did not sme

nching beneath his boots like bone. Normally, the air around a supernatural confrontation was thick with the acidic, copper scent of human panic. Humans

man? He w

ontroll

n streetlamp, his long, charcoal coat hanging open just enough to reveal a bandolier of weapons. These weren't standard firearms or blades. They w

t was a look of pure,

Seven hundred and twelve years old. Founder of the Blackthorne Blood Pact. Respo

ng to reveal teeth that could snap steel. "You're ve

ed pleasantly, "to know exactly what I

pen. The wards were flickering, the air hum

n snapped, his voice vibra

spital scrubs soaked and clinging to her skin. The silver mark on her chest was glowing so fiercely no

his clinical mask slipped. Something dark, ancient,

voice hushed. "The Moon's greatest

tim. The "angry" power she had felt in the hospital was b

son of the Order of the Eclipse. I'm the balance, Miss Ashcroft. I

a gnarled wooden staff. "That order was wiped out c

h. It always returns." He looked back at Adrian. "Your people tried to enslave her back in the Old World. They want

it again,"

. You're not her savior, Blackthorne. You're the anchor that keeps her from ascending. Y

He didn't pull a trigger

reet e

energy-each link etched with a 'Binding of the Earth' sigil-snapped around Adrian's limbs. They didn't just hold him; they burned. Adrian

that shouldn't have been human. He was in front of her in a heartbeat, hi

whispered. "This is the mercy. If

into pits of molten gold. The pain was unlike anything he

voice shifting into a doubl

he found you, he slaughtered my ancestors. He made us ghosts. But this time... he stayed in o

inside Len

from her chest surged upward, pouring out of her eyes a

. The chains around Adrian vanished in a spray of sparks. Lucien was hurled across

ovas. She looked at the destruction-the flipped cars, the shattered glass,

to-I don't know

m his mouth, his charcoal coat shredded. But he

overeign wakes. Do you feel it, B

ds tore open. The blood-red moon was fully visibl

tion was no lo

with the sound of breaking timber. His black suit tore into ribbons as muscles swelled and distorted

asn't a dog; this was a primordial nightmare. He threw his head back and

from the porch. "He's lost

, golden eyes on Lena. To the beast, she wasn't his mate.

lun

de. She remembered the dream.

out, her voice cutti

stance, she reached out her glowing hands. She pressed them agains

rom her palms, sinkin

ead leaning against his snout. "It

stopped. The massive claws, i

hers. For a moment, the beast and the goddess looked

y. "And I'm not leaving you again. Not for t

whimpering sound-a sound of profound relie

tering smile. "No," he muttered, gripping a silver dagger. "That

pping into the street with her staff glowing. "She command

a bridge of light that spanned seven hundred years. She

e whispered to the wolf. "But this time..

ver sun. The rain stopped falling around her, sus

vereign?" she as

h itself rejecting him. A chasm of darkness yawned, and with a scream of f

hat followed

aving him gasping on the pavement. He was human again, naked and shivering in the rain. Lena i

at the red moon. "The final cycle. The Sovereig

NE –

of an abandoned warehouse across the street. He

Lunar Sovereign wasn't just a

hat girl. She saw the way he looked at her, with a devot

mes of being the one who understood his darkness. Seven l

st burn; it curdled in

es shimmering with a poisonous light. "But a goddess who loves a monster

silver liquid swirled-moon-poison, distilled from the tears of a dying fae and forbi

d you'll finally be free of her. Even

f ravens, leaving only the s