All Chapters of THE HYBRID QUEEN AWAKENING : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Alpha’s POV Athdal HavenThe fire in the war hall had burned low, but no one moved to feed it. It didn’t feel right to add warmth to a room that had gone this cold.I stood at the center, with my hands braced against the long stone table, staring down at the carved map of our territory. The markings were still there from the last council—boundary lines, patrol routes, weak points, but everything looked different now. It felt smaller and fragile.Like it could all fall apart with one wrong move.And maybe it already had.“They crossed the western boundary without leaving a scent,” Elder Marrek said, his voice rough with age and disbelief. “That should not be possible.”“It isn’t,” I replied, my tone flat, controlled. “Not unless something masked them.”A quiet ripple passed through the room. We all knew what that meant.Wolfsbane.My jaw tightened as the word settled in my chest again, heavier this time. It wasn’t just the attack anymore. It wasn’t just Kain’s death. It wasn’t even ju

Zara’s POVBlood CarticonsI was standing near the tiny window carved into the stone wall, staring out into absolutely nothing useful, trying to figure out if there was any possible way to escape this place without dying halfway through it. The opening was too narrow to crawl through, and all I could see outside was darkness and jagged cliffs disappearing into fog, but at this point I was desperate enough to study every crack in the walls like it might magically turn into freedom.Honestly, the whole thing felt stupid because I could barely stand properly without pain punching through my body, but sitting around waiting for vampires to bleed me dry sounded even worse.I finally pushed away from the wall with an annoyed sigh and dropped back onto the floor carefully, stretching my legs out in front of me while the chains scraped loudly against the stone.Then I felt something sharp inside me. My entire body locked up instantly. For a second I thought I imagined it, but no… there it wa

Zara’s POVBlood CarticonsI was officially losing my damn mind.There was no other explanation for the fact that I had spent the last ten minutes staring at a crack in a chain like it was some kind of holy miracle sent directly from the universe. The broken shackle rested against my wrist while I paced the tiny cell over and over, my bare feet scraping across the cold stone floor hard enough to make my legs ache.Every few seconds I looked toward the narrow hallway outside the bars again, studying the guards, counting footsteps, trying to figure out if there was even the smallest chance of escape.It was stupid. Completely stupid.This was Blood Carticons. A prison filled with vampires, cursed creatures, and enough dark magic to make my skin crawl every time the walls shook. I barely had enough strength to stand properly after everything they had done to me, and somehow my brain still thought, hey Zara, maybe sprinting through a vampire prison sounds like a fantastic fucking idea.“

Alpha’s POVAthdal HavenThe lab smelled like burnt herbs, blood, and wet stone by the time I stepped inside. Shelves had been ripped apart again, scattered across the floor like somebody had torn through the room in a hurry and stopped caring what they destroyed on the way out. Glass crunched beneath my boots while torchlight flickered across broken tables and overturned cabinets. Nobody spoke behind me. Not the guards. Not the healers. Not even the elders standing near the entrance pretending they weren’t terrified.The second attack in less than two nights had ripped whatever calm remained inside Athdal Haven straight out by the throat. I crouched slowly near one of the shattered storage cases and dragged two fingers across the floor. Wolfsbane dust clung to my skin immediately.Too much of it. The stores were almost empty now.My jaw tightened hard enough to hurt.“They hit the western vault this time,” one of the guards said carefully behind me. “The locks were still sealed when

Zara’s POVRain kept hitting my face hard enough to wake me up every few seconds, which honestly felt rude considering I was pretty sure I was dying. Or half dying. Maybe aggressively dying. I didn’t know anymore.Everything hurt. My throat burned where Sean bit me, my chest felt tight every time I breathed, and something cold kept spreading slowly beneath my skin like ice water trapped inside my veins.Ria dragged me forward through the dark forest while branches slapped against my arms and wet leaves crunched beneath our feet. I kept stumbling every few steps because my legs barely worked anymore.“This is bullshit,” I muttered weakly.“You’re still conscious,” Ria said quickly beside me. “That’s good.”“That doesn’t feel good.”“You need to keep moving.”“See, that sounds exactly like... something people say right... before somebody dies...” I could barely speak out loud.Ria ignored me completely, which was becoming a very annoying habit of hers. The forest around us didn’t feel n