Mag-log inFive’s POV“The king has requested your presence.”I had expected it. After the way he had looked at me from that window—a part of me even wondered if he had noticed I’d gone through his books again. He was standing at the window when I entered, his back to me, his hands clasped behind him. The city beyond the glass was dark, the citadel’s outer lights catching the edges of his silhouette.I stopped a few feet inside the door.He didn’t turn around immediately.That was new.Usually he watched me enter—that grey gaze tracking me from the moment I crossed the threshold, cataloguing everything before I’d had time to arrange myself. The indifference of his turned back was somehow more unsettling than the attention.“You wanted to see me.”“I did.”Silence.I waited.He turned finally, slowly, looking at me with an expression I had no name for.It was anger, or hunger, or his usual restraint. Just—nothing.Careful, deliberate nothing.It was the most dangerous face he had.“The garden b
Five’s POVThe garden had become the closest thing to freedom the citadel allowed.It wasn’t freedom.The walls still towered around us. Guards still lingered at every entrance. Cameras still watched from their hidden places.But there was sunlight.Real sunlight. And in that moment, I needed it more than anything. I tilted my face toward it for a brief moment, letting the warmth settle over my skin before lowering my gaze again.Seven sat beside me on the stone edge of a dry fountain, quiet. She was usually quiet, but this had texture to it. She hadn’t mentioned what I’d told her.Not once.She hadn’t called me delusional. She hadn’t argued. She hadn’t tried to convince me I’d imagined everything.Instead, she’d become… thoughtful.It scared me more than if she’d laughed.Elijah approached with a basket balanced against one hip.“They’re making us replant the eastern beds,” he muttered as he handed Seven a pair of gloves. “Apparently someone decided the flowers aren’t symmetrical e
Lucien's POVI could hardly focus. Not when the memory of her replayed in my head over and over again. The way her warm lips had wrapped around my cock, the lewd sounds she had made, those big blue eyes begging to get fucked. My jaw clenched. "What do you have on the human boy?" I growled, frustrated. Cato set a file down on my desk, his expression neutral as usual. "Elijah," he started carefully, "he was bred in the northern facility, and was transferred to the citadel as a laborer under lord Elvis."Lord Elvis. Of fucking course. One of the seven lords—the worst of them all. Of course his fucking laborer would be responsible for being an annoyance just like his goddamn master. "Get rid of him," I ordered flatly. My wolf moved in my chest—satisfied. "That..." he hesitated, "isn't a good idea, your majesty. Getting rid of him would raise questions from Elvis, and I'm assuming you don't want questions."He gave me a pointed look, referring to the night I had disrupted a bree
Five's POV "Where have you been?" Seven demanded the moment I stepped into the room. I didn't say anything, just walked straight to the corner I usually slept in. My head ached from the flood of new information, but even more from the impossible event in that room. The way the chair had lurched backward without anyone touching it. The way my skin had felt on the verge of explosion. I shut my eyes. "I was worried about you," Seven continued, ignoring the fact that I was ignoring her, "you disappeared. You keep disappearing." I squeezed my eyes, as if that alone could shut her out, could shut the world out. She went quiet for a long moment, her gaze burning through my skin. "You fucked him." The accusation landed heavy in the room, knocking the breath out of me. My eyes flew open. "I didn't." Her jaw was clenched, her eyes hard and skeptical. "Then why didn't you return?" I studied her for a long moment. My roommate—the hostile girl who had somehow managed to ge
Five's POV"The Human Management System was established in direct response to the crisis created by the Great War's conclusion," I read under my breath, my eyes moving across the pages sharply, something close to dread forming in the pit of my stomach. "Prior to the war, humans and wolves existed in a state of contested coexistence—territorial disputes were common but outright subjugation of either species was neither practiced nor formally proposed."My entire world spun. My breath caught in my throat, my lips parting as the words rang in my ears. I stared at it, reading it over. And over. And over again. Something heavy started in my chest, spreading through my entire body with a speed that made my breathing catch. My grip on the book tightened. "It had not always been like this," I whispered, my voice unrecognizable even to my own ears. My eyes found the pages again, my heart pounding in my chest as I read the words that changed everything. 'The decade-long conflict that
Five’s POV I woke up slowly. The room was grey with early morning light, the kind that came before the sun had fully committed to rising. The fire had died completely overnight, leaving the air cool against my skin. I was alone. I noticed that first—the absence of him, the sheets on his side cold enough that he had been gone for a while. I lay still for a moment, looking at the ceiling, my jaw aching with a dull persistent throb. The memories from last night flooded my mind. The taste of him, the feel of his thick cock in my mouth, the hungry sounds he had made. The space between my legs still ached desperately to be touched. And for a moment, I considered it. Considered sliding my fingers between my legs and fucking my cunt to the memory of him throbbing inside my mouth. But there were more important things to focus on. I turned my head. The desk. The book. I was out of the sheets before I had consciously decided to move, my feet finding the cold floor, my eyes
549’s POV The forest swallowed me whole. Branches tore into my skin, as I moved, roots caught my feet—making me stumble. But I didn’t slow down, I couldn’t. The voices behind me were multiplying, flashlight beams cutting through the trees. I ran until my legs stopped working properly. Unti
549’s POV"You’ll never return to us." Twelve’s words echoed in my head. The dread tinged with melancholy made it sound more like a sentencing than a prediction. I stood on the far end of the line, my gaze on the floor, my shoulders squared, chest pushed out—just the way we were taught. My body
549’s POV “What did they say?” Twelve asked as she twisted the cap of her water bottle. I shrugged, trying to act casual. “I passed.” She froze, then her eyes snapped to mine. I looked away, unable to bear the pity that swirled in those grey orbs. “Oh five forty nine,” she sighed, droppin
549’s POV The buzz of my alarm clock brought me back to life. It was 6:45am on the third moon day. Which meant— My room door burst open, and a familiar head of brown hair walked in. My reaction was instant, almost instinctive. I wrapped my arms around my body, trying—but failing to cover my br







