جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

Serena’s POVThe ride back to Silver Crest takes four days. We move slowly. Too many wounded. Too many wolves who can barely walk, But we move. That's what matters. I ride beside Kael at the front of the column. My arm is bandaged. My shoulder throbs with every step the horse takes. But I'm alive. We're all alive and well. Most of us. We lost eleven wolves in the battle. Seven from Silver Crest. Four from the allied packs.Their bodies travel with us. Wrapped in cloth. Carried by wolves who loved them. We'll bury them at home. It's the least we can do.Kael doesn't speak much. I feel him through the bond. His grief. His exhaustion. His relief that it's over, but also something else, doubt. "You're thinking too loud," I say on the second day. He glances at me. "You can feel that?""I can feel everything now." I touch my chest where the bond lives. "It's stronger since the battle." He nods slowly. "What are you thinking about?" I ask."Elena." "She's gone." "For now." His jaw tightens.

Serena’s POVThe next two weeks blur together. Messengers come and go. Alphas arrive, evaluate, decide. Some join us. Some leave without a word. Each day brings new faces. New questions, new doubts, and through it all, the clock keeps ticking.Elena is coming. We just don't know when. By the end of the second week, our numbers have grown. One hundred and eighty wolves. Fighters from seven different packs. Still not enough, but closer."The coastal packs sent word this morning," Damien reports. "They're considering our offer." "Considering?" Kael frowns. "We don't have time for considering.""They're cautious. They've never fought this far from the sea." "Then remind them what happens if Elena wins." Kael's voice hardens. "She won't stop at the eastern territories. She'll keep pushing until every pack bends to her will." "I've told them that.""Tell them again."Damien nods and leaves. I watch him go. "You're pushing too hard," I say quietly. "I'm pushing exactly hard enough." Kael tur

Serena’s POV“Don’t hide in here.”Maya shuts the door behind her and leans against it like she knows I’m thinking about locking it again.I’m standing by the window in a clean dress that still doesn’t feel like mine. Outside, the pack grounds are full of movement. Wolves carrying wood. Wolves digging. Wolves speaking in low voices that never quite rise into normal conversation. Mourning has its own sound. “I’m not hiding,” I say.Maya raises an eyebrow. “You’ve been in this room since sunrise.” “I nearly burned myself out saving your Alpha. I’m allowed a few hours.” “Our Alpha,” she corrects softly. I look away. That word still catches me: ours.Silver Crest still doesn’t feel fully like mine. Not after the way they stared when the battle ended. Not after what they saw me do. The light. The scream of those twisted wolves. The way they turned to ash.The way everyone looked at me after was not with gratitude but with fear.Maya sees the thought cross my face. Of course she does. “They

Serena’s POV“Don’t touch it.”Kael’s hand closes around my wrist just as the stone door groans wider. Cold air spills out of the darkness beyond. Not fresh air, old air, buried air. The kind that has been trapped too long. I stare past him.The chamber on the other side is bigger than the one we’re standing in. Much bigger. A wide round space carved into the earth itself. Black stone. A low pool of still water in the center. And beyond it, on a raised platform, a narrow altar with chains bolted into the floor around it. Not prison chains, but restraint chains. My skin goes cold. “What is this?” I whisper.Kael doesn’t answer. He steps in front of me, torch raised, every line of his body tight and ready. Like he expects something to rush us from the dark, Nothing moves.That somehow makes it worse. The silver light under my collarbone burns hotter. The mark is pulling me forward. “Serena.” Kael’s voice is low. Sharp. “Stay behind me.” “I’m trying.” But it’s not true, not really. Somet

Serena’s POVThe paper shakes in my hand, not because of the words. Because of the handwriting. I know it; I've seen it on birthday cards. On grocery lists stuck to the fridge. On the note she left beside my bed the morning she told me we were moving. My mother wrote this."That's her handwriting," I say.” The room goes silent.Kael takes the paper from me gently and studies it. Then looks at Damien. "Where exactly did you find this?""On her dressing table. Folded once. Placed on top of a silver pendant I've never seen before." "What pendant?"Damien reaches into his pocket and produces a chain. A thin silver chain with a small crescent moon hanging from it. My legs almost give out."That's my father's," I whisper. Every head in the room turns to me. "My birth father." My voice sounds far away. "He wore it every day. My mother kept it after he died. She never took it out. Never showed it to anyone."Kael's expression shifts. "She left it deliberately.""She left it for me." I take th