Katrina's POVWith heavy footsteps and waves of frustration flowing from him, Shaun paced the room. I tried to calm my own emotional tempest by sitting on the edge of the bed with my arms about me."You can't be thinking about this seriously," Shaun remarked in a furious tone.I let out a slow breath. "Shaun, I'm at a loss for what to do. We require a competitive edge.He tightened his hands at his sides. "Not in this manner. Not with him.I looked into his eyes, trying to make sense of it. "You are unaware of his deceit."Shaun chuckled harshly. "You are unaware that he is speaking the truth."There was an agonizing quiet between us. I could relate to him, and it made my heart hurt. Shaun wished to keep me safe. He wished to keep our pack safe. However, I couldn't get rid of the impression that Thomas had the secret to something bigger.I got up and walked up to him. "Don't you think I should try if there's even a chance he's right and I have more power than I realize?"Shaun gave a
Katrina’s POVShadows flickered around the walls of the deserted temple as the fire crackled softly. I could hardly feel the frigid air pressing in around me. I was trying to make sense of what Thomas had just said, but my mind was too busy and racing."Say that again," I said in a raspy whisper.With his arms folded and an enigmatic expression, Thomas stood in front of me. "Katrina, your son. He will eventually rule over both werewolves and lycans.My throat tightened each breath. My son. My lovely, naive youngster."That’s impossible," I stutteringly said. "He is only a boy. He doesn't even—"Thomas cut him off with, "It doesn't matter what he is now." "His future is mentioned in the prophecy. Depending on the decisions made, he will either bring peace or devastation to the species. Davos wants him because of this. Lucy won't stop pursuing you because of this. They are aware of his identity.I violently shook my head. "No. No, I don't think fate exists. I refuse to allow my son to
Katrina’s POVAs soon as I woke up, the world felt different. There was a problem. The silence was too loud, the air too still.I was gasping for air when I sat up in bed. My chest was thumping with my heart. I listened for the typical noises: my son's steady breathing in the adjacent room, the gentle rustle of the breeze outside, and the guards' silent patrolling footsteps.However, I didn't hear anything.I was in a panic. With my bare feet crashing into the wooden floor, I tossed away the blankets and hurried to his room. The door stood ajar a little. I pushed it wider with shaking hands.There was no one in the bed.My body grew cold, and my vision became blurry. My son is no longer here. The window was open, the curtains fluttered in the early morning wind, and the blankets were thrown away."No." With my body swaying, I whispered my words. "No, no, no."As though he were hiding beneath the covers, I staggered forward and tore them away. With my fingers gripping the covers, I fel
Katrina's POVLucy desired more strength, authority and power. I had always known that. However, this? This was not what I had anticipated.I huddled behind the dense underbrush, my pulse thumping and my breath coming in short gasps. In front of me, tucked up in the bush, were the ancient ruins. Inside was my son. Lucy was, too.Shaun crouched next to me, looking around the shadowed stone walls. "We must act quickly."I took a deep breath to regain my composure. "She will not harm him."Shaun's head jerked in my direction. "You're unaware of that."I balled my fists up. She needs him to be alive. She's looking for something else.He gave a quick breath. "What?"I gave a headshake. "Control."I had been putting everything together for the past couple hours. Lucy had no intention of killing my son. She desired to make advantage of him. to exert authority over Davos. She became much more dangerous as a result.I became tense at a startling noise. A glimmer of activity c
Katrina's POVThe night was alive with the sound of war.Like a shadow in the night, we moved together. My soldiers were prepared. Their muscles braced for war, their eyes glowing in the moonlight. It was more than just a brawl. It was a rescue.There was still my son.Beside me, Shaun stood with his jaw gritted. "We struck quickly. We struck hard. No pity."I nodded while holding my dagger's hilt. "No mercy."A black figure against the night sky, the ruins loomed ahead. My heart beat as we approached. My breath was calm, but inside, I was screaming. My darling. My young son."Positions," I said to myself.With deathly silence, the warriors dispersed. Shaun gave the signal, and we moved forward. We were never noticed by the guards.They dropped, one by one.The ground was marred by blood. I didn't think twice. I didn't consider. I shifted, carefully slicing through them. Every second mattered. Lucy had my son every time she wasted a moment.From within the ruins came a scream. I felt
Katrina's POVThe message came in the morning.I stood on the balcony, the cool morning air brushing against my skin. My body was still suffering from the conflict, my head muddled with tiredness. But sleep didn’t come for me. Not after what had transpired. Not after nearly losing my son.Shaun stood behind me, his arms crossed. He was silent, watching, waiting.Then the messenger arrived.A young warrior, breathing heavily, handed me a sealed parchment. The wax bore the mark of the one individual I had been dreading.Davos.My fingers gripped on the letter as I broke the seal. My eyes read the text, my heart beating with every sentence.Lucy is a traitor.She has stolen my possessions. She'll pass away.However, Katrina, you have committed more offenses.My heir was taken by you.I'll burn everything you cherish for that.Choose a side or risk your entire universe collapsing.You've got three days.My palms trembled as I held the paper. Short intakes of breath came out of me
