Mira POVI couldn’t tell where the voice was coming from. It was a woman’s voice, which meant it couldn’t be the shadow guards. That should have reassured me, but it didn’t. A shiver crawled down my spine as I stood still, scanning my surroundings. The torches flickered against the stone walls, casting restless shadows that seemed to move on their own.I swallowed hard, tilting my head slightly. “Who’s there?” I whispered.Silence.I let out a slow breath, trying to convince myself that I had imagined it. Maybe I was exhausted. Maybe my thoughts were so tangled that I was starting to hear things that weren’t real.But then—“Mira.”The voice came again, clearer this time. A soft, almost melodic sound, as if the speaker was both close and far away at the same time. My heart pounded, and I took an involuntary step back.This wasn’t normal.I turned sharply, but before I could investigate further, another voice—louder, real—broke through the eerie stillness.“My lady!”I gasped,
Lucian’s POV I had just finished my meditation, my mind momentarily at peace, though the storm within me never truly settled. Afterward, I decided to take a shower before returning to my painting. The rhythmic sound of water cascading over me did little to wash away the weight I carried—memories, responsibilities, and the undeniable pull toward the one person I shouldn’t crave so desperately.When I stepped out of the bath, steam clung to my skin as I reached for a towel, running it over my damp hair before wrapping it loosely around my waist. My chambers were silent, just as I preferred them. Or so I thought.As I turned toward my bed, movement caught my eye.Mira.She was standing near the paintings, her back partially turned, but I could see the moment she froze—her entire body going rigid as her gaze locked onto mine. Or rather, onto the bare expanse of my chest, trailing lower until she abruptly looked away.I didn’t move. Neither did she.A tense silence filled the room,
Mira POVI froze on the spot, unable to answer Lucian’s question. My lips parted, but no words came out. What was I supposed to say? That I didn’t know? That my mind screamed at me to reject the bond, but my heart longed for something else?For the longest time, I had a single purpose—to bring them down, to tear them apart. It was the reason I endured everything, the reason I came here in the first place. The lycan brothers had to be destroyed, and I was the only one who could do it. But the Moon Goddess had different plans. She had played a cruel trick on me, binding my fate to theirs in the cruelest way possible.I was supposed to despise them. I was supposed to see them as nothing more than enemies, obstacles in my path. And yet…Lucian stood so close, his warmth enveloping me, his intoxicating scent clouding my mind. He smelled of the wild—earthy, masculine, raw. The heat from his body seeped into mine, weakening my resolve. Unlike his brothers, Lucian didn’t push. He di
Mira POV I woke up feeling warm, wrapped in a cocoon of heat and comfort. My body was tangled with another’s, and for a fleeting moment, I didn’t question it. I sank deeper into the warmth, my fingers absentmindedly tracing firm, smooth skin. It felt… right.Then I heard a deep chuckle, and reality struck me like a bolt of lightning.My eyes snapped open, and I was met with the sight of Lucian’s bare chest beneath my hand. His arm was wrapped securely around my waist, and the moment our eyes met, his lips curled into a knowing smirk.“Good morning, little mate. How was your night? Hope you had a peaceful and wonderful rest.” His voice was husky, laced with amusement as he grinned at me.I gasped and shot up, scrambling away from him as if burned. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and the events of last night came rushing back in vivid detail—the way he touched me, the way I let him, the way I had completely lost control.What have I done?I yanked the sheets around me and tur
Mira PovThe moment the gate slammed shut behind me, a deep sense of dread settled in my stomach. I turned just in time to see the monstrous boar step into the training yard, its thick muscles rippling under its coarse fur. Its beady black eyes locked onto me, nostrils flaring as it let out a deep, guttural snort. My heart stopped.I whipped around to face Rowan, who stood lazily by the sidelines with his arms crossed over his chest, watching me like this was some kind of twisted entertainment.“Rowan!” I shrieked, stumbling backward as the boar took a slow step forward, sizing me up. “What the hell is this?!”His response was maddeningly calm. “Your training.”“Training?!” My voice cracked as I took another step back, but the beast mirrored my movement, its sharp tusks glinting under the sunlight. “This isn’t training! This is murder! What sort of rubbish is this.” I was almost going crazy as I was scared it was going to come for me.“If you think that,” Rowan said, complete
Mira POV I lingered by the doorway, my breath shallow as I watched the scene unfold before me. The peasant man knelt in the center of the council chamber, his frail hands clutching his cap to his chest, his shoulders trembling. His face was pale with desperation, his voice hoarse as he pleaded. “Please, my lords,” he begged, his words barely above a whisper. “My family is starving. If I could just have a small loan from the crown—just enough to buy food from the next village during the upcoming market day. I swear on my life, I will pay it back in full.” The room fell into a heavy silence. I swallowed hard, gripping the edge of the stone wall as I peered inside. The councilmen exchanged glances, some sneering, others indifferent. They were all dressed in their expensive cloaks, their fingers adorned with gold rings, while the man kneeling before them looked like he hadn’t had a proper meal in weeks. “Do we look like a loan house to you?” one of the older councilmen s
