로그인Alara's POVBeing a mother had taught me many things. I knew how to survive entirely sleepless nights, and how to remain perfectly calm when a five-year-old Lucian had opened a raw shadow gateway in the middle of the palace corridor simply because he wanted to find me. I knew how to stop a young Artemis from accidentally healing half the royal staff whenever she tapped into a new aspect of her Crescent powers.I had learned how to smile right through my deepest fears. Because if motherhood had taught me one universal truth, it was that children never truly realize how much their parents worry.Xavier stood before the shattered western section of the training arena, silent and still. Below us, the physical damage was already being repaired. Stonemasons worked tirelessly to clear the rubble, warriors hauled away broken pillars, and servants whispered frantically amongst themselves. The masonry would be fixed within days. The whispers, however, would linger much longer.I joined my hus
Selena's POVThe silence that followed was entirely different. The suffocating tension evaporated, leaving behind something profoundly honest and entirely unshielded. Slowly, deliberately, Lucian walked back to the edge of the bed. He stopped right beside me, close enough that I could see the dark circles under his eyes. He clearly hadn't slept a wink."You shouldn't give me that kind of power," he murmured, though there was no heat in it. "It's dangerous."I smiled up at him. "Too late. The decision's been made."His shoulders sagged, a look of utter defeat washing over his face, though the ghost of a relief pulled at his features. "I will never understand you.""Join the club," I laughed softly.For the first time since I’d opened my eyes, the faint corner of his mouth twitched upward. It wasn't a full smile, but it was a victory nonetheless."Aha!" I pointed a finger at him accusingly. "You almost smiled. I saw it."He instantly schooled his features back into a stony glare. "I hav
Selena's POVMy eyelids felt heavy as I slowly forced them open, staring up at the intricately carved wooden ceiling of the palace healer’s chambers. The sharp, clean scent of crushed herbs and medicinal salves hung thick in the air. Every time I tried to shift, a dull, throbbing ache flared beneath the crisp white bandages tightly wrapped around my shoulder, a physical reminder that the chaos of the previous afternoon hadn't been an absurd dream.Fragments of the training incident replayed relentlessly behind my eyes. The sudden, erratic trajectory of the wooden practice blade. The sickening thud as it collided with my collarbone. The ground rushing up to meet me. And then... the absolute madness that followed.I had never seen him like that. Not even close. That wasn't the composed, calculating prince the court whispered about in hushed tones. It wasn't the quiet boy who spent hours hiding away in the dusty corners of the palace library, nor was it the fiercely sarcastic companion I
Artemis's POVThe temperature in the arena plummeted so fast that my breath hitched, turning to white mist in the air. One moment I was casually watching the training rotation, and the next, the bright midday sun was choked out as the entire valley plunged into pitch-black darkness.Terrified gasps and shouting erupted from every corner of the gallery.Down below, the shadows were exploding outward from Lucian in a violent, terrifying, and utterly uncontrolled storm of dark mass. It was exactly like the training accident that had occurred weeks ago, but this was exponentially worse. The darkness didn't just pool around his feet; it raged."Lucian!" His name tore from my throat before I could stop it, but the sound was swallowed by the roaring wind generated by his power.Chaos descended upon the training grounds. The darkness swallowed the stone floor and the sand pits like a living, predatory ocean. Experienced warriors stumbled backward in panic, their nocturnal vision useless again
Lucian's POVThe training arena was an assault on the senses, filled with a chaotic symphony that I usually had no trouble tuning out. Dozens of young Lycan warriors occupied the massive stone grounds, their bodies moving in blurred, predatory sequences as they sparred in tightly monitored groups. The air was thick with the scent of kicked-up dust, sweat, and iron. Steel clashed against steel with deafening cracks, punctuated by the booming commands of instructors and the heavy thuds of bodies hitting the dirt. Normally, this display of raw power was routine to me, a familiar backdrop to my daily responsibilities.Today, however, my focus refused to lock onto the training drills. Instead, my gaze kept drifting toward the western boundary of the courtyard.Towards her, over and over.Selena stood near the edge of the chalk lines, paired with a massive trainee who towered over her. Unlike every other highborn heir present, she possessed no wolf. She had no Lycan blood running through
Cassian's POVMy father had lied.The realization wasn’t exactly a grand epiphany. I’d known Alpha Darius long enough to recognize the subtle shift in his posture, the calculated shadow in his eyes whenever he was withholding information. But lately, a darker, more suffocating suspicion had taken root: I was beginning to think he’d been lying to me my entire life.I stared at the heavy parchment spread across my desk. It had arrived that morning, sealed with the crisp, unmistakable wax crest of my home pack. On the surface, the contents were aggressively ordinary. Father wrote of shifting pack borders, tedious political maneuvers, trade agreements, and training quotas — the usual bureaucratic nonsense he loved pretending was the center of the universe.Yet, it was what he didn't write that made the skin on the back of my neck prickle.Once again, there was no mention of my mother.I leaned back in my chair, frustration simmering like a low-grade fever beneath my skin. For years, I ha
Alara’s POVThe peace only lasted a day.I realized it the next night, when the air itself felt too tight to breathe, like the world was holding its breath, waiting for something to snap.I was halfway through settling the twins when it happened.At first, it wasn’t a sound I recognized as danger.
Alara’s POVSomething shifted in the house long before I heard raised voices or felt the tremor of anger ripple through the bond.It was subtle — too subtle — but I felt it the moment I stepped into the corridor outside Ronan’s office. The air tightened, thickened, like the silence before a storm b
Alara’s POVLater that night, as I brushed my hair, it happened. The room was quiet in that fragile, end-of-day way. My arms ached pleasantly from a long day spent chasing laughter and chaos, from tiny hands tugging at my sleeves and voices calling Mama until the word blurred into something sacred.
Alara’s POVMorning light filtered through the tall windows of the main house, pale and unassuming, as if the night before hadn’t unraveled half the truths I had lived by for years.I







