Rebecca’s POV
My throat was on fire.
Every breath felt like swallowing glass. My body ached everywhere. The kind of deep, bone-level pain that ca from collapsing in the desert and getting dragged across rocks.
But none of that mattered right now.
Because I was staring at a ghost.
Magnus Blood Crown stood on that raised platform. Looking down at with those terrifying red-gold eyes. The sa eyes his son had. The sa predator’s gaze.
But Magnus’s eyes held sothing Kael’s never did.
Pure, absolute madness.
"You—" The word ca out as a croak. My voice was wrecked. "You... you..."
I couldn’t finish the sentence.
Couldn’t make my brain process what I was seeing.
Magnus Blood Crown was supposed to be dead. Or at least—gone. Disappeared. Kael had defeated him. Driven him out of the territory. Everyone said he’d probably died in exile.
Everyone was wrong.
He laughed.
The sound echoed through the stone chamber. Deep. Rich. Completely insane.
"Cat got your tongue, little Rebecca?" He descended the steps slowly. Each footfall deliberate. asured. "You look like you’ve seen a ghost."
"I... I thought you were..." I swallowed hard. Tasted blood. "Dead."
"Dead?" He reached the bottom step. Stopped just a few feet away. "Oh, my dear girl. I’m very much alive."
He gestured around the cavern. At the dozens of rogues watching us. At the torches casting flickering shadows across stone walls.
"More alive than I’ve been in years, actually."
My mind was racing. Trying to understand. Trying to piece together how this was possible.
"But Kael—"
"Kael." Magnus spat the na like it tasted bad. "That ungrateful whelp thought exiling would be enough. Thought driving into the wasteland would kill ."
His smile turned sharp. Vicious.
"He was wrong."
I stared at him. At this man who should have died out there. Who should have succumbed to the heat and thirst and endless nothing.
Instead, he was here. In this underground fortress. Surrounded by followers.
"How?" The question ca out barely audible.
Magnus tilted his head. "How what?"
"How did you... how are you..." I gestured helplessly. "All of this?"
He laughed again. That sa insane sound.
"You think being an Alpha King for thirty years taught nothing?" He started pacing. Hands clasped behind his back. "You think I didn’t make contingency plans? Didn’t prepare for the possibility of betrayal?"
He stopped. Turned to face directly.
"I had resources. Hidden caches throughout the wasteland. Supplies. Weapons. Everything I needed to survive."
My stomach dropped.
"And followers." He continued. His voice getting harder. "Wolves who were tired of pack law. Tired of rules and hierarchy and playing nice. Rogues who wanted power without restraint."
He gestured at the n surrounding us.
"I gathered them. Trained them. Built sothing new out here in the forgotten places." His eyes blazed. "Sothing stronger than what Kael has. Sothing pure."
The word made my skin crawl.
Because I could see what he ant. Could see it in the scarred faces of the rogues. In their vicious grins. In the way they looked at like I was at.
This wasn’t a pack. This was sothing else. Sothing darker.
"You..." I forced my voice to work. "You’re planning to go back."
It wasn’t a question.
Magnus’s smile widened. "Smart girl."
He stopped right in front of . So close I could sll him. Blood and iron and sothing rotten underneath.
"And when that day cos—" His voice dropped to a whisper. "I’m going to rip my ungrateful son’s throat out. Take back what’s mine. Rule the way an Alpha is supposed to rule."
Horror washed over in waves.
"You... you’re going to kill your own son?"
Magnus laughed. The sound was completely devoid of warmth. "He stopped being my son the mont he betrayed . The mont he chose to believe I was too harsh. Too cruel. Too old-fashioned."
His hand shot out. Grabbed my chin. Forced to look at him.
"He’s nothing to now. Just an obstacle that needs removing."
The casual way he said it made my blood run cold.
Magnus released my chin. Stepped back.
"But enough about my idiot offspring." His expression shifted. Beca calculating. "Let’s talk about you, Rebecca Silver Fang."
My breath caught.
"You have potential, little Rebecca. Fire. Ambition. The kind of ruthlessness that’s becoming rare in the soft, civilized packs."
His eyes bore into mine.
"So here’s my offer." His voice was smooth now. Almost gentle. "Join . Beco part of my pack. Help take back what’s mine."
My mouth opened. Closed. No sound ca out.
"And in return—" He paused. Let the silence stretch. "I’ll make you my Luna."
The words hit like a physical blow.
Luna.
His Luna.
I stared at him. At this man who was supposed to be my father-in-law if things had gone differently. If Kael had married like he was supposed to.
Now he was offering to make his mate instead.
The wrongness of it made my stomach churn.
But...
My eyes drifted to the cavern entrance. To the darkness beyond. To the wasteland I’d barely survived.
If I said no, he’d let go. I knew that. Could see it in his expression.
He’d release back into that hell. Give a few hours’ head start maybe. Let walk back out into the sun and heat and endless nothing.
I wouldn’t last a day.
Would be dead before nightfall.
The rogues were watching us. Waiting. So looked hopeful. So looked hungry. So just looked bored.
They didn’t care what happened to . Didn’t care if I lived or died.
No one did.
Not anymore.
I’d lost everything. My status. My pack. My future. Even my pride was gone now, stripped away by days of crawling through the desert.
What did I have left?
Nothing.
Except one thing.
Rage.
Pure, burning rage at the people who’d put here.
Kael. For choosing Aria over .
Aria. For existing. For stealing everything that should have been mine.
The thought of them happy together made sothing twist in my chest. Hot and vicious and absolutely consuming.
They’d destroyed my life. Ruined everything I’d worked for. Everything I’d been.
And they were probably celebrating right now. Probably laughing about how pathetic I was. How I’d been exiled. How I was gone forever.
They thought they’d won.
But what if they hadn’t?
What if I ca back?
Not alone. Not weak.
But with an army. With power. With a way to make them suffer the way I’d suffered.
Magnus was still watching . Waiting for my answer.
My hands were shaking. My whole body was shaking.
But my voice ca out steady.
Clear.
Final.
"I accept."
Magnus’s smile was terrifying. All teeth and madness.
"Excellent." He reached for my hand. Pulled to my feet. "Welco to the pack, my dear."
The rogues around us started laughing. Cheering. The sound bounced off stone walls and beca sothing monstrous.
"I want Kael dead. And Aria." My voice got stronger. More certain. "I want them both dead."
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