pte

ne's

fully, so I picked out a fitted, silver-embroidered gown that

n, nor did I dress to pr

Council chamber to bear no resemblance to the frightened, despe

ied me down the gr

tic authority of the Silvercrest Alpha, whi

unded me like an immova

d into a room knowing that no one could threa

ailing his councilors and carrying hi

n opulent velvet as though she were alrea

ing me to break down unde

cil immediately stood

Ronan looked across the chamber,

ld feel the faint, heavy pulse of t

lt like an inescapable chai

felt like a fragile thread. I was f

the formal dissolution of a fated mating bond," he announced, his voice echoing off the stone walls. "The Council confirms the

ermore, this Council officially recognizes the newborn twins born to Princess Yvonne as

ially stripped the Darkmoon Pack of any legal claim to my babies. Ro

reviously served you with formal rejection papers following the birth of your c

ad imagined a thousand times

ered the freezing tile floor of the delivery room. I remembered the h

iver, begging Ronan to come, only to

mocking laughter echoing in

papers while I was barely sitting upright, acc

ed into a cold, unbreakabl

ar and steady. Before I could finis

sudden, high-priority mind-link

ransmitted to him, but I watched t

pse. His confident posture caved in, his hands began to tr

me, and finally toward the eastern wing of the Silvercrest

g the ceremony, and without looking back at Celeste, Ronan ab

usion, and Celeste stood frozen in the center of the aisle, her mouth hangi

or a fleeting second, I assumed Ronan had simply lost his

emergency comm-l

xpression shifted from stern composure to raw, terrifying fury. Gideon and Julian immediat

snarled, looking down at his tactical tablet.

ning cold as the vision from my nightmare fla

rboards. "The high-security containment system for the twins was just bypassed from t

rothers surged after me, but a desperate, primal instinct took over my legs. I sprinted down the long, carpeted hall

ide my head, thrashing fr

he private wing and skidded to

ite Silvercrest guards stationed at the entrance were slumped against

them and burst

ass was cracked, the power lines were severed, and the

e empty. My t

ld lost all color, turning into a flat, gray void. The frantic shouts o

dark center of my so

forward with an ancient, explosive for

m my body, shattering the remaining glass panels in the room and

ng dropped to their knees, gasping under

acing the veins down my arms. My vision clea

ting a mother to her newborn children ign

g toward the subterranean mountain tunnels beneath the estate. I coul

was going to slaught