LOGINTalia’s POV As an Alpha Princess, there was one thing I was blessed with. I always had this feeling of dread when something really wrong was going to happen. I woke up this morning and that feeling slithered into my chest before the door even opened. Before the omega even hurriedly knocked on my door. I was already pacing, my silk skirts brushed against my legs and my nails dug into my palms as if my body knew what my mind hadn’t fully caught up to yet. Something had gone wrong. Again. “Alpha Princess,” an omega’s voice called from the other side of the door, breathless and panicked. “Princess Talia… there’s… are you there? There’s something you need to see. It’s urgent.”I whirled, irritation flared hot and fast. “I said not to disturb me…”The door opened anyway. She rushed in, young, stupid and shaking and holding a stack of papers and a glossy magazine clutched close to her chest like a shield. That’s when I saw the headline. COUNCIL FRACTURE? REDWIND ALPHA FACES INTERNAL
Damon’s POVThe mistake that they made was not spying on me. It wasn’t even because they targeted Mara. The mistake that they made was believing that I would react like a cornered animal instead of what I was. A strategist bred for war. I wasn’t one to rage blindly. I wasn’t one to lash out without calculations and every Alpha in my bloodline learned that lesson early on. Emotion is just fuel, it is not the steering wheel. And tonight, I was going to light a fire that was so controlled and so precise that it would only burn exactly who I needed it to burn. Talia wanted leverage. And Darius wanted chaos.I would give them both something that was far worse, exposure. ***We gathered in what we had turned into a war room in the safehouse, just before dawn. The sun hadn’t risen yet but none of us had enjoyed a good night's sleep. I had been abruptly woken up by Mara’s dream and I doubt she had a good one either with the vision or trance she had with her mother. The tension in t
Damon’s POV“She wanted leverage…” Collina whispered. “That’s the part I know. She said she needed to find out Alpha Damon’s weaknesses so she could…”She cut herself off. Kai angrily surged forward, his anger reverberated through my bones. “you better finish that sentence,” I growled.Collina opened her eyes, tears now streaked down her cheeks. “Please. I can’t. They’ll know it was me.”“You should be more scared of what we will do to you if you do not speak the truth. There are many more ways, many more creative ways to make people talk and I know a couple of them.” Ryan chimed in. The Mage coughed, then said a few things in a low murmur. “She will speak… that’s certain.” “She said she wanted to make you pay. To make you bleed for what you had done to her. She and,,,, she wanted to make sure she dealt with you through… her.” She nodded towards Mara. Zeta swore under his breath and Ryan’s hand tightened on his blade. I felt something inside me fracture, not loudly and not in a
Damon’s POV I could smell the fear. No other interrogations mattered the way this one does. I stood across from her, my arms crossed, my presence deliberately restrained. If I let too much of my aura loose in this situation, this girl would be unconscious or dead before she even said what we needed her to say. That won’t do. I needed her awake and coherent. We needed the truth.Ryan now stood to my right, silent but alert, his hands rested casually on the blade at his thigh. Zeta leaned against the far wall, arms folded, eyes sharp and unreadable. And then there was the Mage. I could feel that he had just used magic in a way we didn’t see. The power hummed around him, old and watchful. His presence was heavy in the room in a way that had nothing to do with rank or even physical strength. He sat with his hood low, but I knew he was watching. The woman in the chair, Collina, kept her gaze fixed on the floor. That was good. It meant that she felt small at that moment. “The bl
Collina’s POV The dirt in the bushes pressed into my ribs, it was unforgiving and cold but I didn’t dare move. Not even an inch. I couldn’t even breathe too loud. I lay flat on my stomach in the narrow bushes at the front of the safehouse, the leaves scratched my cheek and I was sure there were some dried leaves tangled in my hair. The position was miserable and humiliating but it was necessary. I had been trained for these kinds of things and I was good at it. Observation. Patience and Endurance. Still, my muscles couldn’t help but tremble with the effort it took to stay perfectly still. The house loomed just above me, lights shined through the thick glass. It looked rather ordinary and peaceful to anyone who got this far enough but they’d never guess the kind of people that sat inside the walls. An Alpha. Alpha Damon. And his mistress. And betas. I angled my ear towards the window above me, strained past the sound of insects and the rustle of trees. The voices reached m
The Mage’s POV I did not intend to speak this much to them… That is the first thing the Goddess had said when she ordered me to arrive here to guide both Damon and Mara as both of them were losing touch with what she wanted them to do. But Mara’s question landed on me, she didn't shout and she hadn’t really demanded but she was clearly troubled and I found her softness shaking. Her anguish cut deeper than any other force ever could. “So no one searched for her apart from my father? Does that mean that they didn’t care that she was missing?” The room was quiet… It felt like everyone was waiting for some deep secret to be unveiled by me. Damon was now standing near the window with his arms crossed and his Alpha aura on a leash. Ryan and Zeta lingered farther back in the room, pretending that they weren’t as invested into this part as they truly were. Mara was dressed up now, seated across from me. She wasn’t defensive or even angry. She was simply waiting. She assumed if she







