The heavy door to King Markus’ private office creaked open around midnight, the hinges groaning in the silence that had settled thick over the palace like a suffocating shroud, and Kaius stepped inside with determined strides, his face carved from stone, but as he moved further into the room, three pairs of eyes—his father King Markus, his best friend Henry, and his uncle Alpha Azriel—lifted from the scattered documents and maps strewn across the long oak table, their grim focus shattering into stunned disbelief when they caught sight of the figure closely following behind him.
Raya stood there, her presence defiant, shoulders squared, her face calm but her eyes blazing with a fire that left no room for denial or deception, and for a long, tense moment, no one spoke as they exchanged qui
