FIONA

“Nooooo! Never!”

“Over my dead body!”

His voice tore through the air like thunder.

Alpha Ryan’s eyes burned into me, “Have you seen yourself, Fiona? Who gave you the audacity to believe that you, a wolfless Omega, could ever be mated to me, the Alpha of this pack?”

The words struck harder than any physical blow.

My heart froze, my breath catching in my throat.

“Why would he be so cruel?” I whispered to myself, my voice trembling.

Ryan took a step closer, his face twisted in disgust.

“Listen to me,” he said, voice low but sharp as a blade. “I, Alpha Ryan of the Blue Moon Pack, will never desire you as a mate. You are nothing of value to me.”

He spat on me.

Gasps rippled through the gathered pack. My legs gave way, and I fell to the ground as his words echoed mercilessly around me.

“Did she really think Ryan would choose her?” someone jeered.

“How foolish!” another voice sneered.

Their laughter stung worse than fire. Tears blurred my sight as I stared at the man I had once loved…the man who had whispered promises in the dark, who had touched me like I was precious.

And then…Sabrina.

She walked toward him with a proud sway of her hips, brushing against me deliberately and kicking my leg out of the way as if I were dirt beneath her shoes.

Ryan turned to her, his expression softening.

He placed his arm over her shoulder and pressed a kiss to her neck. “Here she is,” he declared, his tone full of pride. “My one true mate. The Luna of this pack, Sabrina James.”

A heavy silence followed, broken only by the thundering of my heart.

He used me. Lied to me. Rejected me.

Tears streamed freely down my face.

“Does she have to remain here, my love?” Sabrina said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “She’s nothing but filth. She brings nothing good to the pack.”

Ryan didn’t even look at me. “You’re right,” he said coldly. “Take her away.”

Before I could speak, Beta Barbara stepped forward and slapped me so hard the sound cracked through the air. “How dare you speak to your Luna that way?” she snarled.

“Please…” I managed to say, my cheek burning.

“Take her out of here!” Ryan ordered.

The guards dragged me away as laughter followed. My dignity was left behind on that stage.

**

Later that night, I sat behind the kitchen, staring blankly at the mountain of dishes before me. My hands trembled as I reached for a pot, my eyes swollen from tears.

“Fiona,” a soft voice came from behind. I turned to see Kush, the only one who ever spoke kindly to me.

“He slept with you, didn’t he?” he asked quietly.

I froze.

He sighed. “He took advantage of you. Didn’t he?”

I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t nod. The truth hung heavy between us.

“Fiona, you can trust me,” he whispered. “I won’t tell anyone, but you need to let this out.”

Before I could answer, Sabrina’s voice pierced the air.

“Hey, witch! Bring your sorry self out here!”

I was tense. Kush frowned. “Don’t go.”

But two guards stormed in before I could move. One shoved Kush to the floor, the other yanked me up by the hair.

“Aaahh!” I screamed in pain.

They threw me to the ground, kicking me in the ribs. Sabrina stood behind them, watching with a satisfied smile.

“You thought you could use your body to get my mate?” she sneered. “You think your witchcraft works on me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,please!” I cried, but another blow struck my face.

“Quiet, witch!” one of the guards shouted.

Through the haze of pain, I caught sight of Kush lying motionless nearby.

“Kush… help…” I whispered weakly.

The beating went on until a familiar, commanding voice cut through the chaos.

“What is happening here?”

It was Ryan.

Sabrina immediately ran toward him, tears already forming. “Oh, my love, you won’t believe what she did! She broke the Alpha’s finest dishes and tried to attack me. I barely escaped with my life!”

“What?” Ryan growled, his gaze snapping to me. “You did what?”

“I didn’t…” I tried to say, but his glare silenced me.

“You are nothing but a hypocrite!” he barked. “Take her to the dungeon! Let her rot there until I decide her fate!”

The guards seized me again.

“I… I didn’t do anything…” I stammered, but my voice was drowned out by laughter and contempt.

They dragged me through the pack house, through the darkness, through humiliation. Pain burned in every limb, and my tears blurred the path ahead.

By the time they threw me into the cold, damp dungeon, I could barely move.

