The First Breath
Ryan woke like a man dragged violently from drowning.
His lungs seized; his vision pulsed white; his body shuddered against cold sheets that felt unfamiliar. Sweat clung to him. His muscles trembled as though he'd run for days.
He sat up—too fast.
Pain bolted up his spine. His hand shot out, bracing against the bedframe. He felt… drained. Weak.
Unnatural.
A sound tore from his throat — half growl, half gasp.
His wolf surged awake with him.
She did this.
The voice inside him was pure fury, burning through his skull like fire.
She fed on us.She touched us.She made us sleep.
Ryan slammed a fist into the bedpost, wood splintering.
"Enough," he snarled, but it came out ragged.
A flicker — a memory — flashed across his vision.
Her body launching into his.Her legs wrapping around his hips.Her breath burning against his neck.Her lips — cold fire — kissing his pulse.
Then the bite.
Her fangs sinking in.
Pleasure ripping through him so violently his knees nearly buckled.Her hands clutching him like he was the only lifeline she had.
Then—Her voice at his ear.Soft. Trembling.
Sleep.
His vision went black.
He gripped his head, breath harsh.His wolf roared.
She commanded us. She overpowered us. She sank her fangs into our neck. Our blood. OUR blood, Alpha.
Ryan's heart slammed painfully against his ribs.
"Isabella…"It was not a whisper — it was a warning.
He rose.Nearly stumbled.Caught himself on the dresser.
Every part of him felt wrong.
Weak.Unsteady.Marked.
And underneath it all, the mate bond pulsed like wildfire.
He could feel her.Close.Awake.Terrified.
The Court Prepares for Convergence
The halls of Lycanthra were chaos.
Servants rushed past him with arms full of moonsteel torches. Guards trained in lines, their movements sharp and frantic. Wolves in their shifted forms sprinted across the courtyards carrying ceremonial banners.
It should have been beautiful.It should have been glorious.
But the air was thick with worry.With fear.
They felt it — the imbalance.Their king's absence.Their queen's secrecy.
Ryan heard every whisper as he stalked through the corridors.
"Has anyone seen the Alpha?""He didn't attend the council.""The Convergence is tomorrow night — the moon is already shifting.""What happened to him…?""Why won't the Queen let anyone in his chamber?"
His jaw clenched until it hurt.
He could kill whoever started the last whisper — the one spoken by a soldier barely out of his youth:
"Maybe the vampire did something."
Ryan's vision blurred gold.He kept walking.
The Brothers Confront
He reached the war hall to find his brothers arguing — loudly.
Kael was pacing, rage cutting through his controlled facade.Lucien stood rigid, hands behind his back, thinking ten steps ahead.Thane was slamming daggers into a wooden map table with each sentence.Irik and Daren looked sick with worry.Varyn held a scroll but wasn't reading it.
"He should have been awake by now," Kael snapped."I don't like how she answered us," Lucien muttered."She lied," Thane growled. "And badly.""Something happened," the twins whispered in unison.
Ryan stepped into the doorway.
"I'm awake."
Every head snapped toward him.
Shock. Relief.And then—
Accusation.
Kael reached him first. "Where were you?"
Ryan brushed past him, jaw locked. "Sleeping."
Thane scoffed. "For more than a day?"
"Yes."
Lucien stepped forward, voice cold. "By whose will, brother?"
Ryan stopped walking.
The hall froze.
He answered with a voice carved from steel:
"Mine. And not mine."
The brothers exchanged tense, grim looks.
Their unease fed the fury already boiling beneath his skin.
Isabella Avoids Him
He felt her presence before he saw her.
Isabella was in the Council Gallery, surrounded by advisors and scholars, reviewing scripts for the Convergence rituals. Moonlight framed her figure, catching in her dark hair like threads of silver.
She sensed him instantly.Her shoulders tightened.Her breath hitched.
She didn't turn.Didn't look.
Instead—She dismissed her attendants.
"Prepare the northern altar. I will join you shortly."
And she walked away.
Quickly.Gracefully.Avoiding him with a precision that sliced deeper than claws could.
Ryan's wolf snarled.
She runs because she knows what she's done.Because she fed on us.Marked us.Commanded us.Bound us tighter than before.
He took a step after her—
But Kael grabbed his arm.
"Not now," Kael warned, eyes fierce. "Not in this state. The kingdom is already shaking. If you confront her publicly—"
Ryan spun, voice a dangerous growl."She fed on me, Kael."
Silence crashed through the hall.
Lucien's eyes widened.Thane's hand froze around a dagger.The twins exchanged terrified glances.Damon whispered something sharp in their language.
Kael's face changed completely — not anger this time.
Fear.
"Willingly?" he asked.
Ryan's voice dropped to a low, lethal whisper.
"No."
A stunned breath swept through the room.
"You're telling us," Lucien said quietly, "that the Queen attacked you?"
Ryan didn't answer.
He didn't need to.His silence was a blade.
Thane muttered, "Moon save us…"
But Allen looked toward the hall where Isabella had vanished.
"This is no longer just your bond," he said."This is politics.This is war.This is the future of the entire kingdom."
Ryan's fists clenched until blood dripped between his fingers.
"She will talk to me," he said, eyes burning gold."Today."
Enemy, Lover, or Both
Isabella reached the Moonbridge balcony and finally allowed her breath to shake.
She knew he was awake.She felt it the instant his heart surged with rage.
She knew he would come.
She also knew…
This time, she couldn't run far.
The Convergence moon was rising — swollen, silver, heavy with destiny — and every beat of her heart felt like a countdown.
Behind her, a distant door slammed open.
Ryan was coming.
And she didn't know whether he would speak—
or tear the world apart.