Rowan’s POVWhen the glow faded, I found myself trapped.I stood in the center of a large stone chamber. The wall felt like they were closing in on me. There was a door so I walked towards it but something strange happened.No matter how much I walked I never got to the door. Panic gripped me as I wondered what was going on, then suddenly…"Rowan."I spun around fast and my breath caught in my throat at what I saw.There stood Kaida. She wasn't the Kaida I knew but an older, worn, wrinkled version of her. Her green eyes, which had fallen in love with, held no warmth as she stared at me.Then she did something unfathomable.She spoke."You hesitated," the older Kaida said, voice hollow. "You allowed your duty to control your life and in so doing, you lost me.”What?“What are you talking about?”“I was a burden to you, I couldn't speak. You were embarrassed.” She continued.“That's a lie.” I said. “It's a lie!”"You wanted to protect everyone, but you ended up protecting no one." She s
Xander’s povEveryone was silent after the trials they had just passed through. No one was willing to share their experience and I didn’t mind. After a few minutes of silence I spoke up.“We need to move on to the next line of action.” I said. “Kael, Vanessa, Rowan and Kaida. I want you all to split up and memorize the drawings on the walls and once that’s done you’ll go ahead to teach our warriors so as to prepare them. Also take some of the weapons that the warriors and elders hadn't been able to take and distribute them among the warriors and enforcers”“okay, alpha” Kael replied.I noticed that Lyra had isolated herself from the rest of us and this made me wonder the extent of the trial she had faced.What did she see?I waled over to her and upon noticing me she turned wanting to walk away and avoid me but I halted her plan to flee with a single command. “Stop.”Grabbing her bicep and turning her to face me,I noticed tears of tears on her face and this got me concerned. “what’s
Xander’s povBreakfast the next day at the grand hall was a bit quiet. It had been awhile since we all gathered and ate together. The rest of the nobles were already well aware of the situation of things as they had been briefed by Draven who was now my new Beta.I could tell that Kael, Rowan, Kaida an Vanessa had started to train the warriors as the ones in the grand hall had a different stance from the one they usually had. I smiled as I noticed the progress we were making, I was proud at how fast the warriors were learning.Just as I was beginning to think that we could have a brief moment of peace over breakfast, Kael who had been absent suddenly burst in through the door, breathless.He wore a grim expression on his face. “Alpha.”Sighing with a frown on my face, I said. “What is it now?”“A message.” he answered, stepping closer. “One of the scouts found it this morning.”The moment the words came out of his mouth, the little chatter in the hall vanished as everyone fell silent
Xander’s povHe stiffened at my words.I clenched my hands into fists at my sides as flashbacks flooded my mind. “After my mother's death, you were cruel and not just to me but to your people as well. I spent so many nights crying and wishing that mother had just let the rouges kill me that day so that you wouldn’t have become the man that you turned into. I also prayed to the moongoddes that you wont ever touch Rowan and Lyra, I would gladly take all the beatings if it would spare them from your wrath.” I paused to take a deep breath. “you made me hate you_ I resented you with everything in me. And yet, here I am today, every lesson I have learned, every trial I have overcome, it was all because of you.”He didn’t say anything once I was done, he just stared.After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke “do you… do you still hate me?”I took a deep breath before answering. “No, I do not.”His expression wavered briefly.“There was a trial that I faced yesterday, in the forge.”
Lucian’s povThe castle had never felt so cold.Not even in the dead of winter, not even after I lost her- my world, my mate. But now, sitting alone in my chambers, staring at the burning, flickering fireplace, I felt it.A cold so harsh that it seeped through my skin and sank deep into my bones and settled there.Xander had come to me today. A day I had never dreamt of- not even in my wildest dreams. He came not with the hate and vengeance that I had expected but with a forgiveness that I didn’t deserve.If I had been in his position, if my father had raised me the way I raised xander, I would have never forgiven him. I would have trained to become stronger than him then rip him into pieces once he was weak.But, xander was stronger than me.I had raised him to be a warrior, to be cold and ruthless but he had become more than that. He had become a true king, far greater than the one I had ever been.I exhaled sharply, dragging my hand across my face. It was too late to change things,
Ava's povThe morning light filtered into the war room through the massive windows as I traced my fingers over the map that had been spread across the large table. My mind was set on a plan— there was one more thing that needed to be done.“We need to go to silver claw.” I announced, my voice calm and firm.Xander, who was standing next to me, turned to fully face me as his eyes narrowed. “Silver claw? Why?” He asked.I exhaled, preparing myself to do some convincing because this wouldn't work without it. “You know I'm from there. My parents live there. They might know something about Darius that we don't know— something we may have missed or overlooked.” I locked eyes with him. “And if they don't then maybe they'll be able to help us get through to him. The war is almost here and I want to give him one last chance before we go fully into battle.”Xander stared at me in silence as he considered my words. His fingers tapped lightly on the hilt of his sword strapped to his side.“Do you
