MasukLana's POVThis man had a way of making a statement with his words even when he didn't need to. Choose anyone except for Ronan. I stared at him, the heavy iron key in my hand turning to lead.“What?” I finally managed, my voice barely a whisper. “Why would you say that? he is your Alpha.”“He was my Alpha,” Idris corrected, his voice still low but relentless. “Before you, Ronan was a blade. Sharp, single-minded, unbreakable. He led with absolute authority. The pack was strong because his will was iron. There were no divisions, no whispered challenges, no external witches daring to tread on our land.”He met my gaze, his ancient eyes bleak. “Since you arrived, Lana, he has become… compromised. Every decision is filtered through the lens of your safety. The attack on the compound wasn’t a tactical strike; it was a frenzied rescue. He walked into Holloway’s hall not as a negotiating Alpha, but as a desperate mate. He exposed his greatest weakness to our deadliest enemy.”“He saved me,” I
Lana's POVThe air in the study turned to glass. Ronan’s quiet question hung between us, sharp enough to cut. My gaze flicked from his stony face back to the glowing screen, to those damning words: She’s just playing with you.All the confusion, the fear, the swirling emotions of the past week crystallized into a single, cold point of betrayal. “Who is Jess?” I asked, my voice deceptively flat.He didn’t move from the doorway, a silent sentinel blocking my exit. “A contact. From a long time ago.”“A contact who texts you about me. Who tells you I’m playing with you.” I let the hurt seep into my tone, turning to face him fully. “While you’ve been lecturing me about Finn’s performances, you’ve been taking advice from some… some ghost from your past?”“It’s not like that.” He finally entered the room, closing the door softly behind him. The click of the latch felt ominously final. “Jess is… was… a liaison. From a neutral pack. She has sources in places we don’t.”“And she just happens to
Lana's POVThe air in the room didn’t just crackle it froze, like literally. Ronan’s presence was a wall of fury and ice. He looked terrifying.“Enjoy your date?” The question was a crack in the silence.I closed the door behind me, leaning against it. “It was a conversation.”“It was a performance.” He took a step forward. “Fairy lights and filet mignon while a witch hunts our lands and your power is a mystery that could get you killed. He’s selling you a fairy tale, Lana. One that will get you slaughtered the moment you step outside my protection.”“Your protection?” I shot back, pushing off the door, my own temper igniting. “Your protection looks a lot like possession! It looks like silence and secrets and drawing targets on everyone around you! Finn offered a plan. A strategy for safety that doesn’t involve being the constant epicenter of a warzone!”“Finn offered a fantasy where he gets to be the hero who stole the Alpha’s prize!” he roared, his control snapping. He swept an arm
Lana's POVThe silence that followed my declaration was a vacuum that sucked the air from the room. Ronan had shifted from white to a terrifying rage. “You will not,” he said, his voice stern.“I will,” I replied, my own voice surprisingly steady. “I’ll take a week. Seven days. To think. To… assess. Without pressure, without Alpha commands.” I forced myself to look at the others. Bastien looked stunned, Idris pained, Finn cautiously hopeful. “If, at the end of that week, my choice is Ronan, then things continue. But if it is not…” I swallowed, forcing the next words out. “Then I will leave with the person I choose, if they’ll have me. And my life, and my power, and my safety, become their responsibility. Not Lancaster’s.”It was the ultimate gamble. Ronan shot to his feet, his chair flying back and crashing into the sideboard. “This is not a game! You are my mate! The bond is not a suggestion, it is a fact!”“And facts can be lived with in different ways!” I shouted back, meeting hi
Lana's POVThe silence after Finn’s words wasn’t just quiet, it's was a calm storm that started a new kind of war. My face flamed. The absurdity, the audacity, the sheer cruelty of putting this on me, here, now, shattered my stunned silence.“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” I said, my voice surprisingly clear. “I am not a… a pack prize to be passed around or chosen from a lineup. I’m a person. And I’m mated.” The word felt solid, final. I looked at Finn, my disappointment sharp. “How could you even suggest that?”I expected Ronan to erupt. Instead, a low, thoughtful rumble came from beside me.“Is it, though?” Bastien asked, scratching his beard. All heads swiveled to him. “Ridiculous? Think about it, Lana. You were thrown into this world with no choice. The bond with Ronan… it’s powerful, sure. But it started in chaos, during the Blood Moon. Then you’re targeted, hunted, kidnapped for a power you didn’t ask for. All while being kept in the dark.” His gaze flickere
Lana's POVIdris has just dropped a bomb that didn't exactly go off. What exactly was his power and why was it so important to Morwen. The image of her cold and calculated smile seemed to burn into my skin. Unlock your legacy. Claim it. Her words twisted in my gut, now intertwined with Idris’s shocking revelation.“Your… bond?” I finally managed to say through my thin. “You’re bound to something? Something here?”Idris leaned back against his desk, looking weary his calm demeanor was replaced by something else. “It is not a bond like a mate bond, Lana. It is a pact. A transaction. My power of the shadows, the pressure, the things that are not wolf does not come from my bloodline. It is lent. Borrowed. Anchored to me through an ancient agreement.”Ronan stood, his arms crossed. “A pact with what?”“A being of this land,” Idris said. “Older than packs, older than witches. It sleeps, mostly. Our… arrangement allows me to draw on a fraction of its essence in exchange for my service as a g







