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.

  Her scent hit him like a blade to the chest.

  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 hair that shimmered like moonfire. She was beautiful. The type of beautiful that punches. He forgot how to breathe for a moment.

  His wolf surged beneath his skin, restless.

  A single word echoed in his bones, carried on his wolf's voice. But he already knew it before his wolf spoke.

  Mate.

  His fingers grazed her cheek, and the moment his skin touched hers, a sharp current ripped through him like lightning down his spine.

  He jolted, breath punching out of him.

  He pulled his hand away for a fraction of a second. The desire to touch her again was immediate, consuming. His hand reached out again on its own.

  Her skin burned beneath his fingers, 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.

  Xeon: She is hurt.

  A gash beneath her eye. Dried blood at her mouth.

  Bruising along her jaw, her cheek. Too much. Everywhere.

  Why wasn't she healing?

  Then he saw cuffs on her wrists, much too tight.

  The metal had cut deep into raw flesh, the scent of burned skin sharp beneath the vanilla.

  He reached for the metal.

  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 bind a wolf. It starved their healing, stopped their shift, and in time killed the wolf spirit from the inside out. When the wolf died, the person died with it.

  Finric's face darkened like thunderclouds rolling over the open sea.

  "Who did this to you?" he murmured.

  He didn't expect an answer.

  She was still.

  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 a south tower by their 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.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  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.

  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 because he demanded it.

  Because she needed it.

  But the silver 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.

  Aeron's expression was calm, unreadable.

  Jax, however, froze in disbelief.

  His composure shattered in an instant, shock flooding his features before horror overtook him.

  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 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.

  He reached for one of the silver cuffs, exactly as Fin had, and met the same result. Pain snapped 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.

  "The Moonveil wolves were said to have hair like moonlight," Aeron murmured. His eyes narrowed. "But there were no survivors."

  Fin's thoughts slid through old history. The Moonveil Pack. Slaughtered nearly two decades ago. Erased so completely that even their name was spoken carefully.

  "Could she be the child of someone who escaped?" Fin asked.

  Aeron exhaled softly. "There was only one who lived. Selene Moonveil. Taken, not killed. The rest were executed."

  Fin's eyes sharpened. "By Ashbane."

  "Yes," Aeron replied. "A story better left unfinished."

  Aeron knelt beside the girl, gold light blooming at his fingertips. He whispered an incantation and let the magic flow through her.

  "What is she?" Fin asked Jax's earlier question.

  Aeron held a hand just above her chest. "She has a wolf."

  His wolf surged inside him.

  Xeon: Mate. Take her away from here.

  Aeron's magic pulsed brighter, coaxing surface wounds closed.

  Skin knit. Bruises faded. Her breathing steadied.

  Her eyes fluttered open.

  Green. Deep. Terrified. Beautiful.

  She blinked, disoriented and tried to move. Then, she caught sight of Fin, Jax, and Aeron.

  She jumped, in shock. But the moment she jerked, the silver seared her skin.

  She muffled a broken whimper.

  "Please don't..." Her voice cracked, raw and hoarse from disuse or screaming or both.

  She glanced at Aeron's glowing palms, and her eyes widened in alarm.

  Fin felt her panic slam into him through the matebond.

  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.

  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."

  "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.

  Her expression softened at that. A fragile, wavering belief. She swallowed, her throat working painfully.

  "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?"

  "My name..." she breathed. "Nova."

  The word collapsed out of her, small and fragile.

  She coughed again, then her eyes squeezed shut.

  Pain twisted across her features, and her body went slack.

  All the tension drained from her limbs.

  Fin 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."

  Fin's jaw worked once. A slow, simmering anger radiated off him in controlled waves.

  "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."

  Fin didn't even look at them. His gaze stayed locked on Nova.

  "Aeron," he said again. "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."

  He lifted his hands, palms igniting with soft golden light. He whispered an incantation.

  The chains shattered, bursting into a spray of gold sparks that dissolved before touching the floor.

  Nova fell forward.

  Fin caught her instantly. She was entirely too light.

  "What are the odds we walk out of this hellhole with a chained girl and don't start a war?"

  Dry. Half a joke. Completely not.

  "Zero," Jax answered. "And you lose a chosen mate."

  "Tragic," Fin said flatly.

  "If we're leaving, we do it now. Or we make the deal and force their hand," Jax said.

  "That alerts them," Aeron added. "And I won't leave her here another hour."

  Decision made.

  "Aeron, stay with her. Jax, arrange a meeting. Tonight. We leave before dawn."

  Jax nodded and turned without another word.

  The door shut.

  Fin looked down at the unconscious girl in his arms.

  The girl who should not exist.

  The girl he already knew he'd burn kingdoms to protect.