Noah’s POVThe air in the South was stifling, thick with the scent of blooming jasmine and the rot of the marshes, but for the first time in days, I felt like I could breathe. I stood on the terrace, watching the sunset bleed across the horizon like a fresh wound, while Raine, the courier who had successfully breached the Northreach line stood three paces behind me.He looked exhausted, his boots caked in grey mountain mud, but there was a flicker of triumph in his eyes that mirrored the jagged spark in my own chest."You’re certain she received it?" I asked, not turning around. I traced the rim of my crystal wine glass, the ring of the glass a sharp, high-pitched note in the quiet evening."Yes, Alpha," Raine said, his voice raspy from the altitude. "I watched from the treeline through the glass. The guard, took it directly into the residential wing. Ten minutes later, I heard the scream. Then the silence. The kind of silence that happens right before a storm breaks."I smiled, a c
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