STONEVALE PACK
THIRD POV
Darren had not slept.
Not even for a moment that he could later convince himself counted as rest. The night had stretched endlessly through his chambers like a living thing—thick, suffocating, and impossible to escape. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw it again.
The altar.
The chanting.
The collapse of order that should never have happened.
And most of all, the failure.
Stonevale’s so-called elevation ritual had not only been disrupted—it had been shattered in a way that left no room for denial. What was meant to be the moment of his rise had instead become the moment everything began to unravel.
He stood now in the light of early morning, still inside his chambers, staring blankly at nothing in particular. The room was quiet, but his mind was not. It
