She didn’t weigh anything in my arms, but the air around her did.

Even unconscious, whatever she unleashed still clung to her skin like a storm refusing to die. My wolf kept his head bowed the entire walk down the corridor, and that has never happened, not to Killian, not even to Thorne. I felt something through my disguise.

I shut the chamber door behind me and laid her on the bed. Her skin was warm, too warm, and gold dust still flickered faintly along her collarbone, as though the power hadn’t fully gone back to sleep. I checked her pulse again. Steady, strong. No ordinary beast should hum with the echo of ancient blood, much less an angelic being.

I wasn’t afraid of many things. But this she… this Elysian… She was not something the world was prepared to meet.

And Killian, goddess help us, Killian had felt it too.

I heard the distant clash of claws and metal behind me, guards screaming as the Alpha’s men got their reminder. He was buying us silence with blood. But silence never lasts.

Someone would smell the truth soon.

And if Thorne was the first one to figure it out…

Bloodmoon would burn.

The noise in the hallway stopped abruptly, and a cursing silence overtook the mansion. I hated the noise, but I feared the silence more.

I exhaled calmly, watching Elysian sleep peacefully like a little pup, then my eyes caught a flicker past the dangling curtains. A figure in the hallway, exposed briefly by the dim light.

My senses shot through the roof. An attack this soon? I rushed into the hallway and found nothing. Not even the sound of retreat.

“Riven,” I called, lowering my voice to the barest whisper.

A shadow peeled off the wall across from me, lean, fast, and loyal only to me. His eyes were already asking the question.

“Who was it?” I asked without looking at him.

“I couldn’t get the face. He was swift and meticulous,” he replied quietly.

“Two things,” I said. “First, no one gets near that door. Not guards, not servants, not even pack physicians. She stays unseen.”

Riven nodded once.

“And second?” he pressed.

“Find who was watching us. Someone was in the hall when she broke. They didn’t run fast enough.”

That earned a flicker of surprise in his eyes. He vanished without another word, footsteps silent as smoke.

I had things to discuss with Killian.

I marched up to his chambers. Even if he didn’t like it, he couldn’t refuse me.

I knocked once and stepped in.

“The Alpha might find out about this before daybreak,” I said, catching the disapproval radiating off him.

“The guards won’t say a word. I don’t think they’re even alive to speak. Thorne attacked them, that’s our story. Now get out,” he snapped, pointing at the door.

He can’t bend me like his other guards. And he can’t let me go either. I’m his stuck toe. I’m not just a normal guard, and he knows it.

“Not them,” I said. “I caught a figure in the hallway. Not a bird, a messenger. Whoever it was saw everything. You know the Alpha won’t stay calm. He’s been looking for a chance to step on your turf, hiding under the pretense of grooming his heir.”

I know how to get his attention. He would destroy the entire pack for the Alpha’s approval.

“So what do you think we should do? I won’t let the Alpha have her. I have to show him I’m ready to be Alpha after him. I need to keep this turf at peace to gain his approval. I’m almost there, just a little more time,” his coarse voice cracked with desperation.

“Sire… I think this is actually your opportunity to stand up to him. It’s time you prove to Bloodmoon that you’re not a pushover or a father’s pup. Show them you’re the heir to the Bloodmoon throne for a reason. If you do, the pack will trust you to face every Alpha from the enemy territories,” I said, staring into his hungry gaze.

This drugged him more than a naked she-wolf ever could.

“Prepare the guards, Harry. We have a battle ahead,” he growled with new resolve before disappearing into his inner chambers.

Just as predicted, by the time the sun bled over the ridges, the Alpha’s troops were already on their way to steal what didn’t belong to him.

A crowd gathered in front of the mansion, all dressed for war.

We were ready, but our numbers were nothing compared to the Alpha’s. They were true Bloodmoon warriors, but we had the advantage. We trained in real battlefields—where survival depends on your brother beside you.

All of this… because of one dormant being still asleep.

“Sire, we have come for nothing but peace. All we want is Lord Thorne and the little beast. That is all the Alpha asks of you,” the commander said without a flicker of emotion.

He’s been the Alpha’s right hand longer than most wolves have lived. He knows this family too well.

“Peace?” Killian scoffed. “From your numbers, I doubt that. Tell the Alpha I can manage my own household. I will see him during the Thirteenth Full Moon Festival. Goodbye.”

He turned to leave, but the commander wasn’t done.

“Stop right there! You think you’re grown? It is treason to disobey the Alpha, even if you’re his son. We can charge you for that!” he barked.

Killian scoffed and walked back to him. He leaned in and whispered something no one else heard. Whatever it was, it froze the commander in his boots.

Killian didn’t even look back as he stepped past him, a wicked smirk curving his lips before he vanished into the mansion.

But the Alpha’s commander didn’t move. His eyes lingered too long, sharp and calculating.

I could feel it in the air, Killian knew it too. The Alpha was already on his way. And when he comes… there would be no negotiations.

As if that was the worst, something else was happening in the mansion, something none of us prepared for.