Chapter 1
Aaron
I saw the game change—the battle that once seemed possible, almost certain, now slipping through our fingers. Control was slipping away, and Morgathis’s dark magic was winning.
My despair deepened as my mind, always quick and automatic, thought of Jasmine first.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face—her fierce determination, the fire in her eyes. That fire had always kept me grounded, even when the world around us crumbled. She was my strength, my anchor. I couldn’t lose her. Not now.
The sounds of the battlefield faded as I focused on her.
My eyes went to her, and I saw her clutching the dagger, her strength and determination pulsing through her body. Jasmine, always a force of nature, wouldn’t give up until the last flame of hope was extinguished.
But then I saw Morgathis holding her by the neck, lifting her into the air, and taking the dagger from her hand. I feared the worst, and it happened.
My heart dropped.
With every millimeter that the dagger entered Jasmine’s abdomen, it felt as though the ground was opening beneath my feet. My world collapsed, and it lost all meaning. I died inside too.
I stopped breathing; it wasn’t just a feeling—it was a physical, searing agony. She was gone.
Every cell in my body screamed, but my voice couldn’t.
She was gone.
I couldn’t believe it. Jasmine—my Jasmine, my Queen.
Everything around me turned black and white; all I could see were her sweet green eyes before me. Without a single moment’s hesitation, I knew with all my heart and strength that if I had any chance, I would bring her back.
Or I would kill myself.
Because there was no point in a pack without her, no point in a life without her.
Who was I without her?
I saw Sebastian’s lifeless body only later. He died for her, and I wished I could do the same.
Jasmine was falling, her body collapsing in a way that shattered me. She hit the ground, and I could feel my soul splintering. Everything around me vanished—the battle, the noise—all faded into nothing as I watched her, my heart racing with terror.
“Jasmine!” I yelled, my voice raw, frantic.
Morgathis finally let me go, and I ran to Jasmine’s body. I fell to my knees beside her, my hands shaking as I touched her, feeling the chill of her skin. She was so still, so cold.
My throat tightened, and I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. I whispered her name over and over, as if somehow it could pull her back to me, bring her back to life. But she didn’t move.
She was gone.
At that moment, the weight of my entire world came crashing down on me. The pain was unbearable—a darkness that swallowed me whole.
Jasmine’s lifeless form lay before me, and everything in me shattered. My heart felt as though it had stopped, frozen in the same moment her light had faded.
I could still feel the warmth of her touch, her voice echoing in my mind like a fading melody I was desperate to hold onto. My focus stayed on Jasmine’s face, remembering the way her eyes would light up when we unraveled a difficult problem together, the way she could understand me with a single look. But she was gone, and the world felt drained of color, as if the sun itself had died with her.
How do I breathe without you?
She had been my strength, my equal, the only one who ever truly understood me. She was the reason I’d fought so hard to make a future, to unite our packs against all odds. With her, everything had made sense—every struggle, every sacrifice. Now, with her gone, the emptiness swallowed me whole, and all I could feel was a relentless ache, a void where my heart had been.
I don’t want a world without you in it.
Then Morgathis spoke, her voice slicing through my despair like a blade. I looked up at her, barely registering her presence, lost in the fog of grief.
“I could bring her back,” she said, her tone a mocking promise. “But it will cost you. Everything. Your packs, your lands, your power—all of Seraphium.”
I barely processed her words. None of it mattered. Nothing meant anything if Jasmine wasn’t there beside me. I would burn the entire world if it meant I could see her smile again, feel her warmth. Without her, I was already dead.
Yes. Anything. Take it all. What is a world without Jasmine? What is any of it worth without her?
The answer was simple.
“Yes,” I said, my voice steady, unwavering. I would pay any price, face any consequence.
Morgathis’s voice echoed around me, offering a twisted, merciless solution—a way to bring Jasmine back if we gave up everything. Our packs, our people, our legacy... all the land we were meant to protect. The cost was unthinkable, but it barely registered. I didn’t hesitate, because without her, none of it mattered. The kingdom, the power, the duty—it was all nothing in comparison to Jasmine.
