Teya's POV
I closed my eyes and smiled, my heart fluttering wildly in my chest like a frantic bird.
The moment the lights in the hotel's presidential suite went out, I knew it was him—Jason—my savior, my friend, my everything.
A sweet hint of chocolate drifted through the darkness almost instantly. I inhaled deeply, my smile stretching even wider. Chocolate cake—my favorite.
"Happy birthday, baby!" Jason's low, velvety voice made my heart skip a beat, but I still didn't dare open my eyes.
"Come on—make a wish and blow out the candles."
I clasped my hands together, silently calling out to the Moon Goddess in my mind.
'Please, let this happiness never end. Let Jason and me be together forever.'
When I finally opened my eyes, I blew out the candles, my cheeks aching from how long I'd been smiling.
"What did you wish for?" Jason asked playfully, setting the cake on the glass table.
"Can't tell you!" I pouted. "It won't come true."
"What if I pay you for it?" he murmured, leaning in so close our faces nearly brushed.
His musky scent wrapped around me like a warm, invisible veil, leaving me breathless. He tilted my chin up between his fingers, pulling me closer until his hot breath skimmed my lips with sinful desire.
"And what," I barely managed, voice trembling, "are you planning to offer me for that?"
"How about this?"
He didn't give me a chance to think. With a hungry, almost predatory urgency, his lips claimed mine, devouring them with undeniable passion.
My mind reeled, sending my soul soaring straight to the Moon. If I had a wolf, I was certain her eager purring would have filled my head, leaving no room at all for reason.
But it didn't matter.
Today was the day—despite the intoxicating fog already clouding my senses, one truth remained painfully clear.
Today was my twenty-fourth birthday, and judging by the hidden ring box I had stumbled upon in Jason's room, he was going to propose.
He was going to ask me to be his mate.
He was going to ask me to be his Luna.
Suddenly, the world chilled in an instant. Jason's lips tore from mine with a sharp, almost cruel pull as his phone erupted with a familiar ringtone.
He had several phones, each tied to a different facet of his life. This one—the one currently ringing between us—was for his dealings with the Silver Claw pack. And the caller was his Beta, Milton.
"What is it?" Jason snapped, irritation roughening his voice. "Make it quick."
He shot me an apologetic look and brushed his fingers gently across my cheek.
"Alpha Dunn," Milton began, his voice tight with unease. "It's code Camelia."
'Code Camelia?' I repeated silently, my gaze flicking to Jason's face—now drained of color. A shard of worry pierced through me. Was it something bad?
"Teya," he said coolly, covering the phone with his hand as he rose to his feet. "I need to take this—it's important."
I nodded, though my heartbeat skittered with a dozen tangled emotions. If Milton was calling out of nowhere and using coded language, it had to be pack-related. But what could have happened so suddenly?
Unease curling in my stomach, I slipped off my seat and quietly tiptoed toward the bedroom door, pressing my ear to the cold wooden surface.
I wasn't the type to eavesdrop, but I couldn't stop myself. As the future Luna of Silver Claw, I needed to stay informed—whether Jason liked it or not.
"Are you sure?" Jason's voice was muffled through the door, but I could still make out his words.
"How is her condition? Has the doctor examined her already? … Alright, I'm leaving now. I'll be there as soon as I can."
I jerked back and hurried back to the living room, my heartbeat thundering in my ears. Jason came out moments later, his expression unreadable, but his aura—unlike it had been minutes before—felt as cold as a winter storm.
"I'm sorry, Teya, but I have to go," he said, his voice stripped of emotion as he pulled his jacket over his broad shoulders. "Something urgent came up. I'm sorry."
I didn't even get the chance to respond. Jason stormed out of the suite faster than my mind could process what had just happened.
And just like that, I was left completely alone in the dark, empty hotel room.
"Will he come back tonight? Should I wait for him here… or return to the mansion?"
I felt foolish for even asking myself those questions aloud. If it was a pack matter, there was no point in waiting—but still…
Slowly, the cogs in my mind began to turn, the broken pieces of the puzzle grinding together into an ugly, unmistakable picture.
Her condition. The doctor. Code Camelia.
"No… no way."
Camelia was the second name of my sister, Dana Willow—the bane of my existence, the curse that clung to me no matter how far I ran.
It was the name of her wolf.
When I was fifteen, my father—the Alpha of the Dark Wood pack—brought home a girl named Dana, and my world shattered in an instant.
We had been switched at birth. While I'd spent my entire life believing I was the rightful heiress of the Willow family, I had been nothing but an impostor—a mistake that never should have existed.
When Dana's wolf awakened, my father felt a strange pull, something instinctive and unmistakable, and it led him straight to the rogue orphanage where he found her… the real daughter.
She was the true one.
And she returned like a deadly tempest, intent on erasing every trace of my fragile existence.
For three long, agonizing years, she tormented both my body and soul—as if punishing me for usurping her place, for living a life that had been rightfully hers.
She hit me, scorched my skin with boiling water, forced me to eat insects and worms, stripped me naked and recorded videos on her phone, threatening to post them online or send them to everyone she knew.
Hot iron. Leather lashes. Barbed wire.
Whenever Dana thought of a new, twisted way to hurt me, she carried it out without a flicker of hesitation.
And I endured it all.
Because I had nothing left. No one left. Not even a wolf to protect me.
I was a wolfless orphan who had spent fifteen years living a life that wasn't mine.
And it seemed I was destined to pay for that mistake for the rest of my days.
"Dana woke up from the coma," I whispered internally, the thought leaving a bitter taste on my tongue. "My executioner is back."