Mag-log in"Open this goddamn door, Nathalia!” I pounded on the thick wood until my knuckles burned.No one answered from the other side of the hallway. My breath came in harsh gasps, tearing at my throat. I felt the walls of the room swaying. The dark floorboards seemed to give way beneath my bare feet, as if the very earth were crumbling.“Liana... wake up,” I whispered, pressing my fist against my chest. “I need you to wake up now.”A freezing pull tangled in my entrails. The acrid liquid Nathalia had forced me to swallow minutes ago was no simple sedative. It burned from within, numbing the bond with my she-wolf. Liana scratched at the back of my mind, trapped behind a wall of heavy fog, emitting muffled groans that twisted my belly.I stumbled toward the window. The wooden frame was nailed shut from the outside with cross slats. Through the cracks, the night blizzard whistled with the violence of a thousand ice daggers. The cold seeping through the crevices froze the sweat on my forehead, b
“Move,” I ordered.We left the mansion's perimeter on foot, plunging directly into the density of the forest under the midnight storm.The journey was hell.Every stride I took tore at the muscles in my neck. Mark's toxin acted like red-hot pins in my bloodstream, making me stagger between the pine trunks. My vision blurred at times, stained by black flashes warning me of the imminent collapse of my Hybrid heart.Beside me, Caleb advanced, limping violently. His broken bone crunched with every step, blood gushing from his knee and leaving a scarlet footprint on the wet leaf litter. Neither of us spoke for three kilometers. We were two badly wounded beasts marching into the abyss by the scent of our females.Upon reaching the crest of the ravine that divided the northern sector from Eclipse territory, we stopped.In the distance, shrouded in the valley's fog, Nathalia's stone cabin rose like a burning pyre. Fire devoured the woode
POV: KILLIAN BLACKWOODThe crunch of the cracked screen resonated in the gloom of my office.The image of the transmission cut off by Silas gave way to the system's alarms flashing red. On the control panel, the satellite map of the province showed the northern sector in flames.I wiped the plasma from my neck with the back of my hand and walked straight toward the private armory.“Killian, for the Goddess's sake, don't move!” Sarah shouted, bursting into the hallway with two bags of synthetic plasma and a surgical suture kit. “You have your jugular artery exposed! The Eclipse poison keeps infecting your cells. If you go out into the storm in this state, you'll go into anaphylactic shock before you reach the border.”“Turn off the alarm, Sarah,” I ordered, opening the steel armory and pulling out a tactical harness with two daggers of pure silver.“Listen to me, you idiot!” Sarah stood across the doorframe, holding up the suture needle. “If I don't clean your wound and apply the antid
“You... you shattered her mind with a lie...” the Alpha hissed.“We gave her exactly what she needed to hate you with every fiber of her soul,” I sentenced severely. “Now Ivy detests you. She believes you are an incestuous monster who wanted to murder her child. Even if you manage to leave that mansion, she will never look into your eyes again without feeling repulsion.”Killian clenched his teeth, the pain of betrayal and manipulation burning the circuits of his mind.“Time is running out, Blackwood,” I said, pointing to the digital clock on the monitor marking three minutes to the limit. “Sign the surrender of the south and I will order Nathalia to hand over the purifying infusion to save the pup's life. If you refuse, the execution order is sent immediately. Choose: your empire or your female's life.”Killian looked at the split screen. He looked at the image of Ivy sleeping on the cabin's stone bed, hands cradling her belly, and then looked at the digital abdication document float
I touched the touchscreen and sent the live video signal originating from the northern forest cabin.On the right side of Killian's monitor, the crisp image of the stone suite appeared.Ivy lay upon the wooden bed, pale, with her hospital gown stained with blood and her eyelids closed under the effect of Nathalia's willow infusion. Her right hand rested over her lower belly in a purely defensive posture.Killian pressed close to the screen on his side. His pupils dilated until devouring the iris completely.“Ivy...” the whisper escaped the Hybrid's throat in a thread of a human voice, broken, loaded with a soul-shattering pain that vibrated through the speakers. “Little bird...”“She is alive, Blackwood,” I told him, interrupting his contemplation. “For now. My ally in the forest keeps her under sterilized custody.”“Let her go, Silas!” Killian roared, slamming both palms against his terminal's camera, cracking the lens. “Tell me where that cabin is! I'll give you whatever you want! I
POV: SILAS (ECLIPSE ALPHA)The dense smoke of a leaf cigar mixed with the smell of gunpowder and leather inside the military office of the Eclipse headquarters.I remained standing in front of the reinforced window, watching the rain fall over the border mountains as I adjusted the buttons of my combat uniform.The sharp beeping of the satellite terminal cut through the room's silence.Garon, my trusted Beta, crossed the dark wood door with quick steps and placed a tactical encryption microchip on the desk.“Sir, the report from the underground network arrived,” Garon said, squaring up two meters away. “The Richards pup fell into the trap. Killian's guards transferred him to the armored basement in the west wing.”“Is he still alive?” I asked without turning, releasing a puff of gray smoke.“Barely, Alpha,” Garon answered. “They embedded a blade of pure silver into the base of his neck. The Eclipse serum keeps his cells in a suspended coma. Killian gave the order to keep him chained w







