The night settled over the Blackwood estate like a heavy cloak, thick with an unease Sera couldn't shake. The moon hung swollen and low, casting silver streaks that flickered each time the wind sliced through the treetops. It was too quiet—far too quiet after the chaos of the last assault.
Sera stood in the training yard, her palms open, eyes fixed on the moon as she tried to control the pulse of power that hummed beneath her skin. It felt different tonight. Sharper. Wilder. Almost… alive.
Lucien watched her from the shadows, arms crossed, his expression equal parts awe and worry. "You're glowing again," he said softly.
"I know." Sera exhaled shakily. "It's stronger than before. Like something woke up inside me."
Lucien stepped forward, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Your power is tied to the bond. When the bond deepens, you grow."
She swallowed. "Then why does it feel like it's trying to take over?"
Lucien didn't answer immediately. Instead, he placed his hand against her cheek, thumb stroking gently. "Because you're evolving quickly. Too quickly. And Kieran knows it."
His voice darkened on the last sentence.
Sera's stomach twisted. "You think he'll attack again tonight?"
Lucien's jaw clenched. "I know he will."
---
The Warning
A shrill whistle ripped through the air, sharp enough to make Sera flinch. Wolves from the outer perimeter howled in warning, their cries echoing through the estate like a chilling alarm.
Lucien's eyes snapped to the treeline. "They're surrounding the grounds."
Sera felt the bond pulse violently in her chest, a dangerous, electric thrum. Her senses sharpened instantly. The night changed.
She could smell them. Hear them. Feel the cold, slick presence of shadow-rot energy—Kieran's signature.
"Lucien…" she whispered. "He brought something new. Something strong."
Lucien's hand tightened around hers. "Stay with me. Don't break away. No matter what happens."
The urgency in his voice shot adrenaline down her spine. She nodded.
"Always."
---
The First Breach
The ground shook. The earth cracked.
Then—
A black shockwave erupted from the forest, rippling across the estate like a living storm.
Pack guards staggered backward, thrown toward the walls. The sky seemed to split open as a monstrous figure stepped into view—a massive shadow-warbeast, twice the height of a man, made of swirling darkness and bone-white claws.
Sera's breath caught. "What is that?"
Lucien's eyes blazed gold. "Warbeast of the Nether Veil. Kieran didn't summon it—he sacrificed something to breed it."
The warbeast roared, the sound rattling the air.
Lucien pushed Sera behind him. "Stay back—"
"No." Sera stepped forward, pulse crackling. "I can feel it. Lucien… this thing is linked to me somehow. To my power."
Lucien turned sharply. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know—just that its energy is… familiar." Her heart thudded. "Like a twisted version of mine."
Lucien's expression hardened. "Then Kieran created it using your power signature."
Horror washed over her.
"He's not just trying to take you," Lucien growled. "He's trying to copy you."
---
Sera's Stand
The warbeast lunged.
Lucien shoved Sera aside as massive claws slammed into the ground where she'd stood. Dust exploded around them. Wolves leapt in from the sides, biting, clawing, but the creature barely flinched, swatting them away like broken twigs.
"Sera, move!" Lucien yelled, but she was already in motion.
The power in her chest surged like a tidal wave, hot, brilliant, unstoppable. A sphere of golden-white light erupted around her, pushing outward in a shockwave that sent the warbeast staggering.
Lucien froze, stunned. "Sera—your aura—"
"It's not stopping," she whispered as the glow thickened, her skin shimmering like molten silver.
The warbeast twisted its face toward her. It sensed her. Wanted her.
And Sera felt an instinct rise inside her—one not taught, but inherited.
She raised her hand.
Energy obeyed.
The air bent.
A ribbon of golden light shot from her palm, slicing across the warbeast's chest and leaving a smoking wound.
The creature bellowed in agony.
Lucien's shock shifted to awe. "You… you just cut through it."
Sera panted, trembling. "I didn't know I could."
Lucien grabbed her shoulders. "The bond is amplifying everything. You're accessing parts of your lineage you haven't even unlocked yet."
She didn't get a chance to respond—
Because a familiar voice rang out from the treeline.
---
Kieran's Arrival
"Well, well…"
Kieran stepped into the moonlight, dressed in obsidian-black armor streaked with crimson markings, eyes glowing like dying embers.
"And here I thought you weren't ready yet."
Lucien snarled, stepping protectively in front of Sera. "Stay back, you coward."
Sera, however, could barely breathe.
Because Kieran wasn't alone.
In his hand, he held a blade—one that pulsed with the same energy as the warbeast.
And in the blade's hilt…
Was a glowing shard.
A shard that felt like her.
Her knees nearly buckled.
"That energy," she whispered. "Lucien… that's mine. How did he—"
Kieran smirked. "You shed a little of your power during the last battle. I collected it. Crafted it. And now…"
He lifted the blade.
"I can use a piece of you however I wish."
Lucien growled, fury radiating off him. "You sick, twisted—"
But Kieran cut him off with a lazy smirk. "Relax, Alpha. I don't need her power to destroy you. But I will say…"
His gaze drifted to Sera with a dark hunger.
"…I do prefer her when she glows."
---
Bond Overload
Sera's power surged violently, reacting to Kieran's presence—and to the shard.
Her chest burned.
Her heartbeat thundered.
The bond constricted, tightening until she gasped.
"Lucien—something's wrong—"
He grabbed her.
Held her.
Eyes fierce and focused.
"Breathe, Sera. Look at me."
Her vision blurred. She tried to pull herself back, but the shard in Kieran's blade was calling to her—dragging her power outward like a hook buried deep in her soul.
Kieran chuckled. "Yes. Feel it. That's the piece of you I extracted. It responds to me now."
Lucien roared, "Let her go!"
But Sera could no longer hear them clearly.
Her power spiraled, rising impossibly high.
The glow around her intensified to a blinding white.
"Lucien—Lucien, I can't—control—"
He wrapped his arms around her, anchoring her. "I'm here. I'm right here. Focus on me."
The bond pulsed wildly—painful, overwhelming.
In her ears, the world vanished.
Only Lucien remained.
His heartbeat.
His scent.
His voice.
Lucien. Lucien. Lucien.
The spiral loosened.
Her power steadied.
She collapsed against him, trembling.
Lucien held her like she was everything. "I've got you. Nothing will take you from me. Not him. Not fate. Not even your own power."
---
The Escape
Kieran clicked his tongue. "Touching. But this was only a test."
He snapped his fingers.
The warbeast, still wounded, dissolved into thick smoke.
The ground shook as another dark surge pulsed outward.
Lucien shielded Sera as the blast rolled over the estate, knocking several wolves unconscious.
When the dust cleared—
Kieran was gone.
And the shard's glow had vanished with him.
---
Aftermath
Sera leaned heavily against Lucien, heart still racing. "He stole a piece of me," she whispered. "And he's using it to make… things."
Lucien cupped her face, gaze burning with fierce protectiveness. "We'll get it back. I swear it on my life."
Sera's voice trembled. "What if he makes more creatures like that? What if he uses that shard to hurt the pack?"
Lucien pressed his forehead to hers. "Then we fight. Together."
The bond pulsed softly now—warm, steady, intimate.
A balm after the storm.
Sera closed her eyes.
For a moment, she just breathed him in.
Safe.
Anchored.
Alive.
But deep inside, she knew the truth—
Tonight was only the beginning.
Kieran had taken something from her.
And she would stop at nothing to take it back.