جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 177

LUCIANI should be used to this kind of darkness by now. Thick air, heavy mist, and the kind of silence that feels like it's waiting to bite down on the back of your neck. But nothing about tonight feels like survival training. This is my son.Leah stays close to me, her breaths short and sharp, her hand trembling every time the wind shifts wrongly. The trail winds through broken stone and old forest roots. It’s hard to keep track of the scent, but we’re doing it, there’s no giving up.“We’re close,” she says.I nod, even though my chest is already tight. The deeper we move into the outskirts, the more the world starts to warp. The mist is no longer mist, it bends, and shapes itself, tears open into half-formed visions that feel too real. At first it’s just shadows, smudges of bodies, and blurry faces. Then I hear…“Lucian.”His voice hits me like a blade to the ribs. He’s in front of me, barefoot. He reaches out to me, calling me. Leah grabs my wrist. “Lucian. Don’t.”I blink and K

LUCIANThe celebration is like a storm. We barely get past the gates before they grab us. Wolves pound their chests. Kids run around our legs. Old warriors who haven’t smiled in years laugh like they’re drunk. Everybody wants to see the babies, to touch them, to breathe them in like luck.They keep chanting Leah’s name. Mine too, but she’s the one they look at like she pulled the moon out of the sky. And honestly, I get it. She’s holding our children, she saved them. We end up at the center of the courtyard, huge bonfires lit, tables stacked with food. Plates of meat, barrels of sweet wine, bread torn apart by hands that haven’t stopped shaking. Everyone here is riding the high of us not coming back in pieces.I’m smiling when they expect me to. Nodding, hugging, letting people slap my shoulders hard enough to bruise. But there’s something stuck in my head, and it won’t let go. Caelum’s face. It wasn’t fear, or anger. It was… recognition. Like he was seeing some part of me I didn’t k

LUCIANI walk until the noise in my head stops drowning out everything else.The forest is silent at this hour, no warriors training, or pack members whispering behind walls. No one expecting me to lead or choose or punish. Just trees, wet ground, and my own breathing. I lean against the side of an old pine and drag my hands through my hair, trying to steady the mess inside me.I keep replaying it, Elara, the shock in Leah’s face, the anger in mine. And that stupid kiss. The one I didn’t ask for. The one Leah had walked in on two years ago.I slam my fist into the trunk behind me. The bark cracks and falls.I kicked Elara out since then. She should never have been able to step foot on Bloodmoon land again. So how the hell did she get back in? How long was she helping Zevara? How much damage did she do while pretending to be loyal?How much of this is my fault?“Breaking trees won’t fix your brain, you know.”I exhale through my teeth. “Theron.”He steps out from behind another tree, l

LUCIANThe shout from the warriors turns out to be nothing dangerous, just more incoming envoys arriving earlier than expected, but it snaps the moment in half. Leah squeezes my hand once before we split up to handle things, and the night turns into a blur of organizing, answering questions, and guiding the visiting guards to their quarters.By morning, Bloodmoon territory looks like a small city. Flags flutter from every direction. Fae magic drifts like tiny sparks between the trees. Elven lanterns hang from branches that normally look too plain. Dragon warriors stand in the open yard, checking weapons half the pack pretends not to stare at.The summit is hours away. The wedding… somehow even closer. Everyone keeps whispering about it. Not with fear. With excitement. Relief. Like the whole world finally has something good to hold onto.I stand on the packhouse balcony, watching everything grow louder and brighter around us. Leah is below, helping elves settle their tents. She tucks h