Amara Kings' POV Blue fire shot from my hands, shocking even me. I was floating above everyone, power surging through my blood like lightning. Part of me wanted to scream, but another part—a bigger part—felt alive for the first time. "Amara!" Elias yelled from below. "Fight it! Come back to us!" I could barely hear him through the noise in my ears. The blue marks had spread across my entire body now, burning like ice against my skin. I was becoming something else. Something scary. And I liked it. "She can't hear you," Dorian said, picking himself up from where I had thrown him. Blood dripped from his mouth. "The Harbinger is taking over." I turned my gaze to him—the stranger who had attacked my family, who had planned to sacrifice me to bring back his dead mate. Anger flashed through me, hot and fierce. "I hear everything," I said, my voice echoing weirdly. "I see everything now." With a flick of my wrist, I pinned Dorian again
POV: Celeste MoreauMy scream echoed through the stone walls of my refuge as I fell to my knees. The vision hit me like a punch to the gut—blue fire everywhere, a girl floating in the air, and a woman with eyes as black as night rising from Silver Lake."Mistress!" My trainee Finn rushed to my side, his young face twisted with worry. "What is it? What did you see?"I couldn't speak. My whole body shook as the images burned themselves into my mind: Amara Kings, the girl I'd helped betray, surrounded by blue fire and facing a thing with her own face."It's happening," I whispered, holding the edge of my scrying bowl. The water inside still rippled with the aftershocks of my vision. "The Harbinger has awakened.""The Harbinger?" Finn's eyes widened. "But you said that was just a story to scare little witches."I shook my head, trying to stand. My legs felt like water. "I was wrong. I was wrong about everything."The candles around us flickered
POV: Alpha Charles WintersI crashed through the trees, my heart beating in my chest. The smell of blood and magic filled the air. She was close. After eighteen years of keeping her secret, of trying to protect her from this very moment, I was too late."Amara!" I yelled, following the blue glow that lit up the night sky like a beacon.My daughter was floating above Silver Lake, ringed by that strange blue fire. The sight made my throat tighten. She looked so much like her mother—not Seraphina, who raised her, but her real mother. The one who came from this very lake eighteen years ago.A werewolf flew through the air, smashing into a tree beside me. It was Dorian Graves, the Alpha who had been hunting my daughter. He snarled, blood dripping from his mouth, and flung himself back toward the lake.I shifted instantly, bones popping as my wolf form took over. I was older now, gray marking my once-black fur, but I was still an Alpha. Still her father.
POV: Luna Seraphina WintersPain shot through my chest like a lightning bolt. I dropped the bowl I was holding, and it broke on the stone floor of my secret room. I knew instantly what it meant."Charles," I gasped, grabbing at my heart. "No!"Our mate bond, a link that had lasted for over twenty years, snapped like a thread cut by invisible scissors. The void that followed was so painful I couldn't breathe.He was gone. My mate was dead.I had no time to cry. If Charles was dead, it meant he had found Amara. It meant the Mother had returned. And it meant I had to act now.I stumbled to my feet, still fighting through the pain of the broken tie. With shaky hands, I pulled the loose stone from the wall and took out the small wooden box I'd hidden there eighteen years ago.Inside was a bottle of dark liquid – blood mixed with something else, something that shimmered even in the dim light. Beside it sat a black knife with strange symbols cut i
POV: Amara KingsI screamed as my father's body went limp in my arms. The world around me blurred with tears."Dad! Dad, please!" I shook him, but his eyes stared blankly at the night sky. "Come back!"Viktor's blade had done its work. My father—the man who had hidden me away for eighteen years, who I'd both hated and loved—was gone."Amara," Elias said softly, putting a hand on my shoulder. "He's gone."I shrugged him off, anger bubbling inside me. "Don't touch me."The Mother stood on the shore now, looking exactly like me except for those terrible black eyes. She held the black stone in her hand, smiling as if my father's death meant nothing."He was weak," she said. "Just a vessel, like your false mother.""Shut up!" I yelled, the blue markings on my skin flaring brighter. "He was my father!""One of your fathers," she corrected. "The human one."Luther approached slowly, his face a mix of fear and wonder. "The prophecy is f
Amara's POVI'd never looked up at the sky.Not like other folks had; stretching out wide and boundless and full of potential. My world was always broken into fragments, viewed through contradicting bars across my window or the splits in frigid stone walls that held me captive. Outside existed only in fantasy, something I'd dreamed, something I was never supposed to reach.For eighteen years, I had never been anything other than a secret. A pilfered breath in shadowed hallways. A ghost behind closed doors. A Winters by birth, but not by name. No one beyond these doors was aware of my presence.Because I was never supposed to be.I felt all that would change this night. My heart beat rose, as I thought of the possibility and the door opened. Heeling clicks, slow, stiffly, rang through the stillness. And then the voice, honey-sweet and lethal."You're actually doing this?" I heard her say. I turned to see Kamla. She stood in the doorway, with her arms folded, her smile like a knife.
