NOX’s POV “One is dead," Hunter’s voice drifted toward me as I descended into the dungeon. "They broke easier than I expected.” I glanced at him, noting the flecks of dried blood on his knuckles. "And?" We came to a stop in front of the cell. Marcos was maintaining his post at the corner. “Alpha,” he greeted. Inside, one body slumped against the bars. One of the two rogues was already dead, his body more of a broken heap on the floor. The other… barely clinging to life. “That one stays alive for now,” he said before I could ask. I looked at the rogue … if that would be called being alive ... I wondered. Hunter's lips curled in disgust. "Nothing but dogs, really. Claimed they didn't know who their leader was." I raised an eyebrow, skepticism etched into every line of my face. "You believe that?" "No," he scoffed, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the prisoners. "Though it is clear they don't know who the actual person controlling from the top is. But
NOX’s POV His body thrashed, arms flailing wildly as he fought for air. The struggle sent waves crashing over the edge of the barrel, soaking the floor around us. With a snarl, I yanked his head back out. He gasped, each gulp of air wet and ragged, water streaming from his nose and mouth, his one good eye wild, bulging with terror. "Please... Alpha... I—" he sputtered, but I cut him off by forcing his head back under. He fought harder this time, legs kicking out, arms flailing as bubbles of air escaped him in a violent rush. Good. I pulled the guard's head up again, bringing his face close to mine. His breath came in ragged gasps, fear radiating off him in waves, fear of death that I so wanted to give him. "I swear... I'll—" "Shut up." The command silenced him instantly, his lips frozen mid-sentence. "You don't get to beg. You don't get to talk." I let my eyes rake over his pitiful form. Weak. Broken. How easily I could finish him. I could snap his neck a
WILLA’s POV “W-what are you doing here–here…” I stammered, my voice rough and patched and not mine. There, lounging in the corner like he owned the place—which, I suppose, he technically did—was Nox, the mighty Alpha himself. He didn’t answer right away, just tilted his head slightly, the corner of his mouth lifting into a smirk. “Good morning, sunshine," he drawled. I opened my mouth to retort, but a sudden, sharp pain lanced through my head. "Fuck," I hissed, pressing my palm against my temple. Of course, my head was slammed against a wall. I winced. "How are you feeling?" he asked, his voice softer than I'd ever heard it, maybe it was my mind because that underlying Alpha arrogance was still there … the kind that told you he was asking because it mattered, but not enough to shift his world. I scoffed. "Like you care.” His smirk widened, an attractive glint in his eyes. He prowled toward me, that slow, deliberate way of his, making the room feel suddenly
WILLA’s POV The door to my room closed behind me with a soft click, and I exhaled deeply, my shoulders sagging with relief. But that fleeting moment of peace vanished as quickly as it had come when my eyes landed on the window. Open. The curtains swayed gently in the night breeze. How long had it been like that? I hadn’t opened it, and the latch was always secure. My hand instinctively went to my waist, fingers curling around the hilt of the knife Nox had given me. The air smelled faintly of pine and earth. I leaned out, scanning the ground below. It was a long drop, the kind that would break bones if not kill outright. I frowned. It wasn’t the height that bothered me—it was how the window had been opened in the first place. A soft rustle behind me snapped my attention away from the window and I spun and threw the knife. It struck the wall with a solid thunk, quivering mere inches from a hooded figure that seemed to materialize from the shadows. “Stay back—” I s
WILLA’s POV The scent of blood clung to the air, thick and metallic, as the man on the table screamed again. The infirmary was in chaos, and I could feel it press against me, threatening to pull me into memories I had no interest in revisiting. The scene was too familiar—too much like the days my pack was attacked, days before the day everything fell apart. My father had tried to keep me shielded from the carnage then, but some things were impossible to forget. I stood frozen, watching as medics swarmed around the injured man. His bones jutted out grotesquely from his leg, the jagged ends shining slick with blood. Hunter was holding him down, his muscular arms straining as the man writhed and fought against the agony. “We need to set it now," a medic shouted over the man's screams, trying to shove the bone back into place, and the man's scream pierced the air again. "Hold him steady!" Hunter barked. He grabbed a cloth, cramming it into the man’s mouth to muffle his cri
WILLA’s POV The world was a haze of smoke and flames as I burst through the doorway, the child clinging to me as if her life depended on it—which it did. Both of our lives. My lungs burned, and I yanked off the wet blanket I had desperately managed to soak in a bath inside. Men rushed towards us, their voices blurred in the chaos, but I tightened my hold on the little girl. Her tiny arms were wrapped around my neck, her face buried into my shoulder, trembling. She was shaking so hard it was as if she might crumble if I let go. "It's okay, Lily," I murmured, my voice hoarse from the smoke. "You're safe now." A burly man reached for the child, to help, but I stepped back. “I've got her," I said firmly. They flinched but backed off, their hands falling away. “She’s fine. We’re both fine.” "Miss, you need medical attention—" "I said I'm fine," I snapped, my jaw clenching. I softened my voice as I turned my attention back to Lily. "Hey, sweetheart. Can you look a
