LOGINThe ambiance inside the tower did not just grow warm; it began to sing.Alpha Malphas’s giant obsidian broadsword hung suspended in the air, the toxic purple electricity crackling along its jagged edge just inches above Duncan’s defenseless human face. The giant’s muscles were locked, his massive frame straining to drive the blade downward, but he could not move. An invisible, crushing weight of pure light had seized his arms, anchoring him in place.Amora Cortez did not slide into a traditional four-legged shift. She didn't grow the thick, snow-white fur of the fabled White Dire Wolf. Instead, her physical form became translucent, blurring at the edges until she looked like a walking galaxy.She became the raw, blinding energy of the moon itself.The silver-green fire swirling in her eyes expanded, shooting upward into the high rafters of the tower. Streams of brilliant, liquid starlight poured from her fingertips, wrapping around her body like protective ribbons. The sheer spiritu
Inside the blinding silver fire, a sudden, heavy silence fell over the altar room. The chaotic roaring of the magical energy died down, leaving behind a sound like a rushing, powerful wind. From the center of Duncan’s fading chest, a massive silhouette began to rise.It was the great silver beast, the ancient, royal wolf spirit that had defined the Alonso bloodline for generations.The spirit wolf hovered in the air above the stone altar, its massive form translucent and glowing with a brilliant, metallic silver light. It did not look at Malphas or the cowering shamans. It turned its huge, glowing head downward, its silver eyes fixing onto Duncan’s pale, shrinking human face one last time.The silver beast raised its head toward the shattered ceiling of the obsidian tower. It let out a final, mournful howl that vibrated through the very stones of the castle, a sound of absolute goodbye, of a king laying down his crown.Then, with a sudden, graceful dive, the great silver wolf plunged
Duncan led the strike team through the narrow stone pipe of the drainage, his hand gripping his iron blade so tightly his knuckles turned white. Up ahead, the faint sound of rhythmic, deep chanting began to echo through the iron grates."We are directly beneath the altar room," Oscar whispered, his blue eyes scanning the shadows above. He wiped a streak of dark grease from his cheek. "The air is thick with shadow magic. My skin is crawling.""Zach, Heidi, stay behind Remus," Duncan ordered softly. He looked up at the rusted iron grate built into the ceiling. "This is it."With a sudden burst of desperation, Remus and Oscar slammed their shoulders into the heavy iron grate. The rusted bolts snapped with a sharp crack, and the metal panel slammed onto the obsidian floor above. One by one, the suicide squad hauled themselves up into the dark heart of the castle.The main altar room was terrifyingly massive. The walls were made of smooth, polished volcanic glass that reflected the toxic
Katherine the Wraith stood twenty feet away, her tattered white dress swaying in a wind that no one else could feel. Her ink-black eyes stared directly at Zach and Heidi, her smoky talons twitching with an unnatural hunger.Duncan did not move. He kept his iron hunting knife raised, his human muscles tight, standing as a physical wall between the demon and his children. His chest throbbed with a dull, agonizing ache, a constant reminder that his royal wolf core was completely shattered.Before Katherine could lunge, a sudden rustle of dead leaves broke the freezing silence from the eastern edge of the clearing.A figure stumbled out from behind a massive, twisted black tree.He looked like a ghost. He wore torn, filthy leather armor that hung loosely off his gaunt frame. His hair was long, matted with dirt and dried mud, and a thick, unkempt beard covered his hollow cheeks. His left leg dragged slightly as he walked, leaning heavily on a notched wooden spear. He smelled of cheap moon
Duncan Alonso sat in a heavy wooden chair, his face hollow and deathly pale. His royal black coat was torn, and his hands were wrapped in clean white bandages. The internal trauma from the broken ritual had left his physical wolf core feeling like a frozen wasteland. Every breath felt like inhaling shattered glass, but his silver-grey eyes burned with a cold, terrifying desperation."You shouldn't be standing, Alpha," Remus said softly, stepping into the room. The Beta’s chest was heavily wrapped under his shirt where Malphas’s shadow whip had struck him. "Your core hasn't stabilized. If you encounter a high-ranking enemy and try to force a shift, your internal lines will collapse permanently.""If I stay in this room while Malphas drains her, I am already dead," Duncan said, his voice a low, gravelly rasp that lacked its usual royal vibration. He stood up slowly, his knees trembling slightly before his iron willpower forced his posture straight. "Who do we have left?"Oscar Wayne s
Amora woke up with her cheek pressed against a floor of solid, polished black volcanic glass. The room was massive, shaped like the inside of a hollow tower. High above, there were no windows, only jagged tears in the stone roof that revealed a sky of permanent, twisting gray clouds. This was the dark heart of the northern peaks, the absolute center of the Dark Moon territory.Amora tried to push herself up, but a sharp, burning pain flared across her wrists and ankles.She looked down and choked back a sob. She was chained to a massive black stone altar. The cuffs around her limbs were made of forged ironwood, wrapped in thick, glowing purple vines of shadow magic. Every time she tried to pull against them, the vines dug deeper into her skin, eating away at the tiny spark of spiritual energy she had left."Do not waste your breath, little Luna," a deep, rumbling voice echoed off the black glass walls.Alpha Malphas stepped out from the shadows near the base of the altar. In his own
The doors of the Grand Hall groaned shut, cutting off the distant, pathetic weeping of the broken outcasts. Xavier and Katherine were gone, cast out into the cold human world without their wolves, their money, or their pride.In the massive obsidian room, a heavy, suffocating silence returned. The
"More pancakes, Amora? That Alpha pup is going to need every calorie to fuel those growth spurts. You’re eating for a future King now!" Susan Wayne, Oscar’s older sister and the pack’s lead healer, beamed as she slid another stack of golden-brown pancakes onto Amora’s plate. Susan was a whirlwi
Amora stepped out of the examination room with the envelope clutched tightly in her hand. Too tight. Inside that paper was the evidence of a True Alpha heir—a child that, by pack law, Duncan could take from her the moment it drew its first breath. Her inner wolf, usually a quiet, submissive creatu
The pen in Amora’s hand trembled violently. It wasn’t just nerves; it was her wolf, whimpering in the back of her mind, sensing the impending severing of their bond. Five years. Five years of being a "Stand-in Luna." Three years reduced to a single signature on a pack-legalized decree of separat







