MasukDORIAN'S POV"I'll leave soon."The words settled heavily inside the room.For several seconds, I simply stared at Sera.The fire crackled softly in the background.The curtains swayed gently from the night breeze.Everything appeared peaceful.Yet her statement had just shattered whatever peace remained inside me.I didn't want to hear those words.Not from her.Not now.Not after spending an entire day believing I had lost her.The thought alone was enough to make my chest ache.Sera lowered her gaze immediately after speaking.As though she regretted saying it aloud.As though hearing the words made them more real.I slowly crossed the room until I stood directly in front of her.Neither of us spoke.Neither of us moved.For a long moment, all I could do was look at her.The woman who had somehow become the center of my world without my permission.The woman I had spent years pretending did not affect me.The woman whose absence had nearly driven me insane.I gently lifted her chin
DORIAN'S POV"Who are you?" The question hit me harder than any weapon ever could. For a moment, I forgot how to breathe. Sera stood several feet away from me, her eyes filled with confusion and caution as she stared directly at me. Not at Dorian Voss. Not at her mate. Not at the man who had spent the entire day searching for her. She was staring at a beast. At a creature she didn't recognize. The realization hurt more than I expected.A low whine escaped my throat before I could stop it. The sound surprised both of us. Then suddenly, a violent sensation tore through my body. Pain exploded across every muscle. My legs buckled immediately. The room spun. Another growl escaped me as I stumbled backward. The transformation was happening again. Only this time it was moving in reverse. I felt the fur receding beneath my skin. My bones shifted painfully. My claws retracted.The process wasn't as violent as transforming into the wolf, but it still felt like my body was being forced into a sh
SERA'S POV"Your time in the Voss Palace has ended." The words echoed through the dark space long after The One stopped speaking. A chill crawled down my spine immediately. Thousands of shadow-like figures remained kneeling around me, their heads bowed as though they were witnessing something sacred. Not one of them moved. Not one of them spoke. Their silence somehow frightened me more than if they had all been screaming. I swallowed hard and stared at The One.For the first time since I arrived in the strange place, anger pushed through the fear. Because I was tired. Tired of cryptic statements. Tired of secrets. Tired of being treated like a piece on somebody else's game board. Most importantly, I was tired of people discussing my life as though I had no say in it. "What does that even mean?" I demanded. The sound of my voice echoed throughout the endless darkness. Unlike the first time I visited this place, blood did not immediately pour from my mouth. The realization made me frown
DORIAN'S POV"Come and get her if you can.” The voice disappeared immediately after the words were spoken. I shot to my feet so fast that the remains of the shattered table beside me scattered across the floor. My eyes darted around the room. Every corner. Every shadow. Every inch of the chamber. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The room remained exactly the same. The broken furniture still littered the floor. The curtains still moved lightly with the wind coming through the open window.nThe fireplace still burned weakly in the corner.Yet the voice had been real. I knew it had. The sound had carried too much weight to be imagined. Too much confidence. Too much mockery. The One had spoken to me. Not through another person. Not through a vision. Directly. A low growl escaped my throat. The sound startled even me. My ears immediately flattened. The realization hit me harder than expected. That wasn't supposed to happen. Nothing about this was supposed to happen. I lowered my gaze and looked
DORIAN'S POV"Mom is where?"The words exploded from my mouth before I could stop them.Every sound inside the room disappeared.Every face vanished.Every thought narrowed into a single point.Sera.Enzo stood several feet away from me.His face looked pale.His expression looked frightened.Yet there was certainty in his eyes.Certainty.Hope.Something I desperately needed.I took a step toward him.Then another.My heart slammed violently against my ribs.The pain throughout my body remained unbearable, but suddenly I no longer cared.Nothing mattered except what he had just said.Nothing mattered except finding her."Enzo."My voice came out rough.Dangerously rough."Tell me where she is."He didn't answer.A strange look crossed his face.Confusion.Then concern.Then fear.The sight made my stomach twist.I reached toward him."Enzo."The moment my fingers almost touched his shoulder, everything shattered.His body flickered.Like smoke caught in a storm.My hand moved through
DORIAN'S POVPain exploded through my body with a force I couldn't describe. It felt as though every bone inside me was being pulled apart and stitched back together at the same time. My muscles tightened violently beneath my skin, refusing to obey me no matter how hard I fought for control. The pressure inside my head continued building until it felt like something was trying to claw its way free from within me.The guards surrounding me took cautious steps backward.Nobody spoke.Nobody moved.The entire room had become painfully silent except for my uneven breathing.I remained on one knee, my hands pressed firmly against the floor as another wave of agony crashed through me. Sweat dripped from my face and splashed against the stone beneath me.Something was changing.Something I had never experienced before.I could feel it.The sensation was impossible to ignore.My jaw tightened painfully.Then the final shift happened.A sharp ache shot through my mouth.I instinctively reached
Sera’s POV “Sera….. Sera”, I heard a loud and thick voice deep in my consciousness and I recognized it immediately. The voice belonged to Dorian. I opened my eyes immediately to see him and know why he was calling my name so loud when I am right with him. “Uhmm”, I groaned when I opened my eyes an
DORIAN'S POVThe moment the guard uttered those words, every trace of exhaustion vanished from my body. "His grave is empty." he reported fluently. For a second, the entire courtyard seemed to freeze around me. The wind stopped mattering. The palace walls disappeared from my awareness. All I could
DORIAN'S POVThe moment the council chamber doors closed behind me, the weight I had been carrying all afternoon crashed into me with a force I was no longer strong enough to resist. I continued walking through the palace corridors because stopping would have drawn attention, and the last thing I w
SERA'S POV Dorian and I walked out of the gravesite hand in hand, but before we could leave the area completely, his steps suddenly came to a halt. The abrupt stop forced me to pause beside him. His fingers tightened around mine while every muscle in his body visibly stiffened. The change was imme







