LOGINLIAMI watched Cora's face as she started to panic. Her breathing was fast and shallow, and I could see the terror in her eyes as the coldness from Ronan’s body climbed up her arm. I needed her to stay calm, but my own heart was racing."Don't panic, Cora," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "Just look at me and breathe. We can fix this."My words had the opposite effect. She looked at her arm and let out a small, choked sound. She started to shake even harder, and her eyes went wide with a frantic energy. The curse seemed to notice her fear immediately. It was like a predator sensing a weakness, and it took advantage of her unsettled state of mind. I watched in horror as the black runes on her arm began to wiggle. They moved like worms under her skin, twisting and turning vigorously as if they were searching for a way to burrow deeper into her heart.I had a bad feeling about this. If the curse settled in her, she wouldn't survive it like I did. She didn't have a wolf to help ca
CORAI had started to feel a bit better after the healing kicked in. I was surprised by how quickly the skin on my wrist had closed up, but I didn't have time to think about it because Ronan was screaming. I kneeled by his side, my hands hovering over him, and it seemed like it was already too late. The sight of him was terrible. I could see the pain and the aging in his face as his features twisted. His bones were shifting under his skin with loud, wet snaps that made me sick. It was like he and his wolf were locked in a brutal battle for control over his body. His skin started tearing from the frequent transformation and detransformation, and blood leaked from the cracks. I realized that the blood he had swallowed had similar properties to the curse. Instead of curing him, it had just triggered the curse even more.Despite everything he had done to me and the others, I wasn't willing to see him die like that. I reached out and touched his shoulder, telling him to hang on. I closed
RONANThe explosion from Sylas was greater than I had imagined. The force hit me like a physical wall and threw me backward across the room. I hit the ground hard, my body sliding until I created a mini crater in the floor. I stayed there for a moment, my head ringing and my vision blurry. I stood up with some difficulty, coughing as I spat out a broken tooth and a mouthful of blood. I looked toward where Sylas had been standing and saw a huge hole in the stone. Even the altar was ruined, with its sides broken into jagged pieces, and a thin line of blood dropped steadily onto the floor.I couldn't believe it. This couldn't be happening. All my efforts and everything I had worked for were being destroyed by Liam and his obsession with that woman.Before I could even move to attack them, a sudden sense of excruciating pain hit me. It started in my chest and spread through my body like liquid fire, bringing me to my knees instantly. I let out a choked sound, my hands clawing at my tunic
SYLASThis couldn't be happening. I staggered back, my legs shaking as I tried to process the disaster unfolding in my own veins. I stared down at my chest where that bastard Liam had stabbed me. This was not the plan. I felt an intense, agonizing pain rattle through my entire frame, and I could hear a sound like something expanding deep inside my organs. It was a low, heavy thrumming that made my teeth ache.I felt filled with energy like never before. It was a raw, white-hot heat that rushed through my limbs, but I knew immediately that something was wrong. This was not the controlled ascension I had studied for years. This was excessive energy, a flood that my body couldn't hold. I felt a surge of dread when I realized the exact cause of the failure. The place where Liam had plunged his blade was exactly the point where the energies of destruction and creation had concentrated. They had formed a critical mass right there in my chest.When I was absorbing the power from the girl, I
LIAMI moved as fast as my battered body would allow, reaching the altar in two strides. I didn't care about Sylas anymore, I just needed to get her away from that stone. I gripped the black chains that were biting into her skin and yanked them apart with my bare hands, the metal snapping under my strength. I reached down and lifted Cora off the altar, cradling her against my chest. She was so light, and her skin was colder than it should have been.Behind me, I could hear Sylas. He wasn't dead yet, but he sounded like he wished he was. He was letting out these crazed, high-pitched cries that echoed off the high ceiling."No!" he screamed, his voice cracking. "No, no, no! What have you done? You’ve ruined it! What have you done to me?"I didn't even bother to look at him. He wasn't my priority. I knelt on the floor, holding Cora close so I could check her wounds. My face turned grim the moment I saw her wrist. She had bled a lot, and the dark red liquid was smeared all over her arm an
CORAThe ritual began immediately, and I felt a sharp, pulsing pain shoot through my entire body. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before, and it felt like my soul was being physically pulled out of my chest.My back arched against the cold stone as the altar suddenly began to shine with a reddish-black light. It looked sinister and wrong, and the light seemed to eat at the shadows in the room. Even more of my blood flowed out of the cut on my wrist, filling the deep grooves of the stone altar until it reached the edges. I watched, pinned down by the chains, as Sylas took a knife and cut his own wrist. He held his arm over me, and I watched with a feeling of pure disgust as our blood mixed together at the center of the altar, right above my head.At the same time, voices began to fill my head again. I had heard them before, but this time they were different and much louder. I heard a woman sobbing quietly in the back of my mind, her voice full of a grief that made my own chest a
LIAMI carried Cade back to the fortress myself because the guards wouldn’t have been able to drag him in that state and I didn’t want anyone touching him more than necessary. His wolf had almost taken over again but I put him down easily, the same way I always did whenever he lost control. We gre
CORAThe hall stayed quiet after Ronan’s words. No one wanted to breathe too loud. All the alphas leaned forward while Ronan explained how he gathered information from the packs that lost their sons. He said the boys were killed during full moons while shifting or taking pack runs and that every bo
CORAI stayed behind the wall near the hall and watched as Ronan and Cade talked. I barely moved, holding my breath while I tried to catch their words without being noticed. Cade sounded calm, but what Ronan said made my stomach twist. He wanted to end me. I froze. The words echoed in my mind.Cade
CORAThe day of the meeting came fast and my stomach felt tight from the moment I opened my eyes. Cade and I had not spoken since the argument and the silence between us felt so uncomfortable. I thought about trying to speak with him but every time the thought came, the memory of that letter return







