LOGINBella's POVThe whispers clung to me like smoke, impossible to shake loose.I walked the palace halls with my chin lifted, though I could feel every stare pressing against my skin. Klaus's rumors had already taken hold, spreading through the court like rot. The suspicion in the air was almost tangible — sharp and electric, the way the atmosphere feels right before a storm breaks.A few of the staff softened when our eyes met, pity in their faces. Most didn't bother masking their disdain, their thoughts loud enough to hear without words: She's an outsider. A fraud. A danger to him.I refused to shrink from it. Refused to give them the reaction they wanted.Hiding in my rooms would only confirm every accusation. So I kept to my routine — hours in the archives, meals in public, standing beside Thor even as the air in the palace grew thick enough to choke on.That defiance had a cost, though.Thor was unraveling, piece by piece. I saw it in the hard line of his jaw, in the way his hands k
I went rigid. "I'd heard something. I didn't want it to be true.""It is." Her eyes dropped to her lap. "The document's real. Bella isn't my full name. It's Isabella."The words sat heavy between us. My wolf bristled — not against her, but against the fear rolling off her. She expected judgment from me."Look at me," I said gently.She did."It doesn't matter to me if you're Isabella, Bella, or someone else entirely," I said. "You're mine. Nothing else about it changes that."Her eyes filled, and she fought the tears back. "You don't understand what this means. Elias — the man named in that document — isn't just some guardian. He's dangerous. I fled from him years ago. New name, new life, hiding the whole time. And now..." Her breath caught. "Now he's found me."A growl built in my chest. "He won't reach you.""He's already inside the palace," she said, voice shaking. "The note — it was his handwriting. He's here, Thor. Or near enough."I gathered her against me, my wolf snarling at t
Thor's POVThe strategy room doors groaned under my push, and the smell of old parchment and beeswax rushed to meet me.Beneath my skin, my wolf paced like something trapped — claws dragging against the inside of my ribs. It had been restless since the council meeting, since I'd chosen Bella over Kattie, but tonight the unease had sharpened into something more exact."Your Majesty."A guard knelt in the corridor, head lowered, a sealed scroll in his hands bearing the border outpost's crest."Speak," I said, keeping my voice low but letting it carry an Alpha's weight."Word from the eastern perimeter, Sire. A messenger arrived just now."I took the scroll and broke the wax with my thumb. The parchment was coarse, the ink smudged in places — written quickly, carelessly. Three words looked back at me, plain and damning.*Ronan has accepted.*I went still in the half-lit hallway. The guard barely breathed, reading the change in me. My wolf didn't ease at the news — it snarled, hackles lif
Ronan's POVBella's panic still lingered in the air — a scent of cold terror Ronan could almost taste, even from miles away. He stood in the center of his command tent, the heavy canvas walls snapping against the wind, but his mind had already gone back to that castle. Back to her.He'd seen her face when the truth of her past collapsed on top of her — the way her human eyes had widened, the way her breath had caught. She was fragile, a porcelain doll dropped into a world built for wolves, and the thought of her fear made his own wolf stir restlessly beneath his skin.Then a second scent reached him.Not fear this time. Parchment, ink, and the heavy wax of Lycan authority.A messenger, breathless and trembling, dropped to one knee at the tent's entrance, holding out a scroll sealed in red wax, the Lycan King's emblem stamped clearly across it."Alpha Ronan." The messenger's head stayed bowed. "From the palace. From His Majesty."Ronan took the scroll, his rough, calloused fingers snap
Bella's POVThe door of the Crimson Ledger clicked shut behind me, muffling the sharp wind that had been cutting through the courtyard. I let myself rest against the cool wood for a moment, eyes closed, breathing in the familiar mustiness of old paper and ink. It settled something in me. It felt normal.After the storm of the council chamber, after the crushing weight of Kattie's contempt pressing down like a physical thing, this place felt like shelter. I'd braced for whispers to follow me even here, but as I smoothed down my blouse and skirt, I told myself the worst had passed. The plot had been dragged into the light. Mira had admitted her part. And Thor had chosen me.Chosen me.The thought sent a warm ripple through my chest, cutting briefly through the fear still lodged there. I pushed off the door and made my way toward the archives, my footsteps the only sound in the hushed corridor."Morning, Bella," Marcus called from the front desk, sounding brighter than usual."Morning, M
The shattering porcelain sang through the room, but it wasn't enough to touch the fire eating through my chest. I snatched the crystal vase off the mantel—the one Thor had given me last year for my birthday—and hurled it at the wall. It burst into a thousand glittering fragments, raining down across the rug like frozen tears."Ruined!" The word tore out of me, raw and ugly. "She ruined everything!"My arm swept across the side table next, sending a tray of silver goblets clattering to the floor. The sound rang through the bedroom, sharp enough to rattle glass in the windowpanes. Inside me, my wolf thrashed against her cage, clawing at my ribs, snarling for blood. She wanted Bella's."Kattie. Stop."The voice came low and rumbling from the doorway. I whirled, chest heaving, to find my father, Beta Klaus, filling the frame. His arms were folded over his broad chest, jaw set like stone, eyes dark and simmering with the same rage clawing through me."Stop?" A laugh tore out of me, bitter
I muttered against his lips, sounding breathier than I wished, "I'm not some fragile egg, you know." "You don't need to be so kind. I'm not easily broken.A slow smile pinched at the corner of the stranger's mouth as he withdrew just enough for me to see his eyes darken with astonishment and someth
Bella's POV I forced my legs up the stairs of the council house. It was the only place I could think of coming to, in order to unwind. In order to breathe without feeling like my chest was collapsing in on itself.I collided into someone, almost losing my balance, but a hand brushed over my back i
Bella's POV My father arrived in Ronan's pack. I rushed towards him, ready to tell him what I had seen.“Ronan cheated on me, father. He was even with his beta as well! He is a hypocrite!" I complained to him, my voice cracking with disbelief and anger.A new wave of murmurs began to spread in the
Bella's POV “My father's pack was wealthy when I came to yours, why would I depend on you??" I snapped at Ronan.My voice trembled with rage I could no longer contain.Surely he was looking for ways to make me stand back and not leave, because there was no reason we would have to depend on him, un







