ANMELDENRONAN POVI adjusted the cuffs of my coat before stepping through the palace gates.Every movement was deliberate.Controlled.The polished leather of my boots struck the stone beneath me as I walked, each measured step carrying me deeper into the heart of the King's territory. Around me, guards stood rigidly at attention, their hands resting near their weapons as they watched my approach.I gave them nothing to read.No hesitation.No suspicion.No sign that I was anything other than what I appeared to be—a visiting Alpha answering the summons of his King.The captain stepped forward and bowed.“Your Majesty.”I continued walking.I almost smiled.He wasn't addressing me as King.Not yet.But men had a habit of changing the way they bowed once power changed hands.And one day, they would bow to me.The moment I crossed the threshold, I felt the uneasiness hanging over the palace.It was everywhere.In the hurried footsteps of servants.In the guards' heightened vigilance.In the nerv
"Yes." Thor's voice was tight. "But we can't wait. If Kattie learns we have Clara's testimony and the vial, she'll either run or come at us first.""Then we go to her." My voice hardened around the words. "Now.""Your Majesty!" A guard shoved through the kitchen doors, chest heaving from a sprint. He'd been posted in the hallway.Thor turned in an instant, putting his body between me and the door. "Report.""The other witness — the one Clara named." The guard could barely get the words out. "The kitchen boy. We found him."Elian's eyes went wide. "You found him? Is he all right?"The guard's gaze slid to the boy, then to Thor, his face draining of color. "He's dead, Your Majesty. Stabbed. In the storage pantry. Same as the maid."The breath left my body in one sharp pull. Whatever relief I'd felt a moment ago was gone, replaced by something cold and sharp."Dead?" Elian's legs gave out beneath him. "I saw him — an hour ago, I saw him—""Seal this kitchen." Thor's voice cracked through
I froze in the doorway of the servants' quarters, every human instinct I had screaming that something was wrong before my eyes even caught up. Thor was already a step ahead of me, his broad frame blocking my view for one unbearable second — then he shifted aside, and I saw.Clara was stretched across the narrow cot, her skin so pale it looked almost see-through in the candlelight. A makeshift bandage was pressed hard against her stomach, dark and soaked through. Two guards stood near the door, faces carved from stone."Move." Thor's voice came out low, more growl than word, and I felt it in my own chest.He didn't wait to see if anyone obeyed. He crossed the room in two strides and dropped to his knees beside the bed. I followed on legs that didn't feel like mine, my fingers knotted into the fabric of my skirt. I had no wolf to warn me of danger, no instinct to read the shadows crowding the corners. I was just Bella — human, breakable, afraid."Clara." I reached for her hand. It was c
The porcelain vase shattered against the wall, but the sound did nothing to burn the fire out of my chest."That fool!" I paced the length of my sitting room, my silk robe dragging behind me like a shroud. "That incompetent, bumbling fool!"Klaus sat in the armchair, watching me with that cool, detached look he always wore. He didn't so much as blink at the wreckage. He never did."The Moonstone trial was a disaster." His voice stayed calm, but his eyes were sharp as glass. "The council's sympathy turned the second they saw her memories. We lost our leverage.""We didn't just lose leverage." I stopped and turned on him. "We handed her a stage to play the victim on. Now the guards look at me like I'm the enemy. They whisper when they think I can't hear."Klaus leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Then we move faster. Before the King digs any deeper."I dropped into the chair across from him, my nails biting into the armrests. "Thor's distracted by Ronan's movements. He's barely sleepi
The catacomb floor was damp and unforgiving beneath my knees as I curled into myself, small, trying to disappear. This wasn't ordinary darkness — it had weight, a pressure that pushed against my skin like something alive. My breath came in ragged, shallow pulls as I fought to quiet the pounding in my chest.It was over. The story I'd told myself about Ronan — the noble rebel, the righteous fighter against a corrupt crown — had come apart in my hands, piece by jagged piece.I shut my eyes, but the images wouldn't leave. The war room. The ledger. Rows of mercenary payments, dated months before Bella had even set foot in the palace. Distraction. Fracture. Purge.He hadn't been fighting for the pack. He'd been building its funeral.A sob rose in my throat and I forced it back down, swallowing hard. I couldn't make a sound — not here, not with Ronan and that hooded stranger somewhere above me, hunting through the corridors.My hands flew to my ears, as if I could physically block out his v
Jesse ran, lungs burning with every breath. The darkness around her was total, swallowing whatever light her trembling torch managed to throw. Behind her, the heavy footsteps of Ronan and his hooded companion echoed off the narrow stone walls, closing in."Jesse!" Ronan's voice carried through the tunnel, calm in a way that terrified her more than shouting ever could. "Don't be foolish. Come back here."She didn't slow down. She scrambled around a corner, boots slipping against moss-slicked stone. She'd seen the truth back in that war room — the financial records, the coded plans, the horrifying realization that Ronan cared nothing for the rebellion or the throne. He wanted to break Thor by destroying Bella. And now he knew that she knew it too.A dead end rose ahead of her. Solid, ancient stone with nowhere left to run.Jesse spun, pressing her back flat against the cold rock, torch shaking violently in her grip. The shadows stretched longer as Ronan and the limping stranger closed th
I muttered against his lips, sounding breathier than I wished, "I'm not some fragile egg, you know." "You don't need to be so kind. I'm not easily broken.A slow smile pinched at the corner of the stranger's mouth as he withdrew just enough for me to see his eyes darken with astonishment and someth
Bella's POV I forced my legs up the stairs of the council house. It was the only place I could think of coming to, in order to unwind. In order to breathe without feeling like my chest was collapsing in on itself.I collided into someone, almost losing my balance, but a hand brushed over my back i
Bella's POV My father arrived in Ronan's pack. I rushed towards him, ready to tell him what I had seen.“Ronan cheated on me, father. He was even with his beta as well! He is a hypocrite!" I complained to him, my voice cracking with disbelief and anger.A new wave of murmurs began to spread in the
Bella's POV “Stop believing the voices in your head, Bella. It's not what you think!” My husband snapped.“Not what I think?" I asked, my gaze darting towards the fallen gift box I had returned with." You're supposed to be at the council meeting. Why did you return? It isn't until tomorrow before







