登入Ariana’s POVI woke slowly, and my whole body was still heavy with exhaustion.Sunlight streamed softly through the window and warmed my skin.And for a moment, everything felt peaceful, quiet, almost normal.Then the ache hit me.It was dull, and its pull sensation began deep inside my chest, unfamiliar in its intensity.I then pressed a hand against my heart, and I was confused by the strange sensation building beneath my ribs.I then closed my eyes, and suddenly, without warning, something shifted.I felt him, not simply thought about him.I felt Damien, his emotions bleeded through the mate bond and it was so vividly that it startled me completely.Regret, heavy and suffocating, pressed against my own chest like it belonged there. Guilt followed immediately after.And it was sharp and unrelenting, and it twisted painfully alongside something deeper, something raw and desperate.Love.It was not the confused, possessive love I remembered from our marriage.But it was something cle
Kael’s POVI carried Ariana to her chamber myself, and refused to let anyone else touch her.It was once the healer confirmed she had simply fallen into an exhausted sleep that I finally allowed myself to leave her side.The elder waited for me outside, and his expression grave in the flickering torchlight.“We need to talk,” he said quietly. “Now.”I followed him toward his private chamber, and my heart still rang from everything that had just happened.From the terrifying power I had witnessed erupted from the woman I loved.“Tell me everything,” I said the moment the door closed behind us. “All of it. No more half truths.”The elder sat slowly, and his ancient hands trembled slightly as he reached for a worn leather book that rested on his desk.“What you witnessed tonight,” he began, “was only a fraction of what she’s capable of.”“What does that mean?”“The Moonborn prophecy speaks of a power capable of uniting every wolf kingdom, or destroying them completely.” He then opene
Ariana’s POVThe silver light continued spreading beneath my skin, and before Kael could say another word, shattering glass echoed from somewhere above us.We both looked up sharply toward my chamber window.“Ariana, stay behind me,” Kael ordered immediately and pulled me protectively behind his body as he turned toward the sound.More glass shattered, followed by heavy footsteps thundering through the hallway, and within seconds, guards began shouting throughout the palace.“Intruders! We have intruders inside the palace!”My heart rang violently as Kael grabbed my hand, and he pulled me quickly toward the palace entrance.But before we reached the doors, three masked figures dropped down from the balcony above, and landed directly in our path.They moved with terrifying speed, and weapons already drawn, their eyes were cold and calculated behind dark fabric masks.“Get behind me,” Kael growled, and he positioned himself between me and the attackers.The first masked figure lunged fo
Ariana’s POVBy the time I stepped out into the courtyard that morning, the whispers had already spread through every corner of the palace.It was faster and more vicious than I could have imagined.“She kissed the King.”“Everyone knows now. The rejected Luna and the Lycan King.”“What about the Alpha? Does he simply accept this?”I kept my eyes down, and I hurried through the halls, but the voices followed me everywhere, and it grew louder with each passing day.Even worse than the gossip was watching the palace itself split apart because of me. Servants who once treated Damien with respect now avoided him entirely, and sided fiercely with Kael. Others, loyal to tradition and mate bonds, whispered that Kael had stolen another Alpha’s wife shamelessly.“The King has no honor,” one guard muttered, unaware I stood close enough to hear.“The Alpha should have claimed her properly the first time,” another argued back. “He forfeited his rights the moment he rejected her.”I pressed my
Damien’s POVI stood frozen in that hallway long after they disappeared behind Ariana’s door, and my mind refused to accept what my eyes had just witnessed.She had come from his room. At dawn, his hand rested against her back like it belonged there, like he had every right to touch her that way.My chest felt like it had been torn open completely and something raw and unbearable spread through every part of my body.I then walked away before either of them could see how badly it had shattered me.My footsteps carried me blindly through unfamiliar corridors until I reached the guest chamber they had given me weeks ago.I then slammed the door shut behind me and locked it, and I sank against the wood, my legs were no longer able to support my own weight.She kissed him.I didn’t need anyone to confirm it. I could see it clearly written across both their faces.That particular kind of shyness that only existed after something intimate has happened between two people.The woman who onc
Ariana’s POVI couldn’t stop thinking about it.The warmth of Kael’s hand wrapped around mine. The way he had crossed the room without hesitation, without caring who watched, and choosing to protect me from my own tangled memories.Long after dinner ended, long after the palace grew quiet, I lay in bed and I stared at the ceiling.I replayed that moment over and over until sleep finally pulled me under.Then the nightmare came.I stood in Blackwood again, and I was surrounded by cruel faces and colder words.Damien walked toward me through the crowd, and his expression twisted with disgust.“You were never meant to be more than repayment for your father’s debt.”“Please,” I begged, reaching for him. “Please don’t say that.”He turned away completely, disappearing into darkness that stretched endlessly around me, and I screamed his name until my throat burned raw.I woke with a gasp, and my whole body drenched in sweat, my heart rang violently against my ribs.“No,” I whispered, sitti







