جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 210

KIERANThat night, as torches burned and men sharpened steel, there was a knock that put everything into motion — not a scout’s breathless entrance but a low, calm voice at the door. Lucian himself? My heart did something odd: it didn’t jump; it tightened like a fist. I found myself standing in the courtyard, staring into the dark where the trees held their breath.“If he comes here,” Rowan murmured beside me, “it means he wants to humiliate you in front of your own.”“Then let him come,” I said.“He’ll find we’re not an audience. We’re a wall.” And perhaps I lied to myself in the same breath; perhaps I knew that walls can crack, and blood can find its way through mortar and stone. But I would damn well make sure it bled on his terms as well.We moved at dawn. Not because I was foolish, but because dawn hides things in a grey that suits an ambush. We split into small bands, silent as those who live by hunting. My heart beat with a rhythm I ought to have known by now: it is not the vio

LUCIANThe sound of boots on cold stone echoed through the hallway as I made my way toward the holding chamber, my men trailing close behind. The air reeked of blood and damp earth…the familiar scent of defiance and fear. Only this time, I wasn’t sure which one would fill the room more.When we reached the door, one of my sentinels stepped forward immediately. “Alpha,” he said, his voice clipped with respect, “we secured him in the lower room. He’s refusing to talk.”I didn’t answer right away. My eyes narrowed slightly as I looked at the heavy steel door ahead of us. My patience was already fraying, thanks to the argument with Raven. Her words still clawed at the back of my mind… You think you’re not the monster I came to destroy? Maybe she wasn’t entirely wrong. Maybe monsters were just men who stopped pretending to care.“Open it,” I ordered finally.The guard nodded and pulled the door open, and the sharp metallic creak filled the silence. Inside, the room was dimly lit by a singl

KIERANI remember the sound that tore me out of sleep that night…it wasn’t just loud, it was sharp, like metal grinding against stone. My eyes snapped open, my pulse already hammering in my ears before my mind even caught up. For a moment, I lay there in the dark, listening. Then came another noise…a faint thud, distant but distinct enough to make my gut tighten. I threw off the covers and sat up straight, heart pounding. Had they finally come? The thought sliced through me like a blade.For weeks, we’d been waiting for Lucian’s strike, preparing for the inevitable, and I thought…this is it.I moved toward the window, every step slow, deliberate. My sword was already in my hand before I even realized I’d grabbed it. The cold metal against my palm gave me a strange comfort. I peered through the window, my breath fogging the glass slightly. Everything looked… still. Too still. The moonlight poured over the sleeping village like a gentle hand, rooftops gleaming faintly, the trees swaying

KIERANI stood by the window, my fingers drumming lightly against the frame as the moon cast a faint silver glow across the compound. The night was too still…unnervingly so. The kind of quiet that didn’t feel peaceful, but rather like the calm before something snapped. My instincts had never failed me before, and right now, every nerve in my body screamed that something wasn’t right.Just then, I saw my head guard, Marcus, step out of the building I’d been watching for the past few minutes. He glanced around once, his movements cautious, deliberate. My jaw tightened.When he finally spotted me through the window, I gestured for him to come up. Moments later, there was a soft knock on the door.“Come in,” I said, my voice lower than usual.Marcus entered, his boots echoing lightly against the wooden floor. “Alpha,” he greeted, his tone respectful but uneasy.“What did you see in there?” I asked immediately. I wasn’t in the mood for formalities.He hesitated, rubbing the back of his nec

KIERANThe room was tense…one of those mornings where every council member seemed to have something to argue about. Papers scattered across the long oak table, voices clashing and overlapping until it felt like the walls themselves were pulsing from the noise. I sat at the head, hands clasped together, pretending to listen while my mind drifted somewhere else entirely.“Alpha Kieran,” Marcus, my beta, called sharply, jolting me back. “You’ve been quiet. What’s your stand on the border expansion?”I blinked, trying to recall what we’d even been talking about. “The border stays as it is,” I said flatly, rubbing the bridge of my nose.“We don’t need another confrontation with Lucian’s men right now.”Marcus frowned. “But if we don’t push forward, they’ll…”“I said, leave it,” I snapped, cutting him off. Silence fell like a heavy curtain. I sighed, feeling the weight of their stares, and forced my tone to soften. “We’ll revisit it later.”And then, out of nowhere, it hit me. A flash…quick