Star’s POV
Pain gnawed at my insides. Not the kind that comes from a physical wound , though those existed, too, but something deeper. A jagged ache in my spirit. The revelations from my dream still clung to me like mist, my head pounding from the weight of it all.Princess Ayana. Griselda. My real name. Starlight Ayana. A name meant for a throne, not this damp, suffocating prison. The stale air reeked of wolfsbane. Ravena’s poison lingered in my blood, a constant reminder of my weakening body. My stomach tightened, and a sharp pain shot through me. I gritted my teeth, placing a trembling hand over my swollen belly.Hang in there, little ones. Just a little longer. A sudden burst of shouting echoed outside the walls. My heart lurched. What was that? Footsteps. Heavy, fast. A tremor in the ground.I tried to sit up, but my body protested. My head spun as the pain intensified. Through theUnknown POVAcross the vast lands governed by the wolf packs, something ancient stirred. A pulse. A tremor in the marrow of every wolf’s bones. A silvery warmth that swept across forests, mountains, and valleys, an invisible wave none could see, but all could feel.The wolves of every rank and pack dropped to their knees as a primal, unfamiliar instinct took over. Heads bowed toward one place, one pack. Moonlit Pack.The air shimmered with an otherworldly hum, thick with power and dominance none had ever felt before. It wasn’t just Alpha authority… it was royalty. Bloodlines older than kingdoms, awakened.The Elder wolves gasped. The Omegas wept. The Betas trembled. "What… what is this?" murmured an Alpha miles away, unable to resist the pull. "A Sovereign presence…?" But in the far north, within the towering walls of the Royal Palace, King Hesperion Solace froze in the middle of a counci
Hesperion’s POVWhen we touched down, I had barely waited for the door to open before I stepped out, my feet hitting the ground with a purpose I hadn’t felt in two decades. My guards had called after me, but their voices were swallowed by the pounding of my heart.At that time, I couldn’t explain the pull in words. It was a tether, ancient, unyielding, long silent, now tugging with violent urgency. A bond reawakened after twenty long, empty years. It led me like a silver thread through the darkness, through the pack grounds I barely registered, toward her.I remember that as I moved, people parted in silence, falling to their knees. A sea of bowed heads. I didn’t look at them. Couldn’t. My focus was sharp, cutting through the haze of the world. The bond had spoken. My daughter… lived.I hadn’t felt this connection since the night Ayana was stolen from me. A thread of my soul ripped away by treachery, leaving a hollow ache no crown, conquest, or council could ever fill. I had searched
Starlight’s POVWarmth. It started in my paw. A strange, tingling warmth that crawled up my limbs like sunlight breaking through the cold, heavy fog of sleep. I wanted to stay there, in the dark, where nothing hurt, where no one could reach me. In that place, the world was quiet. Safe.But something, no, someone, called to me. A tether, gentle yet impossible to resist, tugging me from the depths of nothingness into the harsh, aching light of life.The last thing I remembered was protecting my pups. The pain, sharp and merciless. The voices that followed, Ayana. Griselda. Their words still echoed, filling the hollow places I thought would never heal. You are Starlight. A name, a promise. Mine.I wasn’t sure when my eyelids fluttered open, but when they did, the light was too bright, and my body… my body felt strange. Lighter. Stronger. A quiet hum of something new coursed through my veins, something ancient and powerful that settled beneath my skin like a shield.My fur… gone. I sat up
Starlight’s POVThe tension in the hospital room was palpable. I could feel the magnitude of my father’s fury, the suffocating shame of the pack, and the trembling submission of Helios at my side. But more than that… I felt something awaken within me. A warmth, no, a power, older than bloodlines, older than crowns and packs. It pulsed inside my chest.My gaze swept over the room. The warriors who used to shove me aside. The Elders who called me worthless. The Luna who turned a blind eye as my skin bruised and my heart hardened. Even Killian, Alpha in name alone, couldn’t meet my eyes.The beast within me stirred.Not the frightened pup they had raised in shadows. But the wolf born of Ayana’s line, of witches and royals. A true Lunaby right. The ultimate Luna.The power surged, and before I realized it, a deep, primal growl rumbled from my throat. It wasn’t rage, it was command. A sound layered with centuries of dominance, carried in the blood of Moon-Gifted wolves. It vibrated through
