جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 90

RaguelI knew something was wrong long before I opened my eyes.Years of leading had trained me to recognize the difference between ordinary footsteps and urgent ones. These were urgent.Three quick knocks landed on the bedroom door.“Raguel?”Emily’s voice.I opened my eyes to find Lyra still curled against my chest, her breathing slow and peaceful. One arm was draped over my shoulder, the other acting as a cushion for her head, her hair spilling across my chest.For a fleeting second, I considered ignoring the knock. Emily could wait another hour.But then, another series of knocks echoed.“Raguel.”I sighed just as Lyra stirred.“Hmm?”I stroked her hair. “Go back to sleep, Lyra.”She yawned and blinked up at me. “Is everything okay?”“I’ll find out.”She frowned but nodded, her fingers lingering around my wrist before reluctantly letting go.I tucked the blanket around her properly as I climbed out of bed.I pulled on my clothes in a hurry, fastening up the buttons of my shirt wro

LyraWithin minutes, Raguel and Emily were gone. The heavy iron door of the chapel slammed shut with a deafening crash.Before I could even make my way to the door, four armed vanguard guards appeared before me. They didn’t speak to me, and they didn’t offer a single word of explanation, but they held their long rifles tightly against their chests as they formed a moving cage around me. I was marched straight back up the mansion and escorted to my room under strict orders from the Alpha King not to set a single foot outside the house.By midnight, Raguel wasn’t back and the mansion had transformed into an army base. Every time I looked out my window, all I could see were the beams of high-intensity searchlights. The usual calmness of the estate was gone, replaced by the rumble of armored transport vehicles moving in and out. The guards around my door had been tripled and every five minutes, I’d hear them pace the corridor.I stood at the bedroom window for what felt like the hundredth

RaguelWithin a few days, the killings had become frequent and the human world was beginning to notice.Every morning, another folder landed on my desk, the casualty count climbed and someone asked the same question.“Why can’t you stop him?”Aaron remained elusive, attacking more communities and going as far as attacking a few human-populated areas as well. He always seemed to disappear before my troops could even pinpoint his location. The dark magic of the hollowing made him invisible to my Lycan senses.Things became worse by the fourth day and we could no longer stop the human media from reporting the bloody details of the massacres. Every major human news channel was running continuous broadcasts detailing the gruesome crime scenes.I glanced through the newspaper open in front of me.Fourth Massacre In Eight DaysCitizens Baffled As Authorities Fail To Identify Serial KillerI read the articles countless times. Aside from who or what the serial killer was, the reporters got eve

RaguelThe confusion on Habeela’s face looked so genuine that, for one moment, I questioned everything.She looked from the guards gripping her arms to Lyra, then finally to me. “King Raguel…” Her voice was filled with confusion rather than fear as I had hoped. “What’s happening?”Lyra yanked herself free from the guard who had instinctively tried to keep her back.“Raguel! What the hell are you doing?” She reached Habeela’s side before the guards blocked her path. “Call them off, Raguel!” Lyra’s scream was filled with horror, her eyes darting frantically between me and the guards.I motioned to the guards holding Habeela and they released her arms just enough to let Habeela stand straight, but their hands remained behind her. Habeela blinked through the blonde strands of hair falling over her face, her jaw tightening as she looked from me to Lyra.The entrance hall had fallen completely silent as I studied her face. She wasn’t twitching or panicking.If she was lying, then she was da

HabeelaDespite how stupid it might sound, I had always preferred Heath’s anger.Whenever he was furious, his rage in volatile, destructive outbursts—heavy blows and brutal kicks directed to places like my ribs, my thighs, and the small of my back. They were always injuries that could easily be covered by a high-collared blouse or a simple neck scarf.It was his silence that terrified me. His silence meant a much deeper, unpredictable kind of harm.He didn’t utter a single word during the entire thirty-plus minutes ride back to our packhouse. The SUV raced through the roads, trees and overgrown grasses passing by in a blur. Heath sat in the driver’s seat, his hands tightening around the steering wheel, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the road ahead. I sat beside him, my hands folded tightly in my lap, stealing glances at him whenever I thought he wasn’t looking.His expression was unreadable. He hadn’t asked how I was feeling or whether the truth serum had left any lasting effects. He had