~LAIA~

Around me, the chatter swells, laughter, songs, parents cheering, friends shouting as they celebrate their children and mates.

Their happiness mocks me.

While they feast, I wait. Arms wrapped around myself, I stand on the outskirts of the party, half consumed by the dark. That's what I've always done. Living in the Pack as charity since our parents died means I eat last, always on the sidelines, hoping there's enough left to keep Liam and me going.

Wolves who accidentally stumble into my corner, lose their smiles, and walk around me leaving a wide distance between us.

The elders left the celebration long ago. One long look from Cael and any of them who'd looked at me at all, left without saying a word.

Cael... The agonizing pain I feel is like a knife stabbing right into my chest. My heart won't stop thrumming, each beat a cruel reminder that the pain is still there and here to stay.

A useless thing. The heart is the most useless organ of all. I should rip it out and destroy it right in front of me, just to end this ache.

Soon, the long-awaited moment is here. The celebration is over, and even the young wolves who always party the longest drift back to their houses.

I've been scanning the tables. What's left staring at me is a single mostly-empty pot of noodles.

I walk down to it, sink onto the ground, and scrape the bottom clean, coaxing the last bits into my container. I brush off the dirt and wet yellow grass from the container and sigh at myself. I couldn't stand in line for the Moon Ritual holding a food container, could I? So it went under a bush and now Liam is going to wrinkle his nose if he notices it.

The meat is gone. The vegetables are gone. Even the dessert is gone. All that's left are scraps. I don't have time to mourn for a mate who can't be mine, I need to feed Liam.

I wish there was some meat left. Liam needs protein.

"Laia?" A familiar voice startles me. I turn, and there he is, Cael, standing way too close, his face carrying emotions I can't even name.

Heat floods my cheeks. I want to disappear into the earth, my hands shaking almost enough to drop the precious food.. Of all the moments for him to catch me, it has to be while I'm scraping the bottom of a pot for scraps.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

And yet... my chest tightens. One word from him, one step closer, and my whole body betrays me.

Get a grip, Laia. This is the same damn man who threatened me to lie. I can't suddenly be imagining laughing in his arms as he peppers my face with small kisses, his own smile vibrant.....

A groan and a shuffle from the dark of the forest... Probably one of the newly mated couples that didn't even make it to their houses.

I shake my head like a wet dog dislodging the fantasy, and focus on my task of getting those last 3 noodles stuck to the bottom. This is not enough to feed Liam and me, and have leftovers.

"About earlier-" he starts, his blue eyes locking onto mine. For a second, I forget how to breathe. Then he finishes, voice low, "-meet me by the weeping willow. Two a.m."

It isn't a request. It's a command.

Without answering, I stomp my way past him and walk home fuming. Liam is curled on his small bed, snoring quietly. I sigh and cover his skinny shoulders with the old blanket.

I shouldn't go. I shouldn't f*cking see him again. But you know how curiosity keeps nagging at you, until resistance feels pointless?

I've lost count of the what if scenarios I've pictured in my head. What if he finally tells me why he forced me to lie? What if he wants to explain? What if, goddess help me, he wants me back?

Yeah, right? Delulu much? With Lysandra hanging off his arm, that door isn't just closed, it's locked, barred, and wrapped in thorns. I still remember their engagement feast. Liam got to eat a blueberry scone that day. I submitted my university application to 4 more colleges. Cael kissed Lysandra and laughed into her mouth when she said something.

And yet, by the last "what if", I realize my feet are already moving. It's 1:55 when I reach the weeping willow.

Waiting five minutes won't kill me... right?

I pace, counting steps like they'll calm me down. For f*ck's sake.

Out of the shadows, a figure appears. My lungs betray me, exhaling the breath I didn't even realize I was holding.

"Hi..." The word comes out of his mouth with his breath curling into the winter air. So quiet, almost a whisper in the dark forest. My mind blanks, and all I can do is stare. He actually came. It's just the two of us now, and suddenly I don't know what to do with my hands, my eyes, my entire existence.

