Filed to story: Diana Nightshade and Alpha Talon Ravenwood Book PDF Free
One second Asher was standing.
The next, Talon’s hand was wrapped around his throat, lifting him clean off the ground.
A collective gasp rippled through the hall.
Talon’s grip tightened, fingers digging into flesh, his Alpha power crashing down like a storm. Asher clawed at Talon’s wrist, boots kicking uselessly as his face darkened, breath ripped from his lungs.
“Do not,” Talon growled, voice low and lethal, “ever call my mate yours.”
Fenrir roared in agreement, his fury bleeding into Talon’s veins.
“Or I won’t hesitate,” Talon continued, his eyes burned an electric blue, the unmistakable mark of a wolf pushed to the edge by rage and possession, “to rip your head from your body.” His grip tightened just enough to make the threat real. “My mate is mine alone. The Goddess gave her to me.” His voice dropped to a whisper meant only for Asher. “And I will kill you first before you even think of taking her from me.”
Asher’s hands struck Talon’s arm again, weaker now. His voice came out broken, rasping, desperate. “She… she doesn’t have a wolf.”
The words cut through Talon like ice, and his grip loosened instantly. He dropped Asher as if burned, stepping back as Fenrir froze inside him, shock rippling through their shared consciousness.
The room went silent except for Asher’s harsh coughing as he collapsed to his knees, sucking in air like a drowning man.
Talon stared at him, disbelief flickering beneath the rage.
“What are you saying?” Talon demanded, voice sharp, dangerous, suddenly edged with something far worse than anger.
Fenrir stirred again-uneasy now, confused.
‘Explain, his wolf snarled. ‘Now.’
Talon took a slow step forward, dominance rolling off him in waves.
“Because if you are lying,” he said quietly, “there will be no mercy left in me.”
“We found out that we were mates five years ago,” Asher said at last, his voice tight, stripped of its former authority. “The night she turned eighteen. The bond snapped into place like it was always meant to be there.”
“But her wolf never emerged.” His jaw flexed, eyes darkening with something that looked dangerously close to regret. “Nothing. No shift. No link. No strength for a Luna bond.”
Talon felt Fenrir stir violently inside him.
“I am the Alpha of this pack,” Asher said, lifting his chin as if repeating the title might justify what followed. “I needed a strong and capable Luna. One who could stand beside me, protect the pack, bear the bond without breaking. I had no choice.”
The words landed like a blade.
“I rejected her.”
Silence followed-thick, suffocating, deadly.
Inside Talon’s mind, Fenrir snarled, his fury shaking their shared consciousness.
‘Is this wolf stupid?’ Fenrir growled. ‘Even from a distance, I can feel her. Her wolf is there. Alive. Watching. Waiting.’
“Why would our mate hide her wolf?” Talon’s hands curled slowly into fists, and he asked quietly, his voice calm but edged with something lethal.
‘I do not know, Fenrir replied, his tone dark and possessive. ‘But I know this-she is ours. And no one, especially this weak-minded Alpha, will ever take her from me.’
A low, dangerous smile curved Talon’s lips. ‘Agreed,’
Talon stepped forward, forcing Asher to meet his gaze. The air between them crackled-two Alphas, two powers, but only one truly unyielding.
“Alpha Asher,” Talon said coldly, “by your own admission, you rejected her five years ago. You severed the bond. You cast her aside.”
His eyes burned gold as Fenrir pressed closer to the surface.
“So tell me,” Talon continued, voice sharp as steel, “what right do you think you have now to claim her?”
Asher stiffened, but Talon did not give him time to answer.
“The Moon Goddess gave her to me,” Talon declared. “And unlike you, I will not hesitate. I accept her fully as my mate, as my Queen Luna. Wolf or not.” His voice dropped, dangerous and final. “Her strength does not depend on whether she shifts. Her worth does not depend on your standards.”
Talon’s gaze flicked briefly toward the shadows where his mate stood unseen-felt rather than seen-before snapping back to Asher.
“And as for being a ‘capable Luna,” Talon added, a sharp edge of sarcasm cutting through his words, “from what I can tell, she is more than capable of leading and protecting a pack.”
A pause.
