MasukHAYESI stopped at the high iron railing, resting my palms against the cold metal as I leaned over to look down into the quiet, sunlit hall below.My heart stopped beating in my chest.Standing by the far arched window, bathed in the pale morning light, was Gabriel. He was standing directly in front of my wife, his tall frame blocking the doorway, his body pressed dangerously, intimately close to hers.Ciara wasn't drawing the iron dagger from her belt. She wasn't screaming for the guards stationed in the lower hall. She was standing perfectly still against the stone window frame, holding our newborn daughter close against her chest, her body framed by the morning light.From where I stood on the high balcony, looking down through the shadows of the upper archway, I watched Gabriel's hand reach up to her head. His long fingers moved slowly, tenderly through her dark hair, tucking a loose lock behind her ear. His thumb lingered on her pale skin, stroking her temple while he leaned his
CIARAThe stone gallery on the second floor of the keep was silent except for gentle breathing of the infant girl in my arms. The heavy, relentless rain that had battered the mountain for the past three days had finally cleared out, leaving the tall glass panes fogged over with morning dampness and cool grey light. Below in the courtyard, the usual clatter of armories and wagon wheels was strangely muted; Hayes had taken a dozen of his elite enforcers out on an early morning patrol along the treacherous southern ridge to inspect the boundary stones and track Capital scouts.I reached down with my free hand to adjust the blanket around my daughter’s shoulders, letting out a long, quiet sigh. The air in the keep felt cold, but my skin was still tender from the multi-day lockdown in the sanctuary. Hayes had burned the fever out of my blood with relentless, feral intensity, but the emotional distance between us still hung in the room like stagnant smoke."You look remarkably natural with
CIARAThe fever started deep inside the mark on my throat.By the next afternoon, the skin where Hayes had bitten me felt like a bed of burning coals. Every pulse of my heart sent a sharp spike of agony up into my jaw and straight down through my chest. I was lying on the bed in our private chambers, shivering violently under three layers of heavy bear furs while sweat soaked through my nightgown.The heavy nursery door connected to our master room creaked open, and Dr. Logan stepped inside with the twin heirs were whimpering softly, their small golden eyes wide as their scent senses picked up the distress radiating off my skin."Her blood temperature is rising too fast, Alpha," Dr. Logan said, looking nervously over his shoulder at Hayes, who stood near the window like a dark, looming shadow. "The children can smell her distress. The double-Alpha bloodline in these infants makes them hyper-sensitive to their mother's mate mark. If her fever doesn't break, her milk will turn bitter,
CIARAThe rain had stopped, leaving the stone courtyard cold. I sat alone on the cracked edge of the stone fountain where Hayes had slammed Gabriel hours earlier. My high-necked wool dress was still heavy and damp around my ankles, but I didn't care enough to go upstairs and change. Hayes was inside with the twins and I didn’t want to run into him. "Sitting in a puddle crying over two idiot males is not going to win you a war, Luna."I jumped, my hand dropping to the small iron dagger tucked inside my belt.Standing near the wooden stable archway was a tall female wrapped in a thick coat of white wolf fur and boiled black leather. She had sharp, icy blue eyes, pale scarred skin, and two heavy steel broadswords strapped across her back. She didn't walk like a noble lady—she moved like a veteran enforcer who lived on horseback.It was Lady Vanya, the female Alpha of the Frost-Peak clan from the northern tundra."I am not crying," I said, wiping the cold moisture off my cheeks with th
CIARAThe Hall was choked with the smell of food as fifteen other pack leaders sat across the table.Hayes sat at the head of the long table, his broad shoulders stiff, his large hand clamped so tightly around his iron goblet that the metal bent under his grip. I sat to his right in my Luna chair, wearing a simple high-necked gown of dark wool that completely covered the fresh red bite marks on my throat from last night.Directly across from us sat Lord Gabriel.He had returned under his white truce banner for the evening feast, looking entirely unfazed by the storm outside. His silver hair fell neatly over his dark leather coat, his cold grey eyes constantly drifting over the high collar of my dress with an amused, knowing smirk."The trade routes through the southern pass are secure for the winter, Alpha Hayes," Lord Thomas, an elder from the eastern valley, said as he cut a thick piece of meat on his wooden plate. "If we pool our enforcers at the river, we can hold the lower road a
CIARAEver since Gabriel pressed his mouth to my wrist in the Great Hall, my mark had been throbbing with a sick, feverish heat. Hayes had spent the entire afternoon pacing the floorboards of our quarters, his heavy boots thudding back and forth while he barked orders down to the courtyard. Every time he looked at my skin, his eyes turned dark gold, but he was too angry to come near me.By midnight, the heat under my skin felt like needles. I was sitting at the wooden table in my thin linen shift, trying to cool my collarbone with a wet cloth, when the side door to the balcony creaked open.I stood up instantly, my hand going to the iron dagger on the table. "Who is there?"Nobody answered. The wind blew through the crack, carrying a small, square wooden box wrapped in dark velvet. It sat right on the stone threshold of the balcony door.I walked over slowly, picked up the box, and brought it to the candlelight. Inside lay a dress made of crushed silver silk. The fabric felt like cold
~CIARA~The maid’s face drained of color so fast, it almost made me regret asking. Her lips parted slowly, but no words came out. She looked like my request had triggered a trauma she was yet to recover from. She pulled her hand away from mine. “I..I can’t.”I should have dropped it. She looked un
~CIARA~The ride to Alpha Graham’s house was quiet to the point of suffocation. He wasn’t saying anything, and my mind was stupidly replaying the moment he said ‘you belong to me now’ like I was just property to be owned. Fidgeting with my fingers, I stole a quick glance at him, and he seemed rath
My breath caught in my throat.Husband?The word shouldn’t have affected me, but it did anyway. I forced myself to look away from Alpha Graham, but it felt impossible. There was something about his eyes—the way they effortlessly held me in place, like I needed his permission to move my own body.“C
~CIARA~No. No. No.My fingers trembled around the contract as my eyes scanned it again.Graham Hayes.The same Alpha from earlier.The same man whose touch still burned against my skin.I’d heard rumors about his ruthlessness. Cruelty. Unhinged personality. He didn’t seem like the polite man that