"Hey..." My reply is so feeble I want to punch myself. F*ck. This isn't how it was supposed to be. I wasn't supposed to lose my guard, I wasn't supposed to stand here gawking.

The bond coils tight around me, eating me alive, and I swear he feels it too. It's in his eyes.

Cael was never the type to say much. He threatens and prefers silence, hides his emotions behind that hard exterior. But now? It's written all over him, stamped in the way he grits his molars, curls his fists, swallows like he's choking back words.

The silence stretches between us. And I can't think of a single damn thing to say.

I can't bring myself to tell him to look me in the face and tell me why he asked me to lie...

A howl splits the inside of my head. I close my eyes against the crushing headache=, and try to take small breaths. His scent envelops me, warm and masculine mixed in with the winter smells of the woods.

One step. Two steps. I move back, my heart pounding so hard it feels like it might crack my ribs. What's happening? What's...

My spine slams against the tree, no space left to retreat. "What's going on? I..."

I don't even finish, he is right in front of me, crowding me. His finger brushes my lips, silencing me.

"F*ck..." His voice is rough, low, dangerous. "I hate how much I think about you. I've been trying, trying so f*cking hard, to keep you out of my head. But you're everywhere. Your scent, your skin... these lips..." His gaze drops to my mouth. "All I can think about is what it would feel like to..."

His words scorch my skin. His breath ghosts across my face, and my eyes flutter shut on instinct. Goddess help me, I want to tell him I feel it too, the pull, the bond, the fire burning between us.

"No, I..." The protest dies in my throat as his mouth brushes against mine, cutting me off, silencing every thought. He pins me against the tree, his thigh finding its way to press between mine, lips claiming.

Cael is kissing me. Cael is kissing me. This isn't a dream.

My eyes squeeze tighter. Somehow, my fingers tangle in his hair, pulling him closer, hungrier. His kiss is fire, and my body answers with flames of its own, wild, reckless, desperate. His tongue licks at the seam of my lips, demanding entrance, and I...

The sudden snap of a twig yanks us back to reality. In a heartbeat, his body leaves mine letting the cold air rush at my face. My heart rockets into my throat.

Lysandra.

She's standing there, eyes blazing, fire, jealousy, fury, all tangled in one venomous stare. Panting I try to focus on reality and not the fact that Cael's hand is wrapped around my wrist. She's not alone. Beta and Gamma, her baby brothers, tower over her like two pillars on each side. I hate these guys. Her freaking minions.

Oh, f*ck me sideways. This is cheating, isn't it? She just caught her fiancé with me. Of all people. And Lysandra is the last person in this Pack I'd ever want to piss off.

Cael moves, stepping in front of me like a shield. Maybe it's to protect me, maybe it's instinct, but it only makes my stomach knot tighter.

"Take him away," Lysandra orders coolly. She doesn't even move a step closer. I have to give it to her, she's an Ice Queen. The girl has Cael on a tight leash, even I know that.

At once, two pairs of arms seize Cael. He snarls like a wild animal, teeth gritted, eyes locked on me as though letting go of me might kill him. It takes both of them to drag him back, his growls tearing through the night.

When he opens his mouth and I am hoping he'll command them to stop, Lysandra puts her delicate hand on his cheek and whispers intimately, as if they are alone, "Remember us..." She smiles at him like he's her whole world. His wild eyes dart to me for a second, before she speaks again, "Remember to control your beast around her. You could even harm her right now, in this state. Or worse - me. Let them take you away." She leans in and kisses him leaving pink lip gloss in the corner of his mouth. "I'll be there soon. I promise."

I stand among the dark trees watching this scene, with too many warring emotions to even know what the f*ck I am supposed to feel. And then they are gone.

I'm left alone with the devil herself, I'm expecting several acts of punishment, a slap, whipping, or maybe any form of hard punishment from her. Instead, she simply plucks a leaf from the skirt of her silk dress, her face smooth, her voice as cool as ice.

