Chapter 21 – Loving the Enemy

Lucien did not banish her.That was the cruelty of it.He did not throw her into a cell. Did not command her to leave. Did not punish her for the truth she had delivered like a blade between his ribs.He simply withdrew.And the absence was worse than any prison.Seraphine felt it immediately.The shift in the pack.The way the air itself seemed to hold its breath.Lucien stopped coming to her room.Stopped seeking her out.Stopped looking at her like she was something precious instead of dangerous.He became a shadow present everywhere, yet nowhere she could reach.At council meetings, he spoke only when necessary. His voice was calm. Controlled. Empty.When their paths crossed in the corridors, his gaze slid past her as if she were invisible.Each time, it cut deeper.Seraphine had been trained to withstand pain.Physical agony.Psychological torment.Isolation.But nothing had prepared her for this.For loving the enemy.For wanting the very man she had been designed to destroy.Sh

Last Updated : 2026-01-30

Chapter 22 – The Alpha’s Wrath

The storm broke before dawn.Seraphine felt it the moment she opened her eyes the wrongness in the air, the violent tension vibrating through the stone walls of Nightfall Keep.The pack was in upheaval.She rose silently, pulling on her boots and cloak. Her chest felt tight, dread pooling in her gut.Something had gone wrong.By the time she reached the great hall, the entire pack was assembled.Wolves stood shoulder to shoulder, faces grim, eyes blazing. Growls rippled through the ranks like distant thunder.And at the centerLucien.He stood upon the raised dais, shirtless, his healed shoulder bare beneath the torchlight. But there was no vulnerability in him now.Only wrath.His eyes glowed molten silver.Alpha power rolled off him in crushing waves, forcing weaker wolves to lower their gazes.Seraphine’s heart slammed.He had summoned a tribunal.Which meantJudgment.“What is this?” she demanded, pushing forward.Instantly, dozens of snarls erupted.Lucien’s hand lifted.Silence

Last Updated : 2026-01-31

Chapter 23 – Confession

Chapter 23 – ConfessionNightfall territory had never felt so empty.Lucien stood at the highest balcony of the stronghold, staring into the endless forest stretching beneath the moon. The wind tugged at his coat, cold and relentless, but he barely felt it. His mind replayed the same images on an endless loop blood on stone, terror in Seraphine’s eyes, the way her voice had cracked when she said she loved him.You were sent to kill me.The words tasted like poison.He had said them to wound her. To push her away before the bond between them destroyed them both.But that didn’t stop the ache ripping through his chest.Behind him, the fortress pulsed with unease. The pack felt it his turmoil, his fury, his grief. Wolves prowled restlessly through the halls, their instincts screaming that their Alpha was broken.Lucien clenched the stone railing until it crumbled beneath his grip.He could still feel her.Not the bond. Not magic.Memory.Her scent clung to everything. To the sheets in hi

Last Updated : 2026-02-02

Chapter 24 – The Cruel Words

Lucien found her at dawn.The forest was still heavy with night, mist clinging to the roots of ancient trees. His trackers had lost her trail twice, but instinct raw and unrelenting had driven him forward. Every step felt like he was walking against his own heartbeat.She stood at the edge of a ravine, pale light washing over her blood-streaked hands.Seraphine.For a moment, he simply watched her. The way her shoulders shook. The way she pressed her fists to her lips, trying to hold herself together.Guilt stabbed through him.But he crushed it.If he softened now, he would lose her forever to the Order, to fate, to death.“Don’t move.”She flinched at the sound of his voice.Slowly, she turned.Her eyes were red. Hollow. Something vital had been taken from her.“Lucien…”The way she said his name nearly broke him.“You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered.“Neither should you.”Silence stretched.“I thought you told me to leave,” she said.“I did.”“Then why are you here?”Because I ca

Last Updated : 2026-02-03

Chapter 25 – She Leaves

Seraphine did not stop running until Nightfall was nothing more than a distant shadow swallowed by fog and moonlight.The forest thinned into open plains scarred by ancient battles, the earth cracked and dry beneath her feet. Wind tore at her hair and clothes, but she barely felt it. Her lungs burned, her muscles screamed, yet she welcomed the pain. It grounded her. It reminded her she was still alive.Because inside, something had died.You’re not worth my blade.The words echoed in her mind like a curse.She stumbled, catching herself against the twisted trunk of a dead tree. Her breath shattered into sobs she could no longer contain. The strength left her legs, and she collapsed into the dirt, fingers clawing at the ground as if she could tear the memory out of herself.She had faced death countless times.She had endured torture, starvation, isolation, and the brutal training of the Aegis.None of it compared to this.Lucien had looked at her as if she were nothing. As if she were