Mira POV I had just finished dressing and was heading toward the meeting hall when Adela, my ever-attentive aide, appeared at my side, her expression unreadable. She fell into step beside me, her hands clasped in front of her as she matched my stride. “Luna,” she said in a quiet tone, “there are people waiting to see you. They say they are from the clan’s shrine and claim to be the Voice of the Moon Goddess.” I slowed my steps and turned to her, my brows furrowing. “The Voice of the Moon Goddess?” The title itself was unfamiliar to me, but I had learned enough in my time here to know that the Moon Goddess was sacred to the people of Blackwood. Even in Kilmore, there were those who believed in her divine will, though I had never paid much attention to the spiritual side of things. Adela nodded. “Yes, My Lady. There are six of them, and they insist that they have an important message for you.” My curiosity deepened. “Did they say what the message is?” “No, My Lady,”
Lucian’s POV The moment Mira stormed off, anger twisted inside me like a tightly coiled wire ready to snap. My jaw clenched as I turned to Kai, my fists tightening at my sides.“You shouldn’t have done that,” I growled.Kai’s eyes flicked toward me, golden and unwavering. “I did what was necessary.” His voice was steady, as if he hadn’t just pushed our mate away.“You had no right,” I snapped, stepping forward, my muscles tight with frustration. “Mira deserves to make her own choices.”Kai scoffed, rolling his shoulders. “She doesn’t need to hear their nonsense. You remember what happened the last time they gave a prophecy—it nearly led to war. I’m not risking that again.”I exhaled sharply, trying to keep my anger in check. “That’s not your decision to make.”“It is when she’s our mate!” he snapped back, his voice rising.“Exactly! That’s why we should be listening to her, not shutting her down!”Damien sighed, rubbing his temple. “The problem isn’t whether or not the prophecy is
Mira’s POVI couldn’t believe what I’d just seen.Lucian. My mate. Lying unconscious on a bed hidden in the shrine. All this time, they’d kept it from me—every single one of them. Even Damien, who I’d come to trust more than I thought I would. The sight of Lucian’s motionless body sent something cold and aching straight through my chest. And then to hear them… Damien and the disciple, talking like I was never supposed to know. Like I wasn’t even part of this.The betrayal tasted like ash in my mouth.I stormed out of the room, my vision blurring with tears. I could hear Damien calling after me, his boots slapping the stone floors of the shrine, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. If I turned back, if I let him catch up to me, I might break completely.“Mira! Please, just listen!”“Don’t!” I snapped, spinning on my heel just as I reached the carriage. “Don’t you dare speak to me!”He stopped short, his chest rising and falling with effort. The look in his eyes was soft—regretful. But
Mira POV I stood in the courtyard, surrounded by the soft murmurs of the guards and the quiet tension that buzzed in the air like a taut string waiting to snap. Everyone was waiting for Adela to return. The amulet swap needed to happen perfectly, silently. One wrong move and Councilman Baylor would vanish into the shadows like smoke. We had one chance to use his connection to the witches to find them, and I couldn’t shake the anxiety tightening around my chest.Adela was brave, no doubt, but this was different. Dangerous. I tried to keep a calm expression as I stood beside Kai, Damien, and Rowan, but my thoughts were far from steady. My mind kept drifting back to the voice I heard last night. The moon goddess. Her words still echoed in my head like a steady drumbeat.You were born for this.The weight of her voice still lingered in my chest. Heavier than armor. More binding than any promise.If I was truly the bridge between the three factions, then I had to start walking that
Mira POV I couldn’t sleep.No matter how much I tossed and turned, the thoughts refused to leave me alone. They kept coming in waves, pressing down on me harder with each passing minute. I had come to Blackwood Castle to destroy the lycan kings. That had been my mission. I was supposed to tear them apart from within, make them hate each other, make them weak—and when the time came, avenge my mother’s death.But now… I was helping them.How had it come to this?I sat on the edge of my bed, hugging my knees as the memories of my childhood came flooding back. My father’s cold eyes. His harsh words. The way the villagers looked at me like I was a mistake. Even as Chief, he had never acknowledged me as his daughter the way he did with the other children in the village. I had always been treated like an outsider because I was human. Because my mother… was a human and not werewolf.He used to say she tricked him into marriage. Claimed she never told him what she was. That she cursed
