FAZER LOGINRachael POVIt had been four days since Eryx and I had been holed up in the cabin, and I was almost afraid of how quickly he was recovering. He moved differently now, lighter and surer. I watched him the day before, tracking and then taking down an antelope with ease. The pride and admiration I felt made my chest ache in a way I didn’t expect.I lay on his chest now, feeling the rise and fall of his breathing, the warmth radiating through him. My fingers traced the faint scars along his shoulder, reminders of battles fought and pain endured. I couldn’t help but wonder at the depth of his resilience, the kind that made him so terrifyingly powerful yet heartbreakingly human at the same time.“Why did you challenge your father for the throne?” I asked softly, my voice almost drowned out by the quiet crackle of the fire.Eryx shifted slightly under me, his hand brushing my hair away from my face, and I felt the weight of a thousand untold stories in his gaze. “Because of the way he lived,
Lincoln POVI sat on the edge of my bed, shoulders hunched, elbows braced on my knees. Maya pressed the cold compress against my chin. The chill seeped in painfully and I welcomed it. It gave me something solid to focus on besides the dull, throbbing ache in my jaw and the deeper weight in my chest.Eran had done a number on me. My knuckles were split, my ribs screamed every time I inhaled, and my head still rang from where his fist had connected. But I hadn’t gone down quietly. I’d returned every blow, driven by the kind of raw discipline Eryx had hammered into me years ago. If they hadn’t dragged us apart, if hands hadn’t yanked me back and voices hadn't shouted in my ears, I knew exactly how it would have ended.I would have killed him.Maya’s fingers were careful as she adjusted the compress, but her voice was sharp.“What were you thinking?” she snapped, her dark eyes flashing up at mine. “Do you have any idea how bad this could’ve been? Fighting Eran, of all people?”I hissed as
Rachael POVI woke up reaching for Eryx.My hand met cold sheets instead of warm skin.I sat up too fast, my heart already racing as my eyes scanned the small cabin. The light coming through the single window was grey and thin. The other side of the bed was empty. “Eryx?” My voice came out rough. “Eryx?”No answer. Only the sound of the wind catching the corner of the roof.I pushed myself off the bed, my feet hitting the floor hard as I moved toward the door. Panic crawled up my chest, sharp. He was still weak, still pale. He wouldn't just disappear.“Eryx!” I called again as I stepped outside.The morning air was cool, quiet. Too quiet. The trees stood still, the world looking calm in a way that made my chest feel worse. I looked at the dirt, searching for tracks, for any sign of which way he’d gone.I walked faster, then broke into a run, my eyes searching everywhere. I didn’t care that I was barefoot or that the tall grass was damp with dew. “Eryx!” I shouted again.Nothing.My b
Eran POVI caught Lincoln’s eyes across the clearing and smirked.It was instinctive. The look on his face, tight, suspicious, already bracing for something he couldn't stop, fed a dark energy inside me. I let the moment linger just long enough for him to realize I was the one holding the cards. Then I turned away and faced the crowd.They were waiting. Watching. Trusting me to tell them what to do next.Idiots.I lifted my hand. The murmurs died down until the only sound was the wind moving through the trees. Dozens of faces tilted toward me, expectant and uneasy. The air felt heavy.“My people,” I began. My voice was calm, steady. It carried easily over the open space.I felt the shift. It was that subtle tightening in the atmosphere when people sense danger before they can name it.“Our alpha,” I said, letting the words hang there, “is dead.”The reaction was explosive.Gasps tore through the crowd. Voices rose in a messy blur of disbelief and panic. It rippled outward like a wave,
Rachael POVI woke slowly, awareness seeping back into me fast. My body was pressed tightly against something solid and unmoving. An arm was locked around my waist like a barrier, pinning me down. For one terrifying second, I thought I was trapped again, the walls of the cellar closing in.Then I breathed in.Eryx.His scent wrapped around me, pine, rain, and metallic tang of dried blood. It grounded me instantly. My heart skipped, then steadied slowly. I was still in his arms. He was holding me too tightly, almost possessively, as if his subconscious was guarding a prize it couldn't afford to lose. Relief flooded through me so fast it left my limbs weak.I tried to move, just a little, testing whether I could sit up. I couldn’t. His grip tightened instinctively. Even in sleep, he refused to let me go. I stayed still for a moment, listening to the heavy, ragged sound of his breathing.Last night came back to me in pieces, that distant, haunting growl of a wolf echoing through the fore
Lincoln POVIt’s been three days.Three long, dragging days since Eryx vanished beyond the borders and never came back.At first, I told myself it was nothing. Eryx had always moved on his own terms. He disappeared, handled the whole thing and returned soon. That was who he was. That was who he’d always been.But this time feels different.The pack feels it too.I stand on the balcony overlooking the courtyard, arms folded tightly across my chest as dawn bleeds slowly into morning. The air was sharp but I barely notice. My wolf paces inside my skin, restless and on edge, mirroring the unease coiled in my gut.Three days is too long.I turn sharply and call for the guards. “Send men out again. Widen the search. North and east this time. Leave no trail unchecked.”They bow and move quickly. Too quickly. They’re scared too.Word spreads fast in a pack, even when no one speaks it aloud.Maya corners me before I can make it back inside. Her brows are drawn tight, concern etched deeply into







