เข้าสู่ระบบAshes and SilverVanessa's POV The silence that followed Abel’s collapse was louder than the gunfire.He hit the snow like a fallen oak, his heavy frame going completely limp, his right hand slipping off his bloody shoulder as his eyes rolled back into his head. Black, silver-poisoned blood pooled beneath him, turning the pristine white powder into a sickening, iron-scented sludge.My heart didn't just drop—it shattered into a thousand jagged pieces.The sight of him, motionless and bleeding out in the freezing dark, broke something fundamental inside me. The proud High Commander of the Vanguard, the man who had built an iron wall around his heart, who had treated me with cold, infuriating military detachment for months... was lying in the snow because he had thrown his own body into the path of a silver sniper round meant for my spine.*No. No, no, no.Panic, raw and suffocating, slammed into my chest like an avalanche. My hands trembled violently as I grabbed the heavy leather of
Abel's POV The Vanguard's DebtThe world broke down into silver smoke, burning wood, and the steady, rhythm of gunfire echoing off the granite cliffs.From the narrow slit window of the watchtower, the valley below looked wrong. Orange light licked up the slate roof of the chalet, heavy smoke billowing sideways into the white storm. The sharp, mechanical clatter of automatic rifles rattled up the pass, followed by the deep, hollow thud of mortar shells hitting old stone."Stay here," I said, my thumb slipping over the leather wrap of my sword hilt, my eyes scanning the lower tree line for Vance’s secondary skirmishers. "My Vanguard will clear the descent. You drop into the ravine and wait for my signal.""If you finish that sentence, Commander," Vanessa said, her voice flat, sharp, and entirely devoid of fear, "I’ll drop you out of this window myself."I turned, letting my Alpha aura roll out in a heavy, quiet pressure that usually made grown men step back and reassess their odds.Va
The Watch tower Vanessa POVBy midnight, the storm hit the northern pass in earnest, the wind tearing through the pines with a high, hollow howl that masked any sound from the valley below.I slipped through the low, iron-reinforced side gate of the chalet, my heavy woolen cloak wrapped tight around my shoulders, the fur-trimmed hood pulled down low over my forehead. The mountain air hit my lungs like a wall of shattered ice, freezing the moisture in my throat before it could even leave my lips. Snow slashed sideways through the pitch-black darkness, piling into deep drifts that swallowed my leather combat boots and obliterated my tracks within seconds of making them.My heart beat in a steady, lethal rhythm that had nothing to do with the bitter cold. As a Lycan royal, my physical endurance far outmatched standard wolf shifters, but even my ancient bloodline couldn't protect my pack from the political nuclear fallout if a perimeter patrol caught me out here past curfew. Vance’s hawk
Vanessa's POV My father’s hazel eyes didn't just flash; they flared with an ancient, terrifying golden fire that felt like it was scorching the skin right off my face. He didn't speak immediately. He simply stood still at his full, imposing height at the head of the long table, the wooden joints groaning under the crushing weight of his fists. "You step into my home," Dad’s voice vibrated low in his chest,a terrifying, double-toned roar of pure Alpha magic that made the leaded glass windows rattle in their iron frames. "You eat at my board, and then you stand there and demand that my daughter abandon the Bloodthorne Pack to return to your cage?" "It is not a cage, Jordan," Ronan replied smoothly. God, I hated his voice.He took a delicate sip from his wine glass, completely untouched by the lethal aura rolling off my father. "It is simply her former home," Ronan continued, his dark eyes sparkling with quiet amusement. "And more importantly, it is the ancestral ground where my Spea
Vanessa's POV The heavy iron gates of the neutral border outpost groaned against the howling wind as I stepped out into the biting morning air. Rain clung to my lashes, blurring the gray forest around me, but inside, my skin was still burning. My pulse hammered violently against my ribs—not from fear, but from the sheer, suffocating heat of Abel’s dark eyes, from the memory of his breath against my lips, and from the brutal, unshielded raw passion that had almost consumed us both in that small tactical office. Before I could even reach the driver’s side of my mud-splattered SUV, a heavy shadow detached itself from the stone archway of the outpost. "Moving in the shadows doesn't suit an Alpha's daughter, Vanessa," a gravelly, metallic voice called out. I froze, my hand hovering over the door handle, and slowly turned. Standing beneath the concrete ledge was Enforcer Vida—Alpha Vance’s chief lieutenant. He was a massive, battle-scarred Lycan whose broad shoulders were draped in t
Vanessa's POV The rain was coming down in relentless sheets, pounding against the corrugated tin roof of the neutral border outpost with a deafening, rhythmic roar. Heavy fog rolled off the muddy mountain pass, swallowing the trees and blanketing the small concrete building in isolated darkness.I didn't bother knocking. I shoved through the heavy front doors, my boots slick with mud, water streaming off my leather coat and pooling on the wooden floorboards.The two guards stationed in the narrow hallway started to raise their sidearms, but the moment they recognized my face—and felt the suffocating, golden heat of my wolf raging under my skin—they froze, lowering their eyes and stepping back against the wall.I marched straight past them to the tactical office at the end of the hall and threw the door wide open.Abel was standing behind a heavy oak desk littered with maps, encrypted comms tablets, and half-empty cups of black coffee. He had his shirt sleeves rolled up to his forearm