Maybe death would be better than this.

And as my body grew weaker and the darkness swallowed me whole, the last thing I thought was…

Why did the moon goddess curse me to live this life?

FIONA

My name, my whole life, had been reduced to a box. The darkness smelled of damp and old iron. I didn’t know how long I lay there, drifting between black and a prickling half-consciousness, until a voice,soft and urgent,nudged me back from whatever thin place I’d almost fallen into.

“Fiona? Fiona? If you can hear me, try to blink,” it breathed close to my ear.

For a dizzy second I thought I’d gone to the Moon World, the place the old stories said the dead slept. Why would I imagine that? I’m only a wolfless Omega. The Moon Goddess wouldn’t spare someone like me.

“Fiona, you need to open those eyes. I need you to be strong,” the voice urged again, gentler this time.

My lids felt glued shut, the effort to lift them like trying to move mountains. Shapes swam into view: a wavering ceiling, the suggestion of a doorway, then a face framed by hair the color of ash,sharp features, eyes fixed on me with something like concern. The voice didn’t belong to a child or an elder. It belonged to a woman who had lived long enough to learn how to hold herself steady in crises.

“Hello, Fiona. Finally, you’re awake. I’ve been trying to get you back to us,” she said.

My mouth tasted of metal and fear. I tried to speak, but my throat was raw. The memory of being dragged, the slaps, the jeers and rose like bile. “How would you even think of attacking Luna?” the woman asked abruptly, as if the answer were obvious.

Confusion swam through my fog. Did they think I’d tried to kill Ryan? The very thought was absurd. I had loved him, stupidly, blindly, and then he had spat on me.

“Madam Barbara?” I said, because that was the name of the questioning ghost.

The woman’s lips tightened. “Trust me, she is the last person you want to see. Did you try to kill the Alpha too?” She sounded disgusted

I swallowed. My memory was a jagged thing: the slap, the guards, Sabrina’s cruel laugh. “Ryan?” I whispered.

She stared at me as if I’d asked the strangest thing. “Are you asking me?” she repeated, incredulous. “Do you even know what’s been done? Do you know the situation?”

I didn’t. I couldn’t. My head felt thick and heavy. The woman’s face loomed closer, urgent now. “You need to find somewhere to go,” she hissed. “If you stay, you’ll be killed.”

A pounding came from the corridor, and a young messenger burst in, breathless and wild-eyed. “Luna Sabrina is on her way here!” he panted.

Sabrina. The name hit like a blow. I felt the old cold of dread coil around my ribs. That girl wanted me gone in a way that wasn’t merely social cruelty, she wanted me dead.

Barbara, if that was who this was, moved with sudden decisiveness. She helped me to my feet, her hands efficient and steady despite the murmur of indecision on her face. She led me through a low doorway into a narrow passage.

“There’s a back stair that leads into the woods,” she whispered as she pushed me down the steps. “Go. Don’t look back. Head east until you find the old birches, then keep walking. Don’t stop for anything. Find someplace to hide until you can make a plan.”

My lungs burned with the movement, but I nodded. I had no strength left for words anyway. She pressed a small bundle into my hand, some cheese, a scrap of bread, and a torn shawl. “I can’t stay seen with you,” she said, voice low. “But I couldn’t leave you to die. Now go.”

I stumbled into the night like something half-formed: a shadow fleeing from fire. The cold air bit through my rags and slapped the tears from my face. The pack house loomed behind me, its windows glowing like watchful eyes. I wanted to turn, to scream every accusation until the whole world knew the truth, but my feet refused to obey a body grown too small for hope.

I ran.

For days I drifted on the edge of the woods, sleeping in hollows and waking to the ache of hunger. The forest was both refuge and wilderness, comfort in its anonymity, danger in every crook and shadow. I clung to the rhythm of walking as if movement could erase the memory of the mating yard and Ryan’s spit.

On the third night, I heard the first snap: thin, like a twig under a boot. I froze, every muscle tight. “Who’s there?” I called, voice too small. No answer. A second snap, closer this time, and my pulse hammered.

