SELENA’S POVThe events of the day had shook me, leaving me lonely as my only friend was mad at me. As I sat alone near the edge of a log of wood outside my cabin, I couldn’t shake off the look on Kai's face when he was angry. He hadn’t said much after the fight with Renn, but the way he looked at me… it cut deeper than any blade ever could.Celestia stirred restlessly in the back of my mind and that only irritated me more.“I shouldn’t have interfered,” I said in an annoyed tone.“You couldn’t just stand there and watch him die,” she muttered aloud, her voice echoing faintly in my head.“He wasn’t going to die,” I snapped back. “Kai is stronger than you think. And now, not only have I made him look weak in front of the pack, he is angry at me.”I flinched at my own words, it was like I had hit a nerve within myself.I didn't mean to underestimate him. I had only wanted to help. But maybe she was right. I couldn't have just stood by a side, watching him suffer in a fight he didn't des
KAI’S POVDays had passed, or maybe weeks. The scent of rain was all I could perceive as I stood near the cliffs, overlooking the forest in our territory. This was one of the few places where I found myself, whenever I couldn’t think clearly. This was the only ground far away from the noise of preparations for the coming war. My pack needed me to be strong… prepared, but my mind was far from clear. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her.I always saw Selena.Those sad and questioning eyes of hers haunted me, lingering in my head like a ghost I couldn't scare away. I clenched my fists, my nails screwing into my palms. “Focus,” I muttered to myself, controlling my thoughts back to focus on the present situation.‘You’re running from her.’ Nyx observed, talking softly in my mind.“I’m protecting her,” I countered at his words, but even as I said the words, they felt like a lie.‘Protecting her by ignoring her?’ Nyx shot back in question. ‘That’s rich.’I sighed, leaning against a nearb
SELENA'S POVKai was avoiding me again.It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it hurt more than I wanted to admit. Every passing day without a word from him felt like a fresh rejection.I paced the grass field near the training grounds, clenching my fingers in frustration. ‘What was his problem? Why was he so distant?’ I thought back to the moments we had shared alone. The way his gaze lingered on mine, the way his touch had felt warm, protective, and… confusing, he had even kissed me!“He's such a stubborn idiot,” I muttered under my breath as I got closer to the training ground.‘He’s your mate,’ Celestia reminded me gently, her voice echoing in my mind like a soft melody. ‘And you love him.’“Love him?” I scoffed, running a hand through my dark hair. “How can I love someone who acts like I don’t exist half the time?”‘Because you see him for who he really is, Selena,’ Celestia replied in that annoyingly patient tone of hers. ‘Even when he’s pushing you away, you feel his pain. His st
KAI'S POVI could still remember how exactly Renn had reposted Selena's reply to me. His tenoric voice echoed in my mind, and each syllable being replayed felt like a sharp blade in my chest. “She said she’s done chasing you, Kai.”Her rejection shouldn’t have stung as much as it did, but I have to admit, it hit me harder than I cared. Nyx snarled in frustration as we both reminisced about our rejection. ‘You’re a damn fool, Kai,’ he growled. ‘She’s your mate. The only one who will ever understand us, and you’re letting her slip away from your fingers.’“Don’t start again, Nyx. Give me a break.” I muttered under my breath, pacing to and fro the length of the dimly lit hallway outside the war room.‘Oh, I will start,’ Nyx snapped at me. ‘Do you know how hard it is to sit here and watch you push her away? Every time you shut her out, you shut me out too.’I clenched my fists, trying to ignore the guilt rising within me. “It’s not that simple,” I hissed, though it felt easy. “You know
SELENA'S POVThe energy swirled about inside me. They felt like tiny sparks of fire dancing at the end of my fingertips. I could feel it growing, expanding, and threatening to escape out of control. My chest moved up and down as I tried to wind it with my energy. I tried pushing it outward in a steady beam of light, creating a barrier between me and the training dummies.“Focus, Selena,” Celestia urged, her voice strict but encouraging. She had been a good company throughout my training evening. “You need to concentrate on control, not force.”“I am focusing,” I muttered through gritted teeth in reply as sweat dripped down my eyebrow. My power was unpredictable sometimes, it would refuse to answer itself to my inner command. Every time I tried to push harder, it would backfire, quenching into nothingness. ‘Maybe you would do better if you weren’t thinking about him,’ Celestia sighed in such a way that I could sense the irritation in her.I stopped for a few seconds after she spoke a
DAMON'S POVPain.That was all I felt, and It was all-consuming. The ache felt like flames of fire licking at my insides, burning intensely at every muscle and bone. I gripped the edge of the ornate desk in my room, my knuckles turning white as I struggled to walk closer to the bed. I had no idea how I managed to put up a good act during the meeting with the pack elders, but now that I was alone, the pain penetrated into me like a thousand needles in my heart.And I knew why.I knew exactly why I was going through this agonizing moment. I knew that it was as a result of the dark energy I had stolen through Yasmine just to defeat Elara. Now I was ‘enjoying’ the side effect of having an unmatched power within me as it was ripping me apart from the inside.“You’re losing control,” Demon, my wolf whizzed inside my mind, heavy disapproval laced in his voice. “I told you this would happen.”“Shut up,” I growled aloud, my voice coming out hoarsely. “You think I don’t know that?”Another rus
