Xander's POVThe world around me faded to darkness as I closed my eyes, focusing on the ancient ritual Asher had taught me. My body remained in our war-torn reality, but my consciousness drifted, seeking the primal source of our kind. I could still hear the chaos outside – the screams, the tearing of reality, Lyra's voice commanding our defenses. But it all grew distant as I sank deeper into the spiritual realm.Suddenly, I was elsewhere. A primordial forest stretched in all directions, more ancient and wild than anything I'd ever seen. The very air thrummed with raw, untamed power. This was the birthplace of our species, the cradle of all werewolves.A low growl rumbled through the forest, shaking the ground beneath my feet. I turned slowly, my heart pounding, to face the source.There, emerging from the shadows, was the largest wolf I'd ever seen. Its fur was a swirling pattern of midnight black and starlight silver, its eyes gleaming with an intelligence far beyond any mortal creat
Asher's POVThe weight of centuries pressed down upon me as I stood at the edge of our reality, staring into the swirling chaos of the Void. How many times had I been here before? How many times had I turned away, choosing the safety of ignorance over the burden of truth?But no more. The consequences of my cowardice were tearing apart the very fabric of existence."Asher." Lyra's voice, tinged with both concern and suspicion, pulled me from my reverie. "Are you sure about this?"I turned to face her and Xander. The young Alpha's new form was both awe-inspiring and terrifying – a living embodiment of primal wolf power barely contained within mortal flesh. The corruption of the Void still flickered at the edges of his being, held at bay only by Lyra's Fae magic."No," I admitted, my voice heavy with the weight of uncounted years. "But it's the only way. The answers we need, the key to stopping all of this – it's out there, in the spaces between realities."Xander's eyes, now glowing wi
Lyra's POVThe fabric of reality shimmered around me, fracturing like a broken mirror. Each shard reflected a different possibility, a different outcome of the cosmic struggle we were embroiled in. I stood at the center of it all, the nexus point where every thread of fate converged.Asher's sacrifice still burned in my mind, a reminder of the cost of our battle against the Void. His final act of redemption had bought us time, but the respite was short-lived. The prophecy that had haunted me since I first learned of my true nature was rapidly coming to fruition."Lyra!" Xander's voice cut through the chaos. He stood a few feet away, his new primal form radiating raw power. But I could see the strain in his eyes, the constant battle to keep the Void's corruption at bay. "We're running out of time. The barriers between realities are collapsing."As if to emphasize his point, a rift tore open in the sky above us. Through it, I caught glimpses of other worlds – some beautiful beyond imagi
Lyra'sPOVThe sky above us tore open like a wound, bleeding darkness into our reality. The Void had finally made its move, and all of existence trembled at its approach. I stood at the center of our makeshift battlefield, Xander's primal form radiating power beside me, our pack gathered in a circle of defiance against the encroaching oblivion."Are you ready?" Xander's voice, though twisted by his transformation, still carried that note of concern that made my heart ache."No," I answered honestly, watching as reality itself began to warp around us. "But we don't have a choice anymore."The first wave hit like a tsunami of entropy. Void creatures poured from the rift, each more nightmarish than the last. Our pack met them with fang and claw, enhanced by Xander's primal power, but even that wasn't enough. For every monster they destroyed, two more took its place.I reached deep within myself, calling upon both aspects of my nature. Fae magic erupted from my hands in arcs of pure creati
Lyra'POVThe Void devoured worlds like a starving beast. I watched, helpless, as reality after reality crumbled into nothingness. Infinite lives, infinite possibilities, all consumed by the endless hunger of oblivion. And through it all, a terrible certainty: this wasn't just a nightmare. It was a vision.I jerked awake, my scream strangled in my throat. The room spun around me, but not just my room – I could see a thousand versions of it, each slightly different. In one, the walls were painted blue instead of green. In another, the window faced east rather than west. The overlapping images made my head throb."Make it stop," I whimpered, pressing my palms against my temples.'Focus,' my wolf urged. 'Remember what Asher taught us before...'Before he sacrificed himself. The memory sent a fresh wave of pain through me.The door burst open, and Xander rushed in. But I saw him in multiple iterations too – versions where he'd chosen differently, lived differently. One where he'd never bec
Xander's POVThe beast defied every natural law, its form shifting between states of matter like a nightmare made flesh. My primal wolf raged against its very existence, recognizing it as an affront to reality itself. But as I watched Lyra face the creature, her cosmic song rippling through dimensions, my fear wasn't for our world – it was for her."Lyra, stop!" I roared, seeing how the cosmic frequencies were affecting her. Her form was beginning to blur at the edges, as if she too were being unmade. "You're tearing yourself apart!"She either couldn't hear me or couldn't stop. The song continued, reality warping around her like heat waves off hot asphalt. The creature writhed, caught between dimensions, but it wasn't going quietly."Everyone fall back!" I commanded, my Alpha voice carrying across both packs. Even Thorne's elite guard obeyed, their earlier aggression forgotten in the face of this greater threat.A flash of movement caught my eye. Luna stood at the edge of the distort
Lyra's POVThe ritual circle glowed with an otherworldly light as I knelt at its center, ancient symbols pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat. Xander lay before me, his body still bearing the interdimensional scars from the creature's attack. Though Luna had reversed the immediate damage, something deeper remained broken – fractures in the very essence of his being."You don't have to do this," Selene warned, her voice tight with concern. "Drawing power from multiple realities... it could destroy you.""He would do the same for me," I replied, not taking my eyes off Xander's still form. Through our mate bond, I could feel him slipping away, reality itself rejecting his damaged existence.I began the ritual, my voice weaving together words from a dozen different languages – some that existed only in parallel worlds. Power flowed into me from the cracks between realities, each stream carrying the essence of a different universe.The sensation was intoxicating. I could feel every possibil
Lyra's POVReality fractured around me, each shard reflecting a different memory. I was lost in the cosmic expanse, my consciousness scattered across infinite possibilities. Through it all, I felt Xander's presence, desperately trying to reach me through our mate bond."Remember," his voice echoed through the void. "Remember who you are. Who we are."A memory crystallized before me, so vivid I could step into it. The first time we met, that fateful night when he walked into my family's home as my sister's boyfriend. I felt again the electric shock of recognition, the mate bond snapping into place. But this time, with my enhanced awareness, I saw something more – threads of destiny weaving around us, the cosmic tapestry shifting to accommodate our meeting."That's not all we are," I whispered, understanding dawning. "We're more than just mates."Another memory surfaced. Our first real conversation in the moonlit garden, when he tried to reject our bond. I saw now what I couldn't then –