Helios’ POVIf someone told me a year ago that I would be kneeling before the same wolf I once called a runt, I would have laughed in their face. But now… Here I am. On my knees. My heart a raw, pulsing thing in my chest.I remember the first time I laid eyes on her. Star. A frail little thing, bones too sharp, eyes too big for her face, always moving around like she didn’t belong. An omega, I believed. The lowest in our pack. I never spared her more than a glance.Why would I? I was Helios Bloodfang, the heir to Alpha Killian. Born into power. Groomed to command. I’d been told my mate would be strong. Respected. A fierce she-wolf that would rule by my side.When the bond snapped into place one cold morning, locking me to Star, that trembling, insignificant omega, I rejected it in my heart before the words even formed on my lips. I hurt her. Damn, I did worse than hurt her. I made her life unbearable. And she… she kept living. Kept breathing. Kept saving me, even when I didn’t deserve
Helios’ POVMy tears soaked the hem of her blanket, and for a moment, I forgot who I was, Alpha of the Moonlit Pack, future High Alpha, ruler of thousands. All I could feel was that I was hers.“I don’t deserve you,” I whispered, voice cracking as I pressed my forehead to her knee. “You almost died bringing life to this world, to give me something I didn’t even know I needed.”Star shifted slightly in the hospital bed, a wince escaping her lips. I immediately sat upright, guilt flooding my chest again. “Don’t move,” I said quickly, brushing her damp hair off her forehead. “I’ll get the healer.” She caught my wrist.“No,” she said softly. “Just stay here… with me. Our babies are asleep. This moment belongs to us.” Her fingers were weak, yet her grip on my soul had never been stronger.I sat on the edge of the bed and lifted one of her hands to my lips, kissing the back of it. “Star, I swear on my life, from this day forward, my only purpose is to protect you. And them.” She smiled gent
Starlight’s POVThey think I’m resting. But how could I sleep when my soul is wide awake? Even in my fragile state, I feel the shift in the air, a hum of reverence outside these walls. As if the land itself recognizes me now. My body aches, my mind swims between exhaustion and euphoria, but I am not broken.I am reborn. Two tiny lives rest beside me, their warmth tethering me to this world. Each pup has my scent... and yet something more. One burns like fire, another shimmers like the sea, and hums with stardust and shadows. Our children are not ordinary. And neither am I.The door creaked open, and I didn’t need to look up to know who it was. His scent always preceded him, cedarwood, smoke, and something deeper now... regret, maybe? Or reverence. “Helios,” I whispered, and he froze mid-step, as if hearing his name from my lips physically struck him.He knelt beside the bed, eyes rimmed red, cheeks stained with silent tears. “Star… I still don’t understand how you survived. How you b
Star's POV The days passed in a hush of healing, quiet awe, and growing light. For five full days, I rested, by order of everyone from Helios to my newly found dad to the Oracle herself. The twins never left my side. Their tiny breaths, their moonbeam fingers curling around mine, anchored me to this new reality: I was no longer the girl who once flinched from her own shadow. I was a mother now. A Luna. A sovereign in the making. And on the sixth day, we rose.Hesperion’s jet cut through the sky like a blade of polished silver. We flew above the cloudline, my newborns cradled in my arms, Helios seated beside me, tense but proud. The seats were stitched with ancient sun emblems, embossed with the Hesperion royal crest. Still, nothing felt heavier than the silence between Hesperion and his queen.“She has been kept in isolation,” he said, not looking at me. “No one has seen her since the Oracle’s declaration.” I didn’t respond immediately. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to face the woman
