جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 190

The beta quarters looked like a graveyard. Bodies of fallen warriors and wounded betas littered every corner of the camp. Mud and blood coated them equally until it became impossible to tell where dirt ended and flesh began. The stench of death already polluted the air, thick and rotten enough to make Zara’s stomach twist violently. She wanted to look away but she couldn’t. 'Look at what happened because of you' she thought to herself. Her breathing became uneven. Tears blurred her vision as her body trembled beneath the weight of the sight before her. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand, partly to silence her sobs and partly to block out the smell of decaying bodies. “Zara?” A familiar voice echoed from the other side of the wreckage. Denice. “Denice!” Relief crashed through Zara instantly as she hurried toward her friend. “You’re alive.” She wrapped her arms around Denice tightly without caring about the dried blood staining her clothes. But the moment they separ

The man you speak of is not a figment of your imagination." Lysara's voice was measured. Final. "He is real." Zara's breath caught. "And is he... ?" She couldn't finish the sentence. "No. He is not Alpha Draven." She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Part of her was relieved because it meant Kael wasn't capable of wishing her harm, not even in the deepest, darkest corner of himself. But the other part of her remembered every single touch. Every encounter she had convinced herself was just a dream. None of it was. "Well," Lysara paused. "Not exactly Alpha Draven." Kael and Zara turned to look at each other. Then back at the elder. Waiting. "His name," Lysara said slowly, "is the Shadow King." The air left Zara's lungs. Her hand flew to her mouth. She had read about him in the Lycan codex once, back when she was desperately searching for answers. She had dismissed it then. He was supposed to be a myth. A story used to frighten young wolves into obedience. And yet. There

We're giving you a chance to escape the castle, Wisteria." Wisteria's brow arched. "Uhh no? You're looking for a spy." "Same thing," Zara retorted. A long breath left Wisteria's lips. She leaned backwards against the tree behind her, her arms loosely at her sides, like she was trying to let the bark absorb some of the weight of what she had just been told. "Coming here alone was me risking my life for you," she said. "What do you mean I need to do it again?" The disbelief in her voice wasn't exaggerated. She genuinely couldn't wrap her head around it. Zara stepped over a dead branch to close the distance between them. "I know you have it in you to be brave." She said it the same way someone would say it to a person who had already proven it but refused to see it in themselves. "I saw what you did for me and Kael back at the castle, when King James almost killed us." "It was nothing." Wisteria scoffed. "But it wasn't." Silence stretched between them. Wisteria didn't argue but s

: What Was Taken From UsFor a long moment, neither of them moved.The forest had gone strangely quiet, there was no howling or rustling leaves. Not even the sound of the wind moving through the trees.Zara could still feel Kael's arm around her waist, but neither of them seemed to remember when he'd pulled her closer.Her mind was stuck on one thing. "We were never strangers."She looked at him. "You really don't remember?"Kael's jaw tightened. "I remember pieces.""Pieces?""The garden. The tree. The wolf." He looked down at the small wooden wolf still resting in his palm. "And you."Zara's heart gave a strange little twist, she hated how much that word affected her. "You knew me.""I did.""When?"Kael lifted his eyes to hers. "Before I became king."She stared at him. That somehow made it worse because she'd spent so much time believing their connection had begun with fate. With the mate bond, with that terrifying moment when she realized the Lycan King was her mate. But apparen

For a long moment, neither of them moved.The forest had gone strangely quiet, there was no howling or rustling leaves. Not even the sound of the wind moving through the trees.Zara could still feel Kael's arm around her waist, but neither of them seemed to remember when he'd pulled her closer.Her mind was stuck on one thing. "We were never strangers."She looked at him. "You really don't remember?"Kael's jaw tightened. "I remember pieces.""Pieces?""The garden. The tree. The wolf." He looked down at the small wooden wolf still resting in his palm. "And you."Zara's heart gave a strange little twist, she hated how much that word affected her. "You knew me.""I did.""When?"Kael lifted his eyes to hers. "Before I became king."She stared at him. That somehow made it worse because she'd spent so much time believing their connection had begun with fate. With the mate bond, with that terrifying moment when she realized the Lycan King was her mate. But apparently, there had been someth