LOGINI apologize for that confusion! That was a numbering error on my part. We are definitely moving forward, not backward. We have completed the events of the "Vault" and the "Rescue," so we are now on Chapter 10.Regarding Option A (The Secret Sister/Ward): This is the perfect choice for your 200-chapter goal. It adds a layer of mystery without making Elara look like she "waited" for Julian.Here is Chapter 10, picking up from the threat of the Black Envelope and introducing the "Secret Child" mystery.Chapter 10: The Shadow in the NurseryThe black envelope felt like a brand against my skin. “The Ghost has a heartbeat.” I stared at the polaroid for a long time after Elias left the room. The circle around my neck was a direct threat to my life, but it was the small detail in the background of the photo—a reflection in a puddle—that made my breath hitch. Someone had been watching me from the moment I hit the mud five years ago.I walked toward the back of the penthouse, past the sleek mar
The rescue was not a relief; it was a tactical nightmare.As Elias and a few loyal Blackwood sentries pried the final slab of rock away, the cool, damp air of the outer tunnels rushed in. But it wasn't the air I was worried about. It was the biological evidence clinging to me like a shroud.My dampener was smashed. My briefcase was in pieces. And after three hours in a confined space with a panicked Alpha, I didn't just smell like myself—I smelled like him. To any wolf with a functioning nose, I might as well have been wearing Julian’s wedding ring."Ma'am!" Elias’s voice was sharp. He scrambled through the opening, his eyes darting between me and Julian. He froze for a micro-second, his nostrils flaring. He smelled it. The mint, the rain, and the heavy, dominant musk of cedarwood."Elias," I said, my voice crackling with authority. "Report.""The Order has retreated to the surface, but the Silver-Vane Enforcers have locked down the perimeter," Elias said, his eyes shifting to Julian,
The roar of the cave-in was followed by a silence so absolute it felt physical.I was on my back, my lungs burning with pulverized stone and dust. My goggles had been ripped away in the blast, and for a terrifying second, I thought I had gone blind. There was no blue light, no thermal feed—just an oppressive, heavy void."Elias?" I coughed, the sound echoing weakly against close walls.No answer. Only the distant, muffled groan of settling rock. The tunnel had been severed. Elias was on the other side of a hundred tons of New York bedrock, and I was... somewhere else."Elara."The voice was close. Too close. I felt a hand—calloused, warm, and trembling—brush against my cheek. I flapped my arms instinctively, my fingers hitting a hard, muscular chest."Don't move," Julian whispered. His voice was strained, vibrating with the effort of holding something back. "The ceiling is unstable. If you shift too much, the rest of this shelf comes down on us.""Where’s my briefcase?" I rasped, my h
The service lift groaned, a sound like a dying beast, as it descended into the seventh level. The temperature had plummeted. Above us, the "Sun-Eater" nitrogen was already turning the upper Vault into a crystalline tomb. Here, in the belly of the earth, the air was thick with the scent of damp limestone, ancient rot, and the oppressive weight of a century of silence.The lift hit the bottom with a bone-jarring thud. The gates slid open to reveal a tunnel that looked less like architecture and more like a throat—jagged, narrow, and disappearing into an absolute blackness that seemed to swallow the light from our torches."Welcome to the graveyard of the Blackwood pride," Julian whispered.He stepped out first, his movements stiff. Even without his usual Alpha swagger, he loomed large in the narrow space. I followed, clutching my briefcase to my chest like a shield, while Elias brought up the rear, his weapon swept toward the darkness behind us."My neural-link is struggling with the in
The heavy steel door of the Blackwood Vault didn't just shut; it sealed with a vacuum hiss that seemed to suck the very oxygen out of my lungs.Fifty feet of reinforced concrete and lead shielding now stood between us and the New York rain. The silence down here wasn't the peaceful kind; it was heavy, ancient, and thick with the scent of stagnant secrets. Blue emergency lights flickered to life along the ceiling, casting long, distorted shadows that danced across the stacks of wooden crates and modern server racks.I leaned against the cold metal of the door, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. Beside me, Elias was already moving, his tactical flashlight cutting a clean white path through the darkness as he scanned the perimeter.And then there was Julian.He stood in the center of the chamber, his silhouette massive against the dim light. He wasn't moving. He was just... breathing. The sound was ragged, a predatory animal trying to pull itself back from the edge of a
The elevator ride down from the 88th floor felt like descending into a different reality. The digital display flickered, the numbers dropping as fast as my adrenaline was spiked.I leaned against the mirrored wall, my breath coming in shallow hitches. My reflection looked back at me—sharp, cold, and expensive—but beneath the charcoal silk of my suit, my skin was crawling. Julian’s scent—that stubborn, haunting mix of cedar and impending lightning—was still clinging to the back of my throat."You pushed him hard, Ma'am," Elias said, his voice low. He was watching the floor indicator, his hand resting near the concealed pulse-pistol at his hip. "An Alpha in a corner is a cornered wolf. They don't negotiate; they snap.""He doesn't have a choice, Elias," I replied, straightening my blazer. "He’s a businessman first. He knows that if he fights me in the courts, the humans will find out about the Blackwood underground vaults. He’ll lose the pack and his freedom.""It’s not Julian I’m