"Let me make some things clear..." she says, her predator's smile flashing in the moonlight

~LAIA~

Blue eyes lock on mine, I try to look away, but her gaze holds me hostage. She's not smiling now.

One step, deliberate and intimidating.

"You touched what's mine... and you know what that means, don't you?"

Lysander is a mastermind when it comes to punishment. Another step closer.

"But," she finally breathes, lips curling back into a soft smile, "I'll let this one slide."

I hold my breath. Lysander, of all people, seeing me kiss her man and letting it go?

No, I brace for whatever's to come next.My pulse is racing-fifty beats a second, at least.

"Mistakes can be made after all, right?" Her tone is silky, but her eyes pin me in place. "And you'll agree with me that it was a mistake... wasn't it?"

Her questioning gaze burns into mine, and I nod before my throat can even form words.

"You'll have to redeem that mistake," she continues smoothly, "by going to Alpha Damon's pack to do something for me quickly."

My breath seizes. Alpha Damon. Just the name sends a shiver ripping down my spine.

"You see, you'll need to get me something from there... ever heard of the Moon Relic?"

Someone tell me this is delulu, because the Moon Relic? It's just a damn myth. A bedtime story grandmothers tell pups.

Then it dawns on me. Goddess, she's just trying to get me killed. Liam...

"You'll leave at first light," her voice is nothing but serious. "Alpha Damon and his Faceless Pack has called for their tribute. You will join the Sacred Dozen."

The cold night air rushes into my lungs at the thought of the Sacred Dozen. Last time it happened I was younger than Liam and mom and dad kept me inside the house all day until the evil wolves were gone.

Twelve Wolves. Twelve bodies offered up every decade. The chosen never return.

"I can't go with them. Don't the elders arrange all this, months before the Faceless wolves even land in our port? And you can't send 13." Then I add, "Are you sending me instead of someone else?"

"Oh no worries." She waves a dismissive manicured hand. "Your name was sent a while ago. I have your back."

I am stunned into silence. This has nothing to do with Cael... and me. Inside my chest the bond thrums weakly like a tired bird in a small cage.

My throat tightens and I try again. "That's a death sentence," I stutter. My thoughts go to Liam, I can't just die on him. He's barely thirteen, and still too young to shift, too young to defend himself. He's the reason I endure everything. Fucking all of this pack.

"Or an opportunity." Her eyes cut back to mine, warning lights flashing behind them, no, not just a warning. A threat. "You're clever, Laia. I need clever. Think about Liam."

My teeth grind together as my fists curl, ready to swing. Liam did nothing wrong, his only crime is being my brother. And yet, every damn time, they drag him into their twisted games. Why the fuck is he always their favorite target?

"You'll keep him here?" My voice drops to a whisper, but it's not a question. It's a plea.

Lips curl into a slow, satisfied smile. "Of course. Safe under my protection. But safety has a price."

She takes two measured steps back, finally letting the air rush into my lungs.

"Legend calls the Moon Relic a myth," she says as if giving a lecture in a classroom, "but I don't buy legends that easily. I believe it exists. And I believe you will find it for me."

"And if I don't?" I force the words out. "If it doesn't exist..."

Her smile doesn't falter. "Laia. Laia. Laia. You do know me, don't you? Look at this pack. Look at Cael. He's in love with me. Soon I'll be Luna of this pack. I wouldn't send you to fetch something that doesn't exist." She steps closer, voice dripping with honey. "And your lovely brother, such a bright, careless boy, he's under my protection. It would be tragic if he lost his pack's favor, all the free education, a place to live... Mr. Thompson tells me Liam is exceptionally good in his math and science classes. What would a 13-year-old boy do if he got lost in the woods a mile away from that rogue camp one day? You wouldn't want that for him, would you?"

Only Lysander could hand me a death sentence and make me thank her for it.

