The Rejected Luna's Secret Triplets & The Lycan Emperor

into night so much as it died, swallowing t

a howling whiteout, a brutal once-in-a-decade winter storm that threatened to freeze rivers solid within hours. Yet, the

e raw, oozing dark crimson onto the ice where the suppression chains had scraped away her skin. Every breath felt like inhalin

guard barked, his greasy brea

sound, he ripped off her apothecary patch the silver-embroidered leaf that designated her as a healer of the pack. The blade caught her skin, leaving a

tossing the ruined badge into the mud beneath his boo

oundary marker-a thick iron chain stretched across two stone pillars, div

ring gasp soun

guards, wrapped in a plush cloak of white fox fur, was Sienna. Her half-sister looked fragile against the

ir hesitant calls for her to stay back. She approached the kneelin

her arms around her neck in what looked, to anyone watching f

s?" Sienna sobbed loudly into Evelyn's ha

elyn's frozen ear, the shivering stopped. Sienna'

t sent a shockwave of cold straight down Evelyn's spine. The tears vanished from her eyes, replaced by an ugly

fingers digging into the icy

, poisonous, and mocking. "It took weeks to dose myself just enough to look like I was dying without actually b

uselessly as rage flared white-hot through the numb

ightly to look Evelyn in the eye. A small, cruel smile curved her delicate lips. "He's mine now

sharp, pathetic wail. "Please, Evelyn! Don't curse the pack as you

ersonal guard, rushed forward, grabbing Sienna b

e, sniveling mask off her sister's face. "She's lying! Connor, she poisoned herself!" Evelyn

wer, framed against the dark, chu

idn't move. He didn't lean over the railing. He simply stood there like a statue of black iron, staring

lower platform, echoing over the roar of the wind. "No

They yanked it backward, tearing the heavy buttons clean off. She tried to pull away, but anothe

that offered zero protection against the howling sub-zero winds. The arctic air slammed i

the g

began to groan on their heavy i

ws as she took a trembling step toward the closing gap. "Connor!" she screamed

us's shoulder, her eyes locking onto Evelyn with a final, cold glance of absolute victory. And above them, hig

h

e with a deafening, final sound that

mpletely alone in the blind

er across her face. Within seconds, her eyelashes were heavy with frost. Her exposed collarbone burned where the

l, taking one agonizing step

b and heavy like lead weights. She fell, her knees burying deep into a snowdrift. A choked sob tore

survival fighting through the crushing weight of betr

oody step, she blindly stumbled deeper into the borderlands a desolate stretch of uncharted forests, t

in short, shallow gasps, her lungs feeling as though they were crystallizing into ice inside her chest. Her feet drag

n hour? Two? The storm showed no mercy, swallow

aught on a hidden tree ro

nt, frost-covered oak. The impact knocked the last bit of air out of her lungs. She lay there in the deep powde

in began to fade, replaced by a strange, deceptive numbness that crept inward fro

ars freezing into icy beads against her lashes. In the

nly through the howlin

n't th

ration that shook the froz

pen, her heart giving a

fog of the storm, a pair of glowing, crimson eyes burned t

and skeletal, their matted fur covered in icicles. Their yellowed fangs dripped with fr

uiet of the ravine, echoed instantl

n waste had found her scent-and