Amara’s POVThe night air scorched my lungs as I gasped for breath, stumbling out of the ballroom. My heels crashed against the marble as I walked, but it barely made a sound over the echo of laughter, of whispers, of my humiliation spreading out in front of them all.How dare he say that to me? How could my father let him insult me like this? Was I only a slave to them? All he ever did was hide me. What did I ever do to him or them? I hated them. And now I hated the fact the moon goddess was cruel enough to give me a mate. One who didn't care about me or my feelings. I ran into my room, closing the door shut. His words continued to ring in my head and wouldn't stop. “I, Alpha Elias Beaumont, reject you, Amara Kings, as my mate.”“Please, stop,” I begged, crouching to the floor. “Just stop, please. It's too much.”I closed my eyes, but the words were etched into my flesh, a pain that wouldn’t go away. The mate bond ripped apart within me, one strand at a time, scorching my blood. M
Elias’ POVThe doors flung open, with two men dragging Amara in. They held her arms as if she were nothing more than a sack of potatoes. She didn't struggle and I wondered what had happened. She looked bloodied and her head bowed. They threw on the floor, and she slowly rose struggling to hold her weight up with her hands. “What is the meaning of this?” Alpha Charles commanded. Amara struggled to raise her head, with her hair falling down her face. She didn't bother to fight like she expected the worst to happen. Something in me tightened as I watched her tremble. I didn't want to see her like this, yet but I had refused her as my mate. “She killed Kamla!” One of the men said. Loud gasps flowed in the room. “No, that can't be,” I heard someone whisper. “It's true. She killed her sister,” the second bodyguard added. “I…I didn't do it,” Amala stuttered. “Please…I swear, I didn't...you have to believe me.”“Shut her up,” Gamma Rawl ordered and Alpha Charles raised his hand. “Wh
POV: Amara KingsI screamed as my father's body went limp in my arms. The world around me blurred with tears."Dad! Dad, please!" I shook him, but his eyes stared blankly at the night sky. "Come back!"Viktor's blade had done its work. My father—the man who had hidden me away for eighteen years, who I'd both hated and loved—was gone."Amara," Elias said softly, putting a hand on my shoulder. "He's gone."I shrugged him off, anger bubbling inside me. "Don't touch me."The Mother stood on the shore now, looking exactly like me except for those terrible black eyes. She held the black stone in her hand, smiling as if my father's death meant nothing."He was weak," she said. "Just a vessel, like your false mother.""Shut up!" I yelled, the blue markings on my skin flaring brighter. "He was my father!""One of your fathers," she corrected. "The human one."Luther approached slowly, his face a mix of fear and wonder. "The prophecy is f
POV: Luna Seraphina WintersPain shot through my chest like a lightning bolt. I dropped the bowl I was holding, and it broke on the stone floor of my secret room. I knew instantly what it meant."Charles," I gasped, grabbing at my heart. "No!"Our mate bond, a link that had lasted for over twenty years, snapped like a thread cut by invisible scissors. The void that followed was so painful I couldn't breathe.He was gone. My mate was dead.I had no time to cry. If Charles was dead, it meant he had found Amara. It meant the Mother had returned. And it meant I had to act now.I stumbled to my feet, still fighting through the pain of the broken tie. With shaky hands, I pulled the loose stone from the wall and took out the small wooden box I'd hidden there eighteen years ago.Inside was a bottle of dark liquid – blood mixed with something else, something that shimmered even in the dim light. Beside it sat a black knife with strange symbols cut i
POV: Alpha Charles WintersI crashed through the trees, my heart beating in my chest. The smell of blood and magic filled the air. She was close. After eighteen years of keeping her secret, of trying to protect her from this very moment, I was too late."Amara!" I yelled, following the blue glow that lit up the night sky like a beacon.My daughter was floating above Silver Lake, ringed by that strange blue fire. The sight made my throat tighten. She looked so much like her mother—not Seraphina, who raised her, but her real mother. The one who came from this very lake eighteen years ago.A werewolf flew through the air, smashing into a tree beside me. It was Dorian Graves, the Alpha who had been hunting my daughter. He snarled, blood dripping from his mouth, and flung himself back toward the lake.I shifted instantly, bones popping as my wolf form took over. I was older now, gray marking my once-black fur, but I was still an Alpha. Still her father.