Star’s POVThe gardens had changed so much. Once, they were a tangle of wild vines and neglected fountains. Now, they bloomed in every color the mind could conjure, a testament to years of peace, nurtured by steady hands and hopeful hearts.I sat beneath the silverleaf tree, a thick book resting in my lap, though I hadn’t turned a page in some time. Instead, I watched. Two figures stood at the edge of the training grounds, bathed in the golden haze of late afternoon.Lyra moved like liquid light, a blade in each hand, her strikes swift and sure. Kaelen countered, laughing, parrying her every move with effortless grace. Their magic pulsed between them, visible now,mwoven into every step, every breath.I smiled. They were no longer children clinging to my skirts. They were warriors. Leaders. Legends in the making. "You look proud," Helios said, dropping down onto the bench beside me. His hair was dusted with gray at the temples now, and fine lines fanned from the corners of his golden e
Star’s POVThe great plaza of Solis Magna had never held so many. From every corner of the realm, from snow-dusted northern steppes to the emerald coasts of the south, they came.Nobles in gleaming armor. Magi in embroidered robes. Merchants in bright silks. Hunters, warriors, healers, even wandering bards. The city was a living river of humanity, all converging for one reason: To witness the birth of a new era.I stood at the center of it all, the twins at my side, Helios at my back. Today wasn’t just about us. It was about what we symbolized: Survival. Unity. A future carved from the ashes of fear.The royal dais had been draped in banners of silver and indigo, the colors of hope and rebirth. At its heart sat the Twin Thrones, two smaller seats forged from moonstone and steel, twined together by veins of shimmering crystal.An artisan's masterpiece. A promise made manifest. The twins shifted beside me, sensing the importance of the moment even at their tender age. Little Elira clut
Star’s POVThe battlefield was silent. Not with the unnatural silence of fear, but with the heavy, reverent hush of mourning.The crows had come to feast, circling high above the smoldering ruins, but even they seemed hesitant to land.It felt as if the very earth was holding its breath.I stood at the edge of the palace gardens, what remained of them, cradling the twins in my arms. The price of our victory lay all around us. Not in broken stones. Not in burned fields.But in the faces missing from the crowd.Sir Caldus, the grizzled commander who had once sworn never to serve under a "mere omega," had fallen protecting the southern gate, his body found draped over a trio of young squires he had shielded from the cult's last brutal strike.Lady Meriva, my oldest advisor and secret mentor in court politics, had refused to leave the war room even as the ceiling collapsed around her. Her sharp tongue and sharper mind, silenced.And Lord Riven, Helios’ second-in-command, a warrior as fier
Star’s POVThe dawn rose blood-red over the battlefield. I staggered through the wreckage, every breath burning in my lungs, every muscle aching. Helios’ hand never left my back, steadying me, grounding me. But it wasn’t over. Not yet.Above the palace, the twin beams of light pulsed stronger, not fading, not weakening but building. Growing. Drawing every soul’s attention like a lodestar. The survivors turned, warriors, mages, servants, all of them lifting their heads, faces bathed in the radiant glow.Even the enemy’s corpses, corrupted and twisted, seemed to dissolve into dust under its touch. The world itself was changing. I knew I had to get to them. Ignoring the protests of my battered body, I ran, up the crumbling stone steps, through the shattered gates, until I burst into the palace.The halls were filled with light. And at the heart of it all, in the throne room, the twins stood. No longer fragile infants. Not quite children either. They hovered inches above the ground, tiny
Star’s POVThe night before the battle, the sky wept black rain. It fell in thick sheets against the palace windows, painting the world in shadows.The twins slept fitfully in their cribs, tiny fists clenching, soft whimpers escaping their lips. Even they could feel it, the tension tightening the air, the storm gathering beyond the horizon.I stood at the highest tower, my armor a second skin, my sword strapped to my back, celestial magic humming at my fingertips. Below me, the army gathered. Wolf warriors clad in dark steel. Mages with their staffs glowing faintly. Archers stringing arrows tipped with silver and starfire.Helios was already at the front, speaking to the troops. I could feel him through the bond, calm, steady, a blazing force holding the line. I closed my eyes and let my power rise. Tonight wasn’t just another skirmish. It was the first true war cry of an ancient enemy. And we would answer it.The cult came with the storm. They poured out of the forests like oil slick