WILLA’s POV I turned to leave, my hand already reaching for the door handle when Hunter's voice stopped me in my tracks, he was talking to Nox. The rustle of paper caught my attention, and I glanced back to see him spreading a large map across the table in the corner. The worn edges suggested it had been used too many times. I wanted to stay. To find out. My fingers twitched against the cool metal of the handle. Just one twist and I'd be out, away from ever knowing what they were planning … but I wanted to stay, needed, anything other than rumors— please let me stay. "Stay." It wasn't an order, not quite, but I still froze, my heart betraying me with an excited thump. I looked back, meeting Nox's midnight gaze. To my surprise, Hunter didn't seem bothered by it all. If anything, he just wanted to be done with everything... like he expected it. It was like my first ever prayer being heard. I licked my suddenly dry lips, scrambling for an excuse. An act. "I sho
NOX’s POV “You've known all this while, and you didn't care to let me in on it?" The room was dim, shadows playing along the walls from the dying fire in the hearth. I groaned, rubbing a hand over my face, as I moved towards the liquor cabinet. We had exhausted every method in our search for the rogues, perhaps not all, and the young she-wolf's theory could hold water, but my primary target wasn’t Eamon—yet. Until I could get my hands on the rogues, he remained at large, a freedom I would rectify as soon as our pack's wall was completed. That had to be our priority—secure our borders, then flush out the rogues. The crystal decanter clinked against the glasses as I poured a generous amount of amber liquid into each. He’d been going on and on about how I left him in the dark and all. About him risking too much to keep her away from the other alphas without even knowing this was the reason I had wanted her kept secret. He was furious, I know. "Everyone deserves a chan
Willa’s POV I watched as relief flickered across Nox's face—subtle enough that weeks ago, I wouldn't have caught it. Now, I was learning to read the micro-expressions that crossed those sharp features, the tiny tells that betrayed his thoughts. "You all were late," I said, adjusting my robe more tightly around myself. Water still dripped from my hair—and my scalp still hurt. The plan had been simple: appear vulnerable, draw out whoever was working against us from within. And it had worked—perhaps too well, considering the attempted drowning in my own bathtub. But I knew Nox well enough by now to suspect there was more to his and Vad's absence. He never made a move without multiple purposes. "Had to take the long way back," Nox explained. "Needed to ensure we weren't followed." Beside him, Vad cocked his head, a small grin playing at the corners of his mouth as he watched me. "Besides," Nox continued, clicking his tongue, "you had Astrid and Davina
Willa’s POV The air was tense on the front porch of the pack house, the crisp bite of the evening brushing against my skin as I stood beside Astrid. My arms crossed tightly over my chest, I couldn't help but watch Nox and Vad standing a few steps ahead. Their postures were strikingly similar—broad shoulders squared, heads held high— And then there was her. Davina. She lingered too close to Vad, her hand brushing his arm as if staking some unspoken claim. I wasn’t sure what her purpose was. Was she going with them, or was she just here to see him off? Astrid adjusted her stance beside me, the soft creak of her leather boots catching my attention. She was dressed simply for once—brown leather pants and a loose, long-sleeved shirt. But I knew her well enough to see past the simplicity; beneath those flowing sleeves and tucked into her boots were a small arsenal of daggers. She shifted her weight slightly, wincing as her injured shoulder protested. "Seems
Willa’s POV "Home?" The word escaped me like a challenge. "What do you mean, home?" The aftermath of Eamon's revelation churned inside me like a poisonous brew. Emotions twisted and coiled, threatening to break through the fragile barrier I'd constructed. Eamon's claims about my father—they burned, not with divulgence, but with a fury that threatened to consume everything in its path. What if the claim was true? The thought flickered and died. Truth or lie, nothing could justify the devastation. Not what he'd done to me. Not what he'd done to Astrid. Not the cubs torn from their mother. Not the lives destroyed in his wake. I locked those thoughts away, deep in the darkest recesses of my mind. A place where emotions became weapons, where pain transformed into something. Vad's eyebrow arched. "Whoa," he drawled, his voice a silk-wrapped knife, "those frown lines could topple kingdoms." I stepped forward, I was in leather pants and a shirt now. Good fo
