FAZER LOGINAnna’s POV The first alarm didn’t sound like a warning.It sounded like a heartbeat, a single boom of magic slamming through the wardlines like lightning wearing skin.I was already moving before the guards shouted, before steel rang and the pack surged toward the northern border. My blood reacted first, like something inside me recognized the strike before my mind could process it.Not a wolf.Not a scout.Something older.The border shimmered in the distance, a jagged silver line tearing through the treeline like a horizon ripped open. Wards howled, reacting like wounded things. The closer I got, the heavier the air became, like the night itself was begging me not to step into it. I stepped anyway.Through the trees, wolves knelt in defensive formation. Some had shifted, some remained human, but all of them trembled from the magic shuddering through the ground.Lucas was already there — sword unsheathed, voice sharp and controlled.“Hold the line!” he barked. “No shifts unless orde
The sky felt like it was holding its breath.A storm hung above Moonlace, but it wasn’t rain gathering, it was violence. The air had weight, like something ancient was pushing down on the territory, waiting for the perfect second to strike. Wolves moved across the training grounds in disciplined formations, but even discipline couldn’t mask nerves.Fear wasn’t the enemy.Silence was.I watched from the balcony, arms braced on the stone railing. Every shout from the yard below echoed upward, not chaotic, not panicked. Controlled. Lucas’s voice cut through the sound like a blade.“Your stance is a promise,” he commanded, moving between fighters. “To kill, to survive, to return home. Make that promise with your spine, not your mouth.”His presence was stable. Not loud. Not flashy. Just impossible to ignore.Part of me wanted to stay here, above it, separate. The other part wanted to be in the dirt, ripping through drills until my muscles screamed. The two halves of me had always fough
War preparation was quieter than I expected.Not the shouting kind. Not the dramatic clashing of weapons or reckless growls. It was the kind of silence that pressed inward, where every wolf moved with intention and every sound carried weight.Moonlace had shifted.I walked through the lower barracks as dawn bled slowly into the sky, watching my pack adapt in real time. Scouts sharpened blades instead of joking. Healers stockpiled herbs without being told. The guards at the eastern wall rotated twice as often as before.They were afraid.But they were listening.That mattered more.“Alpha,” one of the younger sentries said, bowing quickly as I passed.I nodded, my presence pulling instinctive respect now instead of curiosity. The land hummed beneath my boots, a low vibration that hadn’t existed before my return. Or maybe it always had, and I was only just hearing it.Either way, it answered me.Lucas was already ahead near the armory, speaking in low tones with the clan commanders he’d
Lucas’ POV The war room smelled like ink, iron, and old stone. Moonlace had always favored permanence…maps etched into slabs instead of paper, battle routes carved deep enough to outlast memory. I stood over one of them now, hands braced on the edge, eyes tracing the northern ridge where Blackthorn pressure would come first. Anna stood opposite me. Not beside. Not behind. Opposite. Alpha to Alpha. She had changed since dawn. Not visibly, not in the way wolves usually did when power settled into their bones but in the way the room bent around her now. The land listened when she breathed. The stones answered when she moved. Moonlace had accepted her. That was the dangerous part. Power always demanded a price, and Anna Moonlace had never been the kind of woman to pay in small currency. “You’re staring,” she said without looking up from the map. I allowed myself a faint smile. “I’m evaluating.” Her brow lifted. “Me, or the terrain?” “You already know the answer to that.” She
Anna’s POVThe first light of dawn broke over Moonlace territory, brushing silver across the stone pillars and runes that had stood for centuries. Birds stirred, unaware of the grief and fury that lingered in the air, their songs small against the weight of history.I stepped onto the ceremonial balcony, shoulders squared, eyes fixed on the assembly below. Wolves gathered in clusters, some bowing respectfully, some standing rigid with suspicion. Every eye was on me. Every whisper carried a question: Is she ready?I was.I took a slow breath, feeling the pull of the land beneath my feet. This was my birthright. My responsibility. My inheritance. The weight of it pressed against my chest, a steady rhythm like the pulse of the pack itself. Lucas stood a step behind me, silent, patient, unwavering. My husband. Not a shadow, not a protector. An equal Alpha. He had never pretended otherwise.Unless he doesn't love me, he is just performing his rights. “Moonlace,” I called, my voice steady,
Lucas’ POVA lot has has been going on ever since we got here, and there is this anger I can feel,It doesn’t disappear. It doesn’t dissolve into grief. It searches.Moonlace was searching now.I felt it in the ground beneath my boots as the pack dispersed after the failed ambush. The land was restless, unsettled, like a kingdom that had lost its ruler and hadn’t yet decided who to obey.Anna walked ahead of me, shoulders squared, spine straight.Not fleeing.Not hiding.Claiming.The pack watched her openly now. Not as a grieving daughter. Not as a widow-in-waiting, but as an Alpha.She walked around the pack as she sized the warriors with her eyes, she looked tired, but she didn't let it show. She got to a stance where there were women, some bowed. Others hesitated. A few looked afraid.Good.Fear meant they understood what had changed. Thorne moved beside her, murmuring something low. I didn’t strain to hear it. I was too busy thinking about what I heard Leo say. The missing hal
POV: AnnaThe call about my father had been exactly what I'd feared. Uncle Thorne's voice, heavy with grief, confirming that Ridge Summers, Alpha of the Moonlace Pack, was gone. I'd watched him die through some impossible vision, unable to reach him, unable to say goodbye.I'd cried until there wer
POV: SeraphinaI watched from the hallway as Lucas left Anna's room, his face drawn with exhaustion and something that looked disturbingly like genuine concern. The sight made my stomach twist with jealousy, but I forced myself to smile. Patience, I reminded myself. Patience and strategy. That's ho
POV: NarratorAnna's eyes fluttered open to unfamiliar shadows dancing across an unfamiliar ceiling. Her body felt like it had been torn apart and pieced back together wrong. Every breath was an effort, every heartbeat a reminder that she was still somehow alive.But she wasn't alone.A figure stoo
POV: AnnaI woke to softness. Not the hard cot in the servant's quarters where I'd been staying, but something plush and expensive beneath me. My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, high and ornate with dark wooden beams.Where was I?I tried to sit up, but my







