LOGINThe Redborne pack continued to face one test after another.
This time, the High Council sent an urgent summons. A shipment linked to Redborne territory was under investigation for smuggling infertility potions and silver weapons into Furtooth lands.Matthias had no choice but to attend the council trial. Shaina insisted on going with him.The moment they arrived, something felt deeply wrong. Only Elder Varyn and two other elders sat at the high table. No full council. No public aThe first volley of rifle fire cracked across the square.Liliana dropped low on the car roof and shouted over the noise. “Get down! Take cover now!”Residents scattered toward doorways, overturned carts, and the nearest walls. Bullets sparked off metal and tore chips from stone. Liliana half-shifted in a rush of silver-gold energy, claws lengthening, senses sharpening, strength flooding her limbs, while keeping her full Lycan form locked away. She launched from the vehicle as the second wave of shots came.She hit the ground running. One warrior swung his rifle toward her; she twisted aside, the bullet passing close enough to burn the air by her cheek, then closed the distance and ripped the weapon from his hands. The next man tried to fire at point-blank range. She knocked the barrel upward so the shot went into the sky, drove her clawed hand into his throat, and moved on before his body finished falling.“Hand over the vials!” another warrior shoute
The closer the car drew to the Hardtooth border, the clearer the disaster became.Residents were already fleeing along the cracked roads, and many of them had reached the final stage of the sickness. Patches of skin hung loose or had begun to blacken and peel away while they still tried to run. A few staggered into the path of the vehicle and slammed their open hands against the windows, begging for help in broken voices, only to collapse moments later in the dust.Liliana kept her eyes forward. “Don’t stop. Drive straight to the center. Hardtooth is small enough that the whole pack lives on the same ground. That makes a lockdown possible if we move fast.”Lyora tightened her grip on the wheel and pushed the car through the thinning crowds until the heart of the territory opened in front of them. Houses stood sealed shut. Some people still knocked weakly on doors that would not open; others sat against walls with empty eyes, already past hope. At the far e
Liliana reached the marked drop-off point at a full run and only slowed when the scent of fever and ash hit her.One Mist scout sat on the ground with her arms locked around the remaining box of Antitoxin, and an empty vial lay in the dirt beside her boot. The other two scouts were nowhere in sight. After shifting back to human form, Liliana turned her head and traced the path the group must have used. Scorch marks and the faint smell of burned flesh still clung to the wind.When the scout looked up and recognized Liliana, her face crumpled. Tears started falling without sound at first, then in hard, shaking sobs.“I followed the order,” she managed. “Timeon and Dabrev… they didn’t make it. I burned them. I made sure nothing was left that could touch anyone else.”At those words Liliana’s fists clenched at her sides until her nails bit into her palms. Two more names had just been added to the cost.She crouched in front of the woman and kept her voice s
When the car stopped at the edge of Redridge, Liliana stepped out first and turned to the others.“No one leaves the settlement until I say otherwise.”She did not wait for answers. She headed straight for Sendro’s laboratory with the old healer already falling into step beside her. Laclam appeared in the doorway the moment they entered, already reaching for a travel bag, but Liliana stopped him with a sharp look.“You stay. I will not risk both of our healers at the same time.”Laclam’s jaw tightened, yet he stepped back without argument. Sendro and Liliana pulled on full protective gear, sealed suits, gloves, and masks that covered every inch of skin, before they took a small case of Antitoxin vials and ran for the meeting point the SIN scouts had been ordered to hold.They found the two scouts already on the ground, chests heaving, faces flushed with high fever. Liliana dropped to her knees beside the first one while Sendro worked on the second.
Liliana gestured toward the chair again and kept her voice even.“Sit properly. This will take a while. I need you to tell me everything you still remember.”Fitz settled deeper into the seat, resting his hands on his knees. He looked at each of them in turn before he began.“I remember a cage,” he said slowly. “There were a lot of us. Most of the others were kept together, but I was in a separate one. I used to hear the handlers talking about bloodlines and prices. Hybrids were worth more, but a human-wolf mix was the lowest rank. They said it like it was nothing.”Liliana leaned forward a little. “Were you ever taken out and brought back?”Fitz shook his head. “They kept me hidden. Selling me before I could shift would have dropped the price, so they waited. I stayed in that cage until I was ten and shifted for the first time. That same night they put me in an auction. Zykos bought me there.”Matthias’s low growl rolled through the room. He repeated the wor
Inside the study the morning light had already shifted across the desk by the time Liliana pointed at the chairs and told her parents to sit.Matthias gave her a look but lowered himself into the nearest seat without argument, while Shaina settled on the couch and smoothed her dress as she watched their daughter. Liliana unlocked her phone, pulled up the short encrypted message, and held it out so her father could read every line.Matthias took the phone and let his eyes move slowly over the words. As he read, the easy warmth from earlier drained from his face and was replaced by something tighter and more focused. When he finished he handed the phone back, leaned into the chair, and rubbed his chin with one hand while staring at nothing for a few seconds.“Two weeks,” Liliana said, her voice low. “That’s the next shipment. The way it’s written… those cubs aren’t ordinary. They’re being treated like high-end goods. Especially the hybrid.”Shaina’s fing
Since Liliana was born, Shaina and Matthias had become very busy with pack duties and business. But they always made sure to set aside time for their family. They ate dinner together most nights. They read stories to Liliana before bed. And on quiet mornings, the three of them would walk in the
The weeks after their bonding turned into months of pure heat. Matthias and Shaina could not keep their hands off each other. Whenever Matthias finished his work early and came home to the mansion, Shaina would never leave their shared bedroom. She waited for him there, already wet and ready.The
For a week, the Redborne mansion buzzed with celebration. Shaina settled into her new life as Luna of the Redborne pack. Servants bowed when she passed. Her days filled with learning the layout of the grand house and planning small projects with the funds Matthias had given her.Matthias stayed bu
"Matthias, I accept the bond between us." Shaina stepped forward, helping the kneeling Redborne Lycan to his feet. Shaina was the sought-after Luna from the Silvershade Pack, home to the most dominant Omega bloodline. "Shaina, you will never regret choosing me," Matthias said, gripping her hands