I was prepared to give up everything if it meant Jasmine could return.
Erik’s gaze met mine, shock and conflict flickering in his eyes, but I held firm.
This was the only choice.
There was no life without her, and I didn’t care if it meant losing everything we had.
The battlefield fell silent, still. Morgathis stood tall, a dark gleam in her eyes as she stared down at me and Erik, who were broken, kneeling by Jasmine’s body.
She felt the surge of victory, the raw power humming through her veins. We were hers now—all our packs, all our land, every ounce of Seraphium that bound us to this realm. She let the darkness spread, watching as her armies crushed the scattered remains of our forces.
This was her moment.
She smirked, savoring the despair in my eyes, the hollow anguish in Erik’s. We were defeated, crumbling, and in our shattered silence, she heard the whispered acceptance of her terms.
We had given in.
Morgathis had won.
But then—a flicker, an energy shifting at the edge of her awareness.
Behind her, from the corner of her vision, she saw movement. I turned to see, and I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing. Morgathis whirled around just in time to catch sight of Sebastian stirring, a faint glow of life returning to his battered body.
His eyes opened, and there was fire in them, a determination that burned away the shadow she’d cast over him.
“Impossible!” she hissed. She had drained him—I yelled the same word inside my head, having watched his spirit fade. And yet, he was rising, fighting against the odds, his body rejecting her dark curse.
Somehow, impossibly, Sebastian was coming back. The faintest hint of life pulsed in his skin, and my heart raced with hope.
In that split second, Morgathis’s focus shifted, her triumph turning to confusion and rage. She whipped around, distracted—and then I saw it, a flicker of movement from Jasmine’s side.
The distraction was enough.
In that split second, as Morgathis’s focus shifted, I saw her.
Jasmine... My heart leaped, not daring to believe it, but the fierce determination in her movement was unmistakable.
Jasmine stood up beside me, and I saw Erik’s eyes widen. I didn’t trust my judgment enough to feel happiness or relief—I just wanted to understand.
In a single, fluid motion, Jasmine grasped the weapon and, before Morgathis could react, drove the dagger deep into the sorceress’s chest.
Morgathis gasped, her face contorting with shock and fury as the blade sank into her heart, her dark magic recoiling from the pure energy in the dagger’s blade. She staggered back, her body convulsing as the light of the weapon began to overwhelm her shadows, unraveling the dark power she had wielded so long. The life drained from her eyes as she collapsed, her body disintegrating into ash, scattered on the battlefield’s winds.
My heart soared, a rush of overwhelming relief and disbelief crashing over me. Jasmine was alive.
The balance shifted instantly.
The mages and allies, witnessing Morgathis’s fall, rallied with renewed strength, their hope rekindled by the sight of her defeat. The darkness that had smothered the battlefield began to lift, and our armies surged forward, reinvigorated, fighting back with unstoppable momentum.
Almost all the dark magic died with Morgathis; the power of their witches faded, and some fled.
I took two steps to be beside Jasmine again, and she put a hand to her abdomen, still covered in blood.
I saw Erik coming closer, but Sebastian was struggling to reach us, still weak.
He had been dead just a minute ago.
“I need Valerian—thetutis sanitatem spell,” Jasmine whispered, and I caught her before she could fall.
That scene with Morgathis—her killing her—had been a show of strength, but inside, Jasmine’s body was collapsing from all the blood she had lost.
“Valerian!” Erik yelled, as he took Sebastian’s hand and helped him get closer.
A red-headed mage from Sebastian’s pack came, kneeling beside us, and I gently laid Jasmine on the ground.
“The tutis sanitatem spell,” Jasmine repeated, and the mage twisted her fingers in the air to perform it, and second by second, I could see Jasmine recovering.
Jasmine was back.
Jasmine was back.
My mate was back to me.
My Jasmine.
My life.
