Chapter 32

Chapter 32
The moon sat like a crown of silver fire above us, and below, the earth trembled.

Wolves. Everywhere.

Their glowing eyes filled the trees, the rooftops, the clearing around the sanctuary. Strays, rogues, and exiles who had no home. Until now.

They had heard me.

Vexx stood shirtless in the cold, his chest rising slowly, his arms tattooed with the emblems of every kill he’d earned. His wolf form trembled just beneath his skin.

He didn’t need to say a word. Power oozed from him like heat.

Selene paced the eastern wall, muttering orders to guards. Her face was unreadable. But I could feel the tension radiating off her bones. We all knew what was coming.

“They’ll strike soon,” she said, teeth clenched. “This isn’t about the territory anymore. They want her.”

She meant me.

I was no longer just Vexx’s prize. Or some girl in a diamond collar.

I was the voice that made armies bow.

“Let them come,” I whispered, stepping toward the balcony rail, black velvet choker tight like armor around my throat. “I want them to hear me scream.”

Vexx turned to me then, his jaw clenched. “You’ll stay behind the lines.”

“No,” I said. “I’m not your prisoner anymore.”

Something shifted in his eyes. Not anger. Not annoyance.

Fear.

And not for himself.

“You don’t understand what the council’s capable of,” he said. “They’ll use your voice against you. Twist it. Break it.”

I stepped closer, my breath brushing his lips. “Let them try.”

Just then...The first arrow flew.

It hit the outer wall with a hiss, sizzling into flame. Then another. And another.

The sky turned red.

The wolves began to growl.

Then one rogue in the woods howled, and the sound was like death peeling the sky open.

Selene cursed. “They’ve begun.”

Vexx’s body shifted, bones snapping into place as his wolf took over, towering, black-furred, eyes like molten gold.

“Sing,” he growled. “But only when I say.”

I grabbed the microphone embedded in the tower wall. No cables. No speakers. Just magic, tuned to my voice.

And I waited.

Flames touched the gates.

The council’s army spilled from the trees.

Vexx roared, “Now!”

I opened my mouth...the world shattered.

My song poured into the battlefield like venom and fire.

Wolves stopped mid-charge, ears flattening. Their alphas screamed in agony. Blood burst from their noses. Knees buckled.

But not all.

A group of them, tall, silent, silver-eyed, kept walking.

Their ears didn’t bleed.

They didn’t freeze.

They smiled.

“What the hell” Selene barked, running toward me.

I looked down. In the middle of them, calmly walking over the bodies of their fallen?

My brother. Wearing a suit of wolf bone and a grin that could kill a god.

“You have a lovely voice, Kessia,” he called.

“But it’s wasted on him.”
My heart dropped. My breath caught in my throat like glass.

It was him.

Luca.

The brother who raised me. Lied to me. Sold me.

He stood there in the firelight, calm as a priest at a funeral. Except this funeral was ours, and he brought the damn choir.

“Didn’t expect to see me, sis?” he called up, smiling wide like this was a family reunion and not a battlefield littered with corpses.

Vexx’s wolf form growled beside me, so deep it shook the tower floor. His fur bristled, claws out, ready to launch. But he didn’t move. Not yet.

I couldn’t look away from Luca.

His silver eyes glowed. Not from wolf blood.

From siren blood. Our blood.

“You’re not one of them,” I shouted. “You’re not a wolf. You never were.”

Luca tilted his head. “Neither were you. But you sang lullabies to stray mutts your whole life like a little fool. Thought they loved you back?” He chuckled. “They followed you because your blood commanded them.”

I shook with fury. “You used me.”

He stepped closer, flames licking the hem of his coat. “I saved you.”

Vexx stepped forward then, voice warped by his beast. “You sold her. For fifty million.”

Luca’s smile dropped.

“I bought her,” Vexx snarled. “Now I own your head.”

With a roar, Vexx leapt from the balcony, pure power and rage crashing into the enemy line. Wolves flew. Screams tore through the night.

Luca didn't flinch. He raised one hand, and every silver-eyed warrior around him moved at once, like puppets on strings.

My siren’s scream still rang through the air, but these wolves weren’t flinching.

Because they weren't wolves. They were sirens.

Twisted. Bound. Trained. And they obeyed him.

“Oh God,” I whispered. “He’s built a choir of his own.”

Selene darted up beside me. “You need to stop singing. Now.”

I stared at her. “Why?”

“Because if he harmonizes with you—he could hijack your voice.”

I gasped.

Hijack my voice? Use my song to command Vexx’s wolves?

Selene shoved a dagger into my hand. “If he opens his mouth, cut your throat before you finish the chorus.”

Then...Luca began to sing. Low. Smooth. A perfect mirror of my own pitch.

My voice trembled. I couldn’t stop.

The power gripped my lungs, wrapped around my ribs like chains.

Suddenly, Vexx, fighting below, froze.

He turned his head toward Luca, eyes dazed. Confused.

“No, no, no...” I gasped.

I screamed again, louder. Harder. Trying to pull Vexx back with the full weight of my soul.

Vexx blinked. His claws clenched. But Luca’s voice kept rising.

So did the ground. From beneath the battlefield, a howl ripped open the earth. A second alpha.

But not Vexx. Someone older. Someone darker.

The council had sent their real weapon, it wasn’t my brother.

It was our father.