Chapter 14

Jules POV

I couldn’t stop staring at Lucian. He lay still, pale, lips parted just slightly. Fear coiled in my chest, but something deeper tugged at me—an invisible force drawing me close, even as my instincts urged me to flee.

I stepped back, thoughts racing. I needed to breathe. The room felt tight, pressing in from all sides. My fingers fumbled at the doorknob, desperate to get out.

It wouldn’t move. I twisted harder. Nothing. Sealed tight. I leaned close, catching the sharp scent of scorched metal. The lock wasn’t normal. He’d done something. I was trapped.

My heartbeat roared in my ears. The air felt heavier. I wanted to run, but my limbs wouldn’t obey.

Lucian hadn’t moved, but that strange feeling wouldn’t let go. I hovered in place, stuck between logic and something I couldn’t name. Every part of me warned to escape but I didn’t.

I studied him—the shape of his face, the way his hair brushed his brow, his quiet breaths. I told myself none of it mattered. But it did. And the pull only grew.

I was scared, but something inside shifted. It wasn’t just panic. It was something more. I didn’t know what it meant, only that I couldn’t walk away now.

Step by step, I neared him. My breath shook. My hands trembled. My chest felt like it would burst. I knelt beside him, knowing I should run but I stayed anyway

“Lucian,” I whispered.

He didn’t move.

I reached out, just barely brushing his arm—and yanked my hand back.

He was burning.

Not warm. Not feverish.

Burning.

His skin pulsed with heat, like something alive was crawling under it. It wasn’t natural. It felt like fire trapped beneath flesh, moving in slow waves. I could feel it hum through the air between us, buzzing with some kind of power I didn’t understand.

A low sound escaped his throat.

Then his lips moved.

I froze.

He was speaking—but not in any language I knew. The words were soft, broken, like he was caught in a dream. They spilled out in a voice that didn’t sound like his. Ancient. Sharp. Full of something old and angry and… beautiful.

I leaned in, hardly breathing.

The sounds wrapped around me like smoke—strange, wild, full of power. I didn’t understand the words, but they felt heavy, like they weren’t meant for me to hear.

He kept speaking, the odd sounds spilling out faster.

His skin stayed hot.

My eyes followed the lines of his body. The heat wasn’t just inside him—something was changing, like the air itself was bending. Beneath his skin, his veins started to glow. The color was hard to name—dark, maybe red—but the light flickered at first, like fire hidden under the surface, then grew stronger, alive, pulsing with something not quite human.

Over his chest, the skin moved, and a shape started to rise, slow and steady, like it was forming from the inside. I moved closer, pulled in without thinking.

A mark appeared. At first it looked like a claw, sharp and curved, but as it finished forming, I saw it was more—it was ancient, powerful, glowing like silver under moonlight. I had never seen anything like it.

And even though my body warned me to stop, to stay back, I couldn’t. My hand reached out, shaking.

The moment my skin touched it, a blast of energy rushed into me—not painful, just strong—shooting up my arm, through my chest, and into my head like a storm of light.

Everything around me vanished.

I saw quick images—blood on the ground, swords crashing, war screaming in the air.

At the center was a woman. She looked like me, only older.

A huge wolf moved around her, its glowing eyes locked with hers like she was his, like something deeper than blood connected them.

Then, everything disappeared.

I gasped and stepped back, the vision breaking like it was never real. My heart beat so loud it filled my head. As I tried to understand what I saw, a loud knock broke the silence, pulling me back.

“Alpha Lucian?” a voice asked from outside. “Are you in there? What’s the delay?”

I froze.

Fear rushed through me as I looked around, searching for a place to hide, but it was too late. The handle turned slowly and just before the door opened, a hand grabbed mine.

Lucian’s.

His fingers held my wrist with strange strength, hot to the touch. I gasped as his eyes opened, glowing faintly, like fire covered in smoke.

“Don’t go…” he said, voice dry and full of pain, like he carried something too heavy to name.

His hand held tight—not to hurt, but to show I couldn’t leave.

Even if I ran, even if the door opened, I knew I wouldn’t get far.

Not from him.

Not from this.

Then the door slammed open with a crash. Wood flew as a tall man rushed inside, breathing fast, muscles tense.

Aegon.

Alpha Lucian’s Beta.

His silver eyes scanned the room—and stopped. On Lucian. On me.

He froze, like the sight before him short-circuited his brain. His Alpha was sprawled across the floor, unmoving, vulnerable. Lucian, who never stumbled, never bent, never bled.

Aegon’s jaw clenched. Something cracked in his composure. His gaze darted to Lucian’s faint breathing, then snapped to me, blazing with suspicion.

“What the hell did you do?” he growled, stepping forward, slow and dangerous.

“I didn’t—he just collapsed—I was trying to help” My voice was shaking. My hands were up. “Please… I don’t even know what’s happening”

But he wasn’t listening. He pulled something from his belt—a long, metallic rope that shimmered with a soft, eerie glow, like it pulsed with energy. It uncoiled in his hand like it had a life of its own, snapping once in the air as if eager to strike.

“Aegon, wait!” I backed away, heart pounding, but it was too late.

The rope flew forward, faster than I could blink. It wrapped around my body in one swift motion, tightening around my waist, arms, throat—burning cold and scalding hot at the same time. I gasped, my knees buckling.

Pain exploded in my skull. My vision blurred.

I tried to scream, but the sound caught in my throat. My body jerked once, then twice—my limbs spasming against the glowing bind as a violent seizure took over me.

Everything spun.

Aegon’s growl—low, panicked.

Then silence.

And the darkness took me.