*Alec* A few days had passed since we came back from rogue territory. I hadn’t given another thought to that crackpot’s words, but I hadn’t slept easy either. My plan to get Lukas to Whitelark was working, but my stomach churned at the thought of the cost. There was something about the whole situation that felt too easy. Every night I went to bed, I found I couldn’t sleep. Ember was in her chambers. I knew the castle was safe, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of looming danger. As the day that Lukas was meant to arrive drew closer, my sleepless nights turned to anxious fever dreams. I saw my mother and her kind smile. I saw my father and his blood splattered across the ground. I felt the agony of that blade in my back from all those years ago, as if my mind was dragging me through my memories or something inside me was sending me a warning. When the dreams turned from the past, I thought I would at least sleep easy the night before his arrival, but I was wrong. Shadows swarme

*Alec*I jolted awake, my entire body pulsating with an intense pain that seemed to burn through my veins. Every breath felt like I was breathing burning liquid. It felt like someone had poured fire into my veins. I twisted in bed, trying to throw off the sheets, and realized that Ember’s side of my bed was empty and cold. The haze of sleep and agony parted in my mind as my heart started to race. How long had she been gone? Where had she gone?“Ember?” I called, hoping that she had just gone to the bathroom, yet I heard nothing. Her scent lingered in the air, but it was fading too. She had been gone for longer than just a few minutes. Hours maybe. “Rhys!” I called, groaning as I rolled out of bed. My legs buckled, taking me to the ground as the pain pulsed and intensified. My ears were ringing. Everything started to go in and out as if I had suffered a head injury. I heard Ember’s voice, panicked and frightened, but I couldn’t make out her words. I saw flashes of the moon and

*Rhys*After Alec disappeared down the dark corridor and Chastine seemed to be frozen in place, I left the building. My alpha had asked me to return to Whitelark, so I would. I gathered those that had traveled with us here and started the long trek home. No one spoke. A solemn silence and anger seemed to dog our every step. I hadn’t told them what that woman said about Ember, and I wouldn’t until I could tell everyone at once. It wasn’t something I wanted to repeat.In the quiet, I took notes for the address I’d have to give and what would be the next course of action. Ember’s fate wasn’t something I could take the burden of, but finding Lukas and making sure that Alec could have the revenge he and Ember deserved, that Whitelark would be ready when war finally came, was my duty as his beta.When we arrived, I gathered everyone in the castle’s main hall. People trickle in, murmuring between each other. The warriors who had come back with me split off to go home and check in with t

*Ember*I was drifting. The pain had long since faded to the back of my mind. I didn't know where or when I was. I didn’t even know if I was alive or if I would be for much longer. My mind felt like it was slipping away like sand through my fingers being carried off by the wind. When things started to clear, everything was shadowy, like I was peering through dark water. A woman was talking to me, but her words were muffled as if she was speaking through water. She went in and out of focus, but I was terrified of being separated from her. I didn’t know this woman, I knew, but whoever’s eyes I was looking through did. The clearer her face became, the sooner I realized that she had some of the same features as I did. It was her hair, the same color as mine, that made me think we had to be related. She pulled me close. I felt the warmth of her arms around me and could have cried because of how safe and cared for I felt, how scared I felt at the realization that we might be separated.

Chapter 49: Tidings of War*Alec POV* The hour was late, and the Palace of the Moon had fallen silent. The hush had spread into Ember’s bedchamber, where she had drifted off into a deep, comfortable sleep.I listened for a while to the steadiness of her even breathing while she slumbered beside me. The sound reminded me that she was safe in these walls. Lukas would never be able to touch her here – her or her unborn child.The thought of the child made me pause. When I had told Ember that it didn’t matter to me who the father was, I had spoken only the truth. If the pup were Lukas’, I would look after it as my own regardless. But something in my heart told me that the child was mine and that it had formed from part of me. I couldn’t explain it. I just knew, deep in my bones.Sighing, I sat up. Ember stirred beside me, but she did not wake. I smiled softly down at her. She looked beautiful in the low candlelight. My fingers, as if moving of their own accord, brushed a l