All Chapters of The Wrong Mate And The Silver Queen: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

"You can't seriously be considering this."Lyra's voice cut through the tent like a blade. She stood at the center of what had become a war council—Kael at her right, a grizzled Blackmane elder named Theron at her left, and a map of the kingdom spread across a rough wooden table between them. My family and I stood at the tent's edge, caught between exhaustion and the terrible weight of what Victor had just told us."I'm not considering anything," Kael said evenly. "I'm pointing out that the King's propaganda changes our timeline. If the kingdom believes Selene murdered me, then every loyalist pack will be hunting her by dawn. We can't wait for the northern clans to rally. We have to move now.""Move where?" Theron's voice was a growl. "Into the heart of the Silver Moon territory with a handful of warriors and a princess the whole realm thinks is a murderer? That's not strategy, boy. That's suicide.""I didn't say it would be easy—""You didn't say anything useful." Lyra turned to face

"Keep your head down and your hood up. If anyone asks, you're a healer's apprentice traveling north for supplies."Lyra's instructions were clipped as she handed me a rough wool cloak, the kind worn by common wolves who couldn't afford silk or velvet. It smelled of woodsmoke and pine and something vaguely canine—not unpleasant, just foreign."And if they don't believe me?" I pulled the hood over my hair, tucking the silver strands out of sight."Then they'll probably try to kill you." Lyra's smile was sharp. "But don't worry. I'll kill them first."We'd gathered at the camp's edge before dawn, just as planned. Lyra led the group, her lean warrior's frame cutting through the underbrush with practiced ease. Rowan flanked me on the left, his ash-gray wolf close to the surface. Ivy had stayed behind to help Elias and my mother—she knew the palace's secrets better than anyone and would be more useful coordinating intelligence from camp than tromping through the forest with us.And Kael was

"Your father sends his regards."The words barely registered before the first wolf lunged. I threw myself sideways, hitting the ground hard, feeling teeth graze my shoulder. The forest spun around me—trees, shadows, fur, blood. My blood."Selene!" Rowan's roar was distant, muffled by the snarls of the wolf he was fighting.I scrambled to my feet, heart slamming against my ribs. The two bounty hunters circled me, their eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. They were big—bigger than any wolves I'd trained against—and they smelled of bloodlust and silver."Pretty little princess," the second one growled. "The King said you'd run. He didn't say you'd be so easy to catch."Move, my wolf screamed. Fight. Survive.But I couldn't move. My body had locked up, every instinct frozen. This wasn't training. This wasn't the controlled sparring matches Elias had arranged in the palace gardens. This was real—real teeth, real blood, real death waiting to happen.The first wolf lunged again.Something sl

"Wake up. We have company."Lyra's voice dragged me from sleep. I blinked awake, disoriented, the cave's shadows pressing in like living things. Rowan was already on his feet, his body tense, his eyes fixed on the cave entrance."What kind of company?" I whispered, scrambling upright."Not human. Not a wolf." Lyra's voice was strange—tight, controlled. "Something else. Something I've never smelled before."I inhaled deeply, and my wolf surged to attention. There was a scent on the wind—ancient and cold, like frost on old stone, like moonlight made tangible. It stirred something in my blood, something that recognized the smell even though I'd never encountered it before."Selene." Rowan's hand found my arm. "Your eyes. They're glowing."I looked down at my hands. The faint shimmer of silver light danced across my skin like fireflies. My wolf was pushing close to the surface, not out of fear or aggression, but out of recognition. Whatever was out there, my wolf knew it."I need to go ou

The light didn't burn.I'd expected pain—fire and agony like the night my bond had broken. But this was different. The silver light washed over me like moonlight on water, cool and gentle, and somewhere in the distance I heard Rowan shouting my name, but the sound was muffled, far away, like listening through a wall of water.Princess Selene Ashbourne.The voice echoed in my mind, ancient and vast. Not the spirit wolf this time. Something older. Something that had been waiting for generations.You have opened the Codex. You have claimed your birthright. But birthrights are not gifts—they are tests. And yours has only just begun.I stood in a void of silver light, the Codex open in my hands. The pages were blank, but as I watched, words began to appear—letters forming from the light itself, written in a language I'd never seen but somehow understood.The Unbroken Queen shall rise from the ashes of a false bond. She shall carry the silver flame. She shall unite the packs or watch them f