Star’s POVThe first sign was so small, so easily missed, that it almost slipped through my fingers. A scout failed to report back on time, nothing unusual, given the chaos at our borders.But then another disappeared. And then a patrol found strange footprints at the edge of the northern woods: bootprints, human, but alongside them, the scorched marks of something... other.I tightened the palace defenses that night, weaving additional layers of celestial magic into the gates, the walls, even the air itself. I didn’t sleep. I didn’t dare. Because deep in my bones, the truth was already stirring: There was a traitor among us.Three days later, it struck. The twins were asleep in their nursery, the palace humming with low, wary energy. I was reviewing troop movements with Helios when the alarms screamed through the halls, a keening, unnatural sound that made every hair on my body rise.I sprinted, Helios at my heels, instincts howling. Bursting into the nursery, I found chaos. The head
Star’s POVThe morning after the council’s cowardice was laid bare, the sun rose blood-red over the horizon.I stood alone on the highest tower, the cold wind snapping at my hair and cloak, my heart burning with a fire no frost could quench. Below me, the courtyard buzzed with nervous energy, soldiers drilling harder, blacksmiths hammering faster, scouts galloping through the gates.We had little time. The vision the twins had shared in flashes, beasts without faces, storms that bled black rain, fires that howled like grieving mothers, haunted me.The darkness wasn’t waiting politely at our borders. It was coming.And this time, it was not a squabble over thrones or a petty rebellion. It was annihilation. Helios joined me silently, his presence steady at my side. His arm brushed mine in a silent vow: Whatever comes, we stand together.I turned to him. “It’s not enough,” I said simply.The preparations, the drills, the polished armor, it wasn’t enough to face an ancient enemy that wiel
Star’s POVThe first sign came with the breaking of a mirror. It wasn’t just any mirror, it was the ancient obsidian looking glass that had hung in the royal antechamber for generations, unmarred by time or war. That morning, I found it split down the center, a crack as fine as a spider’s web radiating outward like a warning whispered from the bones of the earth. The second sign was harder to ignore.Reports flooded in, whispered by trembling envoys. Reports of black storms rolling across the distant borders, swallowing rivers, rotting crops in minutes, and waking beasts from ancient slumber. Villages that had stood for centuries vanished beneath the storms’ writhing clouds.And every time I reached out with my magic, trying to sense the twins through our invisible thread, I felt a hum of urgency. A pulsing hurry that prickled against my skin. The threat was coming. Not in months. Not even in weeks. Days.I gathered my court in the war room, a vaulted chamber carved of stone, with a
Star’s POVThe summons came at dawn. A formal decree, pressed into my palm by a pale-faced courier who refused to meet my eyes. The parchment crackled in my grip, the words stamped in wax as if the Council thought their authority alone could cage me.Helios stood beside me on the palace steps, reading over my shoulder. His growl rumbled low and dangerous. “They dare summon you like a criminal?” I smoothed the parchment with steady fingers, though inside, a storm brewed.“They fear what they don't understand," I said. "And they never imagined the power they tried to bury could rise stronger than them." He squeezed my hand, silent but burning with unspoken support.The Council had demanded not only my presence, but that of my father, King Hesperion, as if dragging him into their theater of fear would lend their accusations more weight. They were wrong. So wrong.The Grand Hall of the High Council was colder than I remembered. Ancient pillars loomed overhead, carved with the symbols of e