LOGINLilith POVThe world had descended into absolute hell.Lilith stood in the center of the battlefield with white light blazing from her hands and watched people die.Pack warriors torn apart by demons. Witches overwhelmed by dark creatures. Blood soaking into the ground. Screams cutting through the night. And everywhere.....everywhere....the stench of death and corrupted magic.This was her fault.She had lost control. Had let her power spiral out. Had hit one of their own warriors with a blast meant for demons.She could still see him lying motionless on the ground twenty feet away. Could still feel the echo of her magic slamming into his chest. Could still hear her own scream of horror as she realized what she had done.Focus, she told herself desperately. Focus or more people die.But focusing was impossible when the demon lord was advancing toward the estate with steps that shook the earth.It was massive, fifteen feet of volcanic rock and hellfire, with power radiating off it in w
The room emptied as people ran to prepare.Nicholas caught Lilith's arm before she could leave. "Stay alive. Whatever happens. Promise me.""I promise," Lilith said.But Nicholas could feel through the bond that she was terrified.They all were.***Lilith POV - Forty-five minutes laterLilith stood on the front steps of the estate with Victoria on her left and Nicholas on her right. Behind them, the combined forces of witches and wolves waited in defensive formation...thirty pack warriors, twelve coven members, all of them armed and ready and absolutely terrified of what was coming.The wards around the estate shimmered with combined magic. The ground had been prepared with ritual circles. Every defensive measure they could think of had been implemented.It would not be enough.Lilith could feel it in the air, the weight of something massive approaching. Something dark and ancient and absolutely malevolent."There," Sebastian said from somewhere behind her.Lilith looked toward the e
Lilith felt something cold settle in her stomach. "And if I choose to give up my magic? To burn it all out to break the curse?"Victoria's expression shuttered. "Then all this power....all this potential dies with the sacrifice. The Morvaine legacy ends. And you become just another human in a world full of predators.""You say that like it's the worst possible outcome.""Isn't it?" Victoria challenged. "You have the ability to reshape supernatural politics, Lilith. To heal bonds that are broken. To create connections that could bring peace between species that have been at war for centuries.That's what the Morvaine gift is meant for. And you're talking about throwing it away to save three wolves who....""Who I love," Lilith interrupted. "I know you don't understand that. I know you think the bonds are manipulating me. But Aunt Victoria....even if the bonds disappeared tomorrow, I would still love them. I would still want to save them."Victoria looked at her for a long moment. Then
Lucian's eyes filled with tears he did not let fall. "Thank you.""Don't thank me yet," Lilith said. "I still don't know what I'm going to choose. I still don't know if I can live with any of the options. But at least..." She stopped. "At least now I know I'm choosing for the right reasons. Not because I hate you. But because I love all of you too much to watch you suffer."Lucian pulled her close and held her like she might disappear if he let go.And Lilith moved closer and pressed her head to his chest and let herself be held.Let herself feel the bonds wrapping around her like chains made of silk and starlight.Let herself pretend, just for a few more minutes that love might be enough to save them all.Even though she knew it was not.***Nicholas POVThe training grounds behind the estate had been transformed into something Nicholas barely recognized.Where pack warriors usually sparred in wolf form, Victoria's coven had erected ritual circles drawn in salt and blessed silver. Wh
Lilith felt the bonds pulling at her....all three connections strong and solid and getting stronger every day instead of weaker.That was the problem.The bonds were supposed to make this easier. Were supposed to guide her toward the right choice.Instead they were just making everything more complicated.Because the bonds wanted her to save her mates. Wanted her to sacrifice herself so they could live. It was biological. Instinctual. The mate bond's entire purpose was to prioritize the survival of the bonded pair over individual survival.And Lilith could feel that pull getting stronger.Could feel herself wanting to choose death just to make the aching in the bonds stop.Could feel her own desires and choices getting tangled up with what the bonds wanted until she could not tell where one ended and the other began."The bonds are getting stronger," she said quietly. "Not weaker. Every day I can feel them pulling at me more. Making me want things I'm not sure are mine to want."Lucia
Lilith felt tears burning behind her eyes. "I want something to take my mind off the fact that I'm possibly going to die soon. I want to stop thinking about impossible choices and dark witches and curses that want me dead. I want..."Her voice broke. "I just want to feel something other than scared for five minutes."Lucian cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs brushing away tears she had not realized were falling. "What do you need from me Lilith?"Lilith looked up at him...this man who had violated her consent and broken her trust and was now standing in front of her looking at her like she was the only thing in the world that mattered."Kiss me," she whispered.Lucian went very still. "Lilith....""Please," she interrupted. "Just...kiss me. Make me feel something other than dying."Lucian searched her face for a long moment. Then he pulled her close and kissed her.It was not gentle, It was desperate and fierce and absolutely consuming, the kind of kiss that came from knowing ti
She cleared her throat.It felt like swallowing glass."Can I go?" she asked.The words came out barely above a whisper, scraped thin by everything her throat had been through. She kept her eyes on the bed in front of her. Kept her face down....small and still, the way prey learns to be still."Can
POV : LILITHThe darkness was different here.Not the cold, suffocating black of the dungeon. Not the crushing nothingness of unconsciousness. This darkness was soft. Warm. It smelled like the inside of her childhood home....woodsmoke and dried lavender and something else she had no name for, somet
I barely had time to catch my breath before Sebastian was pulling me up again, his large hands gripping my waist with bruising force."Not done with you yet," he rumbled, positioning me on my hands and knees on the center of the massive bed. "Need to feel that tight pussy again."My arms were shaki
Something moved in his expression. Relief and want and something that wasn't either. He pulled her down and started pounding harder chasing his own release, he thrusted once, twice and spilled inside her. Nicholas followed seconds later with a sound that came out not sounding like his at all.She l