Katrina’s POVIt was cold at night.As I watched my troops get ready, I stood on the training grounds. Their motions were precise and crisp, their looks gloomy. They anticipated it. All of us did.Shaun crossed his arms and stood next to me. I knew him well enough to sense his strain, but his face was unreadable.His voice was low as he questioned, "Are you ready?"I let out a slow breath. "I have to be."He touched me with his hand. "We fight together."I gave a nod. "Always."The smell of conflict filled the air as the wind howled through the woods. My chest was thumping with my heart.Three days. All we had was that. But Davos was going more quickly than he should have.Mira came over, her face white. Movement has been observed by scouts close to the eastern ridge. His troops are getting closer.Shaun's jaw tightened. "How much time?""Hours. Perhaps less.My stomach turned over. "We don't wait after that. We're on the go."Around me, the fighters stood up straight,
Katrina’s POVThere was chaos on the battlefield.The sound of swordplay and Lycan howls filled the night air, making the ground quiver beneath my boots. The breeze was perfumed with smoke and blood, and the sounds of combat blended with the cries of the injured. As I whirled, avoiding an impending blow from one of Davos's fighters, my heart raced.I snarled, sank my claws into his chest, and launched him into the air. My motions were quicker and my body felt stronger. I felt a burst of power from my hybrid talents that I had never experienced before.Beside me, Shaun was engaged in combat, his blade tearing through the enemy ranks like a hurricane. Davos's forces were pushed back by our men who maintained the line. We seemed to be getting the better of it for a while.Then everything was different.From the distant side of the battlefield came a massive, deafening explosion. I was pushed off my feet by the intensity of it, and a wave of fire and dirt shot into the air. With m
Katrina’s POVThe wind howled through the valley, carrying the scent of blood and smoke, even after all this time. The battle was over, but the land still bore the scars of war—charred earth, shattered weapons, and graves upon graves stretching farther than my eyes could see. I stood at the edge of the ridge, my cloak billowing behind me. The sun was setting, casting an eerie golden glow over the ruins below. It should have been beautiful. Instead, it felt haunting, as though the land itself mourned what had transpired here. Jax stood beside me, his large frame unusually still. He wasn’t the same man who had charged into battle with reckless confidence. None of us were the same anymore. Mira knelt beside a small grave, placing a single white flower upon the fresh mound of dirt. “She was only eighteen,” she murmured, her voice tight with grief. “She was supposed to see the world, not…” Her voice trailed off as her fingers traced the name etched into the stone. Shaun was further
Katrina’s POVAside from the distant moans of the injured and the crackle of dying fires, the battlefield was eerily quiet. Staring at the Crimson Alpha's lifeless body, his once-imposing figure reduced to a heap of broken bones and lost force, made my heart race. The victorious moment, however, felt unjust. hollow. I felt a shudder go through me as a slow, purposeful clap reverberated over the field. When I turned, I saw Lucy Hawthorne standing there. Her icy-blue eyes gleamed with laughter, and her scarlet cloak hardly stirred in the wind. As she stepped forward, her boots stomping on the blood-soaked grass, she exclaimed, "Well done." "You really did a favor for me." Mira tensed up next to me, her hand clenching over her knife. With a low growl, Jax's muscles tensed, poised to attack. Shaun's amber eyes blazed with anger as he took a defensive step forward. Davos, however, was the one who spoke at last. His voice was like steel as he said, "You were never here for him." “You
Katrina’s POVThe battlefield was quiet. My own rapid breathing was the only sound I could hear for the first time since the start of the conflict. The land was covered in blood, with the dead of both enemies and friends scattered like shattered dolls. There was a smell of death, fire, and grief in the air. A feeling of disquiet, more than anything else, was in the air. Beside me, Jax's enormous body heaved with fatigue. His silver eyes looked over the area as though he thought more foes may resurrect. Grasping her arm, Mira struggled to remain upright. With blood streaming from a cut on his forehead, Shaun rested on his sword, but his amber eyes remained alert. The conflict with the Crimson Alpha was over. Why, though, did it seem like we had lost something far more important? My eyes shifted to the Crimson Alpha's lifeless body. His once-dominant body was still, his red eyes permanently closed. The eerie force that had propelled him had vanished, vanishing into thin air. But som
