Eldur’s P.O.V.
The air in the room was filled with sothing foul—his scent, his pathetic presence, the lingering stench of a boy who didn’t belong in Mai’s world.
My fingers twitched, but I forced them still. Patience.
The burn of winter and embers curled in the air as I stepped forward, making my presence known.
Her silver eyes flicked toward , and for a brief mont, I saw it—that flicker of recognition. The piece of her that was mine.
"Liam," I greeted, smirking as the boy stiffened. He knew.
He knew he was nothing but a weed in a garden that belonged to .
But he was too stupid to pluck himself out.
"Mai," I murmured smoothly, tilting my head. "Co with ."
Liam sat up too quickly, his face twisting in panic. "Mai?"
I had already reached her.
Her body stiffened—but then her shoulders loosened. Her expression softened, her silver eyes dimming, as if falling into sothing warm and safe.
.
Liam jolted forward, grabbing her wrist. "Mai, snap out of it!"
She moved.
But not toward him.
Her hand slipped away, fingers brushing against mine instead.
The mont her skin t mine, the fury in my veins settled. There she is.
"Liam," I said lazily, turning my gaze to him. "She hears you." I let the smirk deepen, savoring his distress. "She just doesn’t care."
His face twisted with sothing raw, sothing furious.
"MAI!"
His voice cracked, and for a mont, I nearly laughed. He sounded like a drowning man screaming for a lifeline that wasn’t there.
She didn’t even blink.
"You should have stayed in the dark, Liam," I murmured.
And then, I took her.
Gone.
Vanished.
*******
Even since I could rember, I had always been a freak.
Not just among witches who wanted nothing to do with . Not just among werewolves who dispised. Even among my father’s coven, creatures of the night feared . Vampires. They tolerated only because my father was Adrian Daegon, the first vampire to ever exist. And my mother, Juliette Malcolm, a Gamma wolf, had tried to make a ho for in her pack.
It didn’t work.
I was unnatural. I was born with a wolf that raged like a storm, always hungry for blood, always whispering destruction into my mind. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, I was also a wizard. No one in my father’s coven wanted around. No one in my mother’s pack wanted either.
Except for Mai Blackwood.
Mai understood . She was like . We had the sa silver eyes—the ones that unsettled everyone around us. We both loved hurting people, and we weren’t ashad of it. That’s why our parents tried to keep us apart. But it didn’t work. We were smart. We found ways.
With my magic, I infused mirrors with our connection. Whenever Mai wanted to talk, all she had to do was stand in front of a mirror, and I would see her. It was better than any phone—no signal loss, no missed calls.
And then, when I was nine, sothing changed.
My wolf, Raivo, who had always been there—long before any other child got theirs—told the truth.
"Mai is ours. Our mate."
I knew it then. My obsession with her wasn’t just attachnt. She was my mate. My other half. My future. I just had to wait until she turned eighteen to claim her.
But then ca Liam Rivers.
A boy we used to tornt. A boy we had laughed at as he flinched under our cruel gas. A boy Mai was suddenly obsessed with.
At first, I thought it was another ga. Maybe Mai had found a new way to make Liam miserable. But when I tried to talk to her through the mirrors, she was never there. Never available.
Days blurred into weeks, and still, she ignored .
Later, I told myself it was a mistake. She must have been busy. Maybe the Moon Peak Pack had tightened its grip on her, restricting her freedom. Maybe her parents had warned her not to talk to .
But that hope withered every ti I stood before my enchanted mirror and found nothing. No flicker of silver eyes. No sly smirk. No secret whispers between us.
Nothing.
I reached out again and again, but the mirror remained empty, a cold and hollow reminder of the silence between us.
Sothing inside snapped.
The first thing to shatter was the mirror, a web of cracks splitting across its surface before it burst into a thousand shards. The second was my room—furniture splintering under my fists, books flying off shelves, the bedfra snapping in half beneath my strength. My magic crackled in the air like a storm, wild and untad, until the walls trembled.
And still, it wasn’t enough.
Raivo howled in rage inside my mind, his voice a snarl against my skull. "She is ours. She belongs with us. She cannot leave."
I howled with him, the sound raw and guttural, shaking the very foundations of my father’s castle.
