Chapter 61. Broken

Lotus’s POV

The alarms start at dawn. A single, sharp note cuts through the stillness, then another, and another, until the entire fortress is echoing with warning bells. I jolt awake, heart hammering, and stumble from the bed still tangled in the sheets.

Outside my window, the courtyard is buzzing with movement. Soldiers sprint across the snow-packed stone, weapons gleaming under the pale morning light. Lycans pace along the walls, hackles raised, the air thick with tension and the metallic taste of fear.

I can feel it, something’s wrong. Terribly wrong.

“Lotus!” Louis bursts into the room, shirt half-buttoned, his eyes flashing amber. “Stay inside.”

“What’s happening?” I demand to know.

He doesn’t answer. He just grabs his handgun from the dresser and vanishes down the corridor. That silence, that lack of words, terrifies me more than anything.

I don’t stay inside, and honestly, they should have known better than to think that I wou