LOGINMALRIKI was standing in the war room still feeling upset over the fact that no tracker has been able to find the slave and the mystery wolf. Luna has already given me her proposal and it was a very interesting concept but we wouldn't be able to carry it out except on the Blood Moon night which was in a few days. That's when I felt the chill in the air. It was very eerie and the first thing I felt was goosebumps filled with an uneasy feeling. It crawled across my skin slowly, like cold fingers dragging over my spine. I stopped mid-step in the war room, my hand hovering over the map laid out before me.For a second, I thought it was the irritation and anger I was feeling fueled by the tracker who had wasted my time earlier with tales of a cave that didn't exist. But the more I felt it the more I realized it wasn't anger. It was something deeper, like an ancient magic that had been lost over time and was now revived. My wolf stirred beneath my ribs, restless in a way he hadn’t been
AURORAI woke up to silence again but it was quickly filled with the sound of the forest. My lashes fluttered as the world came back slowly in fragments.The first thing I felt was warmth from Draven. Even before I opened my eyes fully, I knew he was holding me. I could feel it the way my heartbeat settled against my will, the way my breathing evened out without effort. The tightness that had been clawing at my chest moments ago was gone, as it had never existed.I inhaled carefully, still getting used to waking up without any fever, or sharp pain. But I felt something tugging at me, like an invisible thread tied somewhere beneath my ribs had suddenly gone taut.My brows pulled together and my head turned slightly then I saw him.The tracker was still there and he was still kneeling, staring at me as if nothing else in the world existed. .Still staring at me as if nothing else in the world existed.My stomach dropped so violently that I thought I was going to be sick as the memories
DRAVENI was in shock. I knew I should have comforted Rory especially when she looked so frightened but I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that she's doing what she’s doing. What exactly does this mean for Rory and me? Is she still human? Did I do something when I marked her? All these questions raced through my mind.But then the trackers appeared and before I could even protect Rory she was already making them kill themselves. It was as if Darius and my presence didn't matter again because now she could protect herself. But that was all over a little too quickly because Rory didn’t even make a sound when she fell.One moment, Rory was standing there, staring at the bodies as if she couldn’t understand what she was seeing… the next, her knees buckled.I moved before she hit the ground.Her weight dropped into my arms, light and terrifyingly limp, and for one horrible second my heart stopped.“Rory—”She was breathing.It was shallow but steady, her chest rising faint
AURORAThe twig snapped again. It wasn't loud but it might as well have exploded inside my skull. Ever since I woke up I've been hearing everything a little too loud. I could even hear the wind threading through the trees, the faint rustle of leaves under distant feet, the scrape of leather against bark, the steady footsteps of someone trying very hard not to be heard. My breath caught. “They’re close,” I whispered.No one acknowledged me but I knew they could also hear what I was hearing.I didn’t need to turn to know the tracker in front of me had stiffened again. I could feel the way his pulse jumped where he stood, the spike of unease rolling off him like heat.“What do you want me to do, Alpha?” he asked, addressing me again. His words slid into my chest like a cold knife but before I could reply, something else pressed against me and I heard the distant sound of footsteps. My stomach dropped.“They’re splitting up,” I said faintly, my voice trembling before I could stop it.
AURORA“I’m yours to command, Alpha Aurora.”I think I heard it wrong. I must have because the man kneeling in front of me wasn’t looking at Draven or Darius when he said it.He was looking at me. Why was he looking at me? Why did he even call my name together with the Alpha title? I'm just a human for crying out loud!Nah, I'm sure I'm overthinking and maybe he made a mistake, maybe he wanted to call Draven or Darius, maybe he didn't even say ‘Alpha Aurora’ and maybe I had imagined it. “Alpha Aurora,” the tracker repeated, silencing all my thoughts. My stomach dropped so violently that it felt like I was falling from a height. My ears rang as I stared at him, waiting for someone to laugh, to correct him, to tell him he’d mistaken me for someone else.But no one spoke; it was almost as if the entire forest had gone silent. Even Darius and Draven seemed more speechless than quiet. The tracker’s knees were buried in the dirt like he’d dropped so fast he hadn’t had time to catch himse
SELENE“There’s a third one… I can sense three Alphas.”The words carried through the trees like a death sentence.I didn’t need to look at Draven or Darius to know they’d heard it too. I didn’t need to confirm anything because the moment that tracker said it, something inside my chest dropped.They weren’t wrong, they weren't confused or imagining things, they were right. I was right because I'd noticed something shift in the air when Rory woke up but now these trackers seemed to have confirmed my fears. My gaze slid slowly to Rory. She stood between the Alphas, her breathing coming out in short gasps. I could tell that she was frightened even though she tried to hide it. I could also sense the way the forest reacted, as if it was bonded to her, almost as if she was one with nature. Rory swallowed, her eyes darting toward the east. “They’re spreading out,” she whispered.Draven’s head snapped toward her. “You can hear that?”“Yes.”Lyra inhaled sharply beside me but I couldn’t foc







