Nora's POV
The bruise on my ribs throbs with every breath, but I keep my face blank. Pain is nothing new. Neither is wearing someone else's clothes, this shapeless gray dress belongs to my stepsister, handed down after she ripped the hem and declared it trash.
Still better than the rags Lyanna lets me keep.
I stand at the back of the ceremony grounds, watching hundreds of wolves gather under the full moon. They're all here for the same reason: to find their fated mate. The air buzzes with excitement, nervous laughter, and whispered hopes.
I just want to survive the night.
Look at her, Cassandra hisses behind me, my youngest stepsister, cruel like our stepmother. Standing there like she actually has a chance. Who'd want damaged goods?
Her sister Vera giggles. Maybe a rogue with low standards.
I don't turn around. Don't react. Lyanna taught me early that fighting back only makes the beatings worse. Instead, I focus on breathing through the pain in my ribs and praying to the Moon Goddess for one thing:
Anyone. Please send me anyone who'll take me away from them.
The Mating Ceremony happens four times a year in the Neutral Grounds—the only place where Nightshade Pack and Silverclaw Pack can meet without starting a war. Tonight, the full moon hangs huge and silver above us, casting everything in ghostly light.
At the front of the crowd, I see them.
The Blackwood twins.
Even from this distance, they're impossible to miss. Alpha Kael Blackwood stands with the Nightshade wolves on the left side—tall, powerful, radiating the kind of authority that makes weaker wolves drop their eyes. His face is hard, emotionless, like he's carved from ice.
Alpha Dane Blackwood leads the Silverclaw Pack on the right—identical to his brother but somehow completely different. Where Kael looks cold, Dane looks warm. Where Kael seems distant, Dane smiles and talks easily with his wolves.
They haven't spoken to each other in three years. Everyone knows the Blackwood twins hate each other. The civil war that split their family twenty years ago destroyed whatever bond they once had.
Now they rule separate packs and pretend the other doesn't exist.
The Moon Priestess raises her hands, and the crowd falls silent.
Unmated wolves, she calls out, her voice carrying across the grounds. Step forward into the sacred circle. Let the Moon Goddess reveal your destined mate.
Around me, wolves move toward the center—excited, hopeful, ready. I stay frozen in place, fear warring with desperate hope.
Go. Mira appears at my elbow, my only friend, an omega who works in the packhouse kitchens with me. She's small but fierce, and right now she's looking at me with total determination. This is your chance, Nora. Don't waste it.
What if no on
Then nothing changes. But what if someone does? She pushes me gently. Be brave.
I take a shaky breath and step forward.
The crowd parts around me like I'm diseased. I hear whispers—the Ashwood orphan, the servant girl, why is she even here?—but I keep walking. One foot in front of the other until I'm standing in the sacred circle with two dozen other unmated wolves.
The Moon Priestess begins chanting in the old language. Magic rises around us, silver and shimmering, and my skin starts to tingle.
This is it. The moment that will change everything or leave me exactly where I've always been.
Worthless. Unwanted. Alone.
The tingling becomes burning. My chest feels tight, like something is trying to claw its way out from inside. Around me, other wolves gasp as golden threads begin to appear—mate bonds forming, connecting souls across the distance.
I wait for my thread to appear. One single connection to someone who might want me.
Instead, my entire body EXPLODES.
Power erupts from my chest in a blast that knocks me to my knees. Twin golden threads shoot from my heart in opposite directions—thick, blazing, impossible to miss. They arc across the ceremony grounds like lightning, wrapping around two targets with violent finality.
One thread connects to Alpha Kael Blackwood.
The other connects to Alpha Dane Blackwood.
The silence that follows is absolute and terrifying.
Every wolf in the ceremony grounds feels it—the pressure of mate bonds forming, the surge of ancient magic, the impossible reality of what just happened. Twin golden threads glow between me and both Blackwood alphas, visible to every single witness.
I'm bonded to both of them.
No, someone whispers. That's not possible.
But it is. The threads pulse with my heartbeat, burning hot where they anchor in my chest. Through them, I feel EVERYTHING—two separate wolves, two different souls, both suddenly and completely connected to me.
Kael's emotions hit me first: shock, then possessive fury so intense it steals my breath. His eyes blaze silver as his wolf surges forward.
MINE! His roar shakes the ground.
Dane's emotions are different but equally overwhelming: surprise, fierce protectiveness, and hunger that makes my skin flush hot. His eyes flash gold.
OURS! he corrects, his voice carrying across the silent crowd.
Both alphas move at the same time—stalking toward me from opposite sides of the ceremony grounds. Their power presses down on everyone, two alpha auras flaring with territorial rage that makes lesser wolves drop to the ground in submission.
I try to stand, but my legs won't work. The double bond has left me weak, shaking, completely vulnerable as both alphas advance on me like predators.
The crowd scatters out of their path.
Abomination! The word cracks through the air like a whip. Elder Magda steps forward, her wrinkled face twisted with horror. Twin bond! This is FORBIDDEN by ancient law!
Kael reaches me first. His hand cups my face with shocking gentleness despite the fury blazing in his eyes. The contact sends sparks racing across my skin, the bond singing with recognition.
You're mine, he growls, his voice rough and possessive. I don't care what the law says.
She's connected to both of us, brother. Dane kneels on my other side, his touch on my shoulder equally electric. The bond flares brighter, feeding off their proximity. That means something.
Don't call me that, Kael snaps, but he doesn't move his hand from my face.
I'm trapped between them—two identical alphas who hate each other but are both staking claim on me through bonds I don't understand. The threads pulse between us, golden and unbreakable, tying me to both of them in ways that feel permanent.
Terrifying.
Right.
The law is clear! Elder Magda's voice rises. Twin bonds are abominations that lead to civil war! They are FORBIDDEN!
Then change the law, Dane says smoothly, though his hand tightens on my shoulder.
The law exists for a reason. Magda's eyes are cold. Twin bonds destroy packs. They must be severed.
No. Kael's grip on my face becomes protective. She's mine.
She's ours, Dane corrects again.
She is an ABOMINATION! Magda shouts. And the law demands she choose!
The words fall like a death sentence.
Choose.
One mate. One bond. One alpha.
And the other...
What happens to the rejected mate? My voice comes out broken and small.
Magda's smile is cruel. The severed bond will destroy him from within. Slowly. Painfully. He will die screaming as his wolf tears him apart.
Horror floods through me. The bonds pulse in my chest, both equally strong, both absolutely vital. I can't imagine cutting either one.
Kael's hand trembles against my face. Dane's fingers dig into my shoulder. Through the bonds, I feel their emotions—fury, possession, and underneath it all, fear.
They're terrified of losing this. Of losing me.
You have thirty days, Elder Magda declares. Choose one mate and sever the other bond. Or the Council will choose for you, and BOTH alphas will die.
The crowd erupts in chaos—wolves shouting, arguing, backing away from me like I'm cursed. My stepmother's voice cuts through the noise: I always knew there was something WRONG with that girl!
But I barely hear them. All I can focus on is the two alphas kneeling on either side of me, their hands still touching me, their eyes blazing with territorial fury.
Choose one.
Kill the other.
Thirty days.
Emergency Council session, Elder Magda announces, her voice final and absolute. NOW.
Guards move forward to separate us. Kael snarls at them, his wolf barely contained. Dane rises smoothly but his smile is pure threat.
As they drag me toward the Council building, I look back at the Blackwood twins.
They're staring at each other across the distance—identical faces, mirror images, brothers who became enemies. But the twin golden threads connecting them both to me pulse with undeniable truth.
The Moon Goddess chose me for both of them.
And in thirty days, I have to choose which one dies