Unknown POV
For days, I lay in wait. Watching. Listening. Biding my time. The perfect moment had yet to present itself—but it would. It had to. Colton was a fool. He thought he could take her alone, thought his strength was enough to overpower fate itself. But he was wrong. The werewolf prince slaughtered him in seconds, barely breaking a sweat. He never even realized Colton was trying to take her. Pathetic. I still remember the sound of his body hitting the ground—hollow, lifeless, a wasted effort. His blood seeped into the earth, vanishing into the dirt like he had never existed at all. But Colton's failure served a greater purpose. His death awakened something in her. Near-death—that was all it took. That single moment of terror, of fighting for her life, had pulled at something inside her. Something raw. Something untamed. And now, day by day, I could feel it growing. Stronger. Wilder. More uncontrollable. Untamed magic radiated from her like a beacon in the dark, calling to those who could sense it. Those who would come for it. And yet, she still clung to the lie that she was human. Foolish girl. But she wasn't the only fool. My only problem was the prince. Malik lingered on the outskirts of her life, watching her obsessively, thinking he was protecting her. If only he knew the truth. If only he realized that his presence wouldn't save her. It would only delay the inevitable. Hidden beneath the veil of shadows, I watched him again. The way he moved toward her house, circling it like a guardian hound, sniffing for a threat he would never see coming. The fool. For all his power, all his brute strength, even he was blind to what she truly was. To what she was becoming. His devotion was sickening, a wasted effort. She doesn't belong to him. She belongs to us. A slow grin curled across my lips as I melted back into the trees, retreating into the darkness. With a single step, I passed through the veil of reality, slipping through the gate our Lord had created. And the world around me changed. The air here was thick with damp rot, the walls slick with moisture as I strode through the long, winding corridor. The flickering torches along the stone passageway cast eerie blue flames, their glow sending grotesque, shifting shadows across the walls. A silent welcome. A promise of what was to come. At last, I reached the massive obsidian doors, their surface cold beneath my palm as I pushed them open. They groaned, revealing a cavernous chamber swallowed in darkness. And there—seated upon a throne of carved mahogany, at the heart of the abyss—was him. Our Lord. My brother. He sat motionless, draped in swirling darkness that moved like living smoke, coiling and writhing around him. A single lock of long, silver-white hair fell over his face, a stark contrast to the shadows that ebbed around him. When he smiled, the darkness seemed to part, just enough to reveal the gleam of his teeth. Predatory. Hungry. I knelt before him, my fist clenching against my chest. "Your Highness, everything is in place. On the next Spirit Moon, she will be ours." A low, sinister chuckle rumbled through the chamber, vibrating the very stone beneath me. "Good, Sylvin," he murmured, his voice a whisper of smoke and fire. "Our patience is finally paying off. Soon, our prize will be within reach." His glowing icy blue eyes narrowed, gleaming with something dark. "But we must not be careless." His voice dropped, a quiet warning. "The prince is a distraction, yes, but his wolf is strong. He will sense something before long." He leaned forward, the shadows slithering closer like starving hounds, drawn to his power. "Watch her. Do not fail me. Report to me daily." "Yes, my Lord," I whispered, bowing deep before vanishing once more into the dark.
The Lord's POV
As Sylvin disappeared into the void, I exhaled slowly, dragging a hand down my face. That girl—that woman—had no idea what kind of power she possessed. Now that it had awakened, it would be like a beacon, calling out to every being with the gift to sense it. They would come for her. They would try to take what belonged to me. A low growl rumbled in my chest, heat coiling within me, an inferno barely restrained. My fingers curled against the armrests of my throne. And then—fire. Flames erupted from my hands, licking up the polished wood, turning the hand-carved masterpiece to charred ruin beneath my grip. The acrid scent of burning ash filled the chamber, thick and suffocating. I forced myself to breathe, to suppress the inferno raging inside me.
Soon.
Soon.
My eyes gleamed with hunger, my lips parting as I let the fantasy consume me. That raw, untapped power was mine. That fragile little body would break under my will, surrendering every ounce of its strength to me. I licked my lips, my fingers twitching with the need to take what was meant to be mine. The remains of my throne still smoldered, glowing embers pulsing like the beat of my anticipation. I would rebuild it. Just as I would mold her into exactly what I needed. I leaned forward, shadows stretching toward me like obedient servants. "I promise you, dear Audra… you will belong to me."