He entered, the scent hit him like a freight train. And then the world went still.
A girl. No — the girl. The one he thought was a goddess in his dream. The one who had been sad and frightened.
She was chained to the wall, slumped forward, wrists cuffed. Unconscious. Her body hung in a cruel suspension, just high enough that she could not rest, forced to strain against the restraints to keep from collapsing entirely.
He crossed the room before he even realized he was moving.
She had white-blonde, almost silver hair that shimmered like moonfire. She was beautiful. The type of beautiful that punches. He forgot how to breathe for a moment.
What was she?
His wolf surged beneath his skin, restless.
Her breath was shallow. She was hurt. Badly.
A single word echoed in his bones, carried on his wolf's voice. But he already knew it before his wolf spoke.
Xeon: Mate.
His fingers grazed her cheek, but the moment his skin touched hers, a sharp current sparked through him like a blade of lightning. He jolted, breath punching out of him as though struck.
He pulled his hand away for a fraction of a second—only a second—because the desire to touch her again was immediate, consuming. His hand reached out again on its own, already against her skin before he realized he'd moved.
Her skin burned beneath his touch—feverish. Her lashes twitched, caught in some restless, silent dream.
He had the foreign sensation of wanting to hold her. To cuddle her. The urge was insane, an intimacy he had no business feeling.
His wolf growled, anger rolling through his chest like thunder—but the sound hollowed him instead of strengthening him.
Xeon: She is hurt.
A gash beneath her eye. Dried blood at her mouth. A bruise along her jaw. Her cheek was bruised. The more Fin looked at her the more his stomach clenched.
She was very hurt.
Why wasn't she healing?
Then he saw her wrists.
The cuffs were tight. Too tight. The metal had cut deep into raw flesh, the scent of burned skin sharp beneath the vanilla.
He reached for the metal — and pain exploded through his hand.
He hissed, recoiling. Smoke curled from his fingertips.
Silver.
That was what they used on criminals, and dangerous offenders.
These cuffs weren't just painful. They were a death sentence.
Silver didn't merely bind a wolf—it starved their healing, stopped their shift, and if left long enough… it killed the wolf spirit from the inside out. And when the wolf died, the person died with it.
Why would she be cuffed in silver?
Finric's expression darkened—thunderclouds rolling over the open sea.
"Who did this to you?" he murmured.
He didn't expect an answer.
She was too still.
Too pale.
Too close to fading.
He stood slowly, anger simmering just beneath the surface. He opened the mindlink to Jax and to the one man who could break silver cuffs instantly. The man who had pretended to be a guard for him today. Unknown to Ashbane, Aeron was a mage and Shadowclaw's most dangerous secret.
Fin: Jax and Aeron. I need both of you immediately. I'm in the tower by the library, last room at the top. Be discreet.
The response was immediate.
Aeron: Yes, Alpha. On my way.
Jax: I'll be there.
Fin turned back to her and knelt again, slower this time—as though she might break if he moved too quickly. He brushed blood-matted hair from her face. Even stained and limp, it shimmered like moonlight.
He placed a hand lightly over her chest. Her heartbeat was weak. Shallow. Wrong. He couldn't wait any longer and reached for one of the tighter chains. He wrapped his hand around the metal and pulled. Pain flared through his palm, vicious and immediate, but he didn't release it. He tried again, and again, as if expecting the silver to give way simply because he demanded it—because she needed it.
But the metal held, answering him only with the sharp sting of smoke curling off his skin.
Fin's jaw locked. He did not stop trying.
Time passed. Minutes like lifetimes.
Then—the door creaked open behind him, the busted lock scraping against stone. Aeron entered first, Jax right behind him.
A satchel hung from Aeron's shoulder, runes faintly glowing along the leather. His expression was calm, unreadable—a man who had already seen too many impossible things to be rattled easily.
Jax, however, froze.
His composure shattered in an instant, shock flooding his features before horror overtook it. He rushed forward, dropping to his knees beside Fin, his eyes locked on the girl as though the world had narrowed to just her.
Aeron shut the door with a flick of his fingers, muttering something under his breath. The broken lock knit itself whole again with a soft metallic click.
His gaze slid to the chain in Fin's burned hand—then finally to the girl.
"...It can't be," he whispered.
