Sera's POV
"Maya?" The name rips from my throat. "No. You're wrong. Maya would never—"
"Look at her." Rowan's voice cuts like steel. "Look at her face right now and tell me I'm wrong."
I spin around, searching the crowd. My heart hammers against my ribs so hard it hurts.
Maya stands near the refreshment table, holding a crystal glass filled with dark red wine. Her hand trembles. Her eyes dart between me and the exit like a trapped animal.
When our gazes meet, her face crumbles.
Guilt. Pure, raw guilt.
"No," I breathe. My chest caves in. "Maya, no."
She drops the glass. It shatters on the floor, wine spreading like blood across the white marble. Then she runs.
"Stop her!" Rowan commands.
But Maya is fast. She weaves through the crowd, shoving wolves aside. Several guards try to grab her, but she ducks under their arms and bolts toward the side door.
I move without thinking. My legs pump beneath me, chasing after the girl I thought was my best friend. The girl I trusted with everything.
The girl who just tried to murder me.
Sera, wait! Luna shouts in my mind. It could be a trap!
I don't care. I need answers. I need to understand why.
I burst through the side door into a hallway. Maya is already halfway down it, her shoes clicking frantically on the stone floor.
"Maya, stop!" I scream. "Please!"
She doesn't stop. She doesn't even slow down.
I push myself harder, my lungs burning. I'm gaining on her. Just a little farther—
Maya slams through another door that leads outside. I follow her into the gardens behind the palace.
Moonlight floods the space, turning everything silver. Maya stumbles on the gravel path and falls to her knees.
I skid to a stop a few feet away, gasping for breath.
"Why?" My voice breaks. "Why would you try to kill me?"
Maya stays on the ground, her shoulders shaking. When she looks up, tears stream down her face.
"I'm sorry," she sobs. "I'm so, so sorry, Sera. I didn't want to. I swear I didn't want to!"
"Then why did you?" I take a step closer. My hands ball into fists. "I trusted you! You were my best friend!"
"I had no choice!" Maya scrambles to her feet. "They said they'd kill my little brother! They said if I didn't do it, they'd hunt down my family and slaughter them all!"
The words hit me like a slap. "They? Who's they?"
"I don't know!" Maya's voice rises to a shriek. "I never saw their faces! They wore masks and used magic to disguise their voices! But they knew everything about me, Sera. They knew about my brother's sickness. They knew my parents are in debt. They knew I'd do anything to protect them!"
My mind races. Someone powerful enough to threaten Maya's family. Someone who wants me dead badly enough to blackmail my best friend into poisoning me.
"When did they contact you?" I demand.
"Two weeks ago." Maya wipes her face with shaking hands. "They gave me the poison and told me to put it in your drink at the Moon Dance. They said it would look like you just got sick. Nobody would suspect murder."
Two weeks ago. But I only came back to the past today. Which means in my original timeline, Maya poisoned me then too.
And I never knew. I died thinking my best friend loved me.
The betrayal stabs deeper than any knife.
"You could have told me!" I shout. "You could have warned me instead of trying to kill me!"
"They said if I told anyone, they'd know!" Maya takes a step toward me, her hands reaching out. "Please, Sera. You have to believe me. I never wanted to hurt you. I was trying to protect my family!"
"By murdering me?" My voice turns cold. "That's not protection, Maya. That's cowardice."
Maya flinches like I hit her. "I know. You're right. I'm a coward and a monster and I deserve to die for what I did." She pulls something from her pocket—a small vial filled with dark liquid. "This is the same poison I put in your drink. I'll drink it right now. I'll prove I'm sorry. Please, just promise me you'll protect my brother after I'm gone."
"Don't!" I lunge forward, but I'm too far away.
Maya uncorks the vial and raises it to her lips.
An arrow slams into her hand.
Maya screams. The vial flies from her grip and shatters on the ground. She clutches her bleeding hand to her chest, staring at the arrow lodged through her palm.
I whirl around.
Rowan steps out of the shadows, a bow in his hands. His silver eyes glow with fury behind the golden mask.
"Nobody dies tonight," he says quietly. Too quietly. "Not until we find out who's pulling the strings."
Maya collapses, sobbing and cradling her injured hand. Blood drips onto the white gravel.
Rowan walks past me and kneels beside Maya. He grabs her chin, forcing her to look at him.
"Who hired you?" he demands.
"I told you, I don't know!" Maya cries. "They wore masks!"
"Describe the masks."
"I-I can't remember—"
Rowan's grip tightens. "Try harder."
"Silver!" Maya gasps. "The masks were silver, shaped like wolves. And they had a symbol on the forehead—a moon with a dagger through it."
I go cold. That symbol. I've seen it before, but I can't remember where.
Rowan releases Maya and stands. "The Silver Chain Hunters."
"The what?" I ask.
"An ancient organization that hunts supernatural creatures they consider abominations." Rowan's voice darkens. "They've been dormant for decades. If they're active again, targeting you specifically, then something much bigger is happening."
My head spins. "Why would they want me dead? I'm nobody special."