Katrina's POV With the exception of the distant crackling of flames devouring the remains of the dead, the battlefield was strangely quiet. The ground was slippery with the remains of soldiers who had sacrificed their lives for this conflict, and the air was heavy with the smell of blood and burned flesh. I walked over corpses, some I recognized, others I didn't, and my heart ached. The never-ending cycle of violence had taken another person, and each one was a loss. And yet there he was, in the middle of the slaughter. The Alpha Crimson. Despite the devastation all around him, he remained tall and intimidating. His posture eased as if he were just a spectator to the mayhem he had created, and his crimson eyes burned like coals. My body cried out for me to fight, to put a stop to this once and for all, and my grasp tightened around my blade. However, he held up a hand. "We need to talk, Katrina." My whole body hummed with stress as I tightened my jaw. "I have nothing to say to
Katrina’s POVUnease was in the air at the war camp. The tension was oppressive and unavoidable; it adhered to my skin like a dense mist. There was a problem. The absence of food supply had been the first clue. When additional warriors joined our army, we first believed that the rations were being stretched thin, which was a simple error. Weapons, however, disappeared. Our strategy tent's plans outlining our next course of action vanished. Worst of all, fighters were vanishing into thin air. I looked around the camp as I stood outside my tent. Long, unsettling shadows were thrown over the restless warriors by fires that flared in the darkness. They experienced the paranoia and the feeling that something was falling apart inside of them as well. Shaun came over, his face serious. "Last night, another fighter disappeared. a top scout for us. No indication of a fight. It seems as if he just left. Mira folded her arms. "Someone is helping the enemy." I let out a deep breath, my thoug
Katrina's POVEven the most courageous soldiers were hesitant to enter the safehouse since it was tucked away in the deepest area of the forest. It was an area unaffected by conflict or the mayhem engulfing the world beyond the woods. My youngster was protected here.That's what I kept telling myself, anyhow.As the last of the sunshine slipped behind the tall trees, I watched from the doorway of the little wooden home. The soft sound of my son's laughing reverberated within, a tune so innocent that it didn't fit with the burden on my chest.I balled my fists up. The Crimson Alpha's soldiers were gaining momentum as the conflict reached its climax. My troops continued to fight without me for every second I was here. They lost another second life. But leaving was a total gamble. Leaving him was necessary.I turned and stepped inside, feeling a chill. With the flickering fire creating gentle shadows on the walls, the cabin's warmth enveloped me. Mira gave my kid some wooden sculptures t
Katrina’s POVAs we gathered around the frayed scroll, its mysterious lettering flashing in the faint torchlight, the atmosphere was heavy with suspense. Every time my heart beat, it served as a harsh reminder of how much depended on us. We had arrived to the deserted Lycan ruins, a location lost to time, thanks to the mystery. I felt the old carvings under my fingertips as I moved them over the stone walls. Relics from the past. Back when werewolves and lycans weren't adversaries. When they were one, that is. Shaun was standing next to me, looking over the ruins with amber eyes. "This place gives me a bad feeling." Mira let out a loud sigh. "Whether you like it or not, this is where the puzzle took us. Here is the solution. I looked to a big archway at the far end of the room and nodded. Beyond it, the blackness went on forever. I got a weird feeling that we were closer than ever before, like a weight pressing down on my chest. "We move together," I murmured while holding onto m
Katrina’s POVAs we gathered around the frayed scroll, its mysterious lettering flashing in the faint torchlight, the atmosphere was heavy with suspense. Every time my heart beat, it served as a harsh reminder of how much depended on us. We had arrived to the deserted Lycan ruins, a location lost to time, thanks to the mystery. I felt the old carvings under my fingertips as I moved them over the stone walls. Relics from the past. Back when werewolves and lycans weren't adversaries. When they were one, that is. Shaun was standing next to me, looking over the ruins with amber eyes. "This place gives me a bad feeling." Mira let out a loud sigh. "Whether you like it or not, this is where the puzzle took us. Here is the solution. I looked to a big archway at the far end of the room and nodded. Beyond it, the blackness went on forever. I got a weird feeling that we were closer than ever before, like a weight pressing down on my chest. "We move together," I murmured while holding onto m
Katrina's POVThe air shifted around me, thick like a heavy mist, pulling me under. My body no longer felt like my own. The world faded, the ground dissolving beneath me until I was floating in an endless void. I wasn’t sure how I got here—one moment, I had been gripping the scroll the temple guardian had given me, reading its cryptic words, and the next, everything had gone dark. I took a slow breath, steadying my nerves. This was part of the trial. I had known there would be one. The moment I touched the scroll, I felt something pull at me, dragging me into a place beyond the physical world. But I hadn’t expected it to feel so... real. A soft whisper echoed through the void, a voice both foreign and familiar. "You're not prepared." I spun, searching for the source, but there was only darkness. Then, out of nowhere, a figure stepped forward. My breath caught. It was me. Or rather, it was a version of me—one twisted, darker. Her eyes blazed an unnatural red, her lips twisted