Ava's povA flash of something crossed her face—shock, disbelief, then it turned to something colder. “Ava.” she said, her voice laced with bitterness that I didn't expect but ignored nonetheless.Maybe I imagined it.I smiled as I was almost close to her. “I can’t believe it’s you. After the selection, I—”“Thought I was dead?” She finished for me.My stomach dropped.Sylvia tilted her head. “Surprised? I was taken as a personal entertainer for a high wolf, I'm sure you saw that or maybe you were too busy causing a ruckus that day to notice what was going on with anyone other than yourself.” Her tone was light and casual, but her words were like a slap to the face.“I thought—”“You thought I suffered like the rest?” she asked, her lips curling into a sneeze. “Well, you wouldn’t know, would you? You had other things to do.”“Sylvia, that’s not fair.”Her eyes darkened. “Isn’t it? All those years, you hated the wolves. You claimed to hate them so much, always ranting about how you wou
Ava’s povI shook my head. “no, I can’t.”“you must.” he insisted, sharply. “Because if you go after him and try to reason with him you will only end up dead.”Xander finally spoke up, his voice firm and steady. “if he cannot be reasoned with then he shall be treated like the threat that he is and this war will end by any means necessary.”My mother let out as oft gasp, raising her hand to cover her mouth as she understood what was going to happen to her son.My father’s eyes lit up like an inferno, burning with fury. ‘”so what? You’re going to drive your sword through your mate’s own flesh and blood?”Xander didn’t flinched, he held my father’s gaze head on. “if it means protecting my people, my mate and even your people then yes, I will do what must be done.”The room fell deathly silent. Even the air stilled at the silent battle going on between my father and Xander. The tension was thick and suffocating. I don’t know what I had been expecting but it certainly wasn’t this.I swallo
Ava's povMy breath caught in my throat.The flickering shapes. The shifting shadows. The wrongness etched into the faces of those I had known for years.But what I was seeing—none of it made sense. It was twisted. A funhouse reflection of the world I knew. Was this the truth? A vision? A warning?Or…My heart pounded violently in my chest as my legs gave out from under me. I fell to my knees on the stone floor, staring at the ground as if it might split open and swallow me whole.Then the realization hit me.It wasn’t real.None of it.I looked back up at the people I had just seen—people whose faces had changed, who had grinned and had wrong shadows—and now… they were normal again. Whole. Familiar. The same as always.I gasped. “No… no, no, no…”It wasn’t real.It wasn’t real.I stumbled back, shaking my head as the panic started to claw its way through my throat. “It isn’t real. IT ISN’T REAL!” I screamed, so loud it echoed through the forest.Doors slammed open.Boots rushed towar
Ava's povNo one said anything to me anymore.They didn’t need to.The whispers were loud even in their silence.The way conversations shifted when I walked past. The way people refused to meet my eyes, as if even eye contact might make them join in my madness—or worse, my supposed crime.I tried apologizing to some of them even though I didn’t know what for. I tried helping in the kitchens. Volunteering for patrol. Sitting through meetings I was no longer welcome in.Nothing worked. No one wanted me around them.I was a ghost in a home I had helped fight for.The days passed like the wind—fast and untouchable. I drifted through them like a ghost.Nobody spoke to me unless they had to. Even then, it was clipped, formal, laced with suspicion and caution. Conversations that used to warm up rooms now stilled when I walked in. Smiles I used to see daily became vacant stares—or worse, side-eyed glares.I didn’t blame them.Elder Maris had been a guide to them, a beacon. She’d walked with w
Ava's povSilence clung to me like a second skin.Cold and unforgiven.Quiet but loud.It was deafening.I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t even speak. All I could do was stand there, trembling, as dozens of eyes bore into me. Judging. Accusing. Disbelieving.Hating on me.“What did you do?” Elder Thane’s voice cut through the silence like a blade. “Ava… what have you done?”“I—” My voice cracked, barely above a whisper. “I don’t know. I don’t understand what’s happening—”“You’re holding the dagger,” someone growled, voice filled with suspicion and hate.Hate that broke my heart. Hate that I didn't deserve but was getting due to a situation that I didn't understand.I looked down again. My fingers were clenched around the hilt of the dagger, knuckles white, blood trickling down my wrist in thick, slow streams. Maris’s blood.“I didn’t—I wasn’t even—” I took a shaky step back. “I went for a walk. Through the volcanic forest. I just… needed to clear my head.”“That’s not possi
