Ember (As Ash) POVHe looked like—My first kiss. That dumb beta boy from the training dens. The one who gave me moon flowers and a promise. His image cracked as he smiled, eyes gleaming.“You wanted someone to love you, didn’t you, Ember?”I shoved my blade through his neck.They weren’t real. They weren’t mine.But gods, they were fast. Trained. Brutal.The fake mother slashed across my ribs. I screamed. Hot blood gushed down my hip. I fell to one knee, vision doubling. Another rogue grabbed my throat, slammed me against the wall.I dropped my blade. My lungs seized.His breath was on my face. “Not so strong now, Omega.”That did it.I twisted, bit into his wrist, tasted the sick copper of his blood, and kicked off the wall. He dropped me with a curse.But I couldn’t stand.My side was split open. My strength fading. My legs shook as I tried to push up—Then I heard it.A growl. Low. Deep. Not human. Not even close.It didn’t come from one of them.It came from him.Zane.His snarl
Ember(As Ash) POVThat voice wasn’t real.It couldn’t be.I hadn’t heard my mother’s voice in over a decade, and even back then, it was never soft like that. She didn’t whisper. She barked. She bled orders. She didn't beg.But standing in the middle of the corridor, I swore it came from just outside the training yard. Soft. Calling my name. Not Ash. Ember.I stood frozen. Breath shallow. Muscles locked. Skin cold.No one else had heard it. The barracks were still. Every soldier curled into their furs. The only sound was the wind howling across the balcony.But that fucking voice…"Ember."It sliced right through me.I grabbed my blade. Strapped it across my back. Pulled the hood low. I didn’t shift fully—I couldn’t. Not now. Not when I didn’t even know if what I was chasing was real.But my instincts? They screamed. Loud. Wrong.Something in the air was off. Metallic. Sharp. Like blood on silver.I masked my scent and pushed out into the courtyard, every step light, controlled. If any
Ember (As Ash) POVNight fell fast.I waited until everyone was asleep, then slipped into the pit.The trial grounds were dead silent. Dust and dried blood still clung to the stones. Moonlight poured through the iron grate high above, painting the arena in silver bars.I stood in the middle of it and stared down at the dirt.I’d been here before.Not as Ash.As Ember.They’d thrown me in naked, bleeding, screaming.I buried her here. The girl who loved too hard. Trusted too fast. Thought she could lead a pack and survive.I buried her and became something else.“Ash doesn’t break,” I whispered, kneeling.I pressed my palm to the rune beneath my ribs. It pulsed back. Hot. Hungry. Like it wanted blood.Then something moved.Low growl. Too deep to be a man’s.I stood slowly, body tensed.A hellhound.Loose.Fur like coal, eyes burning with ember-light, fangs dripping acid.No blade.No time.I shifted.Half-wolf, the way I swore I wouldn’t again—not in front of them.Claws out.Fangs bar
Ember (As Ash) POVI woke with the feeling that someone was watching me.Not paranoia. Not instinct.Presence.I didn’t move. Just opened one eye. Slow. Controlled.And there he was.Lucien.Perched up in the rafters of the barracks like some dark fucking gargoyle. One leg dangling, other bent. Arms resting on his knee. He didn’t blink. Didn’t speak. Just stared at me like he’d been doing it all night.“You’re not from the dungeons,” he said eventually, voice like smoke—soft, oily, fucking cold.I rolled onto my side and propped my head up on my fist. “And you’re not just a Shadow Prince.”That earned me a grin. Not the kind that meant he liked me. The kind that meant he wanted to crack my ribs open and dig around for secrets.“You don’t flinch when I appear,” he murmured. “You don’t pray when I vanish. That’s rare.”“Neither gods nor ghosts answer anymore.”That grin faltered. Just a little. Enough to show something behind it wasn’t so pretty.He leaned forward. His body didn’t make
Ember(As Ash) POVEvery bone and nerves in my body screamed in pain, like they fucking hated me for what happened to them. I just laid there; flat on the marble, cold ground, didn't bother making any movement, my gaze scanning the ceiling, counting each squares they had. Due to the impact of Zane's intense attack on me last night, my body ached, my shoulders hurting badly from slamming me into the dirt. My ribs ached in an intense pain and between my thighs; it was sore, not because he had fucked me, no, but because I craved his touch but never received it. Last night, Zane had almost let go of every ounce of control he had left in him and goddess knows I really wanted him to. The air in my room grew heavy, thick with the suffocating scent of him that literally made me go crazy. On my skin I could still perceive that intoxicating scent of his sweat and still felt his enormous weight on my petite body from pinning me on the ground, eyes fixed on me, almost piercing deep into my ski
Ember's POV I gasped and shoved the memory down, reached for the vial of wolfsbane beside the shard, uncorked it, and swallowed two bitter drops.The pain hit first.Then the numbness.My wolf whimpered.“Not now,” I muttered.Because I couldn’t afford to feel. Not if I wanted to survive.******The next summons came at midnight.A private note, slipped under my door: “Arena. Now.”Signed with a slash of black ink. Zane.I strapped on my blades.The arena was empty when I arrived. Moonlight poured in through the broken arches above. Wind howled through the stones.Zane stood at the center. Shirtless again. His body a carved threat. Bruises on his ribs. New cuts on his shoulders.“Late,” he growled.“You didn’t give a time.”His gaze darkened.I stepped into the ring. Drew my short sword.“Why me?” I asked.“I couldn’t sleep.”“And I’m your remedy?”He didn’t answer.He lunged.I parried fast—our blades clashed with a sharp scream of steel. He was stronger, but I was faster. I ducked,