r face like wild silk in the wind. The rogue training grounds below buzzed with activity-men

haled

inder-she wasn't broken. She wasn't de

as re

idea what was

d beside her

ed like stormlight.

One of Astrid's spies intercepted a sacred moonstone

. "She's preparing for

's going to try and become the official

into a smile. "The

ral chamber, her red cloak trailing behind her. She knelt be

" she whispered to herself, l

w the shadows

gger of fate turni

e the sto

ught herself victorious-Oliver Thorn

as L

he scorn

edator coming

celestial warning. Oliver stood on the balcony of her stone chamber, overlooking the field where th

prison for those cast out by the high-ranking packs. Now, it w

ng beneath her skin. Her wolf had changed in the weeks since her exile. She no lon

tapped at her

look away

eyes scanning her face before

n't hu

that three ni

erfang legacy," she muttered, turning to face

t smile. N

ver his broad chest. "This isn't

ead. "What are y

em something no Alpha ever gave us-discipline, structure, a reason to f

t answer

he was

stroyed. But now, there was more. There were lives here depending on her. Rogues who had no home.

y said. "I just want to prove that you don

Kade said, his voi

until they were on

t dangerous warmth. That flicker

e pull

et. N

till wore J

"The eastern patrol returned an hour ago

ere in five

, then paused at t

ea

anding face-to-face with him... wit

tened around the

m king," she said coldly. "A

over maps. Ronan stood at the head of the table, pointing

here and here," he said, tapping near the Moonfang river.

and the room f

e map. Her eyes traced every line, every weak point, every shift in defen

teo-once an elite Delta in the Obsidian Pack before they br

said. "We sen

e looke

l Hollow-the sacred ground where Astrid was pl

destroy the mo

followed. Shock. A

cred lunar site?" Ronan ask

o it," Oliver replied. "Let the Moon Goddess judge me, if sh

ierce. The silence thickened lik

go in two nights. Fast, silent,

. Just the altar reduced to dust-and the

ha Emberfang won't

voice low and venomou

t Alphas, a heavy glass of dark whiskey in his hand. He stared at

asked aloud. "Or did I just inhe

't sure

t the pack didn't respect her the same way. They obeyed her out of structure,

throwing himself into missi

feeling the burn in his c

isse

he challenged him without fear. The way she listened when h

up in the middle of the night,

hold him throug

drowne

ber as she entered, her red dress whispering

rned

ow. The moonstone altar is gone. Burned to

singed cloth

est ti

hoenix rising in flames-its wing

d turned

ck," he w

ever really left. She just learn

r stood under a blood-red moon, eye

howled

would now learn what it mean

as just th