تسجيل الدخولALBA'S POV We left at dusk. Twenty-five warriors. Marcus. Ares. Me. Jo's blocker made Ares like a god. He ran ahead of everyone, even the horses, as a huge black wolf. I rode because Marcus wouldn't let me run — "Save your power, Luna." The southern caves were supposed to be cursed. No pack claimed them because rogues who went there went mad, hearing whispers. Now Kael called them his castle. We found the first guard at the border — a rogue, sleeping against a tree, drunk. Marcus cut his throat silently. Second guard, same. The third guard saw us and howled before Ares ripped his throat out. Then the whole cave howled back. "They know we're here!" Marcus shouted, drawing his sword. From the cave mouth, rogues poured out. Not thirty. Fifty. Maybe more. Kael had been recruiting. "Kael!" Ares roared in wolf form, shifting back to human mid-run, naked and bloody. "Come out and fight!" Kael came out. Last. Wearing a real crown — rusted iron, too big. And behind him, two huge wo
ARES' POV I died in my dream. Not the poison dream. A real dream. I was in a white forest, snow everywhere, no sound. Alba was ahead of me, wearing a white cloak, her hair white too. She was walking away. "Alba!" I shouted, but no sound came out. She kept walking into the snow, disappearing. "No! Alba, wait!" I tried to run, but my legs wouldn't move. Black vines came up from the snow and wrapped around my ankles, my knees, my chest. Poison vines, with thorns. "She's not yours," a voice said behind me. Kael's voice. "White Wolves don't belong to lowland Alphas. She belongs to a King." I turned. Kael stood there, wearing a crown made of bones. He smiled. "When you die, I will take her. And she will thank me." I roared and broke the vines. I lunged for Kael — And woke up screaming Alba's name. "ALBA!" She was there. Asleep in the chair beside my bed, her head on my mattress, holding my hand. Her bandaged hand. Jo and Marcus jumped up. "Alpha! You're awake!" Jo said, check
ALBA'S POV Kael's blood was on my hands. Not his. Mine. My silver blood. I stared at my palm where he cut me in the chapel. The cut was small, but it wouldn't stop glowing. Even wrapped in cloth, I could see silver light leaking through. Ares had the green bottle. The antidote. One third of the cure. We rode back in silence. Ares was on his horse, slumped forward. The antidote helped him breathe, but his face was still grey. Black veins still crawled up his neck. "How do you feel?" I asked, riding beside him. "Better," he lied. His voice was hoarse. Marcus rode ahead, watching the trees. "We need to move faster. If Kael's rogues follow us —" They didn't follow. Kael ran. He saw something that scared him. He saw my eyes. In the chapel, when Ares fell, something hot exploded in my chest. My vision went white. And when I looked at Kael, his face changed. He looked terrified. "What did you see?" I asked Ares quietly. Ares looked at me. His golden eyes were tired. "Your eyes,
ALBA'S POV I left the letter on Ares's pillow. I had written it three times. The first two times I cried too much and the ink smudged. The third time I kept it short. "Ares, You protected me in the cell when I had no one. You took a knife for me when you didn't have to. Now it's my turn. Don't be angry. Please come get me. But stay hidden until I have the antidote. I love you, you idiot Alpha. Your Thorn Wolf" I slipped out of the healing wing when Jo went to mix herbs. The night guards knew me now. They bowed and let me pass. No one questioned the Luna. Outside, the air was freezing. Midnight was close. Marcus was waiting by the stables with two horses. His face was grim. "Luna, are you sure about this? We can find another way." "There is no other way," I said, pulling my black cloak tighter. "He has four days of antidote. Ares has maybe three left. You saw him today, Marcus. He can't even stand." Marcus looked away. He had seen it. Ares had tried to stand in the after
ALBA'S POV He was breathing. That was the only thing that mattered. For two days and two nights, Ares hadn't woken up. The healers came and went. They put black paste on his shoulder. They put bitter herbs under his tongue. They whispered to each other when they thought I wasn't listening. "The poison is too deep." "His heart is too slow." "He won't make it through the night." I heard every word. I sat in the chair beside his bed and held his hand. His hand was too big for mine, too cold. The bond between us — that golden thread I had felt since he first marked me — was so thin I could barely feel it. Like it would snap if I breathed too hard. On the second night, Marcus tried to get me to eat. "Luna, you have to eat something," he said, putting a bowl of soup on the table. His eyes were red. He hadn't slept either. "If he dies, I'm not eating again," I said. My voice didn't sound like mine. It sounded dead. Marcus didn't argue. He just sat on the floor with his back agai
ARES POV We spent the next hour in the war room, planning. The old map of the palace was spread across the table, but none of us were looking at it. We were looking at each other. It had to look real. No mistakes. Alba would "disappear" from the great hall during the evening meal, when the hall was loud and crowded, and the guards were changing shifts. We would let the maids see an empty chair. We would let the whispers start. Then we would wait in the tunnels under the palace with Marcus and four trusted guards. Men I trusted with my life. If V showed up to gloat, we would have them. If V didn't, we would be no worse off than we were now. It was risky. It was stupid. And it was the only plan we had. Night fell. Heavy and dark. We put it in motion. I made sure to be seen. I stormed into the great hall and shouted at Marcus at the top of my lungs, "She's gone! How did she get out of the great hall? I told you not to let her out of your sight!" I let my voice crack. I l







