CHAPTER 219: THE DARK LORD

Cassian bowed and closed his eyes as he answered the Master, "Yes, Master. This seems to have been indeed sent by Emira Aldren."

"Aldren?" The Master’s voice shifted as if he spoke mockingly, "She is part of the Stormhold Pack now, isn’t she? How can it be Aldren then? She has never been an Aldren...not since that foolish wolf harmed her mother."

Cassian bowed his head even lower and acknowledged his mistake at once. "You’re right. I apologize, Master. This was sent by Emira, the omega from the Stormhold Pack. Master, should I check what it contains?"

The shadow that formed the Dark Master moved slowly, its smoke-like hands stretching outward. It gave a small but clear gesture telling Cassian to open the box.

The box that had been left at the borders of the Redwood Pack a few days ago, and it was only now that they had found out who had sent it.

And that was the part that made no sense.

It was shocking enough that Emira had sent anything at all, but the real questions were how she had managed to place it inside the border and then leave. The spell should have prevented her from escaping.

For weeks now, the boundaries had been sealed so tightly that no one would have dared cross. The fact that she could get in, leave something, and slip away without anyone sensing her movement... it seemed impossible.

And yet, no one had seen her. Nothing had been disturbed.

Added to that was an even more important question. How did she know that the dark master was here on the lands of the Redwood Pack?

But even as Alpha Cassian and the others questioned everything, the Dark Master seemed almost unfazed. Instead, there was a strange stillness around him and no suspicion. If anything, the air around him seemed to not be as cold and gloomy as it used to be. As if he was pleased with everything.

Cassian stepped closer, feeling the weight of the Master’s presence behind him as he reached for the lid, unsure of what he would find inside.

He hesitated. That omega was unpredictable. She always seemed to see through him, never encouraging his flirtations, yet never pushing him away either.

Now, with her strange abilities, he wasn’t sure what she was capable of sending. A woman who had bewitched the Stormhold Triplets and who was said to be the Master’s bride and even now knew where to find him was no simple person.

He lifted the lid slowly.

Inside the box was a layer of dark cloth wrapped around something heavy. Cassian carefully pulled the cloth back, and his breath stopped for a moment.

Lying inside was a stone. But it was not an ordinary one. It was almost black and yet not, its surface holding thin, dim streaks of grey that flickered like dying embers. It looked dead and alive at the same time. Cassian stared at it, unsure how a small stone could feel so heavy.

However, it was the Master’s reaction that shocked him. The smoke-like figure suddenly surged forward, close to the stone, hovering over it, as if he wanted to devour it.

Cassian tried to hold it steady but felt a shiver of cold race up his spine, and he almost dropped the stone only for the smoky hand to shoot forward and catch it.

Cassian froze. The Master had caught it with his own hand. His master could not touch anything because he was only in smoke form. To touch something, he needed a vessel. Which was usually him.

"Master... this..."

The Master’s tone carried clear pleasure as he said, "It is a Voidstone with a core."

"A Voidstone with a core!"

Cassian’s eyes widened as he heard the name. A Voidstone was not just any normal stone.

It wasn’t the hollow, drained kind that the witches sometimes used for curses or sealing spells. This one had a core.

And as Cassian watched, the smoky hand around the stone began to thicken, lines forming, as if the stone was pulling the shadows into shape—building a body around the smoke.

He remembered whatever he knew about it. A Voidstone core was rare. Nearly impossible to obtain. The last known seemed to have vanished centuries ago. The power inside them was unstable, and if not handled carefully, it could destroy the one who tried to use it.

But for someone like the Dark Master... whom the Voidstone was seemed to be giving a solid body to the master.

Cassian swallowed. The Master’s silence said everything-he was pleased.

Cassian swallowed. The Master’s silence said everything—he was pleased.

The smoky figure shifted, the half-formed hand tightening around the Voidstone as if testing the strength it now held. Then the Master spoke again, his voice deeper and more solid than before.

"Is there anything else in the box?"

Cassian blinked and forced himself to look back down. His hands were still trembling slightly from the shock of seeing the Master hold something without using him as a vessel. He pushed aside the rest of the cloth and felt something stiff under it.

"There is... something else," he said quietly.

He lifted the last layer of cloth and found a sealed note tucked neatly beneath it.

Cassian frowned and reached toward it, wanting to check what it contained. But before he could even touch the seal, a low voice cut through the air. "Give it to me."

Cassian froze. The command wasn’t loud, but it held weight. More weight than before. As if the master was being possessive.

The smoky hand that had once been shapeless now carried clearer form—long fingers, a faint outline of knuckles, the shape of a palm. Still dark, still shifting like shadow, but unmistakably closer to human.

Cassian hesitated only for a moment before placing the sealed note into the Master’s half-formed hand.

The shadows tightened around the paper with surprising steadiness, holding it as if the hand was no longer made of smoke at all. And whatever the letter contained seemed to amuse the master no end as he laughed out loud.

Cassian shivered as the sound and watched as something was conjured out of thin air and then placed in the box. "Take this to the Stormhold Pack. As a gift to Emira. Her Bride Price.