He tugged Vanya closer, their fingers intertwining. “We can begin shaping our future, right, love?”
“Absolutely.” Vanya’s grin flashed fang. “I’ve always wanted a high-ranking post.”
“And you’ll have it.” Axton stroked her wrist. “Along with everything Isolde never appreciated.”
I watched them—two vipers coiled around each other, convinced they’d claimed victory. How tragically mistaken they were.
I slammed the Alpha carved stone door’s study behind me, the sound echoing through the empty stone corridor as I fled. My breaths came fast, my claws half-extended. Hands trembling, I dug through my satchel for my moon-stone communicator.
Five years. Five years avoiding this number, avoiding my lineage, avoiding the wolf I truly was.
The contact still glowed on the screen: “Father.”
My thumb trembled. Everything I’d escaping from—my birthright, my power, my place in the Rustpire Dominion—it all pulled me back here.
Before I could hesitate, I tapped the call rune. The hollow ring echoed through the silent underground parking caverns beneath Axton’s territory.
One ring. Two. Three—
“Isolde?” My father’s voice—deep, rough, unmistakably Alpha—hit me like a physical strike.