“Far more capable,” he finished coolly, “than the Luna you chose over her.”
The challenge hung heavy in the air.
Fenrir purred with dark satisfaction.
‘Touch her, his wolf vowed, ‘and I will end him.’
“I will not let you take her away from me.”
Asher’s voice cracked through the clearing like a snarl barely held in check. Rage burned openly in his eyes now-no longer masked by Alpha composure or political restraint. Veins stood out along his neck and temples; pulsing as his wolf slammed violently against the surface, claws scraping inside his chest.
“She is my mate,” he continued, stepping forward despite the danger radiating from Talon. “I renounced my rejection. The bond still exists. You cannot take her.”
His wolf surged, forcing his shoulders to tense, breath coming harsh and uneven. This wasn’t strategy. This wasn’t leadership.
This was desperation.
Talon opened his mouth to respond-Fenrir already coiled tight and ready, violence humming beneath his skin, but before a single word could leave him, hurried footsteps echoed behind them.
A sharp, feminine voice cut through the charged air.
“What do you mean… renouncing your rejection?”
Everyone froze.
Hazel came rushing into the clearing, her silk gown gathered in her fists as she skidded to a halt. Her breathing was uneven, eyes wide-not with fear, but with shock. She had heard enough. Far too much.
“Asher,” she said, her voice trembling despite the steel beneath it, “I am your mate. I am your Luna. What rejection are you renouncing?”
Her gaze flicked wildly between the two Alphas, then settled on Asher’s face-searching, pleading, already sensing the truth clawing its way to the surface.
“This is not about you, Hazel,” Asher snapped, turning on her with a sharpness that made several pack members flinch.
The words struck her harder than any physical blow.
“Not about me?” Hazel echoed, disbelief flooding her expression. Her voice rose, cracking with fury. “What do you mean not about me?”
She stepped closer, placing herself directly in front of Asher, forcing his attention whether he wanted it or not.
“I am your Luna,” she said fiercely. “Chosen or fated-it does not matter. I stand beside you. I rule with you. I carry your mark.”
Her eyes narrowed, dread bleeding into rage.
“So whose wolf,” Hazel demanded, voice sharp and shaking, “Were you just saying is your mate?”
Silence answered her.
A terrible, damning silence.
Asher’s jaw tightened. His fists clenched at his sides. He did not look at her. And that more than anything was her answer.
Hazel followed his gaze instinctively, eyes drifting past Talon, past the guards, toward the shadows at the edge of the clearing.
There is only one wolf stay deep in this forest.
Her breath hitched.
“No…” she whispered. “No. That’s not possible.”
Talon straightened fully then, his Alpha aura flaring without restraint, power rolling outward in suffocating waves. Fenrir’s growl vibrated beneath his skin-low, territorial, merciless.
“It is very possible,” Talon said coldly.
Hazel snapped her head toward him, fury blazing. “You stay out of this.”
“This concerns my mate,” Talon replied, voice lethal in its calm. “So it concerns me.”
Hazel’s lips trembled-not from fear, but from humiliation and dawning realization.
Asher finally spoke again, his voice hoarse. “Haze-“
“Don’t,” she cut him off sharply. “Don’t say my name like you didn’t just shatter everything.” She looked at him now with naked betrayal. “You rejected her,” she said slowly, piecing it together. “Five years ago.”
Her eyes burned. “And now you think you can just take it back?”
“I made a mistake,” Asher growled. “And I will correct it.”
“You don’t get to correct what the Moon Goddess already decided,” Talon laughed once- short, cold, and void of humor. “You made your choice. You rejected her.”
“She survived without you.” He stepped forward, forcing Asher back a single step without touching him. “She grew stronger without you. And now you think you can reclaim her because you finally realized what you lost?”
Fenrir’s voice thundered through Talon’s mind. Touch her destiny again, and I will end him.’
Hazel stood frozen between them, her world crumbling, realization settling deep and poisonous in her chest.
“You were never mine,” she whispered to Asher-not a question. A truth.
Asher didn’t answer.
And in that silence, Hazel’s rage was born.
“How could that unranked warrior-that stupid, wolfless nobody-be the Alpha King’s mate?”
