Sable POV
Pain.
That's all there is at first. Pure, white-hot agony spreading from my neck through every nerve in my body.
The black liquid from the syringe burns like acid in my veins. I'm screaming but can't hear it over the roaring in my ears.
"Hold her down!" Elara's voice cuts through the chaos. "The suppressant needs sixty seconds to bind to her bloodline."
Sixty seconds. That's all they need to destroy me permanently.
My Nightborn power thrashes inside me like a caged animal. I feel it trying to fight the poison, trying to burn it out of my system. But there's too much. The suppressant is winning.
No. No, I didn't survive Corvin's betrayal and the Wastes and losing my pup just to die like this.
Fight! my wolf snarls. FIGHT!
I gather every scrap of power I have left. Focus it into one desperate burst.
The guards holding me fly backward, slamming into walls. Elara stumbles.
But the poison is already spreading. My vision blurs. My power flickers like a dying candle.
"Impressive," Elara says, recovering quickly. "But futile. In thirty seconds, you'll be powerless. A broken little omega—"
The wall explodes.
Debris rains down as a massive figure crashes through. He grabs Elara by the throat and slams her against the far wall.
Calix.
Even through my failing vision, I recognize the obsidian mask. The violet eye burning with rage.
"Touch her again," he growls, "and I'll rip out your spine."
"You're too late," Elara chokes out. "She's done."
More figures pour through the hole. Stellan. Kieran. Vesper. An army of wolves.
They came for me.
Calix releases Elara and rushes to my side. His hands cup my face. "Sable. Stay with me."
"Hurts," I gasp. "Can't... stop it..."
"Vesper!" Calix shouts.
The healer examines my neck. Her face goes white. "Military-grade suppressant. Three times normal dose. I don't have an antidote for this."
"Then make one!"
"There isn't time! She'll be dead in ten minutes."
Dead in ten minutes.
The room spins. I see my father's anguished face. See Calix's eye behind the mask, full of pain.
"There's one option," Vesper says quietly. "A mate bond. The connection could anchor her power while we flush the suppressant. But she rejected you."
"Then we remake it," Calix says immediately.
"You can't just—"
"I can try." His hands tighten on my face. "Sable. Look at me."
I force my eyes to focus on that violet eye.
"I'm offering you the bond again," he says. "You can accept or refuse. But if you accept, it might save your life."
"Might?" I whisper.
"It could kill us both." His thumb strokes my cheek. "But I'm willing to risk it if you are."
Why? Why would he risk death for someone who rejected him?
"Don't... understand..." My words slur. "I'm nothing... to you..."
"You're everything to me." The words are raw. Honest. "From the moment I saw you in those woods. And I know you don't feel the same. But please. Let me save you."
Tears blur my vision. Maybe not everyone lies. Maybe not everyone leaves.
"Okay," I breathe. "Yes."
Calix closes his eye. "I, Calix Mordane, offer you, Sable Thorne, my bond as your mate. My protection as your Alpha. My life as your partner. Do you accept?"
"I accept," I whisper.
The bond slams into place like lightning striking.
But something's wrong.
Instead of gentle warmth, this bond is fire and ice and violence. It crashes through me with devastating force, tangling with the suppressant poison, the two powers warring inside my body.
I scream. Calix screams.
We're locked together, the bond pulling us close. Power explodes between us—his crippled Nightborn bloodline recognizing mine, trying to heal me, burning away the poison.
But the suppressant fights back.
"It's killing them both!" Kieran shouts.
"No." Vesper's voice is awed. "Look."
I feel it happening. The mate bond wrapping around my dying wolf like a shield. Calix's power flowing into me, bolstering mine. Together, we're stronger than the poison.
My Nightborn bloodline roars back to life.
The suppressant burns away in a rush of violet light.
When it's over, Calix and I collapse against each other, gasping. But alive.
Both alive.
"Impossible," Elara breathes.
But I hold up a hand, stopping my father from attacking her.
Because I have questions.
I stand slowly. My power is back. Stronger than before. The mate bond amplified it somehow.
I walk toward Elara. With each step, the temperature drops. Frost forms on the floor.
"You've been hunting Nightborn wolves for centuries," I say quietly. "Why?"
Ice shoots from my hand, freezing her legs to the wall. "Answer me."
"Because Nightborn wolves are too powerful!" The words burst out. "You can challenge any Alpha, kill any threat! You're weapons that can't be controlled!"
"So you destroy them."
"We protect the world from you!"
I stare at this woman who tried to destroy my life. Who probably destroyed hundreds of others.
"You're going to tell us everything," I say. "Every Council facility. Every operative. Every captured Nightborn wolf."
"Never."
I let more ice crawl up her body. "I can keep you frozen at the edge of death for weeks. You'll beg me to let you talk."
Terror flashes in her eyes. "You're not cruel enough—"
"I'm desperate enough." I let the ice recede slightly. "Those wolves you captured are like me. Broken. Scared. And I'm going to save every single one."
Vesper sedates Elara before she can respond.
We're preparing to evacuate when Kieran's tablet beeps. His face goes pale.
"We have a problem."
He shows us security footage. Someone passing information to a cloaked figure.
The someone is Vesper.
Time stops.
Vesper looks up. Sees us staring. "I can explain."
Calix's voice is deadly calm. "You sold us out."
"They have my daughter!" Tears stream down her face. "The Council took her three years ago. She's only seven. I didn't have a choice!"
My heart breaks. Because I understand desperate love and impossible decisions.
"We'll find her," I say. "But you wear a tracking collar. And if you betray us again, there won't be mercy."
"I swear I won't."
We're loading vehicles when my mate bond with Calix flares with warning.
Danger. Now.
Elara's unconscious body starts convulsing. Black veins spread across her skin. Her eyes snap open—completely black.
"Failsafe," she says in a wrong, layered voice. "Initiating Protocol Omega."
Her body begins to swell.
"Bomb!" Kieran screams. "Everyone out!"
We run.
The explosion throws us forward. I hit the ground hard, ears ringing.
When I can see again, the building is collapsing.
And in the rubble, I see small bodies.
Children.
"No!" I scramble toward the rubble. "There are kids in there!"
My power surges, creating barriers against falling debris. We dig frantically.
We pull out twelve children. Twelve terrified Nightborn wolves.
As we're treating them, one little girl grabs my hand.
"Are you the queen?" she whispers. "The one who'll save us?"
I look at the children. At Calix. At our war ahead.
"Yes," I say. "I'm the queen. And I'm going to save all of you."
We return to the fortress at dawn. The children go to medical care.
I'm exhausted, but when Calix walks me to my room, I don't refuse.
At my door, he hesitates. "I know you only accepted the bond to survive. If you want to reject it again—"
"Ask me tomorrow," I interrupt. "When I can think straight."
He nods. Starts to leave.
"Calix?" I call. "Thank you. For coming for me."
His eye softens. "You're my mate now. You're not alone anymore."
The words make me want to cry.
I'm finally drifting off when my door crashes open.
Kieran stands there, panicked. "You need to see this."
He shows me a news broadcast. Corvin stands before a crowd.
"I'm calling all packs to arms," he announces. "The Nightborn threat has returned. Their queen is Sable Thorne—my former mate, a traitor who fled to join our enemies."
He holds up my photo.
"I'm offering a bounty. One million dollars to any wolf who brings me Sable Thorne's head. Dead or alive."
The broadcast ends.
I stare at the blank screen.
One million dollars.
Every wolf in the world just became my enemy.