登入Serenity Pov The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes that morning was Valerius lying motionless on the hospital bed inside our private medical suite.The palace healers had done everything they could to stabilize him, but none of them could tell me when he would wake up. His wound had healed completely, yet the curse had dragged him into a coma, and my powers had failed to bring him back.I held his hand against my cheek, trying to stop the tears that kept falling. “You cannot leave me like this, Valerius. You promised we would raise our pups together. You promised me a future.”He gave me no answer.Marcus stood quietly near the door, giving me time to speak to my husband even though we both knew he could not hear me. I wanted to stay there, holding his hand until he opened his eyes, but the reports coming into the palace kept reminding me that I still had enemies to deal with.Erica, Gideon, and Tristan were alive, and the mercenaries they had brought to the border had scattere
Serenity Pov I clutched my womb as I turned to leave, my breathing still uneven from the power I had released. Around us, Gideon, Erica, Tristan, and the mercenaries remained pinned to the ground, unable to rise against my command. For the first time, they were the ones staring up at me helplessly.Valerius moved beside me, his hand settling around my waist as we headed back toward our waiting vehicles. I had barely taken a few steps when I heard Erica's furious scream behind us.“If I cannot have your life, Serenity, then I will take the one thing you love most!”I turned at the sound, but Erica was already throwing something in our direction. A dagger flashed through the air, its blade coated with the unmistakable greenish stain of wolfsbane.Valerius saw it before I could react.“Serenity, get down!”He shoved me aside and caught the dagger with his bare hand.“Valerius!”My scream tore through the air as he closed his fist around the blade. The wolfsbane burned into his chest, an
Serenity PovI stared at him, almost amazed that he still believed he had the right to give me orders. "Your family?""You were raised by us," he insisted. "Whatever happened in the past, you owe us respect. You cannot simply abandon the people who cared for you because a man has filled your head with lies."A bitter laugh escaped me before I could stop it. "You murdered my parents, Gideon. You stole their land and their wealth, then forced their daughter to live like a useless servant in a home you built with what you stole. What part of that deserves my respect?"The confidence on his face faltered, and his eyes darted toward the mercenaries behind him. He had brought them here expecting me to be frightened, expecting the girl he once controlled to beg him for mercy. Instead, the truth he had spent twenty years hiding stood between us, and he had no answer that could make it disappear.Erica's hands tightened at her sides as her eyes moved between me and Valerius. Whatever fear
Serenity PovThe cold wind swept across the northern border as Frost Pack security and warriors assembled behind us. Black SUVs and security vehicles lined the road leading to the border, their headlights cutting through the falling snow. I pulled my coat closer around my body, protecting my pregnant belly from the cold, while Valerius stood beside me with his golden eyes fixed on the figures gathered across the open ground.The twins had been restless since we left the palace, and I could feel their movements beneath my palm. I was heavily pregnant now, and although Valerius had offered to handle everything without my involvement, there was no way I would remain in the palace while Gideon, Erica, and Tristan stood outside our territory demanding that I be returned to Blackwood.The same people who had stolen my inheritance, murdered my parents, and spent twenty years treating me like a servant now believed they could come to my husband's territory and take me away. I almost laugh
Serenity Pov The deepest dungeon smelled of damp stone, rusted iron, and cold air.I stood on the stone floor, wrapped in a dark fur cloak to protect my pregnant belly from the new cold season. Valerius stood close behind me, one hand resting against my lower back as if he could feel every change in my breathing.The failed assassin was tied to a pillar in the middle of the cell. She trembled uncontrollably, her lip split, her eyes bloodshot, and her white healer's robes torn. We hadn't needed to use the torturer's iron to make her talk. The pressure of Valerius's Alpha aura, combined with the silver energy coming from me, had already frightened her."I... I'll tell you everything!" she cried, her voice echoing through the cell. "It was Luna Erica! She paid me five thousand and promised to help me escape to the eastern coast! She gave me the poison herself!"With a shaking, bloodstained hand, she reached into the torn lining of her inner pocket and pulled out a folded parchment se
Serenity PovThe doors of the grand court swung open, and the chatter of two dozen visiting pack delegates and High Court emissaries died away.I sat on the Obsidian Throne, the warmth against my back, while Valerius sat half a step below me on my right. His dark gaze swept over the assembly, making it clear that anyone who dared disrespect me would have to answer to him. I wore a deep crimson red gown woven with silver thread that shone in the torchlight, and my hair was pinned back with a crown carved from frost-black obsidian.Today was my first formal public court as the reigning Queen.For twenty years, I had stood before lords like Alpha Morgran of the Ironstone Pack as a servant, scrubbing their boots while they ignored me or treated me like dirt. Now, Morgran stood in the middle of the marble floor, his broad shoulders stiff beneath his gray furs and his bearded face showing his deliberate disrespect."We acknowledge King Valerius's sovereign right to rule the northern borde







