LOGINThe four red-eyed skeletal wolves landed silently on the icy trail. Red smoke hissed off their bone paws, melting the snow into steaming black mud.The Supreme Sovereign stepped down from his war-chariot. Every step he took made the ground beneath us tremble with raw, terrifying pressure.Fifty royal guards immediately fell to their knees, bowing their heads in pure terror. Even the wild Frost-Wolves cowered back into the forest shadows, whimpering like beaten pups."Kaelen," the Sovereign purred, his deep voice sounding like grinding stones. "You let your citadel crumble, lost your army, and let an Omega lead you by the hand. You are a disgrace to the Lycan bloodline."Kaelen stepped right in front of me, his body locked in a defensive stance despite being completely unarmored and weaponless."Stay out of my territory, Sovereign," Kaelen growled, his golden Alpha eyes flashing dangerously. "The North does not answer to the Southern Empire."The Sovereign laughed a dark, cold sound th
"LEO!" I screamed.I didn't think. I didn't care about the fifty armed guards, the freezing mountain wind, or my own bruised body. My feet moved on pure instinct.I dove straight across the icy snow, slamming my shoulder directly into the giant Alpha Frost-Wolf's ribs mid-air.The heavy impact knocked the massive beast off course. Its snap missed Leo's face by an inch, its razor-sharp teeth clamping shut with a loud, sickening CRACK on empty air.We both tumbled across the snow in a tangle of fur, snow, and claws.The giant Alpha beast growled, pinning me down on the icy trail. Its yellow eyes were wild, dripping with black saliva from the bone horn's dark magic. It snapped its jaws toward my throat.Before its teeth could touch my neck, Kaelen was there.Kaelen grabbed the giant beast by its fur, using his immense raw Alpha strength to rip the two-hundred-pound monster right off my chest and throw it into the mountain wall. The cliffside shook as the wolf hit the solid stone, letting
Kaelen stood up slowly, stepping directly in front of Leo and me.He didn't have his heavy broadsword anymore. It was buried deep in Marcus's chest at the bottom of the ravine. But as he looked at the fifty royal guards, his eyes turned a dark, lethal gold."Treason?" Kaelen growled, his deep voice carrying over the whistling wind. "I just saved this kingdom from a shadow army while you hid behind stone walls.""You broke our most ancient law!" Lyra yelled, pointing her pale finger at me. "She is a rogue! An Omega! She has no noble blood, yet you claimed her as your True Mate! You dragged dark magic into our castle!""She saved your life twice, Lyra," I said, pushing myself up to stand beside Kaelen. My body was bruised, and my clothes were torn, but the golden mating mark on my neck was glowing brightly in the cold air. "And you paid her back by trying to poison us."The guards hesitated, looking between Kaelen and the chief elder. They had fought alongside Kaelen for years. They kne
The ground gave way with a thunderous roar.Huge slabs of stone sheared off the cliff face, tumbling down into the white fog of the ravine below. The courtyard split right down the middle, a jagged, growing chasm opening between us and Marcus."Hold on!" Kaelen roared.He grabbed my waist with one arm and scooped Leo up with the other, hurling all three of us backward onto a solid section of the stone platform just as the ground where we were standing plunged into the dark abyss.Marcus was laughing like a lunatic on the opposite side of the gap, his face covered in dark dust. "Drown in the deep, King! Fade into nothing, little sister!""You first," Kaelen growled under his breath.With a powerful twist of his shoulders, Kaelen hurled his broadsword across the widening divide. The steel flashed through the air like a bolt of silver, burying itself deep into Marcus's chest. Marcus’s eyes went wide, his laugh dying in his throat as the impact knocked him backward, sending his body plumm
Time stopped.The sound of clashing swords and roaring wolves faded into dead silence. I stared at the small, limp body lying motionless in the dark snow."Leo?" I whispered.No answer. His brown eyes were closed, and his chest wasn't moving. A terrible, dark smoke rose from the burn mark on his coat.Something inside me snapped.It wasn't fear. It wasn't pain. It was a cold, blinding rage that burned hotter than any fire.The ancient Shadow Queen tried to whisper in my mind again, but my rage was so overwhelming it completely crushed her voice into absolute nothingness. I didn't need her dark spirit to possess me. I took control of her magic myself.A massive pillar of pure, golden-purple fire erupted from my body, shattering the ice beneath my boots.The dark caster took a step back, his empty white eyes widening in genuine terror. "Impossible... An Omega cannot command that much raw power!""I am not just an Omega," I said. My voice didn't sound double-layered or demonic. It sounde
The horn blasted a second time, echoing off the icy peaks. Hundreds of dark soldiers poured down the mountainside like an avalanche of black iron and purple flame.Inside my mind, I was banging on a stone wall, screaming at the Shadow Queen. Get out! Leave my brother alone!Quiet, child, the Shadow Queen sneered in my thoughts. Watch how a real ruler takes a kingdom.My body floated an inch off the bloody snow, surrounded by a swirling aura of dark magic. I raised both arms toward the sky, and a beam of purple light shot straight into the clouds, shattering the remaining glass in the citadel’s highest towers.Kaelen didn't look at the army charging down the hill. His eyes were locked on me, full of heartbreak and fierce determination."Leo!" Kaelen barked without looking away from my glowing eyes. "Get inside the lower vaults! Now!""I'm not leaving my sister!" Leo cried out, clutching a sharp piece of stone from the broken pillar."She’s fighting in there, kid!" Kaelen shouted, his v







