MasukThey found the entrance just after midday.It wasn’t marked.It wasn’t guarded.It wasn’t even meant to be found.A crack in the mountain’s lower ridge, hidden beneath layers of collapsed stone and dead roots, opened like a wound in the earth.Aria stopped the moment she saw it.Her breath caught sharply.Ronan noticed instantly.“Aria?”She didn’t answer at first.Because she could feel it now—clearly.Not just below them.Ahead of them.Waiting.Marcus stepped closer, narrowing his eyes at the dark opening.“That’s it?”Garrick crouched slightly, inspecting the ground.“No guards. No traps. Nothing.”“That’s worse,” Marcus muttered.Aria slowly stepped forward.Ronan immediately moved to block her path.“You’re not going in first,” he said firmly.She looked up at him.“I have to.”“That is not a discussion.”Her voice softened slightly.“It’s calling me, Ronan.”His jaw tig
They left before sunrise.Not as an army.Not even as a full council decision.Just a small group moving quietly through the fortress gates while most of the kingdom still slept—because if too many knew, too many would try to stop them.Or follow them.And Ronan couldn’t allow either.Aria rode beside him in silence, her cloak drawn tightly around her body as the cold wind cut across the open land beyond the fortress walls. Ahead of them, Marcus led the path, while Garrick and a handful of elite warriors followed behind at a careful distance.No one spoke much.Not because there was nothing to say.But because everything had already been said.The mountains loomed in the distance like dark teeth against the pale sky.Every mile they moved toward them felt heavier than the last.Aria’s hand rested against her stomach almost constantly now.The third triplet was awake.Not fully.But aware enough that she could feel it respon
The moment the voice vanished, the throne hall lights flared back to life.But nothing felt normal anymore.The silver threads were gone.The voice was gone.Yet the air still carried its presence—like a wound that refused to close.Aria stood frozen beside Ronan, her hand pressed tightly against her stomach as if trying to calm the violent reaction still echoing through the third triplet.It had reached back.That was the part she couldn’t stop thinking about.Not fear.Not warning.Response.Ronan turned toward her instantly.“Talk to me,” he said quietly.Aria shook her head once.“I didn’t do anything.”“That wasn’t what I asked.”Her throat tightened.“I felt it reach me,” she whispered. “Not through the bond. Not through the threads.”A pause.“Directly.”Silence dropped over the chamber.Marcus exhaled slowly.“That’s getting worse.”Garrick shot him a look.“It’s getting closer.”
The throne hall emptied quickly after that.Fear moved faster than orders.The gathered Alphas left with grim expressions, their escorts whispering anxiously among themselves as they disappeared through the fortress corridors. Even the guards seemed unsettled now, their hands resting too close to their weapons whenever they looked toward Aria.No one said it aloud.But the kingdom had begun preparing for the possibility that the queen herself might become the greatest threat they faced.Ronan felt it.And it infuriated him.The massive doors to the throne hall slammed shut behind the last Alpha, leaving only Ronan, Aria, Marcus, Garrick, and Malrik standing in the heavy silence.Aria still leaned against Ronan’s chest, her breathing uneven from the violent surge that had ripped through her moments earlier.The third triplet had gone quiet again.Too quiet.“What did you see?” Marcus asked carefully.Aria swallowed hard.Her hands t
The kingdom began breaking apart quietly.Not through war.Not through bloodshed.Through whispers.Fear turned wolves against each other faster than claws ever could.By morning, the fortress no longer felt united. Guards who once stood proudly beside one another now exchanged uncertain looks during patrol shifts. Servants spoke in hushed voices when Aria passed. Even the air itself felt heavier, burdened by tension no one could escape.And somewhere beyond the mountains—The entity continued growing stronger.Aria felt it constantly now.The threads beneath the world.Stretching.Connecting.Waiting.She stood inside the nursery chambers, one hand resting protectively against her stomach while the triplets stirred softly beneath her palm.The room should have felt comforting.Safe.Instead, it felt like the only place left where she could still breathe.“They’re afraid of us,” she whispered quietly.The first
The council chamber never fully recovered after the explosion.Neither did the kingdom.By nightfall, rumors had already spread beyond the fortress walls.A wolf had exploded from the inside.Silver light had destroyed part of the council hall.And the queen—The queen had known it was going to happen before anyone else.Fear moved faster than truth.It always did.Aria stood silently on the balcony outside the royal chamber, staring into the darkness stretching beyond the mountains. The cold night wind pushed through her hair, but she barely felt it.Her mind remained trapped inside the council hall.The young wolf’s terrified eyes.The way the entity had spoken through him so calmly.And worst of all—The final whisper still echoing inside her head.They’ll fear you soon too.A door opened quietly behind her.Ronan stepped onto the balcony.For several moments, he said nothing.He simply watched her.S
The training grounds lay beyond the eastern wing of the fortress, carved into stone and shadow like a battlefield frozen in time. The air smelled of iron and earth, sweat and old blood soaked so deeply into the ground that no rain could wash it away. I stood at the edge of it, arms crossed tightly
The creature moved first.It didn’t hesitate.Didn’t warn.Its massive claw came down with enough force to shatter the ground where Aria stood—But she was already gone.She didn’t dodge.She shifted.Not in body.In space.One moment she stood before it—The next, she reappeared several feet away,
The gates opened.Not in surrender.In defiance.A thunderous creak echoed through the fortress as the massive iron doors split apart, revealing the battlefield beyond. Wind rushed in, carrying the stench of corruption and the low, vibrating growl of the creature that waited.For one heartbeat—Eve
Morning arrived heavy and gray over the fortress.The courtyard still smelled faintly of blood and smoke from the Stone Ridge rebellion. Though the fires had been extinguished and the bodies removed before dawn, the tension remained—thick in the air like a storm refusing to break.Aria stood by the







