When fate and worlds collide

Prologue

I never thought it would end like this—bloody, bruised, and broken. Alone in a city already dead, surrounded by the feral beasts that had plagued our world for the last four years. I had hoped for something more. To live long enough to see my son hold his own child, to know this place was safe enough for him to dream of a future. I would have died happy with that.

But even as the end closed in, I knew he would make the right choices without me. He was Brave. And Strong. He had to be. We all had to, in order to survive.

I screamed for Xavier to take Rowan and run as the wave of ferals closed in. I knew I wouldn’t make it, but if I bought them enough time to reach the Tower, it would be worth the price. My son’s voice carried after me, high with terror, raw enough to break me, almost enough to make me turn back. Almost. But if I faltered now, we’d all die.

It’s the hardest part of being a parent, making the tough decisions to save them. Even at the expense of your own life.

The oath I’d bound Xavier to flared, and I felt his resistance break. He seized Rowan , dragging him away as the boy kicked and screamed, his voice cutting me to the bone. They ran for the Tower in the distance, the only sanctuary left.

I drew on everything I had left, gathering my power as it surged, hands glowing white-hot while the barrier between control and collapse wavered beneath me. But I couldn’t stop—not now. I couldn’t fail Rowan , or Xavier, or the people in the Tower. I slammed my palms against the ground, and the first wave of ferals was blasted into the air, bodies crashing into stone and each other with sickening wet cracks. Their screeches ended before they could fully form.

No time to savor the reprieve, I tore my sword free from its sheath, gun held firmly in the other hand, and dove into the next wave. Steel split flesh, bullets tore through skulls. Claws raked me, teeth grazed me, toxins slipped into my blood with every strike that landed. Pain burned, but I forced it aside. The poison would claim me before I could finish them all, but that was the cost of being both parent and Aura.

That’s what we were made for, wasn’t it?

A howl broke the chaos. Long. Eerie. Almost…Sad. It stilled the ferals in an instant, freezing on the spot, ears swiveling, heads turning toward the sound. The noise was foreign but it tugged something raw inside my chest. They abandoned me, bolting in the direction of the call, drawn to the sound. I glanced back toward the Tower, praying Xavier and Rowan were inside by now. This was my chance. This was my last opportunity to carve some measure of safety into this city before death claimed me.

I sprinted after the pack, hoping to find their Alpha, my body failing with every step. The toxins scorched through my veins, blurring my vision, hollowing my strength. Liam and Xavier’s powers brushed faintly against me, searching for life signs, calling me back. Liam’s anguish hit me like a knife to the ribs—he could feel how broken I was, my feet faltering. I clenched my teeth and forced myself onward, pushing them back.

The last feral rounded a corner ahead. I stumbled, caught myself on a wall, my hand slipping instantly, and glanced down. The wall was slick with my own blood, crimson dripping from my palm to the rubble-strewn ground. Still, I clenched my jaw tight and pushed forward. The sounds of a battle met me before I saw it, and when I staggered around the final corner—I froze at gruesome sight.

The ferals weren’t alone, they were being torn apart by…Wolves? If wolves could stand on two legs and wield claws like blades—ripping through the beasts with brutal ease, flinging them around like ragdolls. Flesh shredded. Bones cracked. The stink of blood, piss, and death curdled the air until I gagged.

High above, the feral Alpha shifted uneasily on a rooftop, watching his pack being dismembered. I couldn’t even move, too stunned to process the scene in front of me—until pain exploded in my shoulder. A feral had gotten behind me, its teeth sank deep into flesh and bone, dragging me down hard against the rubble, breath punched from my chest as it hauled me across the ground. A howl of pain ripped from my throat, loud enough to draw every glowing green eye of the wolf-things. When my scream split the air a second later, sharp and piercing, they swarmed in my direction.

This was it. Ripped apart before I could do what I came for.

Clenching my jaw tight to stop another scream, I clung to my powers, harder than I ever had, reaching deeper than I thought possible. Dredging from every raw corner of myself—anger, hate, jealousy, love, hope, fleeting happiness—every extreme emotion, every scar, feeding the raw blaze. The world around me muffled to a dull buzz where my breath was the only rasp I could hear. My body vibrated. Light flared from my hands, crawling up my arms, sparking the earth where it dripped like molten fire, occasionally sparking like lightening to scorch the earth. My powers, unstable, whispered in my ears, begged to be released. To burn away the filth.

The feral’s weight vanished. Overwhelmed with the overpowering sensation of my powers, I didn’t even notice it had been flung aside.

I didn’t register how every wolf-thing had stopped moving. Watching me now. Waiting. The howl came again. Sad and Haunting. Pulling at something deep inside me, a compulsion to reach for the sorrow and turn it into something else, something better.

I gathered the storm of power raging inside my body, ready to release destruction—when a rough hand seized my jaw and forced my gaze sideways.

Golden eyes locked with mine. Eyes set in a face so impossibly beautiful it stole the air from my lungs. My powers teetered, whispers still urging me to unleash them, but his voice cut through like steel.

“Enough, woman.” His voice was low. Commanding. Authority laced into every word in a way Liam’s should have been, but wasn’t. A power that demanded obedience—yet I did not feel I had to bow to it. My powers, however, obeyed even as my body screamed not to. The light flickered, guttered, and died. The poison rushed unchecked through me now. My limbs went heavy, my healing failing as blood trickled warm down my arm. Through fading sight, I caught movement—a second man. Naked. Just as perfect looking. His voice was distant, words muffled and I barely understood what he was saying, but felt a growl rumble beneath my ear.

“Mine,” the one holding me growled, chest rumbling like a storm. My heart stuttered.

“But…Alpha—” He was cut off with another low growl.

“Her wounds are laced with poison. Bring me Trixa, I need her healing abilities.” His gaze dropped to me, burning golden, filled with something between curiosity and annoyance. “Strange,” he murmured, almost to himself. I tried to fight. To move. To do anything but hang limp in his arms and let him carry me away. Rowan would think I was dead. He’d see the c*****e and believe his mother had been torn apart. His face—his terrified face—flashed before my eyes as I whispered his name.

The man holding me tensed before, at last, I fell into darkness.