Hazel paced the length of the chamber like a caged predator, silk skirts swishing angrily around her legs as her fingers curled into fists. She couldn’t take the way the two Alphas talk about that wolfless bitch, so she left them and went to her room. The walls of her room, once a sanctuary of luxury and mirrors, now felt too small, too confining for the fury clawing through her chest.
“And Asher,” she hissed, lips curling in disgust. “Declaring her as his mate as well. As if that… that thing deserves to be claimed by anyone at all.”
Her reflection stared back at her from the polished glass-golden hair immaculate, eyes blazing with venom. She was beautiful. She was powerful. She was Luna.
Yet all she could see was Diana.
The image burned behind her eyes: the unranked warrior standing unbowed, blood on her hands, strength radiating from her like a silent challenge. No wolf. No title. No lineage worth speaking of.
And still-chosen.
“I should have killed that bitch when I had the chance,” Hazel snarled under her breath. “Or banished her from this pack long ago.”
She stopped abruptly, pressing her palm flat against the wall as if steadying herself.
“We need to do something about her,” she muttered. “I thought she would leave when her parents died. Any sane person would have broken, would have run.”
Her wolf stirred uneasily inside her, cautious where Hazel was reckless.
‘Hazel, Willow said softly, her voice echoing in Hazel’s mind. ‘We cannot take on Diana. She is far stronger than we are.’
Hazel scoffed, turning away as if she could physically dismiss the warning. “You always say that.” She laughed-sharp, humorless. “She doesn’t even have a wolf, Willow. She’s nothing more than a strong human playing warrior. No wolf. No bond. No protection.”
Hazel’s eyes gleamed as something dark and calculating settled over her expression. “It would be easy to kill her.”
Willow recoiled at the cold certainty in Hazel’s thoughts.
“And even if we can’t,” Hazel continued, voice lowering conspiratorially, “we can banish her. Push her far enough, frame her if we must. Once she’s gone, the path is clear.”
She smiled then-slow and deliberate. “Without her, I am certain I can seduce Alpha King Talon.”
Willow’s unease deepened.
“With my beauty,” Hazel went on, brushing her fingers down her own arm, “with my grace and power… he should have been mine from the start.”
A long silence stretched between them before Willow spoke again, her voice strained. ‘But… we already have a mate, Hazel.’
The words carried weight-pain.
‘You chose Asher. You even rejected our fated mate for him.’
The memory surged unbidden through Willow’s consciousness, raw and vivid. The moment of rejection. The tearing pain of the bond snapping. The quiet agony that followed.
Willow still felt it-the echo of what could have been. Her true mate: a humble warrior, kind-eyed and steady-hearted. Not powerful, not ambitious, but loyal. Good.
Now he had found his second chance.
Willow had seen them from afar once. Seen the way he looked at his new mate, reverent and protective. Seen the gentle way his hand rested on her rounded belly, swollen with life.
Their pup.
A sharp ache twisted inside Willow as she glanced down at Hazel’s body-perfect, beautiful… and empty.
Her belly remained flat.
The grief lingered, silent and unacknowledged.
‘It hurts, Willow admitted quietly. ‘Seeing what could have been.’
Hazel’s expression hardened instantly.
“Stop that,” she snapped, slamming her palm against the wall. “That stupid warrior was never good enough for us.”
She turned, eyes blazing with ruthless conviction. “We deserve the best.”
Hazel lifted her chin, pride radiating from every line of her body.
“And Asher?” she scoffed. “He was the best-at the time I chose him.”
Her lips curved into a dangerous smile. “But now,” she whispered, voice trembling with ambition and hunger, “I have seen the absolute best.”
Her thoughts drifted unashamedly to Talon-the power in his presence, the way the world seemed to bend around him, the bond he shared with Diana that Hazel believed should have belonged to her.
‘And do you think he will choose you over her fated mate? Hazel, he is the Alpha King. We cannot go against him.’ Willow tried to reason with her.
“Of course he will choose me. Why would he want a wolfless mate? Not even an attractive one. And he,” Hazel finished coldly, “will be mine.”
Inside her, Willow fell silent. Not in agreement, but in dread.
