LOGINAnna’s POVThe night burns too bright.The torches lining the courtyard throw their light upward, painting the stone walls in gold and shadow. Every flicker feels like it’s watching me—mocking, daring me to move forward. The chants echo, voices rising in rhythm with the drums, with the thud of my own heart that refuses to calm.I can see them from where I stand at the gates—Mattias and Calista, bathed in moonlight, the crowd gathered around them like witnesses to a destiny I don’t belong in. He stands tall, strong, regal even, but his eyes... even from here, they look empty. Detached.It breaks me all over again.I should be happy that he’s alive. I should be proud that he survived everything Selena and fate threw his way. But standing here, clutching my son against my chest, all I can feel is the ache of being too late. Too far. Too forgotten.The full moon sits high above us, round and merciless. Its light spills over everything—the crowd, the flowers, the silver lace of Calista’s g
Mattias’ POVSelena is gone. Her shadow, her madness, her curse—all of it dissolved under the same moonlight that once made us prisoners. And yet… the silence she left behind is far louder than her reign ever was.The pack has begun to breathe again. Laughter returns in small bursts, like timid sparks trying to remember what warmth feels like. Wolves run freely, no longer bound by her control. They look at me now with reverence, respect—sometimes even hope. But none of that fills the space inside me that still aches for what was taken.Anna.Her name alone feels like a wound that never healed right. I told myself she was gone, that her absence was mercy after everything we endured. But every sunrise since her disappearance feels half-lived, as if the world itself stopped giving light to the parts of me she used to touch.Calista visits often. Too often.She comes to the courtyard when the others have retired, offering gentle words wrapped in concern, her eyes searching for cracks in m
Mattias’ POVThe night was strangely still.The full moon hung above like a pale witness, watching as the smoke slowly thinned into the open sky. The battlefield was quiet now—eerily quiet. Only the faint hiss of dying embers broke the silence, accompanied by the ragged breathing of those who had survived.Selena’s blood still stained the stones where she had fallen. It shimmered faintly beneath the moonlight—like oil on water—before vanishing into thin air. Her body was gone, her presence erased, yet the echo of her power lingered for a moment longer before fading completely.Around me, wolves—those who had once moved under her command—were collapsing, one after another. Some screamed. Others simply went still, their eyes losing color. I watched as one of the cursed wolves fell to his knees, clutching his chest, his veins darkening until they dissolved like dust beneath the moonlight. Selena’s spell had broken. Every wolf bound by her bloodline was disintegrating before my eyes.And
Mattias’ POVDarkness had a voice.And for a long time, it was the only thing that spoke to me.Sometimes it whispered in the dripping sound of water leaking from the ceiling. Other times, it echoed through the hollow stone walls like an old memory.Time stopped meaning anything down here. I had counted the passing of days through my heartbeat—slow, stubborn, rhythmic—but even that had begun to blur.Until tonight.Something feels different.The air is charged. The silence is wrong. And beneath the weight of damp stone and rust, I feel it—a shift. The faint tremor of energy breaking loose.The curse that held me, the invisible chains stitched by her power, begins to splinter.My breath catches. For the first time in what feels like forever, I feel the moon.It’s faint at first—a soft hum at the edge of my senses—but it grows, like a heartbeat waking up after years of stillness. The light spills through the cracks of the ceiling, pale and alive, touching the floor like liquid silver.I
Selena’s POVThe night is heavy. Too still. Too silent.Even the wind feels like it’s holding its breath.Something is wrong.The halls hum with whispers, and though no one dares speak above a murmur when I pass, I can feel their unease crawling against my skin. Fear has a taste — sharp, metallic, familiar. But tonight, it’s different. It’s not fear of me. It’s fear for something. Something hidden.And I hate that I don’t know what it is.I pace the length of my chambers, the hem of my gown whispering against the floor. The fire burns low, its glow catching the silver runes carved along the walls — the ancient ones, from when the first Luna ruled the blood moon. My relic rests at the center of the altar, its light pulsing faintly, weakly.The relic dulls the moon’s pull, but lately, even it feels drained. Perhaps that’s why I can’t sleep.Or perhaps it’s because I can feel the rot beneath my own roof.Richard.Gunner.Lucas.Names that should mean loyalty, yet now twist through my min
Gunner’s POVThe night air carried the stench of blood and wet earth, the kind that clung to your throat and reminded you that no one here slept peacefully anymore. The moon hadn’t risen yet, but I could already feel its pull—the kind of tension that sat behind the ribs, coiling tighter with every passing hour. Selena wanted her patrols doubled tonight. She said it was for the “rogue threat,” but everyone knew she just liked to remind us who commanded the darkness.And so, I played my part. The loyal dog, trailing behind her shadows. My boots crushed gravel in rhythm with the soldiers’ march as we scouted the southern perimeter. Every so often, I’d glance at the forest’s edge, imagining another world out there—one that didn’t reek of blood and obedience. One where Anna still laughed.Anna.Her name still burned my chest every time I thought it. It was like the memory itself was a wound that refused to close. The mate who’d been torn from me, sold off like she was some bargaining chip