POV: Celeste MoreauMy scream echoed through the stone walls of my refuge as I fell to my knees. The vision hit me like a punch to the gut—blue fire everywhere, a girl floating in the air, and a woman with eyes as black as night rising from Silver Lake."Mistress!" My trainee Finn rushed to my side, his young face twisted with worry. "What is it? What did you see?"I couldn't speak. My whole body shook as the images burned themselves into my mind: Amara Kings, the girl I'd helped betray, surrounded by blue fire and facing a thing with her own face."It's happening," I whispered, holding the edge of my scrying bowl. The water inside still rippled with the aftershocks of my vision. "The Harbinger has awakened.""The Harbinger?" Finn's eyes widened. "But you said that was just a story to scare little witches."I shook my head, trying to stand. My legs felt like water. "I was wrong. I was wrong about everything."The candles around us flickered
Amara Kings' POV Blue fire shot from my hands, shocking even me. I was floating above everyone, power surging through my blood like lightning. Part of me wanted to scream, but another part—a bigger part—felt alive for the first time. "Amara!" Elias yelled from below. "Fight it! Come back to us!" I could barely hear him through the noise in my ears. The blue marks had spread across my entire body now, burning like ice against my skin. I was becoming something else. Something scary. And I liked it. "She can't hear you," Dorian said, picking himself up from where I had thrown him. Blood dripped from his mouth. "The Harbinger is taking over." I turned my gaze to him—the stranger who had attacked my family, who had planned to sacrifice me to bring back his dead mate. Anger flashed through me, hot and fierce. "I hear everything," I said, my voice echoing weirdly. "I see everything now." With a flick of my wrist, I pinned Dorian again
Alpha Dorian Graves' POV Blood dripped from my claws as I pulled them from the scout's chest. The man had begged for pity, but I had none left to give. Not after losing Leila. "He talked," said Kira, my Beta, wiping her knife clean. "They're hiding in caves near the eastern shore of Silver Lake." Finally. After weeks of looking, I had found Amara Kings. The girl who could bring my mate back from death. "How many with her?" I asked, stepping over the body. "At least six. Her parents, the Artemis Alpha, a healer, and someone our scout didn't recognize." I nodded to the twelve warriors waiting quietly behind us. They were all that left of my once-mighty pack, each personally trained by me. Each with their own reason to hate the Artemis Pack. "Remember," I told them, "we need the girl alive and unharmed. Kill the others if you must, but Amara Kings is mine." We moved through the forest like shadows, the smell of rain masking our appro
Lyra Sinclair's POV I yanked my hand back from Amara's skin, the shock of energy burning my fingers. The sparkling blue marks on her arms pulsed brighter, like heartbeats beneath her skin. "What happened?" Amara asked, her wide eyes fixed on my face. I tried to calm my rushing heart. After years of looking for someone like her, the truth was both thrilling and terrifying. "Your markings," I whispered, "they're not just Starborn symbols. There's something else mixed in." We were hiding in a small cave near Silver Lake. Outside, rain pounded the ground as if trying to wash away our tracks. Elias and Charles stood guard at the door while Amara's mother slept fitfully nearby. I opened my worn leather bag and pulled out my grandmother's notebook. The pages were yellow with age, but the drawings inside fit what was happening on Amara's skin. "Look," I said, pointing to a sketch of entwined symbols. "These markings appeared on a girl two hundr
Viktor Beaumont's POV The guard's neck snapped under my hands. I dropped his body quietly to the ground, wiping blood from my mouth. Five years in exile had made me fiercer, not weaker. I moved through the shadows of the Artemis Pack area. Once, I had ruled here. Now I was sneaking back like a thief. My nephew Elias had no idea I was coming. No idea that everything—Kamla's death, Amara's abuse, the attack on the cabin—was part of a bigger plan. A plan I had tried to stop years ago. "You shouldn't be here," a voice hissed from behind me. I spun around, claws extending. Marcus Hale, my nephew's Beta, stood with his hands raised. "Going to sound the alarm, Marcus?" I asked, ready to quiet him if needed. "If I wanted to, I would have already." His eyes darted around nervously. "You need to leave. Ingrid has tripled security since Elias left to find Amara." I smiled coldly. "Ingrid is exactly who I came to see." Marcus grabbed m
Amara Kings' POVI woke up gasping for air, my body burning from the inside out. The mate bond flared like flames in my chest, pulling me toward Elias even as he slept across the room."Easy," my mother whispered, pressing a cool cloth to my face. "The bond is strengthening. Fight through it."We'd taken shelter in an old cabin after fleeing from Luther. My father was still weak from his wounds. Elias had fallen into exhausted sleep. And I was burning alive with need for my mate."It hurts," I whispered, rolling into a ball. "Why now?""The Blood Moon approaches," Mom explained. "It amplifies everything—especially mate bonds."I forced myself to sit up, sweat dripping down my face. Across the room, Elias stirred in his sleep, reacting to my discomfort."I feel him," I said, putting a hand to my chest. "Not just emotions anymore. His thoughts. His dreams."Mom nodded. "That's rare, even for true mates. Your healing abilities are affectin