINLucien's POV "You did that on purpose," she accused, taking a step backward. My jaw tightened. "That's the point?" I hissed, my blood heating up. "Not the fact that you've been hiding that from me?!" "I wasn't hiding it," she shot. "I didn't understand it myself." "You moved a rod across a room," I accused. "You've been practicing — don't tell me you didn't know what you were doing." "I knew something was happening," she defended. "I didn't know what it meant. There's a difference." "You could have told me—" "Told you what exactly?" she snapped. "That I could move things without touching them? That I could read a dead language? That there was something happening inside me that I didn't have words for?" She held my gaze. "And then what? What would you have done with that information?" She could read a dead language. Of fucking course. That day at the alter wasn’t just an odd interest in the symbols. She could actually read it. "I would have helped you understand it," I whi
Five’s POV "She's your friend," I drawled. "That's sufficient." "That's not a reason," she countered. "That's cruelty." "Slaves don't get to determine that," I said. Something moved across her face. I watched it happen — the thing I had been waiting for, the thing I had calculated this entire conversation to produce. Not because I wanted to cause her pain. Because I needed to see it. Because I needed to know with certainty, with my own eyes, in a controlled setting, before I could act on what I suspected. I needed to see what she was. "You promised," she reminded. "I promised nothing," I said. "You said — after Rebecca, after the courtyard—" her jaw tightened. "You said it wouldn't happen again. You said—" "I said what was necessary," I countered flatly. "You are a slave. I am your king. The parameters of what I say and what I mean are mine to determine." She looked at me. I looked back. And watched the thing I had been building toward arrive. It started in her eyes — a
Lucien's POV Five. That's all my mind could think of. That's all my wolf had chanted for the past three days. It was driving me mad. I clenched my jaw, forcing my attention to focus on the paper in front of me. The wolf trafficking didn't end with Rebecca and Elder Crane. It extended far beyond them. And if I was going to dismantle it, I needed to figure out where to look and what to look for. And most of all, whether Elvis was somehow in the know. I had assigned the job to Theron. The man I trusted the most. While I focused my attention on figuring out who the prophecy was about and what it meant. My bets were on Five. My thoughts drifted back to her. To her eyes and the feel of her body underneath me. I clenched my jaw. I recalled the way she had trembled, the way her warmth had wrapped around me. My cock hardened. 'Find her,' Ash snarled. 'Find mine.' I forced my attention back to the paper, ignoring the lust growing inside me with each passing second. 'The blo
Five’s POV I recognized it — that warmth moving up from somewhere central, spreading through my chest and down my arms, reaching my fingertips with a pressure that had become familiar. I pushed it back. "I am not something you can protect selectively," I continued. "You cannot hold me at night and leave me to her in the morning. You cannot claim me before the council and then be absent when the claim needs to mean something." The heat was pushing back against my effort to contain it, insistent, responding to something in my voice or my chest that I couldn't fully govern. "I am not asking you to put me first. I am not asking you to choose me over your kingdom or your responsibilities or any of the hundred things that have a prior claim on your attention." "Five—" "I am asking you to not make me feel like nothing!" I finished. The last word came out with something underneath it that I hadn't meant to release. The heat surged. The lamp on his desk flared — a sudden bright flare,
Five's POV Lucien had summoned me. I stood in the center of his room, my heart beating loudly in my chest. The conversation from last night still replayed in my head. ‘Use your connection to him’ He stepped into the room, shutting the door gently behind him. I spun on my heels. Our gazes locked. Seeing him stirred something in me. I hadn’t seen him since the last time he’d visited. And I hated that a part of me missed him. I hated that a part of me felt relieved to see him standing right in front of him, to see that satisfying concern in his eyes. His grey eyes were sharp, moving across my face quickly — assessing. "You're standing," he breathed. I pressed my lips together. I had almost forgotten about the damn whipping, and the injury I was still supposed to be nursing. "The pain is almost gone," I shrugged, my voice low. He didn't buy it. I could see it in his eyes. But he didn't press it either. He simply stepped closer, stopping right in front of me. "I've mis
Seven’s POV "Selective ones," Five clarified. "Things they can verify that don't matter. Things that make me look exactly as manageable as they want me to look. While you actually give me everything. Who Two-twelve reports to. What the facility's objective for me is. Whether Elvis and the facility are communicating directly and through what channel." Fifty was quiet for a moment. "That's a significant risk," she explained. "If they suspect the reports are curated—" "They won't," Five cut in steadily. "Because you're good at this. You were good enough to fool me for weeks and I am not easy to fool." She paused. "Use that." Something shifted in Fifty’s expression. Not pride — something quieter than pride. "Alright," she gave in. Five turned to me. And I could see the guilt in her eyes. Good. She deserved to feel guilt for how badly she had hurt me. My jaw clenched. "The other girls," she started, her voice softer than it had been a minute ago. "The five wh
549’s POV “What did they say?” Twelve asked as she twisted the cap of her water bottle. I shrugged, trying to act casual. “I passed.” She froze, then her eyes snapped to mine. I looked away, unable to bear the pity that swirled in those grey orbs. “Oh five forty nine,” she sighed, droppin
549’s POV The buzz of my alarm clock brought me back to life. It was 6:45am on the third moon day. Which meant— My room door burst open, and a familiar head of brown hair walked in. My reaction was instant, almost instinctive. I wrapped my arms around my body, trying—but failing to cover my br
549’s POV The forest swallowed me whole. Branches tore into my skin, as I moved, roots caught my feet—making me stumble. But I didn’t slow down, I couldn’t. The voices behind me were multiplying, flashlight beams cutting through the trees. I ran until my legs stopped working properly. Unti
549’s POV“What’re you doing?” I whispered. She didn’t respond, just kept the gun pointed at me with steady hand.Her eyes were fixed on me, cold and calculating. “Answer me!” I snapped, my throat feeling raw, my head starting to pound. “You can’t leave this place.” She finally responded, her vo