SILAS'S POVEvery atom in the air held magic—my magic. And as I walked through the corridor connecting my chamber to the entrance of the pack's territory, it clung to me like a shadow.I paused when I got to the gate, inhaling deeply as I prepared to proceed in my journey to Kai’s pack. The scent of the silver moon werewolves was all around me. Their scent was repugnant but tolerable, like animals in a poorly kept pen. Soon, it wouldn’t matter. None of this would matter when I take over. Damon’s recent instability worked to my advantage. Chaos always did.“Careful,” I murmured to myself, in a voice close to a whisper. “Patience wins wars.”I tightened the leather strap of my satchel and pressed forward. *****Present time…I reached the door I had been looking for. I could feel a faint golden glow of energy radiating from its edges, I could tell that Kai and Selena were near. Perfect, I muttered to myself. My lips curved into a smile as I retrieved a small glass vial from my satchel,
SELENA'S POVOkay, so picture this: I woke up, tied to a freaking rock, and not in some fun, harmless way that could've turned out to be a prank. No, this is the “sacrificial lamb in an ancient evil ritual” kind of tied up. My first thought? This had to be a nightmare. Maybe this was just another flash of memory from my past life. But when I blinked, and the cold jagged surface of the big rock pinched my behind, I realized this wasn't a memory. This was real. And that brought me to my second thought: What the hell was going on?!The air surrounding me smelled wrong. I could perceive burnt herbs, sulfur, and something metallic like blood. I blinked, but twice this time as I tried to make sense of the scene around me. Dark shadows swirled across the rough cliffs that we were feets away from, the moon—my moon was barely visible behind what looked like a glow of crimson. It then hit me that we were in the middle of a lunar eclipse.Great. Just great. Perfect, in fact.I struggled my bes
DAMON’S POVThe stench of blood and failure was all wafted in the air like a bitter perfume as I stepped into Silas' shrine. Right next to the altar, he laid like a discarded puppet, crumpled on the ground, barely conscious, face bloodied and bruised. For a man who had promised me so much, he looked more like a battered animal than the cunning strategist I had reluctantly trusted.“What a fool you are,” I growled, my voice cold and sharp enough to cut through any metal. My wolf, Demon, growled low in my mind, his disdain echoing my own. ‘This is the man you chose to align with? Pathetic.’“Silas!” My voice snapped across the clearing like a whip. He stirred in his unconsciousness, groaning as his broken body attempted to rise. “Look at you. You dared to carry out a plan behind my back, and this—this is the result? You have failed me!”Silas coughed, blood spilling from his lips. His gaze met mine, filled with defeat and desperation. “You don’t understand,” he coughed again. “I was so
SELENA’S POVSo there I was, tied up like some damsel in distress, watching Kai go full beast mode on Silas. The ropes dug into my wrists, burning and biting with every movement I made, but watching my mate break free? Totally worth it.That smug jerk’s body was spread on the ground as he coughed and spat out blood when Kai loomed over him. His face was twisted in that classic villain look, the kind that says, ‘I should’ve won this, but I didn’t plan for the part where you would fight back.’“You don’t understand what you’ve unleashed,” Silas growled, his voice shaky but still laced with arrogance. “You can’t control it. You can’t control me.” I couldn't believe that even in his devastating state, he would still be choking out nonsense about how Kai didn't know about his own power. Typical monologue. But Kai? He wasn't having the least of it. Kai grinded his teeth, his eyes glowing with an intense kind of energy. It wasn’t just anger anymore in those eyes—I could see something prima
KAI'S POVAlright, here was the deal: waking up to the mother of all migraines, tied to a rock, drenched in sweat, and oh yeah—my bond with Selena was being ripped apart like some cosmic breakup I didn’t sign up for. Cool, right? No, it wasn't. Let's go back in time for a moment.****At that moment, I felt like someone had tried to download a cursed app directly into my brain. My arms burned all over from the enchanted ropes, my head pounded like I had a bad hangover, and I was about two seconds from flipping my lid when I heard her.“Selena,” I croaked, my throat dry like I had been screaming for hours. Her scream had sounded desperate, and it yanked me out of the fog blinding my eyes. I forced my eyes open, barely managing to lift my head. And there she was. My mate, tied up, struggling like the badass she was.Except, something was wrong.The bond. Our mate bond. The connection that had always been there, like a pulse in the back of my mind, was… flickering. Weak. And that’s when