Jax tore his eyes from her just long enough to look at Aeron. "What is she?" His voice was hoarse, thin. He reached for one of the silver cuffs, exactly as Fin had, and met the same result—pain snapping through him, the metal unmoving, merciless.
He recoiled with a hiss, clutching his hand, shock and disbelief twisting his features.
Still, he couldn't stop staring at her.
"I know the stories," Aeron murmured. "The Moonveil wolves had blonde, almost white hair. But hers…" His eyes narrowed. "Similar. Yet not."
Finric's thoughts slid back through old history. The Moonveil Pack. Slaughtered nearly two decades ago. Executed by Riven's father and Queen Velora's mate. The mad Alpha King, as history politely phrased it. No survivors.
"Could she be the child of someone who escaped?" Fin asked. "A hidden survivor?"
Aeron let out a dry, humorless laugh. "There were no survivors outside of one—Selene Moonveil, Queen of the East. She had been a Luna for less than a year when the slaughter happened."
Finric's brow furrowed. "She survived?"
"She was taken," Aeron said flatly. "Scheduled for execution. Blade raised. All very dramatic. But when the moment came…" Aeron's mouth curled faintly. "The mad king lost his nerve."
Fin's eyes sharpened. "As in the late Ashbane."
"Yes," Aeron replied. "Tragic little complication, given he already had a wife and two children with Queen Velora. Awkward dinner conversations, I imagine."
Jax snorted under his breath.
Aeron knelt beside the girl, whispering an incantation. Gold light rose at his fingertips, soft but potent. He touched her lightly, letting the magic move through her—rippling gold along her skin.
"What is she?" Fin asked—Jax's earlier question but softer, rougher. He couldn't look away. She wasn't just beautiful; she was the kind of beauty that hit. A punch to the ribs. A stunning that bordered on pain.
Aeron held a hand just above her chest. "She has a wolf," he murmured.
His wolf's voice again, surging stronger.
Xeon:Mate. Take her away from here.
Aeron's magic pulsed brighter, coaxing surface wounds closed. Skin knit. Bruises faded. Her breathing steadied—
Then—A twitch. A gasp that rasped against the silence.
Her eyes fluttered open.
Green. Deep. Terrified. Beautiful.
She blinked, disoriented. Tried to move — then caught sight of Fin, Jax, and Aeron. She jumped, in shock. But the chains were so tight. She broke into a fit of coughing.
The chains were too tight. The moment she jerked, the silver seared her skin.
She muffled a broken whimper, a sob catching halfway up her throat.
"Please—don't—" Her voice cracked, raw and hoarse from disuse or screaming or both.
Fin stared, breath caught, struck speechless by the shock of her eyes—green, vivid, stunning even in terror.
"I—I apologize, I d-didn't…" she stuttered, shrinking back until the cuffs bit deeper. She glanced at Aeron's glowing palms, and her eyes widened in alarm. She was frightened of them.
Fin felt her panic slam into him through the bond—sharp, frantic, suffocating. It hit his chest with such force he nearly staggered. He wanted to soothe her, to say something, anything, but his body refused to move.
The apology broke him.
She glanced at Aeron's glowing palms—and her eyes widened in terror, scrambling backward until metal cut skin.
Aeron lifted his brows. "Well, that's rude. I haven't even set anything on fire yet."
Jax shot him a glare. "Aeron."
"What? She doesn't know me," Aeron muttered. "Statistically, I'm delightful."
Fin stepped forward, very slowly. Controlled. Voice low, soft in a way he rarely was.
"We aren't going to hurt you," Jax said quickly, as if he felt the same pulse of fear and voiced what Fin could not.
"He just healed you," he added, nodding toward Aeron—apparently the only one in the room still capable of forming coherent sentences.
Her expression softened at that. A fragile, wavering belief. She swallowed, her throat working painfully.
"T-thank you," she whispered. "Riven… Alpha Ashbane will kill you if you're found here. For helping me."
The effort of speaking tore something loose inside her. She broke into a violent fit of coughing, her thin frame shaking beneath the strain, the chains rattling softly with each convulsion.
Finric's expression tightened.
His wolf stirred again.
Xeon: She can't feel the bond. The silver chains are killing her wolf.
A low, contained fury rippled through Fin's chest.
Aeron leaned in, voice gentler than he ever used on anyone else. "We won't tell anyone," he said softly. "What is your name?"
Her eyes were losing focus. Fever glazed them in a shimmering film. Sweat dampened her brow; the glow of her skin dulled, flickering like a dying candle.
