The Alpha King stopped smiling when twenty-three rejected Omegas walked into his mating ball wearing ribbons that were supposed to mean they had been forgotten.

The storm hit Iron Ridge with violent fury.

Thick sheets of icy rain turned the narrow mountain paths into slick, deadly mud. At the foot of the massive iron fortress, Nathaniel’s royal army stood in grand formation, their banners tearing in the wind. Torches flickered along the battlements of Iron Ridge, where hundreds of heavily armed mercenaries and Crimson Pack warriors stood watch, their cruel laughter echoing off the stone walls.

High on the central tower, Lord Malakor stood beside a young woman dressed in blood-red armor. Lady Lyra Pike possessed her mother’s sharp, cruel features, her dark eyes glittering with cold malice as she looked down at the royal forces.

"Look at him!" Malakor sneered, gesturing toward Nathaniel, who sat atop his massive black warhorse at the front of the line. "The great Alpha King comes to beg for grain!"

"He brought his army, but he left his precious witch in the capital," Lyra said softly, twirling a long silver dagger between her fingers. "A pity. I wanted to cut that silver mark straight off her skin."

"Let him attack the gate!" Malakor laughed. "The iron doors are three feet thick, reinforced with dark steel. He will break his swords against our walls until his men freeze to death!"

Down below, Nathaniel raised his broadsword high into the stormy sky.

"FOR THE SILVER REALM!" Nathaniel roared, his voice booming over the sound of thunder.

"FOR THE KING!" the royal army shouted back, advancing toward the fortress with heavy shield walls, catapults firing massive stones against the outer ramparts.

While the battle raged violently at the front gates, five shadow figures moved silently through the narrow rock crevices at the rear of Iron Ridge.

Grace led the way, wrapped in dark leather armor, a black wool cloak damp with rain. Beside her was Maya, one of the twenty-three Omegas who had been born in Iron Ridge before being dragged away to Moon Hall years ago.

"The old air shaft is right through here," Maya whispered, prying away a tangle of dead thorny vines covering a small iron grate set into the base of the mountain wall. "It leads directly into the lower furnace rooms. My father worked the smelters here before Malakor executed him."

Grace pulled out a small iron tool, deftly picking the rusted lock of the grate. With a soft click, the heavy iron door swung open, revealing a dark, tight tunnel smelling heavily of sulfur and old dust.

"Keep your blades quiet," Grace instructed the four women behind her. "Our objective is simple: reach the primary granary, secure the food supply from poison, and blow the main gate mechanisms from the guard tower."

"And what about Lyra and Malakor?" asked Eleanor, another Omega whose family had been ruined by House Pike.