Seraphina's POV
The safe room is underground, carved from solid rock and reinforced with magic I can feel humming through the walls.
And I hate every second of being trapped in it.
"I should be up there," I pace the small space like a caged animal. "I should be helping—"
"You'd be a distraction," Axel says bluntly from his position by the door. "The King would spend more time protecting you than fighting. This way, he can focus."
"I'm not some helpless—"
A massive explosion rocks the Citadel. Dust rains from the ceiling. I stumble, and Kael catches my arm.
I rip away from his touch. "Don't."
"Sorry." He backs up, hands raised. "Force of habit."
Another explosion. Closer this time.
My wolf claws at my insides, desperate to shift, to fight, to protect our new mate. The mate bond thrums with Theron's rage and battle-lust, so intense it makes my skin burn.
"He's enjoying this," I breathe, feeling his emotions through our connection.
Axel's grin is sharp. "He hasn't had a good fight in decades. This is probably making his year."
"They're trying to kill me and he's enjoying it?"
"He's a Lycan, my Queen. Battle is in his blood." Axel tilts his head, listening to something I can't hear. "And he's winning."
The sounds of fighting fade. The explosions stop.
Silence fills the Citadel like a held breath.
"Is it over?" Kael whispers.
Axel's hand moves to his weapon. "Stay behind me. Both of you."
The door swings open.
I tense, ready to shift—
Theron fills the doorway.
He's covered in blood. It drips from his hands, soaks his torn shirt, spatters across his face. His silver eyes glow with residual battle-fury.
He looks terrifying.
He looks magnificent.
"Are you hurt?" The question escapes before I can stop it.
His expression softens immediately. "Not my blood, little wolf." He crosses to me in two strides, his hands cupping my face. "Are you alright? Did any get through?"
"I'm fine. Axel protected us." I search his face for injuries. "You're sure you're not hurt?"
"I'm sure." His thumb brushes my cheek, and the mate bond settles at his touch. "Though I appreciate your concern."
"I'm not concerned. I'm just..." I trail off because I am concerned and we both know it.
His smile is small and private, just for me. "Of course not."
Behind him, guards drag someone through the door—a wolf in human form, bleeding and struggling against silver chains.
I recognize him immediately.
Cole. A mid-ranking Silver Creek warrior who used to "accidentally" trip me during training.
"Found this one trying to sneak into the Citadel during the chaos," Axel reports. "He's not with the main attack force."
Theron releases me and turns to face the prisoner. His entire demeanor shifts—from gentle mate to ruthless king in a heartbeat.
"Cole Jensen of Silver Creek Pack," Theron's voice carries absolute authority. "You're trespassing on my territory during an armed assault. Give me one reason I shouldn't execute you where you stand."
Cole spits blood. "Do your worst, Lycan. I'm not afraid of you."
"Then you're an idiot." Theron crouches to the wolf's level. "But idiots can still be useful. Who sent you?"
"I'll never—"
Theron's hand moves faster than I can track. He grabs Cole's throat, and suddenly silver light pulses from his palm. Cole screams.
"That's Lycan compulsion magic," Axel explains quietly to me. "Ancient power that forces truth from unwilling mouths."
"That's torture," I breathe, horrified.
"That's information gathering." But even Axel looks uncomfortable.
Cole's screams fade to whimpers. "Stop... please..."
"Who sent you?" Theron repeats, his voice cold as winter.
"Alpha Marcus!" Cole gasps. "He sent me to confirm the girl's location. To see if she's really here, really alive."
My stomach drops. "Why does he need confirmation? The whole territory knows I'm here."
Theron doesn't look away from his prisoner. "Why does Marcus need visual confirmation?"
Cole's eyes roll back as the compulsion magic digs deeper. "The Council... they won't authorize action without proof... they need to know exactly where she is... what room... what protections..."
"Action?" I step closer despite my fear. "What kind of action?"
"Assassination." The word falls from Cole's lips like a death sentence. "During the binding ceremony. When all eyes are on you two. When security is spread thin." He laughs, a broken sound. "They're planning to kill you both. End the Lycan bloodline forever."
The room goes silent.
Then Theron's grip tightens. "How many conspirators?"
"I don't know... Marcus keeps it secret... but Elder Corvinus leads them... has for centuries..." Cole's words slur together. "They killed your first mate... same way... waited until she was vulnerable... then struck..."
Theron's hand spasms. For a second, I think he's going to crush Cole's throat.
But he releases him instead, standing slowly.
"Take him to the dungeons," he orders the guards. "Keep him alive. We may need more information."
As they drag Cole away, Theron stands perfectly still, his bloodied hands clenched into fists.
I can feel his rage through the mate bond. Feel his grief. Feel centuries of pain and loneliness crashing over him like waves.
Without thinking, I reach for his hand.
He jerks at the contact, then relaxes. His fingers intertwine with mine, holding on like I'm an anchor.
"They killed Arianna during our binding ceremony," he says quietly. "Poisoned wine. She died in my arms while our guests watched." His jaw tightens. "I thought I'd prepared for everything this time. I thought—"
"You couldn't have known," I interrupt. "Neither of us could."
"That's not acceptable." He turns to face me, and his silver eyes burn with determination. "I won't lose another mate. I won't let history repeat itself."
"So what do we do?"