I should have been able to run. I should have had someone to protect me. Instead, my feet betrayed me; I saw a dark shape surge and a heavy weight knocked me to the loam. The forest floor bit into my palms and I tasted iron again, fear, not blood, for now.

When I turned, the thing that landed atop me was not one wolf but many, black shadows with teeth like knives. One shifted to human form, spiky hair standing like a crown, tattoos crawling up his arms like black vines. His grin showed too many teeth; saliva glittered at the corners of his mouth.

“You’re far from home, meat,” he said, his voice rough, amusement curling in the last word.

The others closed in, eyes glinting like coals. My throat constricted. “I’m…” I started, but something cold and cruel laughed.

“You don’t smell right,” another said, running a hand along my arm as if testing the texture of prey. “Not wolf. Not human. Empty skin.” The words echoed from stories Kush had told me in the kitchen—stories of the rogue packs, the vampire wolves who had been cast out for their hunger and madness. Legend, I’d thought. A nightmare now standing over me.

My mouth opened and closed on air. They circled, a tightening ring. Fear pooled in the hollow of my belly, hot and sharp.

“We’ll see how sweet empty skin is,” the spiked-haired one said, and his command was a blade. “Finish her off.”

They lunged.

For a terrible, breathless second I felt utterly alone… no Alpha’s protection, no friend’s hand, nothing but the cold earth and the sound of my own ragged breaths. Then, as their shadows poured over me, a strange part of me, thin as a thread and older than my fear, stirred inside, a whisper of something awakened. It was small and sudden and older than any story: a voice that did not belong entirely to me.

Fight. Run. Survive.

My heart obeyed even when my legs trembled to move. The world narrowed to the taste of fear and the sharpness of coming teeth. The night held its breath.

FIONA’S POV

My heart skipped, not just a beat, but several.

“Finish her!” Those were the exact words that monster spat before I closed my eyes, ready for death.

I thought it was over. Truly.

But then… the air shifted. The forest went silent, heavy, electric.

From the mist ahead, something moved.

A massive wolf, fur shimmering gold under the pale light, burst through the clearing like a storm given form. His eyes, steel-grey, sharp and ancient, locked on the vampire wolves as a low growl thundered from his chest. Every predator instinct in the woods froze in that instant.

I gasped, disbelief flooding me. I’d already accepted death, so who, or what, was this?

The golden wolf launched forward, a blur of strength and grace. His fangs caught one attacker mid-leap; another he slammed into a tree so hard the bark cracked. The others scattered, howling, but he didn’t stop until none of them dared take another step closer.

I stared, trembling, watching the impossible. His movements were precise, power without chaos, violence shaped by control. And his presence… it wasn’t just strength; it was dominion.

He turned, meeting my gaze for the first time. I didn’t dare move. Then, before I could even take a breath, his body shimmered, fur retracting, limbs reshaping, bones twisting with a soft, quick crackle. In less than two seconds, he was no longer a beast but a man.

A very tall, very shirtless man.

I froze. My lungs forgot how to work. His chest was broad and scarred, his expression unreadable, yet those same grey eyes carried the same storm the wolf had.

“We need to leave here. Now,” he said, his voice a deep, commanding rumble that sent shivers up my spine.

“Huh?” was all I managed to mumble.

He arched his brow. “Unless you’d rather stay behind to be dinner for those bandit wolves,” he said dryly.

My mouth fell open. “Of course not!”

“Then hold on.”

Before I could protest, he bent slightly, motioning for me to climb onto his back. My pride whispered no, but exhaustion and instinct screamed yes. I obeyed, clutching his shoulders as he shot into the night like lightning.

Wind whipped through my hair as we raced through the woods. Behind us, I heard more movement, pounding paws, quick and numerous. I tensed until I noticed the wolves weren’t chasing us, they were running with us. A whole patrol, sleek and disciplined, flanking us in formation.

When we broke through the treeline, my eyes widened.

The forest gave way to a vast clearing wrapped in mist. Beyond it stood a fortress of dark stone and silver banners fluttering under the moonlight. Towers reached into the fog, guarded by massive gates marked with a symbol, two crossed wolves beneath a crescent moon.

“Welcome to Jupiter Pack,” he said, setting me down gently as he pushed the great doors open.