"My n-name…" she breathed. "Nova."
The word collapsed out of her, small and fragile.
She coughed again—a sharp, tearing sound—then her eyes squeezed shut. Pain twisted across her features, and her body went slack.
All the tension drained from her limbs. But she didn't look like she was resting.
She looked like she was surrendering.
Fin stepped forward before he even realized he'd moved.
His heart dropped straight through him.
And somewhere deep in his mind, Xeon let out a sound that wasn't a growl—but something dangerously close to a plea.
Xeon:Take her. Now.
Finric's stomach dropped, a hard plunge that felt like the world shifting under him.
He turned to Aeron, voice clipped. "Can you break the cuffs?"
Aeron tilted his head. "Obviously. But perhaps we pause the heroics for five seconds? We don't know what she did. It might be profoundly stupid to free her before we know the full story."
"She didn't do anything," Jax snapped.
The force in his voice surprised even him. But he didn't back down. His stance shifted, subtly protective, and his eyes dared Aeron to argue.
Aeron lifted both brows. "Ah. Lovely. We're making decisions based on vibes now."
He knelt anyway, pressing a glowing hand to Nova's forehead. The smirk fell instantly.
"Oh. That's bad," he murmured. "She's burning up. And I don't sense anything dark in her. No corruption. No magic imprint. Just… suffering." He shot Fin a pointed look. "If we leave her like this, she won't make it to morning."
Fin's jaw worked once. A slow, simmering anger radiated off him in controlled waves.
His voice dropped, cold enough to freeze the walls.
"Break them."
Aeron blinked. "You know, if anyone else spoke to me like that, I'd shove their face into a wall."
Jax stepped closer, smiling without warmth. "Feel free to try. I'll hold your coat."
Aeron gave him a long, unimpressed look. "Jax, you couldn't hold a coherent thought, let alone my coat."
"Try me."
"Oh, I would love to. It might be the funniest mistake you ever make."
Fin didn't even look at them. His gaze stayed locked on Nova—her pale skin, the sweat, the faint tremble of her breath.
"Aeron," he said again. Quieter. Sharper. "Now."
Aeron sighed with theatrical suffering. "Fine. But if she wakes up and sets me on fire, I'm cursing both of you."
"Break," Fin repeated.
Aeron muttered, "Bossy," then placed both hands on the silver cuffs as gold light surged.
He lifted his hands, palms igniting with soft golden light. He whispered an incantation under his breath, low and precise.
The chains shattered — bursting into a spray of gold sparks that dissolved before they hit the floor.
The chains shattered—bursting into a spray of gold sparks that dissolved before touching the floor.
Nova fell forward.
Fin caught her before she hit the stone, moving with a speed that startled even himself. She weighed almost nothing—too light, too fragile. His arms tightened instinctively.
He glanced at Jax.
Jax's expression had twisted into something lethal. Fury and pain braided together in a way that made his hazel eyes look almost gold.
"What are the odds we walk out of this hellhole with a chained girl and don't start a war?" Fin muttered. Dry. Half a joke. Completely not.
"Zero," Jax said instantly. "And you lose a chosen mate. We all know how emotionally shattered you'd be." His sarcasm dripped like venom.
Fin snorted, one sharp, humorless breath. "Tragic."
Jax leaned in, voice lower. "If we're leaving with her, we leave now. Or we make a deal—the deal we came here for. Add her in. Force their hand."
"That would alert them we were up here," Aeron cut in, tone slicing clean. "And I don't trust these lunatics with a flower, much less her. Leaving her in this castle another hour is idiocy of heroic proportions."
Fin's jaw clenched.
He nodded once.
Decision made.
Irrevocable.
"Aeron—you stay with her." His voice was steel. "Jax—arrange a meeting with Ashbane. Tonight. I don't care if he's asleep or pretending to meditate or whatever self-important hobby he has. We cut a deal and we leave before dawn."
"On it." Jax was already rising, movements crisp with purpose. "I'll notify our officers."
"Return here when you're done," Fin said, shifting the girl carefully in his arms. "You guard her with Aeron."
Jax met his eyes. Hard. Resolved.
One sharp nod.
He turned and strode out without another word.
The door shut behind him, leaving only Fin, Aeron, and the unconscious girl who should not exist— and who Fin already knew he would burn kingdoms to protect.