SELENA'S POVOkay, so picture this: I woke up, tied to a freaking rock, and not in some fun, harmless way that could've turned out to be a prank. No, this is the “sacrificial lamb in an ancient evil ritual” kind of tied up. My first thought? This had to be a nightmare. Maybe this was just another flash of memory from my past life. But when I blinked, and the cold jagged surface of the big rock pinched my behind, I realized this wasn't a memory. This was real. And that brought me to my second thought: What the hell was going on?!The air surrounding me smelled wrong. I could perceive burnt herbs, sulfur, and something metallic like blood. I blinked, but twice this time as I tried to make sense of the scene around me. Dark shadows swirled across the rough cliffs that we were feets away from, the moon—my moon was barely visible behind what looked like a glow of crimson. It then hit me that we were in the middle of a lunar eclipse.Great. Just great. Perfect, in fact.I struggled my bes
SILAS'S POVEvery atom in the air held magic—my magic. And as I walked through the corridor connecting my chamber to the entrance of the pack's territory, it clung to me like a shadow.I paused when I got to the gate, inhaling deeply as I prepared to proceed in my journey to Kai’s pack. The scent of the silver moon werewolves was all around me. Their scent was repugnant but tolerable, like animals in a poorly kept pen. Soon, it wouldn’t matter. None of this would matter when I take over. Damon’s recent instability worked to my advantage. Chaos always did.“Careful,” I murmured to myself, in a voice close to a whisper. “Patience wins wars.”I tightened the leather strap of my satchel and pressed forward. *****Present time…I reached the door I had been looking for. I could feel a faint golden glow of energy radiating from its edges, I could tell that Kai and Selena were near. Perfect, I muttered to myself. My lips curved into a smile as I retrieved a small glass vial from my satchel,
DAMON'S POVPain.That was all I felt, and It was all-consuming. The ache felt like flames of fire licking at my insides, burning intensely at every muscle and bone. I gripped the edge of the ornate desk in my room, my knuckles turning white as I struggled to walk closer to the bed. I had no idea how I managed to put up a good act during the meeting with the pack elders, but now that I was alone, the pain penetrated into me like a thousand needles in my heart.And I knew why.I knew exactly why I was going through this agonizing moment. I knew that it was as a result of the dark energy I had stolen through Yasmine just to defeat Elara. Now I was ‘enjoying’ the side effect of having an unmatched power within me as it was ripping me apart from the inside.“You’re losing control,” Demon, my wolf whizzed inside my mind, heavy disapproval laced in his voice. “I told you this would happen.”“Shut up,” I growled aloud, my voice coming out hoarsely. “You think I don’t know that?”Another rus
SELENA'S POVThe energy swirled about inside me. They felt like tiny sparks of fire dancing at the end of my fingertips. I could feel it growing, expanding, and threatening to escape out of control. My chest moved up and down as I tried to wind it with my energy. I tried pushing it outward in a steady beam of light, creating a barrier between me and the training dummies.“Focus, Selena,” Celestia urged, her voice strict but encouraging. She had been a good company throughout my training evening. “You need to concentrate on control, not force.”“I am focusing,” I muttered through gritted teeth in reply as sweat dripped down my eyebrow. My power was unpredictable sometimes, it would refuse to answer itself to my inner command. Every time I tried to push harder, it would backfire, quenching into nothingness. ‘Maybe you would do better if you weren’t thinking about him,’ Celestia sighed in such a way that I could sense the irritation in her.I stopped for a few seconds after she spoke a
KAI'S POVI could still remember how exactly Renn had reposted Selena's reply to me. His tenoric voice echoed in my mind, and each syllable being replayed felt like a sharp blade in my chest. “She said she’s done chasing you, Kai.”Her rejection shouldn’t have stung as much as it did, but I have to admit, it hit me harder than I cared. Nyx snarled in frustration as we both reminisced about our rejection. ‘You’re a damn fool, Kai,’ he growled. ‘She’s your mate. The only one who will ever understand us, and you’re letting her slip away from your fingers.’“Don’t start again, Nyx. Give me a break.” I muttered under my breath, pacing to and fro the length of the dimly lit hallway outside the war room.‘Oh, I will start,’ Nyx snapped at me. ‘Do you know how hard it is to sit here and watch you push her away? Every time you shut her out, you shut me out too.’I clenched my fists, trying to ignore the guilt rising within me. “It’s not that simple,” I hissed, though it felt easy. “You know
SELENA'S POVKai was avoiding me again.It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it hurt more than I wanted to admit. Every passing day without a word from him felt like a fresh rejection.I paced the grass field near the training grounds, clenching my fingers in frustration. ‘What was his problem? Why was he so distant?’ I thought back to the moments we had shared alone. The way his gaze lingered on mine, the way his touch had felt warm, protective, and… confusing, he had even kissed me!“He's such a stubborn idiot,” I muttered under my breath as I got closer to the training ground.‘He’s your mate,’ Celestia reminded me gently, her voice echoing in my mind like a soft melody. ‘And you love him.’“Love him?” I scoffed, running a hand through my dark hair. “How can I love someone who acts like I don’t exist half the time?”‘Because you see him for who he really is, Selena,’ Celestia replied in that annoyingly patient tone of hers. ‘Even when he’s pushing you away, you feel his pain. His st