Se connecterFive’s POV “When?” “Two days ago,” he responded. “I’ve been meaning to bring it to you. I thought—” he glanced between me and Seven, “you both needed to see it. There’s information in here that changes everything.” Seven was watching me. I was watching him. The book sat between us in his outstretched hand, familiar and patient. ‘Not everyone who is kind to you is safe.’ Lucien’s words still rang in my head. Elijah working under a Lord Elvis. I thought of Fifty-nine laughing at my jokes. I thought of the note sliding under the door. ‘Trust no one.’ But I also thought of the food, still warm. Of him crouching in the dirt beside me without being asked. Of the way he had listened when I broke down about Fifty-nine and hadn’t tried to fix it or use it. I took the book. He was my friend. I opened it to the first page. A Complete Record of the Human Management System as Established by the Wolf Council in the Third Year Following the Great War’s Cessation. I kept my face sti
Five’s POVI woke up in his bed again.The realization arrived before I had fully woken up. His scent was everywhere, dark pine and something warmer underneath it, saturating the sheets, my hair, my skin. I lay still for a moment, my eyes shut as I recalled the memory from last night.The warning he had given me. His thumb along my jaw.The way he had fucked me with his mouth. And the fact that he had kissed me. The King of the Citadel, the most dangerous man alive had kissed me last night. My hands flew up to my face as I groaned lowly. Something landed in my chest. It felt like warmth at first, then slowly it shifted into something else. Something heavier.Guilt. I had once again let myself get carried away by the King, by what he had to offer. The pleasure he had to offer. The man who had locked my friend up, who had enslaved me. I recalled the girl whose name I didn’t know that had been bred in the east wing nights ago.Then the twenty facilities.And the seventy percent
Five’s POVHe didn’t pull back.His mouth stayed at my ear, his breath warm and steady, the words still hanging between us like a blade. My pulse hammered against the careful press of his fingers on my jaw. I should have stepped away. I should have said something sharp, something that reminded him I was not a thing he could simply claim and lock away.Instead I stayed still.His thumb traced the line of my jaw again, slower this time, then drifted lower, brushing the soft place just beneath my ear. The touch was light. Deliberate. It made my breath catch in a way that had nothing to do with fear.“Five,” he murmured, and the way he said my name—quiet, almost careful—felt more dangerous than any order he’d ever given me.I turned my face just enough that our mouths were close. Close enough that I could feel the heat of him.“You don’t get to decide what keeps me safe,” I whispered.Something dark and hungry flickered behind his eyes. The careful nothing finally cracked all the way o
Five’s POV“The king has requested your presence.”I had expected it. After the way he had looked at me from that window—a part of me even wondered if he had noticed I’d gone through his books again. He was standing at the window when I entered, his back to me, his hands clasped behind him. The city beyond the glass was dark, the citadel’s outer lights catching the edges of his silhouette.I stopped a few feet inside the door.He didn’t turn around immediately.That was new.Usually he watched me enter—that grey gaze tracking me from the moment I crossed the threshold, cataloguing everything before I’d had time to arrange myself. The indifference of his turned back was somehow more unsettling than the attention.“You wanted to see me.”“I did.”Silence.I waited.He turned finally, slowly, looking at me with an expression I had no name for.It was anger, or hunger, or his usual restraint. Just—nothing.Careful, deliberate nothing.It was the most dangerous face he had.“The garden b
Five’s POVThe garden had become the closest thing to freedom the citadel allowed.It wasn’t freedom.The walls still towered around us. Guards still lingered at every entrance. Cameras still watched from their hidden places.But there was sunlight.Real sunlight. And in that moment, I needed it more than anything. I tilted my face toward it for a brief moment, letting the warmth settle over my skin before lowering my gaze again.Seven sat beside me on the stone edge of a dry fountain, quiet. She was usually quiet, but this had texture to it. She hadn’t mentioned what I’d told her.Not once.She hadn’t called me delusional. She hadn’t argued. She hadn’t tried to convince me I’d imagined everything.Instead, she’d become… thoughtful.It scared me more than if she’d laughed.Elijah approached with a basket balanced against one hip.“They’re making us replant the eastern beds,” he muttered as he handed Seven a pair of gloves. “Apparently someone decided the flowers aren’t symmetrical e
Lucien's POVI could hardly focus. Not when the memory of her replayed in my head over and over again. The way her warm lips had wrapped around my cock, the lewd sounds she had made, those big blue eyes begging to get fucked. My jaw clenched. "What do you have on the human boy?" I growled, frustrated. Cato set a file down on my desk, his expression neutral as usual. "Elijah," he started carefully, "he was bred in the northern facility, and was transferred to the citadel as a laborer under lord Elvis."Lord Elvis. Of fucking course. One of the seven lords—the worst of them all. Of course his fucking laborer would be responsible for being an annoyance just like his goddamn master. "Get rid of him," I ordered flatly. My wolf moved in my chest—satisfied. "That..." he hesitated, "isn't a good idea, your majesty. Getting rid of him would raise questions from Elvis, and I'm assuming you don't want questions."He gave me a pointed look, referring to the night I had disrupted a bree
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"You’ll never return to us." Twelve’s words echoed in my head. The dread tinged with melancholy made it sound more like a sentencing than a prediction. I stood on the far end of the line, my gaze on the floor, my shoulders squared, chest pushed out—just the way we were taught. My body
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







