Kieran’s POV Just like I wanted, the room falls into a thick, weighted silence. But Aubrey’s laughter cracks through it, jarring and high-pitched like broken glass. Everyone turns toward her as though she’s lost her mind. Honestly, I think she has. “I’m sorry,” she says with zero sincerity, giggles bubbling in her throat like venom. “But do you really expect us to believe that the lowest omega of a crumbling pack is responsible for that explosion? Or better yet—that she’s the mate of the Alpha King?” Scattered, hesitant chuckles echo after her, each one feeling more like a slap than a sound. One of the elders nods and adds smugly, “Exactly. Your mate is right here.” My body goes rigid. Rage coils in my gut like a spring. The blatant disrespect to Zoey tastes like ash in my mouth. “This is why you should’ve claimed her publicly weeks ago,” Ragnar grumbles, pacing like a caged beast in the back of my mind. “Then you wouldn’t have to explain if you killed every last one of them rig
Zoey’s POVThe darkness is cold.Not the familiar void I’ve grown used to—this is different. Heavier. Sharper. Like a metallic hand wrapping around my body, pressing against every nerve with its hollow chill.Maybe it’s not my usual darkness.Or maybe... I just need to be held by him.“Kieran,” I whisper into the nothingness, my voice barely audible. My eyes flutter open, heavy with sleep and something else I can’t name.My room.Soft shadows stretch across the walls, sunlight leaking through the curtains. The chaos of the lawn pack seeps into the room but no one is here.The disappointment hits harder than it should. Like a wave I didn't see coming, it crashes through my chest. But before I can drown in it, the memories from before the darkness rush in.They all know now.The truth. My truth. The weight of it presses down like iron shackles. There’s no going back. No hiding.How do I move forward from this?I thought I was finally in control—finally in a place that felt like home. Ho
Kieran's POV My feet refuse to move. Every instinct in me—every nerve ending, every pulse—screams to hold her. To pull her against me and never let go. Ragnar roars in my mind, telling me to rip the damn door off its hinges and just be near her. But I don’t. Because the look in her eyes still burns through me, and the tone in her voice—Goddess, that tone. It's not just pain. It’s disappointment. Disgust. And I caused it. I turn away from her door, forcing my feet down the hallway, my hands clenched at my sides. I make it to my office, slamming the door behind me, the echo rattling my bones. I try to focus on the papers waiting on my desk—intel from allied packs, border reports, war strategies—but the memory of her face keeps slipping into every corner of my mind. Eventually, the rhythm takes over. The work numbs me. My pen scratches lines across parchment, flipping pages, signing off missions. I bury myself in order and protocol to drown out the chaos inside me. Until— “Kier
Zoey’s POV Confusion wraps around me like a heavy fog as I stumble across the lawn and up the stairs to my room. The world blurs at the edges, as if reality is cracking beneath my feet. My hands are trembling, my chest is too tight. I can barely breathe. My mind replays what I just witnessed like a broken film reel—jagged, loud, violent. No. It can’t be. “He said he had a good reason,” Raven's voice echoes in my head, strained with something between hope and warning. I want to believe her. I really do. Kieran must have had a reason this time. But what could Maven possibly have done to deserve that kind of brutality? If Kieran had wanted him dead, he could've ended it quickly. That’s not what I saw. That was torture. Deliberate. Controlled. Rage bottled up until it took a new form. My thoughts spin, one crashing into the next, all while I struggle just to get enough air into my lungs. “Maybe he found out?” Mia offers quietly. Did finding out about Maven and me push him to that
Kieran’s POV It can’t be true. It can’t be true. It can’t be true. I chant the words like a prayer, a spell, a lifeline to keep me from spiraling. “Kieran?” Lucien’s voice slices through the fog of my thoughts. There’s caution in his tone, like he’s not sure which version of me he’s talking to right now. I point to Maven’s crumpled form, his body slumped on the floor like a rag doll still chained in the chair. “Help him up.” Lucien hesitates for half a second, then moves with Damon to prop the bastard up. Chains rattle as they drag him upright. His head droops forward, blood caking his hair, skin pallid—but the shallow rise and fall of his chest tells me he’s already healing. “He’s recovering fast,” Damon mutters, fingers brushing the dent in Maven’s skull. “Alpha blood’s a bitch.” I exhale a sharp breath through my nose and storm out of the cell, the cold dungeon air clinging to my skin like guilt. Lucien and Damon follow behind, their footsteps echoing softly against the st
Zoey’s POV “Zoey!!” a voice echoes through the fog like a distant bell. The moment I hear it, I know—it’s another memory. My surroundings are blurry, edges shimmering with that same ethereal glow that always comes when my mind peels back layers I didn’t even know were locked away. I turn toward the voice, the fog parting like curtains in a theater, and see a sleek black SUV pulling into a lush green yard under a pastel sky. A boy jumps out of the backseat, no older than twelve, with tousled brown hair and sharp eyes that remind me painfully of someone. He runs toward two children on the lawn—one of them, a younger me. “Mav!” my younger self calls, jumping up from a blanket scattered with toys. A wide grin spreads across her—my—face, unguarded and warm. A little boy stands beside her, hair as white as snow and eyes a striking blue. Zach. My breath catches. So I knew Maven before now. But… does that mean he was telling the truth about being my mate? Is he really my second half?