LOGINEPILOGUEZAHRA-ROSESix months later.The palace no longer looked like a place that had survived a war.The broken windows had been replaced.The walls had been rebuilt.The courtyard had been cleared of rubble.And where weapons had once been raised against one another, wolves now gathered every evening beneath the same moon.But some things couldnât be rebuilt with stone. Some wounds needed truth.Some needed time. And some needed answers.I stood inside the archive.The same room that had once terrified me.The same room where I had first heard the voices.The same room where I had discovered that almost everything I believed about myself had been a lie.Ashvin stood beside me.He had become annoyingly fond of following me everywhere.I glanced at him.âYou know you donât have to come with me every time I enter this room.ââYes, I do.ââWhy?ââBecause the last time you came here alone, you discovered a thousand-year conspiracy.âI smiled.âThat happened once.ââOnce was enough.âI
THE LAST BATTLEZAHRA-ROSEWe charged. The creature moved first.It was faster than something that large had any right to be.One second it stood across the hall.The next it was on us.I barely had time to react.A massive claw swung toward my chest.I dropped. The claw sliced through the air above my head.Ashvin attacked from the side.His weapon struck the creatureâs ribs.A burst of white light exploded from the impact.The creature roared. It stumbled backward.I sprang to my feet.âAgain!âAshvin nodded.We moved together. Not separately.Not as two fighters standing beside each other. Together. He struck high.I struck low.The creature twisted away from him, straight into me.I drove my claws into its shoulder.Its skin was freezing.Not cold.Freezing.The instant my claws touched it, pain shot through my arm.I screamed.Eira snarled inside me.Let me.My eyes flashed white.I pushed deeper.The creature shrieked.Black smoke poured from beneath my claws.âWhat are you?â I
THE CHOICEZAHRA-ROSEFor several seconds, nobody moved.The ancient prophecy lay open between us.The last line seemed to burn into my mind.And together, they will end the bloodline that hunted them.I read it again.Then again.Something about it bothered me.Not the part about Ashvin.Not even the part about the seal.The word end.Eira stirred inside me.You feel it too.âYes.âAshvin looked at me.âWhat?âI pointed at the page.âThis.âHis eyes followed my finger.âThe bloodline.âMy mother went still.Ashvinâs expression hardened.âWhat about it?âI looked at her.âYou said the original prophecy was changed.âShe nodded slowly.âBy your father.ââWhy?âShe didnât answer immediately.That scared me more than anything.âMother.âShe closed the book.âBecause the original prophecy wasnât a promise.âMy stomach tightened.âWhat was it?ââA warning.âThe room seemed to grow colder.Ashvin stepped closer.âAbout what?âMy mother looked between us.âAbout what happens when the White W
ZAHRA-ROSEAsael stared at us. For the first time since I had known him, there was no smugness in his eyes.Only fear, good.I wanted him to feel it. I took another step forward.âYou lied to everyone.âHis jaw tightened.âI did what was necessary.ââYou manipulated Ashvin.ââI gave him the truth his family had hidden.ââNo.âMy voice echoed through the hall.âYou gave him half the truth.âAshvin stepped beside me.âAnd you used my family against her.âAsael laughed bitterly.âYour family didnât need much convincing.âAshvinâs eyes darkened.âMy family believed I was meant to kill her.ââBecause thatâs what they were taught.ââBy you.âAsael shrugged.âBy generations before me.âI felt something cold settle inside my chest.âThen this ends with you.âAsael looked at me.âYou think youâre powerful because those wolves bowed to you?âHe laughed.âYouâve only awakened the first layer.âMy eyes narrowed.âWhat does that mean?âHe reached beneath his coat.Ashvin immediately moved.But Asa
ZAHRA-ROSEI charged.The first wolf barely had time to raise his weapon before I slammed into him. His body flew across the hall. Another came from my left. I turned.My claws caught his chest and sent him crashing into the wall.Another. Another.They kept coming.But this time, I wasnât fighting blindly. I knew who I was. I knew what they wanted.And I knew exactly who was standing beside me.Ashvin.He moved like he had been born for this.Every time someone came toward me, he was there.Every time someone came toward him, I was there.We didnât need to speak.We simply moved. Together.A wolf lunged toward my mother. I saw him.Ashvin saw him too.But I got there first.I caught the wolf by his throat and slammed him against the ground.My mother stared at me.âZahra.âI looked back.âStay behind us.âShe shook her head.âNo.âI blinked.She reached for something beneath her dress.A blade.My eyes widened.âYou can fight?âShe smiled.âI raised you, didnât I?âThen she attacked.
ZAHRA-ROSEThe moment we stepped inside the palace, the doors slammed shut behind us. I turned and it was locked. Of course.âInteresting welcome,â Ashvin muttered.I ignored him, my eyes were already searching the enormous hall. Dark East had always been described as dangerous.Cold and unforgiving.But this place didnât feel dangerous. It felt abandoned.There were no servants, no guards and not a single voices.Only rows of ancient portraits covering the walls.I walked closer. The first portrait showed a woman holding a white wolf pup.The second showed a man standing beside her. Then another. And another.Seven portraits. Seven couples. Seven different generations.My breathing stopped.âAshvin.âHe came beside me.His eyes moved across the portraits.âThose are the protectors.âI nodded.But something bothered me.I stepped closer to the first portrait.There was writing beneath it.I brushed the dust away.THE FIRST WHITE WOLF AND THE FIRST PROTECTOR.I moved to the second.THE
ASHVINThe first time I met Zahra-Rose, the girl my brother was so obsessed with, I stayed hidden, watching her from the shadows since. I had no idea why I couldnât walk away, but something about her demanded my attention.Her white, fair skin glowed under the roomâs warm light, and even with her
It had been two days. Two days since my father was laid to rest. Two days of endless, frantic searching for my mother and sisters. And yet, no matter how hard we tried, we hadnât found a single trace of them, it was like they had vanished into thin air.I kept telling myself this had to be some cru
I scrambled to my feet, shoving him off me as I staggered backward. My heart pounded, disbelief and confusion washing over me.What the hell is he doing here? No, what is Alpha Ashvin doing working as a stripper?Heâs one of the most powerful Alphas in the four realms, feared and held in awe to in
The humiliation still clung to me like a stubborn shadow, impossible to shake. No matter how many drinks I downed, the memory of being left standing at the altar alone, humiliated, and exposed before countless witnesses was a weight I couldnât lift.I tilted the glass in my hand, swallowing the las







