Nyx stirs in my chest, her voice a low growl.‘Listen. This is the way to freedom.’
I grip the railing so hard my knuckles threaten to split. My wolf speaks of freedom, but all I hear is ruin. Yet ruin is better than this slow death.
Rowan’s face burns in my mind. I know from the rumours that he has recently been crowned the Alpha of Nightfell. Rowan was my oldest friend. The boy who once told me he loved me, knowing duty chained me to Kade because I was promised from birth. He knew it, but he said he would always love me, and forthat reason, Kade’s father cast him out of the pack. And then he found home in the dangers of Nightfell.
I don’t even remember what he used to look like just his green eyes that felt like home. I only have happy memories of him, of us lying in the grass, laughing. Of running through the woods in our wolf forms, chasing prey.
Now his hand reaches for me again, across the mountains, across the years.
Thirty days. Now twenty-nine.
And for the first time in years, hope claws its way back into me—not bright or clean, but jagged and dangerous.
Hope shaped like Nightfell.
THE ROGUE KING
Freya
Tonight, I rebel for the first time.
Defying my Alpha mate’s authority is no easy ordeal, nor is crossing the pack’s borders without permission to meet the man once declared a traitor and cast out. But I’ve made my choice, and I won’t turn back now.
The forest presses in close at night, threatening to suffocate me, its branches clawing at the moon as if to snuff out its light entirely. I move with careful steps, the damp earth soft beneath my boots, my breath ghosting in the icy air. Every step forward is betrayal, yet every step is also survival.
No one will know that I’m gone, and I’m sure no one will care.
That’s the only relief I carry.
Nyx stirs in me, restless, urging me on. ‘He’s right there,’ she says, her voice still faint, barely reaching me. ‘Keep going.’
The border clearing waits, mist curling silver around the stones. And he’s already there.
Rowan Briar.
He’s taller than the boy I remember, heavy and broad-shouldered now. His dark hair falls in a shaggy cut, untamed, brushing his jaw and neck. His eyes—once a soft green now bear a sharp edge. They catch the light like wet moss after rain. The years have carved lines into him, but the way he looks at me is the same. With devotion and care. As if no time has passed.
I feel weak under his gaze but it doesn’t scare me. I could collapse right here and I know he’d hold me in his arms and keep me safe.
“You came,” he says, his voice hard and deep.It takes me by surprise. I still remember how gentle he was, not just with his words, but also his manners.
“I had no choice,” I say, recovering, trying not to sound too desperate.
His gaze lingers on me too long, like he’s reliving all our memories, prolonging the silence between us. Maybe he is studying how much I have changed. I wonder how I look in his eyes now. Back when we were still kids, wolfless and innocent, he would tell me I’m beautiful. Every single day. It came to him effortlessly like that was the most ardent truth.
“Rowan,” I whisper his name, and only then does he blink, escaping his thoughts.
“You reek of it,” he finally claims, his face twisting with disgust.
“Of what?” I ask, my heart skipping a beat.
“Silverdew.” He steps closer. “That’s why your wolf has gone quiet. You’re fading.”
I swallow hard, glancing up at him as he moves even closer. “How do you know all that?”
His lips curve into a sad smile, his sharp eyes softening. “Do you think his father’s sentence could sever what ties us? That the border could stop my heart from following yours?” He closes the distance between us and cups my face in his hands, his thumbstroking my cheek. I shudder, feeling his warm breath fan my face, but I don’t push him away. “The years apart have not taken away what I feel for you, Freya. Written in my heart, in every breath isyourname.”
I can’t bear to look at his face, to see the intensity in those eyes. My misery and helplessness reflect in them. I turn away. “You shouldn’t say such things, Rowan. I’m married to Kade,” I mumble, clutching at my chest.
