Seven women entered Kane Croft’s private wing after midnight. None made it to sunrise.

While peace had returned to the King's heart, desperation made Silas Mercer far more dangerous than we had anticipated.

Three days before our official Royal Coronation, Silas escaped from his temporary holding cell in the lower dungeons with the help of a corrupt guard who had been on his payroll for years.

It was 2:00 a.m.

I was sleeping peacefully in the grand canopy bed of the royal master suite, wrapped in Kane's warm, protective embrace.

Suddenly, a loud explosion rocked the eastern wing of the Keep.

BOOM!

Thick black smoke began pouring under the door, smelling of sulfur and silver powder.

Kane erupted from the bed in a fraction of a second, his body shifting instantly into his half-wolf battle form—massive bronze muscles, razor-sharp claws, glowing golden eyes, and long black fur running down his spine.

"Harper! Stay behind me!" he barked, shielding me with his massive body as the mahogany doors were blown off their hinges in a shower of splintered wood and fire.

Through the smoke charged twenty rogue mercenaries dressed in black armor, wielding silver-tipped spears and crossbows loaded with aconite darts.

Leading them was Silas Mercer, his suit torn, his eyes wild with rabid fanaticism, holding a heavy military-grade grenade launcher.

"If I can't have the crown, Kane, nobody will!" Silas shrieked, firing a silver-coated grenade directly into the ceiling support beams above us.

CRASH!

Massive stone blocks crashed down, separating Kane from me in a wall of dust and debris.

"Kane!" I screamed, choking on the thick sulfur smoke.

"Harper!" Kane roared from the other side of the rubble, his claws tearing through the heavy stones with violent fury.

Before I could scrambled backward toward the balcony, two rogue mercenaries grabbed my arms from behind, slamming a heavy silver collar around my neck. The silver burned against my skin, sending a painful jolt through my nervous system that brought me to my knees.

Silas stepped through the smoke, pulling a silver dagger from his belt and pressing the razor blade against my throat.

"Move one step closer, King Croft," Silas shouted toward the rubble, "and I'll bleed your precious Queen like a pig!"

The pile of stone debris exploded outward in a shower of sparks and rock dust.

Kane emerged from the dust, his raw, unbridled Apex Alpha aura exploding through the chamber with such catastrophic force that the glass windows along the entire eastern wing shattered into dust.