All Chapters of THE ALPHA'S ASSASSIN MATE: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Old Ironfang road, three hours to moonriseThe storm didn’t creep in; it attacked. One heartbeat the sky was a black bowl full of careless stars, the next the wind howled like something being flayed alive and rain came in sideways sheets hard enough to raise welts on exposed skin. Serna’s cloak glued itself to her body in seconds, heavy as chain mail. The black stallion beneath her danced and shuddered, ears flat, eyes rolling white at every lightning fork that clawed the treetops.She was halfway through a particularly inventive curse when thunder split a pine dead ahead. The tree exploded in a shower of burning splinters. The horse reared straight up screaming. Serna hit the mud hard, rolled, came up on one knee with her dagger already drawn, heart hammering so loud she almost missed the impossible thing twenty paces ahead.A perfect circle of dry earth in the middle of the deluge Blue-white flames ringed it burning cold and silent—no crackle no smoke, just steady hungry light.

Ironfang palace outer wall, twenty minutes to moonrise“Fuck my entire life,” Serna hissed as the iron portcullis slammed down in front of them like a guillotine. They’d staggered the last mile on foot, soaked in blood and rain, Lyra limp between them, when the palace wall suddenly lit up with torches and twenty of Tarian’s personal guard poured out like ants from a kicked nest.The captain, a slab of a man named Gavrex with a face like hammered iron, stepped forward, sword already drawn. “Halt. Blue Moon trespassers. Drop the princess and surrender or we cut you down where you stand.”Kaelin spat blood onto the mud. “Oh for fuck’s sake, not this again.”Serna shifted Lyra’s dead weight higher against her chest, arrow still jutting from her own shoulder. “Gavrex you absolute dick, we’re here for Aziel, open the damn gate.”Gavrex’s eyes narrowed on Lyra’s glowing veins. “Heard the bounty went up to fifty gold if the Silvervein bitch is still breathing. Tarian wants her alive for que

Ironfang infirmary, moon fully risen“Fuck, no, no, NO—” Serna’s scream ricocheted off the vaulted ceiling as Lyra’s chest stopped rising. The moon blazed white through the high windows, cold and merciless, pouring silver across two bodies that looked carved from the same dying star.Kaelin dropped to her knees, hands slamming over Lyra’s sternum. “Breathe, you absolute bitch, breathe!” She started compressions, hard, frantic, counting out loud between broken sobs. “One, two, fuck you, three—”Rhea, the scarred Ironfang wolf, grabbed Aziel’s wrist so hard her nails drew blood. “Nothing. No pulse. He’s flat.”The young healer was screaming for the crash cart that didn’t exist in this century. “We need the paddles, we need—”“There are no fucking paddles!” Serna roared, shoving people aside to get to Lyra’s head. She tilted the chin, sealed her mouth over Lyra’s blue lips, and forced air in. Once. Twice. “Come on, little wolf, come on—”Kaelin’s voice cracked on every count. “Four

Ironfang & Blue Moon territories, six weeks into the Long Sleep“Fuck me running, they’re inside the walls!” Serna’s roar exploded across the northern battlements as the first wave of bewitched Ironfang guards turned their crossbows on their own men. Their eyes glowed sickly violet (same shade as Lyra’s used to when the bond flared), pupils blown wide, mouths slack with unnatural smiles.Kaelin sprinted up the stairs two at a time, sword already dripping. “Blue Moon side’s the same! Our own scouts are cutting the throats of the night watch and laughing about it!”Below them, chaos reigned.The siege had started at dusk (twenty thousand Red Hollow wolves surrounding the joined citadels), but that was almost normal. What wasn’t normal was the second army that rose from inside the walls at moonrise: hundreds of their own people (Ironfang and Blue Moon alike) suddenly standing up from their beds, their posts, their dinner tables, and attacking anyone still in control of their minds.

Ironfang citadel, week thirteen of the siege, the night the stars bled “Fuck your prophecy and fuck your stars!” Serna’s scream tore across the battlements as the sky cracked open like old glass.It started with the moon.One heartbeat it was full and silver. The next it bled violet, same cursed color that had haunted them since the bewitching, and the light pouring down wasn’t moonlight anymore; it was liquid rot.Every ward on the citadel flared, screamed, and shattered in a single heartbeat.Then he stepped out of the air itself.Caedrin.The same ancient wizard who’d offered Lyra’s virginity for a cure all those months ago, only now he was taller, cloaked in living shadow, eyes twin violet suns. Behind him the Red Hollow army parted like curtains, revealing twenty thousand wolves on their knees, heads bowed in worship.His voice rolled over the walls like thunder made of honey and graves.“Children of fang and moon, your time of waiting ends tonight. Your Sleepers have s