Chapter TwentyTwist Eva’s POVKael’s body was still caged above me, trembling with the aftermath of what I had done to him. His breath came ragged, his claws still buried in the stone on either side of my head like he needed to hold on or he’d collapse entirely. His golden eyes burned, but not with triumph.With fear.It wasn’t in his nature to admit it, but I felt it humming through the bond sharp, strangled, foreign. The mighty Kael, unbreakable, unbending, undone by me.By this.I didn’t understand what had happened. I hadn’t meant to reach for it, hadn’t even known it was there. The power had risen like a tide inside me, too strong to contain, and when it broke free, Kael had been pinned beneath it. His body, his will, his hunger all mine.And gods help me, I liked it.He lowered his head, his breath hot and uneven against my throat. For a moment he didn’t move, as if he needed stillness to piece himself back together. Then his lips brushed my skin, soft and dangerous.“What did
Chapter NineteenKael’s POVDivine The taste of her still burned on my tongue.Her laughter felt unbroken, victorious, trembling but still rang in my ears like a hymn I couldn’t silence.“Eva”.Her name was the first thought that pierced the haze. She lay beneath me, skin flushed, throat marked with my teeth, her nails etched down my shoulders. My body still trembled, muscles drawn taut with the memory of her tightening around me, of her daring me to break her, to ruin her, to claim her until nothing remained but my name on her lips.And yet, in the aftermath, it was me who felt completely ruined.I should have felt power humming through me, the satisfaction of dominance, of conquest. Instead I felt… hollow and shaken. My chest heaved against hers, my claws still embedded in her hips as though letting go would unmake me completely.Her smile was soft yet mocking. Her lips brushed the edge of my jaw.“You’ll never be free of me now.”The words coiled through me like chains.I should h
Chapter EighteenEva’s POVHis thrust made my body jolt sending me to cloud 9, my breath catching in a broken moan that slipped free before I could swallow it. The bond snapped taut, wrapping around my ribs like a cage, forcing every sensation to amplify until there was no escape from the heat of him inside me.Kael’s claws bit into my hips, anchoring me in place, having me arch my back and dragging me back onto him harder, deeper, until I felt him everywhere. His groan tore through me, low and guttural, vibrating against my chest where he pressed me against the stone.I clutched at him, nails sinking into his flesh as if holding him tighter would keep me from shattering. Blood slicked beneath my fingers, hot and wet, and the scent of it made me tremble with something far more dangerous than fear.“More,” I gasped, the word trembling out of me, raw and demanding.His answering snarl was not a refusal. His hips snapped forward again, but deeper and harder this time, his body slamming
Chapter SeventeenThe Crown’s Hunger Made FleshEva’s POVKael’s mouth crushed against mine like a blade pressed to the throat with sharpness, yet merciless, and inevitable.Every scrape of his teeth, every bruising press of his lips was fury, but fury couldn’t disguise what truly burned in him which was his “Want”.He tasted of iron and blood, of Eliara’s fading life, of violence he couldn’t undo. And beneath it all, he tasted of me.The bond roared through us, uncoiling until there was no clear line where Kael ended and I began. My hunger surged into him, his rage poured into me, and the collision was unbearable in its ecstasy.I gasped into his mouth, and he devoured the sound. His claws clamped my hips, dragging me flush to him, as if the closer we pressed, the sooner he could tear me apart. My laugh spilled between us, low and taunting, vibrating against his lips.“Break me, Kael,” I whispered against his mouth. “You’ll only bind me tighter.”His growl was a snarl torn from the m
Chapter SixteenThe Door’s WhisperEva’s POVKael’s fangs were still wet with Eliara’s blood when his eyes found me, it was not just rage and anger but something darker and something hungrier.The bond between us throbbed raw, Eliara’s scream still echoing through my veins, but the moment he tore from her body, it snapped taut between him and me. The crown had wanted three, and for one breathless instant, I felt it. Not Eliara. Not the pack. Him.Kael.The wolf who had sworn he would never bow.The wolf who would rather kill than kneel.And yet, his hands shook where they gripped Eliara’s limp form but I saw it was not from guilt or from grief but from the violence it took to deny what he felt when he looked at me.I smiled, slow and deliberate. “You feel it, don’t you?”His jaw locked, teeth bared. He didn’t move. Not toward me, not away. Just caged in place by the very pull he was trying to fight.“Don’t lie to yourself,” I whispered, tilting my head, letting the blood at my chest s
Chapter FifteenThe Crown’s HungerEliara’s POVThe moment my hand answered the bond, the world cracked immediately.It wasn’t just heat in my veins anymore, it was ash and lightning, a tide breaking inside my chest and flooding into hers.Eva’s eyes widened, her pale mouth parting. She hadn’t expected me to yield.The threads surged but they didn’t bind, they braided. My pulse wrapped into hers, Kael’s rage coiled tighter, and for one impossible breath, the three of us shared the same heart.I gasped, choking on a sound that wasn’t only mine.It was hers Kael’s and Eva’s.And then the visions came.Shards of memory knifed into me with blood on marble floors. A crown of bone pressed onto a brow that wasn’t Eva’s but a woman older, sharper, her smile carved from the dark. Wolves kneeling, thousands, their fur matted with reverence and terror. A queen, not of flesh but of hunger.The first.The Bone Crown’s true bride.Eva hadn’t been taken.She had opened herself willingly.The bond s