Ava's povThe night begins with shadows.Always.Not the kind that creep under doorways or stretch across walls. These are inside me—cold, vile things curling behind my ribs and pressing against my spine.I couldn't sleep. Again.I thought I had gotten rid of Zerathos' hold on me so I was very confused by the shadows tormenting me.Or is it all just in my head?I didn't know. It was driving me crazy.Every time I closed my eyes, I would see a shape in the dark. A flicker at the edge of reason. A whisper that wasn't by voice.And tonight, it showed me something that I couldn't escape.It started with smoke— it was thick, black, and curling like serpents across the ground. I was standing on a cracked path of scorched earth, the sky a scary swirl of red and grey. The air hummed like something alive.I didn't know this place but something in me said I did.Death Hollow.It whispered.The forbidden wasteland where no life grows. Where bones sink into the black soil and never rise again. Wh
Ava's povWar doesn’t end in a day. But neither does peace begin in one.It has been three days since Zerathos vanished.Three days since we watched his monstrous army retreat into the mist, leaving behind scorched earth, broken trees, a pile of bodies, the smell of blood and rot and the faintest echo of something dangerous whispering in the wind.We had returned to the Ashville main pack to regroup, heal, and mourn. The war council met daily. The injured filled the infirmary. My magic was slowly coming back as the days passed. Our warriors were tense, always half-listening, always watching the tree lines.But there’s something worse than fear in the air.Something wrong that had plagued me since the day of the first battle.And I could feel it clawing at me like a cold hand pressed against the back of my neck.I would wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air, heart pounding like I’ve been running. But there was nothing there, no matter how hard I searched. Just Xander’s s
Zerathos' povThey think they’ve won.How foolish.War doesn't end when someone retreats. Not for those who breathe war.They thought my vanishing act was surrender. That my army fading with me was a sign of loss. But they misunderstood the game entirely.You don’t conquer a kingdom by brute force alone—you break its spirit, fracture its foundation, and wait for the cracks to show and watch everything crumble as they scramble to save what is beyond repair.The moment I faded from the battlefield, I felt the wave of their false relief like a sweet smell in the wind. It made me smirk at their naiveness. A dream. It was the normal way a prey always relaxes when the predator steps away… forgetting that sometimes, the beast only backs off to sharpen its claws.I stood at the top of the cliffs of Death Hollow now, the wind howling in the air, the sky was bleeding, the earth soaked with death, black mist curling at my feet. The death hollow was a little realm I had crafted for myself. Below
Ava's povWar doesn’t start and end in a day. It takes a while.To build. To break. To bleed.To bury.And when the sky finally cleared of fire and ash, when Zerathos’s monstrous form vanished into the nothingness from which he had come from, taking his cursed army with him, all that remained was silence.A thick, eerie, unnatural silence.Like the earth itself was holding its breath.The blood-soaked ground beneath my feet was still warm, humming with the leftover power of dark spells and light magic. The battle was over…for now but it didn’t feel like a victory. It felt like a pause. A line right in the middle of a war that hadn’t even shown us its worst yet.All around me, bodies lay scattered like fallen birds—our warriors, his Shadow slaves and everything in between. Some would never rise again. Others would carry the scars forever.My heartbeat echoed in my ears, the only sound I could hear over the rush of adrenaline still coursing through my veins.Xander stood a few feet from
Ava's pov The moment the black mist erupted from the ground, I knew that things were about to get much worse. It was reeking badly. The ground cracked open beneath our feet like a wound splitting wide, and from it, the shadows poured, thick and choking, whispering in voices I couldn’t understand. Zerathos was coming. And I wasn’t ready, it was too soon. But I had to be. I knew that if I had continued to wait in blackthorn, I would never fully be ready. Now, regardless I was already here and needed to get things together and end this. I turned, eyes widening as I sensed something coming. "Shields!" I screamed, summoning my light magic and making a dome flare out around us, golden and humming with energy just as a blast of shadows shot out from the crack on the floor and hitting the barrier with so much force that the forge shook. We stumbled. Xander caught me by the elbow, his arm strong, steady. His eyes locked onto mine for half a second stormy gray-golden eyes c
Xander's povI spotted the command post—a black stone tower in the heart of the forge still standing amidst the chaos.“Take the south side!” I shouted to Kaida. “Keep them from regrouping!”She nodded once before leaping into the shadows, other nightshade warriors next to hermI tuned to the rest. “Push forward! Get to the tower! Cut the head off the snake!”We broke into a small unified group, making our way to the gate. More and more of Zerathos' warriors began flooding in from the rear now—those that were not caught in the explosions. Reinforcements. Bigger. Angrier.But it was too late.Too slow.I could feel it.Their fear.Their unraveling.And beneath it all the Forge began to make a groaning sound.Like something buried deep beneath was awakening.We reached the tower. My claws tore through the doors.We stormed inside and then came the scream again.A sound that shattered bone and split stone.The Howling Horror. Another one.It was close.And it was coming.I turned toward