He looks at Axel. "Move the ceremony up. Three days instead of seven."
"Three days?" Axel's eyebrows shoot up. "My King, that's barely enough time to—"
"I don't care." Theron's voice could freeze fire. "We give them three days to plan, not seven. We keep them scrambling, off-balance, forced to improvise." He squeezes my hand. "And we make Seraphina so powerful that even if assassins get through, she can defend herself."
"I just started training today," I protest. "How am I supposed to become powerful enough in three days—"
"You're already powerful. You just don't know how to access it." He pulls me closer. "The suppression runes are still in your bones, dampening your true strength. Tomorrow, we remove them. Once they're gone..."
"Once they're gone, what?"
His smile is fierce. "Once they're gone, little wolf, you'll be unstoppable."
The certainty in his voice should sound arrogant. Instead, it sounds like a promise.
"The rune removal will be excruciating," Axel warns. "Most wolves don't survive it."
"She's not most wolves." Theron's grip on my hand tightens. "She's First Mate bloodline. She survived twenty-three years of suppression that should have killed her. She'll survive this too."
"And if I don't?" The question escapes before I can stop it.
His expression goes soft. Vulnerable in a way I haven't seen before.
"Then I'll have lost two mates in two lifetimes," he says quietly. "And I won't survive that. Not again."
The raw honesty in his words steals my breath.
Before I can respond, shouts echo from somewhere above us.
"Now what?" I groan.
Axel listens, then his scarred face breaks into a rare smile. "Not a threat this time, my Queen. It's..."
A familiar voice cuts through the chaos, calling from what sounds like the courtyard:
"Sera! Sera, please! I know you're in there! Please, I need to see you!"
My heart stops.
I know that voice.
"Mira," I breathe.
Without waiting for permission, I bolt from the safe room. Sprint through the hallways, up the stairs, following the sound of my best friend's desperate calls.
Guards try to stop me, but Theron barks orders and they fall back.
I burst into the courtyard to find Mira surrounded by wolves, her hands raised in surrender. She's dirty, exhausted, and has a fresh bruise on her face.
But when she sees me, relief floods her features.
"Sera!" She tries to run forward, but the guards hold her back. "Thank the Goddess, you're alive!"
"Let her through," I order, surprised when the guards actually obey.
Mira throws herself into my arms, sobbing. "I thought they killed you. I thought—when the attack happened, when Silver Creek warriors left talking about finishing you off—I thought I'd lost you."
I hold her tight, breathing in the familiar scent of my only real friend. "I'm okay. I'm safe here."
"Are you?" She pulls back, searching my face. "Sera, you need to know—Alpha Marcus is planning something huge. He's working with the Council. They're not just trying to kill you—they're trying to start a war."
"We know," Theron says behind me. "Your friend isn't the first to bring warnings."
Mira's eyes go wide as she finally registers the Lycan King. She drops into an immediate bow. "Your Majesty, I—I apologize for the intrusion. I just needed to—"
"Save your friend," he finishes. "I understand. Loyalty is admirable." He studies her with those assessing silver eyes. "You're the omega who defended Seraphina during her rejection."
"I tried," Mira whispers. "They dragged me away before I could—"
"You tried when no one else did. That matters." He glances at me. "She can stay. Give her quarters near yours, Axel."
"Thank you," Mira breathes. Then, to my shock, she looks Theron dead in the eye. "If you hurt her, Lycan King or not, I'll find a way to make you pay."
Axel chokes on a laugh. Several guards look horrified.
But Theron? Theron smiles.
"I'd expect nothing less from a true friend." He turns back to me. "Get her settled. You both need rest. Tomorrow, we remove the suppression runes. And in three days..."
"Three days?" Mira squeaks. "But the ceremony was supposed to be—"
"Plans changed," I say grimly. "Silver Creek made sure of that."
As guards lead us inside, as Mira chatters nervously about everything that happened after I left, as Kael slinks away to whatever guest quarters he's been assigned, I feel the mate bond pulsing with Theron's determination.
He's going to make me his Queen in three days.
Ready or not.
Willing or not.
And somewhere in Silver Creek, Alpha Marcus and Elder Corvinus are planning our deaths.
"Sera?" Mira touches my arm. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
I think about the suppression runes carved into my bones. About the ceremony rushing toward me like a freight train. About becoming queen to a male I'm not sure I trust but can't seem to resist.
"I'm fine," I lie.
But as we walk deeper into the Citadel, as the weight of everything settles on my shoulders, I realize something terrifying:
I'm about to become the most powerful female in the Northern Territories.
And the most hunted.
Three days.
That's all the time I have to become strong enough to survive what's coming.
Three days to learn to be a Queen.
Three days until Silver Creek tries to kill me.
And three days until I bind myself to the Lycan King forever.
"I'm not ready," I whisper.
Mira squeezes my hand. "You don't have to be ready. You just have to survive."
She's right.
But as I glance back and catch Theron watching me from across the courtyard, his silver eyes glowing with possession and protection and something that might be love, I wonder:
Will surviving be enough?
Or will I have to become something more—something fiercer, something deadly, something unstoppable—to make it through what's coming?
The mate bond thrums with his answer, clear as a bell:
You're already more than enough. You just need to believe it.
I hope he's right.
Because in three days, I'm either going to become a Queen...
Or die trying.