تسجيل الدخولDamian pov The antique crystal decanter shattered against the far wall of my study, exploding into a glittering cloud of diamond-sharp shards and expensive amber liquid. The heavy scent of aged bourbon immediately filled the air, mixing with the sharp, metallic tang of my own ozone-thick adrenaline.I didn't care. I kicked the heavy mahogany coffee table, sending it skidding across the Persian rug until it violently collided with the brick fireplace, splintering one of its ornate legs.“*Gone?!*” I roared, my voice dropping into the terrifying, multi-tonal register of my shifted wolf. The skin across my knuckles ripped open as I slammed both fists onto my desk, the heavy oak groaning under the sheer, kinetic force of my fury. “What do you mean, she is gone? You told me the extraction was flawless! You told me the suppressants would keep her tracking signature dark for a week!”Across the room, standing trembling near the ruined doorway, was Harrison. He was one of my most ruthless en
Sophia Pov The air in the private training gym beneath the main pack house was heavy, thick with the scent of old leather, polished wood, and the sharp, metallic tang of sweat.I stood in the center of the mat, my chest heaving as I stared at my own reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors lining the far wall. I was wearing simple black athletic leggings and a fitted grey tank top, my hair pulled back into a tight, practical ponytail. My hands were wrapped in thick white boxing tape, the rough cotton fabric biting into my knuckles. My muscles ached, a deep, burning fatigue radiating from my thighs down to my calves, but I refused to drop my hands. I refused to sit down.I couldn't afford to be helpless anymore.The memory of the ancient ruins was a permanent scar on the back of my eyelids. Every time I closed my eyes, I still saw the silver-eyed monster. I still heard the sickening sound of the silver stake piercing Ethan’s flesh. I had sat on that cold stone altar, completely para
Sophia Pov The tension in the academy didn't fade after my confrontation with Damian; it simply shifted shape, morphing into a heavy, watchful stillness that draped over the courtyard like a gathering storm.I sat at our usual stone bench under the sprawling branches of an ancient oak tree, the cool afternoon breeze rustling the leaves overhead. My textbooks lay open on my lap, but the words blurred together. My mind was still divided, split between the lingering terror of the ruins, the ongoing investigation Ethan had stubbornly dragged himself into, and the quiet, domestic reality of trying to be a normal student.Beside me, Emma was a bundle of nervous, frantic energy.Her fingers twirled a strand of her bright hair continuously, her eyes darting toward the main walkway every time a shadow fell across the gravel path. Ever since the night I was taken, Emma had been a ghost of herself, consumed by a crushing weight of worry. She wasn't part of the pack's inner circle, but she knew
Ethan Pov The map of the territory sprawling across my massive mahogany desk looked less like a breakdown of our sovereign borders and more like a tactical grid of a losing war.I leaned my weight heavily against the edge of the wood, my jaw tightly clenched as I stared at the red ink circles marking the old ruins, the southern river bend, and the perimeter breaches. My right arm was still tightly wrapped in clean, white medical linen, zipped up inside a heavy black compression sleeve to stabilize the torn muscle fibers. The skin beneath the fabric throbbed with a rhythmic, dull ache—a lingering reminder of the ancient silver stake that had nearly severed my lifeline four days ago.My healing factor was back online, working overtime to purge the microscopic remnants of the poison, but my wolf was still sullen, pacing the perimeter of my mind like a caged beast, snapping at the boundaries of our shared consciousness.A sharp, rhythmic knock at the heavy double doors of my study shatte
Sophia Pov The heavy iron gates of the academy had never felt so imposing.As I walked up the winding stone path toward the main campus building, the morning sun beat down on my neck, but I felt entirely cold. It had been four days since the horror in the ancient ruins. Four days after Ethan had been carried back to the pack house clinic, his blood was poisoned by a strange, ancient silver. While he was recovering at an impossible speed—his Alpha biology finally winning the war against the toxins—the pack elders had insisted he remain hidden inside the estate to recuperate fully and keep the appearance of absolute strength.Which meant I had to face the world alone today.The moment I stepped through the double glass doors into the main hallway, the atmospheric pressure shifted. The buzzing chatter of the student body didn't stop, but it warped. It became a low, hissing sea of whispers that seemed to follow my every step.*“Did you hear? The Alpha wasn’t at the pack meeting last nigh
Sophia Pov The steady, rhythmic beep of the heart monitor was the only sound slicing through the suffocating quiet of the pack house clinic.I sat huddled in a rigid metal chair pushed flush against the side of the hospital bed, my fingers wrapped so tightly around Ethan’s massive, cold hand that my knuckles had turned completely white. I hadn't moved in twelve hours. I hadn't washed the dried, flaking rogue blood from my temple, nor had I exchanged my torn, dirt-stained dress for clean clothes. The nurses had tried to gently coax me out of the room, offering hot tea, a warm shower, or a comfortable cot in the next room.I had refused. I had refused with a feral, quiet intensity that seemed to shock them, a small glimpse of the Luna authority I didn't even know I possessed.If I let go of his hand, I was terrified he would slip away entirely.Ethan looked entirely wrong lying beneath the crisp, white sheets. In the time I had known him, he had always been an absolute force of nature—