I'm a puncher. Staring at her face, I can already map the perfect spot to strike, right under the jaw, hard enough to shut that smug mouth for good. Fuck me for having the skill and not being able to use it.

Ice from the cold evening courses through my veins.

"You're sending me as a spy?" I ask.

Her eyes light up like I finally get the drill.

"You see why I chose you. You're clever, and you'll make a fine thief." She leans in as if we're friends gossiping. "Bring me the Moon Relic, and I'll grant you both freedom. I'll pay for a new life in Bavaria, that quaint little town that accepted your university application. You'll study. You'll live like a human girl. No one will ever know where you came from. And you'll forget about all this and never say a word. Forever."

For one heartbeat my chest expands with oxygen filling me. Bavaria. I already see it: cobblestone streets, Liam's hand in mine, warm mornings that don't taste like fear.

I come back into the dark chilly forest we're standing in. I could grab Liam, and vanish into the night before the morning. But that would only complicate our lives further, turn us into hunted fugitives with nowhere safe to land. Or... I could step through this door she's cracked open. She's lost her mind with this Moon Relic thing, but maybe if I spy for her and give her enough useful information... Either way, she's not going to let me stay here. And she's definitely not going to let me get Liam and leave.

I'll either spy for her, or I'll find a way to get Liam and disappear.

My heart is racing so violently it feels like it's trying to claw out of my chest, pounding against my ribs as if it knows the weight of what I'm about to do.

I lift my chin and look straight at her, refusing to flinch. "I'll do it."

The two words leave my mouth like a death sentence. The second they're spoken, realization slams into me; I've just agreed to march into the fearsome Faceless Pack, slip past their wolves, and steal something that isn't supposed to exist from the most dangerous Alpha alive.

Oh, fuck it. Fuckity, fuck me sideways.

"Good girl." Her lips curve, spreading into a smile that chills me straight to the bone.

~Laia~

They say fate comes in different ways. Funny how mine shows up like a slow humiliating lineup. I'm being stacked with eleven others, blank faces, hollow eyes, and of course we're being sent to Redmoon. Twelve were taken, twelve must be redeemed. It's an old rule nobody remembers starting; they just pass it down like fact.

Today I'm one of them. Captive. A commodity. A slave, an object to be bought and used. They dress it up with words like "tradition" and "balance," but it's cruelty wrapped in ceremony.

Footsteps. It's almost dawn, maybe five in the morning if I had access to a clock. I try to steady myself, to stay goal-focused. Whatever it takes... I'm going. I'll fetch whatever it is Lysandra needs; I don't believe in this Moon Relic excuse, and start our life over. I'll get away. I only hope Lysander holds up her end of the bargain.

Footsteps, closer now. Fear crawls up my spine and the vibration in my legs makes them threaten to give.

I am so f*cking doomed.

My logical brain says run, it's not too late.

My legs want to move. My head screams to move. But my chest tightens and something cold and steady in me clicks into place: whatever this is, I'm already in it. And there's no dramatic last-minute escape. No heroic U-turn. Just the awful, strange clarity that I chose this, or that fate shoved me, and now I have to see it through.

Slowly I breathe in and out, trying to fill my lungs with as much as air I can get.

Shadows. Footsteps. Burly men burst into the shed we're shoved into, shriek after shriek ricochets off the walls. The door swings wide, and cold air from the yard pierces through us. A sharp exhale leaves me when I see their faces. There is no face, just a steel-colored mask so intricate I can see their eyebrows, the curve of the lips...

We're dragged outside. The cart is here. The ship is here. Our captors are here. Amusing, isn't it?

I stay on my feet, jaw locked. My voice won't break; it refuses to give them the satisfaction. I have nothing to scream about. I have nothing to cry for.

They push us toward the cart in a rough, practiced line. Hands clamp at my arms, leather straps bite into skin.