Rowan turns to look at me. Even with the mask hiding most of his face, I can see the sadness in his eyes.
"You're not nobody, Sera. You're moon-blessed. Your mother was one of the last pure-blood moon witches, and her power passed to you." He moves closer. "That's why your wolf was locked away. Someone was trying to hide what you are. But it didn't work. The Silver Chain Hunters found you anyway."
Moon-blessed. Moon witch. The words swirl in my brain, making no sense.
"I don't have any special powers," I protest. "I can't even shift!"
"Because someone bound your magic when you were a child." Rowan reaches out like he wants to touch me, then stops. "I've spent ten years searching for answers. Ten years trying to figure out how to free you. And now that you're finally waking up, someone's trying to kill you before you can reach your full power."
"Wake up? What are you talking about?"
Before Rowan can answer, Maya gasps. "Behind you!"
I spin around.
Three figures emerge from the darkness. They wear silver wolf masks, exactly like Maya described. Black cloaks hide their bodies. And each one holds a weapon—crossbows loaded with silver-tipped arrows.
"Sera Moonwhisper," the center figure says. The voice is distorted, impossible to identify. "You've caused us quite a bit of trouble by coming back from the dead. We made sure you died in your first timeline. Now we'll have to kill you again."
First timeline. They know. They know I died and came back.
"How?" I breathe.
"The Silver Chain has eyes everywhere." The figure raises their crossbow, aiming directly at my heart. "This time, we won't fail. This time, you stay dead."
They pull the trigger.
Rowan moves faster than my eyes can track. He throws himself in front of me just as the arrow flies.
The silver tip buries itself in his shoulder.
Rowan grunts in pain but doesn't fall. Instead, something terrifying happens.
His body begins to change. Bones crack. Muscles expand. His clothes rip as his frame grows larger, more powerful.
The golden mask falls away.
And I see his face clearly for the first time in ten years.
Rowan. My Rowan. The boy who made me flower crowns and promised he'd always protect me.
But he's not just Rowan anymore.
His eyes glow pure silver. Fangs extend from his mouth. His hands shift into massive claws.
He's transforming into his lycan form.
And the rage on his face promises death to anyone who threatens me.
"You tried to kill my mate," Rowan snarls. His voice deepens, becoming more beast than man. "Big mistake."
The hunters fire again. All three arrows fly toward us.
Rowan roars.
The sound shakes the ground beneath my feet. Power explodes from him in waves, and the arrows freeze mid-air before clattering harmlessly to the ground.
The hunters stumble backward.
"Run," one of them says.
They disappear into the darkness, moving with supernatural speed.
Rowan starts to chase them, but I grab his arm. "Wait!"
He turns to me, his lycan form still half-emerged. He looks terrifying and beautiful and completely inhuman.
But his eyes. His eyes are still Rowan's.
"You're hurt," I say, looking at the arrow in his shoulder.
"I'm fine." He reaches up and yanks the arrow out without even flinching. Blood pours from the wound, but it's already starting to heal. "We need to go back inside. Now."
"Why?"
"Because Alpha Killian is about to announce your engagement to the entire ballroom."
My blood runs cold. "What?"
"He's not asking you anymore, Sera. He's telling everyone you already said yes."
No. No, no, no!
I run back toward the palace. Rowan and Maya follow close behind.
We burst through the side door and race down the hallway. Music still plays in the ballroom. Voices murmur and laugh.
Everything sounds normal.
But when I crash through the ballroom doors, I see Killian standing on the raised platform. Every wolf in the room faces him, listening.
"—which is why I'm honored to announce," Killian says, his voice carrying across the space, "that Sera Moonwhisper has agreed to become my chosen mate and Luna of the Northern Pack!"
The crowd erupts in applause.
Grandmother beams with pride.
Everyone thinks I said yes.
My hands shake. This is it. The moment everything went wrong in my first life.
But I'm not that scared girl anymore.
I died once. I'm not afraid of anything now.
I push through the crowd toward the platform. Wolves part for me, confused by the look on my face.
Killian sees me coming. His smile widens, smug and satisfied.
He thinks he's won.
I climb the steps onto the platform. The entire room goes quiet.
Killian reaches for my hand. "There's my beautiful—"
"No."
The word comes out strong and clear.
Killian blinks. "What?"
"I said no." I raise my voice so everyone can hear. "I never agreed to be your mate. You're lying."
Gasps ripple through the crowd.
Killian's face turns dark red. "Sera—"
"I reject you, Alpha Killian Frost." My voice doesn't shake. "I reject your proposal. I reject your pack. I reject everything about you."
The ballroom explodes in shocked whispers.
Killian grabs my wrist, his fingers crushing bone. "You stupid girl. Do you have any idea what you just did?"
"Let her go."
The voice booms through the ballroom like thunder.
Rowan strides through the crowd, his silver eyes blazing. Blood still drips from his shoulder, and his torn clothes reveal the massive muscles underneath.
He looks like death walking.
"She's already chosen someone else," Rowan says. "Me."