“Tell me everything,” Lyralei said.Laura moved to the open journal on the table and rested her hand on the worn pages. “Nikolai’s library isn’t just a collection of books. It’s a vault of bloodline secrets and old wars and dead alliances and buried sins. The book I found was tied to the First Shadow War.”She turned a page and the silver light under her skin flickered across the writing.“The journal mentions the First Alpha Queen,” Laura continued. “And four bonded Alphas.”Lyralei went still because the words felt too close to her own life.“The worst part wasn’t that the Shadow Master attacked,” Laura said. “The worst part was that the gates opened from within.” She looked up. “Someone close to the First Alpha Queen betrayed her. A Vale.”Lyralei’s chest tightened.“Nikolai Vale, First of His Line.” Laura’s jaw worked for a moment. “It said the first Nikolai opened the gates to the enemy during the First Shadow War.”Lyralei reacted sharply at the name. She knew Nikolai Vale in he
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