Damien POV I returned to my chambers with heavy steps, my mind still clouded with irritation. I hated the way Kai thought about our mother. It gnawed at my insides like a slow poison. He always kept himself distant from her, treating her like she was some stranger who had dared to give birth to him. Even as children, while Rowan, Lucian and I clung to her skirts, Kai stood apart, his arms folded, his face emotionless. Like he had already decided he didn’t need her.I clenched my fists as I entered the secret passage that led to my private archives. Only I knew about it, and I intended to keep it that way. It was the place where I had gathered every piece of classified parchment, scrolls, and forbidden books over the years. A treasury of knowledge that even the regular castle archives couldn’t boast of.I needed answers. I needed to know why Councilman Benard Sawyer had once been part of Blackwood clan and now existed in Darkfire clan like he belonged there. If there was any c
Kai POV (Flash back)It was dark and quiet. The torches along the courtyard walls barely lit the stones beneath my small feet. I remembered standing there years ago, my young hands gripping the folds of my tunic as I watched my father speaking with important visitors. I didn’t know it then, but those moments would be some of the last happy memories I would ever have of our family together.I stood beside him proudly, listening as he discussed matters of the clan’s future. The way the visitors nodded at his words, the admiration in their eyes, I wanted that too. I wanted to rule Blackwood one day and have everyone look at me with the same respect they gave my father.I remembered how the captain of the guards had arrived mid-meeting, dragging along a younger Rowan by the shoulder. He announced Rowan’s latest victory in sword combat, boasting about how quickly he was mastering the art. My father and his guests praised him openly, offering him kind words and applause. Rowan had g
Kai POVI stood with my arms crossed as Adela fidgeted under the scrutiny of my gaze. We were gathered in the courtyard now, everyone waiting as she prepared to spill every detail she had about Councilman Baylor.“Start from the beginning,” I ordered her, my voice sharp.Adela swallowed hard. “On the first day I approached him, I was carrying a tray of tea. I pretended to stumble and spilled it all over him. He got angry at first, but I insisted I could help him clean it up. He tried to dismiss me, said he had his maid to attend to him, but I… I pushed.”Rowan scoffed from beside me, but I raised a hand to silence him.Adela continued, wringing her fingers nervously. “He eventually agreed. I followed him to his chambers and while we were there, I, as Lady Mira instructed, tried to… seduce him.”Mira stood to the side, her face stoic, giving no indication of any guilt. I admired that about her.Adela’s cheeks flushed. “He grabbed me almost immediately, but I scolded him, made a sce
Damien PovI stood between my brothers, facing the large oak door that led into my private archive room. They didn’t know about this place — no one did.I pulled open the heavy door and led them inside. The scent of old parchment and ink filled the air immediately, a smell I had grown fond of over the years. The room was dimly lit by lanterns placed carefully around the walls. Scrolls, books, and ancient parchments were stacked neatly on countless shelves, towering all the way up to the ceiling.Both Rowan and Kai froze just inside the doorway, their mouths slightly agape.“You had this all along?” Kai asked, his voice a mix of amazement and suspicion.I shrugged as I moved further inside. “Every leader needs his secrets. This is mine.”Rowan grunted, clearly unimpressed. “Looks boring.”I rolled my eyes. “This is where knowledge lives. Copies of every important document from the main archives, along with other scrolls the public isn’t even aware exist. I’ve been building it for
Mira POVI sat curled up by the window of my chamber, my mind spinning with the weight of what I had just heard. The evening sun poured into the room, casting long shadows across the floor, but I barely noticed. My thoughts were far away.The Blackwood lycans’ mother.The witches.The strange connection between them.I hugged my knees to my chest and stared blankly at the sky. What could it possibly mean? Why would their mother, a royal lycan Queen, have anything to do with the last witches that once terrorized the world? What reason could she have to risk everything by going to the place where the witches were executed?I tried to build a scenario in my mind, tried to make sense of something that felt so impossible. Maybe… just maybe… the high priestess’ words had some truth to them.She had told me that I was destined to be the bridge between the three factions—humans, witches, and werewolves.What if… the Blackwood lycans’ mother had the same destiny before me?It was the only
Kai POV I stood with my brothers under the shade of the large oak tree at the corner of the courtyard, my arms folded tightly across my chest as my mind ran in a thousand directions at once. Rowan paced back and forth like a caged animal, growling low under his breath while Damien leaned casually against the stone wall, deep in thought. The information from Ryker was still heavy on all our minds. I could feel it pressing on me like a mountain. Rowan finally broke the silence. “How is any of this even possible?” he snapped, stopping mid-pace to face us. “Mother and witches? That makes no sense.” Damien pushed off the wall, folding his arms too. “We don’t know the full story yet. For all we know, she could have been trying to destroy them, not help them.” His tone was calm but laced with frustration. I shook my head. “If she was trying to destroy them, why would she be sneaking off at night, leading someone to the witches’ graves?” “Maybe she was investigating?” D