Was Liam ok last night? Lysandra just escorted me into the shed calmly explaining that all of us would be picked up at dawn. It was only a few hours away. I asked to go get my clothes, to explain whatever this madness was to Liam. But before the words had even left my mouth, Beta was there, throwing a bag of my own clothes at my feet.

I looked at Lysandra, assessing her. Every detail of this night had been planned. She nodded, I picked up the bag without a word, and we walked to the shed stinking of 11 bodies and fear.

"I will take care of Liam. Don't worry." Her voice was low, for my ears only.

Then the shed door opened, I stepped inside of the suffocating stink, and the door was locked behind me. Click, clack, click. Lysandra's heels clicked as she walked away, leaving the Beta at the door. I stayed unmoving by the wall next to the door, shaking.

The noise around me pulls me out of my thoughts.

My gaze slides over the masked men, some barking orders, some dragging feet to keep the others from screaming, and then it lands on one who doesn't seem to belong to their cruelty.

He stands apart, all black from head to boot, a piece of his inky hair touching the mask on his forehead. His hands are folded across his chest, calm as a statue. The mask.... It's carved into an impossible expression, half-smile, half-sneer.

Then my eyes lift and my step stutters. He's staring straight at me. Not like the others who look through me; he looks at me, like he's trying to read something I don't know about.

I blink once. Twice. Thrice. That should be a warning, right? Every part of him screams danger. His aura spills into his surroundings, almost suffocating the rest of us... All of him is dangerous.

He's tall, imposing, the wide shoulders blocking out the rising sun. We stare at each other for a long beat, like two animals sizing each other up before tearing into each other's throats.

And then, just like that, he looks away. His eyes slide past me, cold and deliberate, as if I've already been measured... and found wanting.

I scan the shore. Liam is not here. Did he wake up, scared to not have me there? Is he at school? Does Lysandra have him?

I don't look for Cael, I don't watch for his blond hair or the ever-present scowl. I don't think about him sleeping wrapped around Lysandra. I don't wonder if he's thinking about his mate being shipped away. Will we ever look into each other's eyes again or this is it?

A piercing scream fills the air. My gaze darts to the source, a woman lashing against the guards, her cries desperate, her arms reaching in the direction of a spot on the shore. Two children stand there, haloed by the morning winter sun .. The boy, no more than eight, is clutching his little sister's chubby hand in his, his lower lip trembling but eyes dry staring at his thrashing screaming mother.

Cael... He's standing right there staring like he's watching a movie. F*cking do something!

A body brushes against my shoulder moving past me urgently, and I see the dark masked stranger walking straight toward Cael, his steps determined and the line of the shoulders strained under the black shirt. His smell lingers just for a heartbeat penetrating my nostrils. Strong and calm like the giant unbreakable trees in our woods, with a sour undertone of... what is it? Pain?

From where I stand, I can't hear everything, but the tense low conversation floats just enough.

"We agreed on twelve. A dozen," Cael says, his voice low but enough for my straining ears to hear. "These two kids can't be part of them."

The masked stranger's response is steady, almost bored, though his eyes never leave the children. "You can't really think to separate the kids from their mother. Don't you have a mating ceremony coming up? It wouldn't be good for the pack morale to have orphans there."

I imagine a lifetime of scrambling for leftovers for these two children. The idea makes bile rise in my throat.

Cael's face doesn't so much as flicker. His voice is void, final. "Tradition is tradition. A dozen you asked for, a dozen was offered. We've lost twelve pack members already, and you don't mean to add more."

The masked wolf's voice drops an octave, his tone a dangerous half-growl, until their conversation is a knot of sound; no matter how I strain my ears, the words blur into white noise. From where I stand, Cael isn't budging an inch. He's a slab of calm cruelty.

Hatred floods me hot and fast. F*ck him. He knows exactly what will happen to those kids, and still he stands there, insisting on keeping them as if he'll ever care for them, not seeing they'll end up worse than stray dogs.

The second I get back, I'm taking Liam and ripping him out of this cursed pack.