Defy The Alpha(s)

Chapter 536: The Mnemosyne Crown

Ace’s mouth went dry, but he continued reading especially when it came to to the risk part.

Werewolf Physiology:Lupine cortex rebound; scent-blindness (temporary to permanent); dissociation; split-shift episodes; blackouts; aggression spikes. Outcome for human Physiology: brain-dead risk at moderate amplitudes.

Notes:Werewolf neuro-regeneration reduces catastrophic failure probability. Memory "bleed" into adjacent non-target recall clusters expected; can be managed post-procedure with guided re-imprinting.

Ace set the paper down slowly, as if any sudden movements might set off whatever trap he’d just walked into. He tore his eyes from the text and scanned the table and there he saw it.

It was exactly like the sketch. A crown of matte metal and braided leads, petals of mesh overlapping like armored leaves.

The Mnemosyne Crown.

"What are you doing?"

Ace froze and turned slowly. His mother Zara stood in the doorway. The mark on her throat was fading, but the bruise was still there, covered with salve. The herbal scent drifted with her, but her eyes were sharp and cold.

Her gaze slid from Ace’s face to the Mnemosyne Crown in his hands and the temperature in the room seemed to drop.

She crossed the lab in three clean strides and plucked it from his grip. "Who told you to intrude on my work?"

"What are you doing, mother?" Ace snapped back, anger rising in his chest. He gestured to the spread of papers. "I saw the drawings and the diary. Don’t tell me you’re going to put that thing on him."

down with more care than she’d

what your brother did out there," she said, closing the diary. "Do you think he’s in

dragged him home? He said you betrayed him. What did you do

the curiosity was eating him from

in the eyes. She stepped forward and he stepped back unconsciously. "What any mother in

He had heard about his brother dating her

be mated to her," Zara said flatly. "Despite the fact that she already has a mate. Not just one but two. He

didn’t

impossible to get a Matebond these days. Having two, that was pretty wild and incredibly

make sense. It’s

for him. "She’s feeding my son with nonsense and I would

said, dragging air into his lungs, "he’s confused. And given time, Alaric will come

saw it. That girl has her claws deeper in him than you want to admit. What will she ask him to do next? To finish the job by

paranoid," Ace said before he could stop

head snapped toward him. "Do not tell me

swallowed

lattice. The lupine cortex wraps the hippocampus. You start damping CA1 and DG

black out and wake up covered in someone else’s blood. You interrupt scent-triggered reactivation, you’re not just targeting her, you’re

track—the where, the when, the faces—and leave the procedural memory intact. He will still know how to shift, how to fight,

"You’re saying you would rather