Nox’s POV I’d anticipated a lot of fallout, but not this. Fuck! Silence punctured the council chamber, thick with implied pressure and disbelief. My jaw clenched, muscles coiled tight beneath my skin as I watched Willa—her frame vibrating with a rage so pure, so concentrated it could slice through steel. But only visible enough for me to tell. Somehow, they had escaped—not by magic, but by conscious layout. Even with the young woman’s gifts as a seer, no strange power had intervened after the smoke flared. This had been deliberate, every step mapped out. The shockwave that came with it had sent a few Alpha tumbling. And Willa… she wasn’t startled. With all Eamon had revealed about her father, it was impossible to tell which emotion churned within her the most. Was it hatred? Wrath? For once I feared her thought. The dagger remained where it was, untouched—for now. But I knew, without a doubt, that if the moment had been hers, she would not have he
Nox’s POV The pressure in the council chamber thickened as the drunk's voice quivered, each word dragged from his throat. "I got to know Pack Leader Eamon during a raid on the eastern villages of the Moonviel Pack years ago. We were being led by Rogue Leader Thadeus then..." Finneas's face darkened, a deep frown etching lines across his forehead. "What?" The drunk's fingers trembled against the floor. "Yes, it was so brother…" He swallowed hard. "A chance encounter—or rather, an unlucky one on a full moon night. Thadeus was..." His voice cracked. "Thadeus was energetic as ever with his speeches, rallying us for the raids. It was going well at first. He was a good wolf—the only reason he agreed to that raid was because we got word of a cargo caravan moving supplies through the Cull Path." "Those were dark times. I had barely passed being a cub. Finneas remember—we had no food. Our camp was starving, wolves turning on each other. Thadeus never wanted that future for h
Nox’s POV Chaos erupted instantly—chairs scraping, claws extending, growls filling the air. "What sorcery is this?" Kora leaped to her feet. "Guards, to arms!" "Whoa, whoa!" Vad raised his hands in mock surrender, his grin mirror-identical to my own, if I was in his shoes, which I wasn't. "Everybody hold on. I'm only here in an observing capacity. After all, the host is my brother, and this is still my house." "So that's how you do it," I mused, though I'd suspected his presence. Not this early, perhaps—but my brother had clearly mastered the art of concealment even more than before. "One lost brother fighting their kind," Kora snarled. "Unforgivable." I noticed Willa hadn't even flinched at Vad's appearance, and I wasn't sure if that pleased or concerned me. Vad's smile turned cruel. "Their kind? Oh, you mean the dark roams. Yet you all managed to defeat them. There are so few of them left, they're literally extinct." "Everyone calm down," I co
Nox’s POV "Alpha, they have all arrived." Hunter's voice carried a weight I hadn't heard in years.. I turned from the window where I'd been watching shadows lengthen across the courtyard. "Tell me, what time is it?" "The moon is just starting to appear." Hunter's eyes flickered to the darkening sky, then back to me. "A fitting hour for what's to come." "And everything is in place?" I kept my voice neutral, though my wolf prowled beneath my skin, eager for what lay ahead. Hunter shifted his weight, a tell from our childhood days that he wasn't entirely comfortable. "Yes... but I still think there's more to be done, given how high the stakes are tonight." His jaw tightened. "Too many bad ideas floating around." A smirk tugged at my lips. "Those bad ideas are what makes it exciting." I straightened my jacket. "The thrill of not knowing what's going to happen next." "You're beginning to scare me, Nox." The use of my name rather than my title spoke volumes
Nox’s POV The morning sun hadn't yet cleared the mountains when I turned to Hunter. "Triple the guards around the pack house." He nodded, falling into step beside me as we strode through the corridors. The events of the previous night—the cubs, the thrall's visit—had left an unsettling weight in my gut. "The cubs?" I asked, pausing at one of the tall windows overlooking the training grounds. "Fed, washed, and rested." Hunter's expression softened slightly. "Surprisingly resilient for what they've been through. Almost... eager." I filed that detail away for later consideration. "And our friend, the thrall?" "Paid and gone. I made sure he understood the wisdom of keeping his distance from our territory." A ghost of a smile touched Hunter's lips. "We won't be seeing Dick again." "Good." We emerged onto the main balcony, the morning air crisp with the promise of autumn. Below, guards patrolled in precise patterns, but I knew better than to trust in
Nox’s POV The silk sheets whispered against my skin as I sank into my bed, muscles aching—being an Alpha was never the cushy job others imagined it to be. I unbuttoned my shirt, tossing it aside as my gaze drifted to my reflection in the mirror, noting the nearly faded scratch marks across my shoulder. Even though it’s been a day, I could still smell that distinct floral scent. My wolf prowled beneath my skin, unsatisfied with just her lingering presence. We both wanted more. "Can't remember the last time I turned in early," I muttered, my eyes drawn to the empty expanse of my bed. The last time I'd suggested she stay, she'd fixed me with that fierce look of hers—equal parts defiance and something darker that made my blood sing. Her refusal only made me want her more, and the goddess herself must be laughing at my predicament. A sharp knock interrupted my brooding. "Enter," I called out, not bothering to retrieve my shirt. Few would dare disturb me