SERA'S POV
I wake up screaming.
Nova's hands are on my shoulders, shaking me. Sera! Sera, breathe!
The black mark. I claw at my chest, expecting to feel that dark crack spreading across my skin. But there's nothing there. Just smooth skin and the hollow ache where my mate bond used to be.
It was real, I gasp. I saw it something black, spreading
You passed out, Nova says gently. You've been unconscious for hours. The bond breaking... it was too much for your body.
I touch my chest again. No mark. But I saw it. I felt it.
It was just stress, Nova continues. Your mind playing tricks.
But I don't believe her. Something happened. Something changed inside me when that bond snapped.
Morning light streams through my window. A whole night has passed. The celebration must be over now.
I should go, I whisper.
Go where? Nova asks, and I hate that she's right.
I have nowhere. No family. No money. This pack is all I have.
I'm trapped.
Three days later, I see them together for the first time.
I'm walking to the pack kitchen to help prepare meals the only job they'll give me now. Kade and Vivian are in the main square, talking with pack elders.
Vivian is laughing at something Kade said. She touches his arm. He smiles down at her.
My chest burns, but not from the bond. The bond is dead. This is just... pain. Pure, simple pain.
Kade's eyes flick to me for half a second. He looks away immediately, like I'm something that hurts to see.
Vivian notices. Her smile grows wider. She leans closer to Kade, making sure I see her whisper in his ear.
I force my feet to keep moving. Head down. Invisible.
Poor thing, someone whispers as I pass.
She should leave, another voice says. It's embarrassing watching her stay.
But where would I go?
The weeks crawl by like years.
Every day, I watch the pack prepare for Kade and Vivian's mating ceremony. Decorations go up. Invitations get sent out. Everyone is excited.
I keep my head down and work. Kitchen duty. Cleaning. Whatever jobs no one else wants.
The pack treats me differently now. Some look at me with pity. Most just pretend I don't exist. I've become a ghost in my own home.
The worst part? My wolf is disappearing.
Luna used to be small but bright inside my mind. Now she's barely there. When I try to shift, nothing happens. My wolf won't come.
She's grieving, Nova explains. The bond breaking hurt her too.
But I think it's more than that. I think Luna is dying. And if she dies, I'll be nothing. Not even a real wolf anymore.
One morning, I see moving trucks outside the Alpha house. Kade's house. The house that was supposed to be our house.
Vivian is moving in.
I watch from a distance as she directs workers carrying boxes and furniture. She looks so comfortable, so right standing there. Like she was always meant to be Luna.
Maybe she was. Maybe the Moon Goddess made a mistake with me.
You need to leave this pack, Nova says that night. She's sitting on my bed, watching me stare at the ceiling. This is killing you, Sera.
I can't.
Why not?
Because... I can't finish. Because I'm too scared? Too broken? Too worthless to survive anywhere else?
You're stronger than this, Nova insists.
But I'm not. Everyone knows it. Kade knew it. That's why he rejected me.
Two months pass.
I've perfected the art of being invisible. I know which paths to take to avoid seeing Kade. Which times to go to the kitchen when Vivian won't be there. How to make myself so small that people forget I exist.
My wolf is almost completely silent now. I haven't shifted in weeks.
Then the announcement comes.
I'm scrubbing floors in the pack house when Vivian's heels click across the stone toward me. I don't look up.
Sera. Her voice is sweet as poisoned honey.
I keep scrubbing.
Look at me when I'm talking to you.
I slowly sit back on my heels and raise my eyes. Vivian stands above me, perfect and powerful. The future Luna. Everything I'm not.
The Alpha Summit is in two weeks, she says with a bright smile. All pack members must attend. It's pack law.
My stomach drops. The Alpha Summit. Where all the regional packs gather. Where Kade will present Vivian as his Luna to everyone.
I'm sure I'm not needed I start.
Oh, but Kade insists you come, Vivian interrupts, and her smile turns cruel. He wants everyone to see how happy we are together. It's important for pack unity, you understand.
She wants to parade me around. Show everyone that she won. That I lost.
Of course, I whisper, because what choice do I have?
Vivian's smile widens. Wonderful. We leave in two weeks. Do try to make yourself presentable. Her eyes rake over me with disgust. Though I suppose there's only so much you can do.
She walks away, her laughter echoing.
I go back to scrubbing, but my hands are shaking so badly I can barely hold the brush.
That night, I stand in front of my small bathroom mirror. Really look at myself for the first time in weeks.
I don't recognize the girl staring back.
Hollow eyes. Thin face. Shoulders hunched like I'm trying to disappear into myself. My hair is dull. My skin is pale. I look half-dead.
When did I become this?
I touch the mirror, and the girl touches back.
Luna? I whisper, calling for my wolf.
Silence.
Please, I beg. Please don't leave me too.
Nothing.
I'm alone. Completely, utterly alone.
A sound escapes my throat half sob, half laugh. Two weeks. I have two weeks before I have to watch Kade claim Vivian in front of hundreds of wolves. Two weeks before I'm humiliated on the biggest stage possible.
I should run. Just disappear into the night and never come back.
But I can't. I'm too broken. Too weak. Too worthless.
I turn away from the mirror
And freeze.
There, on my chest, right over my heart. Faint but visible in the dim light.
The black mark is back.
It pulses once, like a second heartbeat.
Then my wolf's voice Luna's voice speaks in my mind for the first time in weeks.
But it doesn't sound like Luna anymore.
They want to break you, the voice growls, dark and ancient and nothing like my gentle wolf. Let them try.
My reflection's eyes flash silver in the mirror.
What is happening to me?