LOGINSilas was standing on a raised platform, his voice amplified by the city’s speakers. He looked handsome, polished, and dangerous. Beside him stood Elena, looking stunning in a dress of deep crimson. She looked like a Queen waiting for a crown. “The North was built on the strength of the wolf!” Silas shouted to the roaring crowd. Not on the gadgets of a girl who can't even grow fur! Killian has sold our souls for a savior who has already lost her spark! Look at her now, she hides in a mansion, spending our heritage on schools for Duds! The crowd mocked. Faith watched from the shadows of the SUV’s tinted windows. She saw the faces of people she had saved at the salt flats. They looked angry. They looked hungry for the “old ways.” “We must reclaim what is ours!” Silas continued. The Nightshade fortune belongs to the packs! The Academy belongs to the shifters! Tomorrow, we take our case to the Council, and we will demand the removal
The peace was like a thin sheet of ice. It looked solid, but Faith could hear the cracks forming beneath her feet every single day. It had been three months since the fall of the True Court’s towers. Life at the Nightshade estate had settled into a comfortable, almost boring rhythm. Faith spent her mornings at the Academy, her afternoons managing her father’s business empire, and her evenings in the arms of the man she loved. Killian was more than her mate now; he was her rock. But as Faith walked down the grand staircase of the estate on a Tuesday morning, she felt a familiar shiver. It was the same feeling she used to get back when she was just a “Dud” cleaning Killian’s study, the feeling that someone was watching her from the dark. “You're overthinking it,” Faith whispered to herself, smoothing out her silk dress. She walked into the dining hall where Killian was already sitting. He was focused on his tablet, his br
The morning sun hit the gold-leafed sign of the North Elite Academy, making it sparkle. But the atmosphere inside the gates was completely different than before. The tension of the “True Court” was gone, replaced by a quiet, respectful awe.A sleek, charcoal-grey sports car pulled up to the front entrance. The door opened, and Faith stepped out. She wasn't wearing the tactical gear of a soldier or the soot-covered clothes of a survivor. She wore a perfectly tailored black blazer, a simple white silk shirt, and the repaired silver necklace. She looked every bit the billionaire heiress she was, but her eyes held the sharpness of someone who had faced death and won.Killian stepped out of the driver’s side. He didn't look like a bossy Alpha today: he looked like a proud partner. He walked around the car and leaned against the door, watching her.“Are you sure you want to do this?” Killian asked, a smirk playing on his lips because you could stay at the estate and run the world from your
Faith smashed the crystal shard into the scanner and pressed her bleeding palm against the broken glass. The archives erupted in a pulse of silver light. It wasn't the “song” of the True Court. It was a scream of pure, raw data. The school’s computer system began to crash. All over the campus, the blue dampening rods exploded, showering the roof in sparks. The invisible wall at the gate vanished. A mile away, Killian felt the bond snap back into place like a whip. He didn't wait for a command. He shifted into his massive wolf form and tore through the gates of the Academy, his roar shaking the very foundations of the library. Inside the archives, Arthur was thrown back by the blast. He looked at the smoking scanner in horror. “What have you done? You've triggered the purge!” I didn't trigger a purge, Faith said, standing up. Her eyes were burning with that silver fire again. I triggered the eviction. The floor beneath them began to split. The Final Vault was rising. “Jax, run!”
The library was a tomb of cold stone and dust. Outside, the blue light from the dampening rods on the roof bled through the high windows, staining the rows of books in a ghostly color. Faith moved through the aisles with Jax. Every step felt heavier than the last. The dampening field was working. The Master Key inside her was struggling to breathe, and the link to Killian felt like a radio station fading into static. “The archives are through that iron door,” Jax whispered, pointing to the back of the building. “But it’s locked with a biometric scanner. Only the Dean and the Trust lawyers can get in.” Faith looked at the scanner. It was a sleek, silver plate. She thought back to, when Killian had thrown her into this world. He had paid her tuition to keep her away from the “charity” of scholarships. He wanted her to owe him, not the school. “They said my tuition wasn't paid,” Faith muttered, her jaw tightening. “They said because Killian’s money is frozen, I’m a debtor. They’re us
During lunch break, Faith sat alone under the large oak tree in the courtyard. She pulled a simple sandwich from her bag. She didn't have the gourmet meals the Nightshade chefs used to pack. She had a piece of bread and some cheese. “Is this seat taken?” Faith looked up. A boy she had never seen before was standing there. He was tall, with messy black hair and bright blue eyes. He didn't look like a wolf. He didn't even look like a shifter. “Who are you?” Faith asked. “My name is Jax,” the boy said, sitting down before she could say no. “I’m new. My family moved up from the South after the towers fell.” “You shouldn't be talking to me, Jax,” Faith said. I’m the most hated person in the school right now. I don't care about the school, Jax said. He took a bite of a red apple. “I care about the truth. I saw the video of you at the flats. My little sister was one of the people in the crowd. She said when you hit that machine, the pain in her head just….stopped. She thinks you'
The gala wasn't just a party; it was a display of predatory wealth. The grand ballroom of the Obsidian Hotel was filled with the scent of expensive champagne and the heavy, metallic tang of Alpha power.Faith stood at the top of the marble staircase, her hand trembling slightly as it rested on Kill
The weight of the sapphire ring on Faith’s finger felt like a lead weight, yet it buzzed with a strange, protective warmth. After the whirlwind of the previous night,the revelation of her mother’s journals and Killian’s sudden, desperate “promotion” of her to Official Consort. Which she was still
The silence in the marble foyer was suffocating. Faith felt as though the floor had turned into glass, ready to shatter at any moment. She looked at the weary woman in the trench coat to the frozen, pale Alpha at her side.“Mom?” Faith’s voice was a broken whisper. “They.…they said you disapp
Faith’s head throbbed as she blinked her eyes open. She wasn't at the South Gate, and she wasn't with Silas. She was in a high-tech bunker, her wrists bound not by zip-ties, but by heavy, pulsing magnetic cuffs that buzzed against her skin.“The little bird Awake at last,” a voice echoed.