The name struck a faint memory from stories I’d heard whispered among Omegas that Jupiter Pack, the strongest in all Darkstone territories. Its Alpha was said to be ruthless, yet just.

And I was now standing inside his room.

He offered me a glass of water, his movements oddly refined for someone who had just torn through a battalion of monsters. “What’s your name, damsel?” he asked with a faint smile.

My pulse raced. His tone was kind, but his presence commanded respect. “I… My name is Fiona Cullen. I came from the Bluemoon Pack,” I said softly.

I swallowed hard. I’d revealed too much already. If he sniffed me, he’d know instantly, no wolf. Just human flesh and a broken soul. “Please don’t sniff,” I whispered in my head.

He didn’t. Instead, he handed me the cup and looked out the window. “Drink. You’ll need your strength.”

“Thank you,” I murmured, taking a slow sip, the cool liquid calming my throat. Then I lifted my gaze to him, gathering courage. “But… you haven’t told me who you are.”

He tilted his head, amused. “Look outside,” he said.

“Outside?” I frowned, rising weakly to the window. All I saw was fog, thick, endless mist that swallowed the horizon whole. “Uhmm… I can’t see anything.”

He chuckled quietly. “Your head’s still pretty banged up. You should rest. When you wake, we’ll talk.”

He turned to leave, but I caught the faintest glint of curiosity in his eyes before the door closed. I heard him whisper to someone outside, his tone low and authoritative. Then the world drifted into silence, and I collapsed into uneasy sleep.

SEBASTIAN’S POV

I couldn’t get her out of my head. The girl from the woods. She didn’t fight, didn’t run, just looked at me with those wide, haunted eyes as if she’d already died a thousand times before I even touched her.

She would’ve been a corpse if I hadn’t found her when I did.

Now she was sleeping in my chambers. A stranger from Bluemoon Pack, one of the weakest and most reckless packs in Darkstone. Yet… there was something off about her. No scent of wolf. Nothing but the faint sweetness of rain and iron.

I had to find out why.

I left her in bed and went to the Dome—a circular hall carved from black stone, lit by torches, reserved for pack matters. Before I could even gather my thoughts, the door flew open.

“Pfft… so you are here,” Rachel said, strolling in with her usual smirk.

I groaned. “How many times have I told you not to barge in here?”

“Oh, come on, brother. You treat this room like it’s a sacred shrine. We own it together!” she teased.

I smirked despite myself. “We don’t. As long as I sit in this chair, I am your Alpha and you will respect that.”

She rolled her eyes. “Ah, there it is. The Alpha card. You always pull that out when I’m about to win an argument. Not fair, you know.”

“Careful,” I warned, half-grinning. “One day, I might bite your head off and take your precious hospital from you.”

She laughed. “Is that a challenge, oh mighty Alpha?”

“Absolutely not,” she said quickly, raising her hands in mock surrender. “Who am I to challenge the most powerful Alpha in all five territories of Darkstone City?”

“Flattery noted,” I said dryly. “Now, why are you really here, Rachel?”

She folded her arms. “I heard there’s a new intake in the pack and rumor has it you brought her in. On your back.”

I exhaled. “Easy. She was in danger. The Bandits nearly tore her apart.”

Rachel blinked. “What? How did she even end up there? Was she lost? What about her pack?”

“She claims to be from Bluemoon. Do we have records on them?”

“Oh, Bluemoon… those fools who trespassed years ago,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Always chasing prey, never watching borders.”

“She’s in my chambers,” I said quickly. “Sleeping. Check on her when you can, she might’ve hit her head.”

Rachel raised a brow but nodded. “Alright. But did you find what you went searching for before you stumbled across your mystery girl?”

I sighed. “No. I’m starting to think it doesn’t exist.”

“Don’t doubt Elder Konan’s words,” she warned. “If we find it, we end the warrior deaths once and for all. Wouldn’t that be glorious for your reign?”

I nodded. “I’ll keep looking. I can’t afford more losses.”

We were interrupted by a sharp knock on the door.

“My Lord,” a voice called urgently, “come quick, the lady in your chambers!”

Rachel and I exchanged a glance. Then I was gone before the second knock landed.