That was when my father stepped in.
Adrian Daegon wasn’t a man easily rattled, but even he hesitated at the destruction I had left in my wake. He surveyed the wreckage—what was left of my room, my heaving form, my bloodied fists—before his voice cut through the tension like ice.
"Enough."
His presence alone was enough to force my body still, my breathing ragged, my fists still clenched at my sides. I could see the decision forming in his violet eyes.
He was going to lock away. Cage . Treat like a beast that needed to be controlled.
No.
I wouldn’t allow it.
If only I could leave on my own, I would have; but my father’s magic and that of my sister Elizabeth had combined to keep locked up in this god forsaken valley. So all I could do was shake them hard enough to let go.
"I need to see her." My voice was sharp, unwavering. "Face to face."
For days, he refused. So did my mother. They thought it would pass, that I would calm down, that ti would dull the edges of my obsession.
They were wrong.
The longer I waited, the worse it beca.
Finally, my parents relented—but on one condition. They would accompany .
Fine. I didn’t care.
I just needed to see Mai.
When we arrived at the Moon Peak Pack, I saw her, and right then I knew.
She wasn’t playing.
She wasn’t testing .
She wasn’t waiting for .
She had moved on.
Mai stood close to him, her body angled toward him in a way that sent fury roaring through my veins. She lingered at his side as if it was natural. As if she belonged there.
And when she looked at him—when her silver eyes softened, filled with warmth, with sothing so achingly real—sothing inside fractured.
The part of that had been holding on. The part that had been waiting. The part that had whispered, she will co back.
She wouldn’t.
Mai had chosen Liam Rivers over .
"Kill him." Raivo whispered, his voice a dark promise in my mind. "End this now."
Not yet. I had to be smart.
I watched them.
The way Liam looked at her like she was his entire world.
The way she leaned into him as if she felt safe with him.
Safe.
I could have given her safety. I could have given her the world.
But she didn’t want .
She wanted him.
I clenched my fists, breathing through the suffocating rage, and I made my decision.
If she wanted him so badly, then I would take him away.
I reached for my magic, the power crackling at my fingertips.
And just like that, Liam Rivers was gone.
No blood. No ss. No trace of a struggle.
I erased his mories.
I teleported him to an unknown town—far away, where he would never find his way back.
Then, I waited.
Mai would co back to now.
She had to.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she fought .
Not with her usual playful taunts, not with sly words or hidden smiles.
With rage.
She scread my na, silver eyes blazing, fists clenched so tightly her nails bit into her skin.
"What did you do to him, Eldur?! Where is he?!"
I should have been angry.
I should have been frustrated.
Instead, I was srized.
Mai had never looked more alive.
Her fury was breathtaking. Her hate was intoxicating.
I smirked, tilting my head. "Where he belongs."
The words had barely left my lips before she lunged at , her magic sparking around her fingertips.
I let her hit . I let her throw back with a blast of energy that rattled my bones. I let her choke the life out of .
Because in that mont, with her hands trembling and her breath coming in ragged gasps, I saw it—
She would never forgive .
And that should have been enough.
That should have been the end.
But it wasn’t.
Because she left.
Not just . Not just the pack.
She abandoned everything.
For him.
I was thrown into a silver-lined prison, locked away like a rabid animal, my wrists bound in enchanted cuffs that burned my skin.
My father—my own father—stood by and let it happen.
No one was coming to save .
No one was going to bring Mai back to .
I sat in that cold, dark cell, staring at the walls, the weight of betrayal pressing against my chest.
But I wasn’t broken.
No.
I was patient.
I waited.
And then, when the mont was right—when the guards had grown too comfortable, when they believed I had accepted my fate—
I escaped.
With a flick of my fingers, the locks shattered into dust. The doors collapsed before .
I stepped into the night, inhaling the crisp, moonlit air, stretching my fingers as my magic humd beneath my skin.
And I smiled.
Mai had made a mistake.
Liam had made a mistake.
They thought this was over.
They thought they could take sothing that belonged to and walk away.
No.
I was going to get Mai back.
Willingly or unwillingly.
And Liam?
He was going to regret the day he ever crossed my path.
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