Seraphina POV:

I woke up to the smell of antiseptic and stale blood.

Not a private suite. The supply closet in the Pack Infirmary.

My legs were bandaged, throbbing with the unique, rhythmic ache of silver burns. My healing factor was stalled; the metal residue was still fighting my cells.

The door opened. Dante.

He tossed a styrofoam container onto the bedside table.

"Eat."

I struggled to sit up, wincing. "I'm not hungry."

"Isabella was worried," Dante said flatly. "She couldn't finish her dinner because she was so upset about your... clumsiness. She sent this."

I opened the box. Leftover steak. Covered in a rich, dark sauce.

I sniffed. Beneath the garlic, the sharp, metallic tang of wolfsbane.

Not lethal. Just painful. Enough to cause cramps and vomiting. Isabella's favorite childhood prank.

"I can't eat this," I said. "It has wolfsbane in the sauce."

Dante rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. It's a five-star restaurant. Stop trying to make Isabella look bad."

"Smell it," I challenged.

He didn't. He couldn't be bothered.

"I said, eat," Dante growled.

Alpha Command.

A psychic anvil dropped on my brain. My muscles twitched, betraying me.

"No," I gritted out, sweat breaking on my forehead.

"Eat."

My hand moved like a puppet's. I picked up the fork. Stabbed the meat. Lifted it to my mouth while tears of humiliation streamed down my face.

I swallowed.

Liquid fire. I gagged, clutching my throat.

Dante watched with disgust. "Always the drama queen. You're fine."

He turned and walked out.

An hour later, after retching until I saw bile, I dragged myself to the infirmary garden.

Isabella was sitting by the koi pond.

"Did you enjoy the steak?" she asked, examining her nails.

"You're a monster," I rasped.

"And you are a waste of space," she countered lightly. She stood up. "Do you know why Dante hates you? Because you remind him of weakness. He looks at you and sees a wolfless cripple."

"I saved him," I whispered. "In the cabin."

Isabella's smile vanished. "He doesn't know that. And if you tell him, I'll have Daddy harvest a kidney next time. Without the sedative."

She stepped back towards the edge of the pond.

"You're pathetic, Sarah."

Then, she threw herself backward.

Splash.

"Help! She pushed me! Help!"

The psychic scream hit the Pack Link like a siren.

Dante! Help me! She's trying to kill me!

A wind rushed past.

Dante materialized. Red eyes. Fangs extended.

"I didn't..."

"Silence!"

He pulled a sputtering Isabella out.

"She... she said she wanted me dead," Isabella sobbed. "She said she wanted to be Luna."

Dante turned to me. Pure hatred.

"You tried to kill your future Luna."

"I didn't touch her!"

"I saw you standing over her," Dante snarled. "You are jealous. You are petty. And now, you are a traitor."

He took a step towards me. Death hung in the air.

"I should kill you right now," he whispered.

Part of me wished he would.

"But death is too easy," he decided. "Guards!"

Two warriors appeared.

"Take her to the Cooler. Let her think about her crimes in the dark."

Seraphina POV:

The Cooler. A silver-plated coffin.

The guards threw me in. I landed hard on my injured shoulder. The silver floor burned on contact, sucking the heat straight out of my marrow.

The door slammed. Darkness.

"Dante, please! Check the cameras!"

Silence.

I curled into a ball, trying to minimize contact with the floor. My wolf whimpered, a creature of light trapped in a tomb.

Hold on, I told her.

Time dissolved. Hours? Days?

Hallucinations started.

I saw the cabin. Dante, thrashing, veins black with poison.

“Who are you?” he had growled.

“I'm safe,” I had whispered.

I remembered wrapping my body around his, using my heat to stabilize him.

“Vanilla,” he had murmured. “Moonlight. When I see again, I will find you. You are mine.”

I laughed in the dark cell. A dry, cracking sound.

He kept his promise. He found me. And he froze me.

The cold numbed my extremities.

And then, something broke.

Not a bone. The bond.

It didn't snap with a bang. It just... withered. The constant pull towards him, the desperate need for his validation—it crystallized in the cold and shattered.

I didn't hate him. Hate requires energy. I felt nothing.

Hollow.

And in that hollow space, she woke up.

My White Wolf uncurled. Ancient. Cold. Starlit.

We survive, she whispered. Not for him. For us.

I stopped shivering. I sat up straight in the darkness.

I wasn't waiting for a savior anymore. I was waiting for an opening.

Seraphina POV:

The door hissed open. Light blinded me.

Dante stood there, impeccable in a tuxedo. He looked at me—blue-lipped, shivering—and for a nanosecond, his mask slipped. Horror?

Then the Alpha mask slammed back down.

"Get up."

I tried. My legs were wood.

Dante sighed, impatient. He hauled me up. His hand was warm, but the sparks were gone. It was just skin on skin.

"Tonight is the engagement party," he said. "You will attend. You will smile. And you will show the pack that there is no bad blood."

"I can barely walk."

"Lean against the wall," he said callously. "Go wash up. You smell like a corpse."

I scrubbed my skin raw in the shower.

I put on a black dress. Long sleeves, high neck. Mourning attire.

I knelt by my bed and pulled out a rusted tin box.

My pathetic treasure chest. A button from his shirt. Bloodstained gauze. A dried moonflower.

I carried the box into the hallway.

Dante was adjusting his cufflinks. He stopped.

"What is that?"

"Garbage."

I walked to the trash chute.

I opened it. I didn't hesitate. I tipped the box.

Whoosh. The incinerator roared below.

Dante flinched. He rubbed his chest, frowning, as if stung by a ghost.

"What did you just burn?"

"Nothing that matters anymore," I said, eyes dry. "Shall we go, Alpha?"

The ballroom was suffocating.

I stood in the shadows.

Dante took the stage with Isabella. She was radiant, feeding off the crowd's adoration like a vampire.

"My brothers and sisters," Dante boomed. "Tonight, I claim my happiness."

He turned to Isabella.

"Isabella Vitiello. You found me when I was lost in the dark. You healed me. Your scent was the lighthouse that guided me home."

Lies.

"Will you be my Luna?"

"Yes!" Isabella shrieked.

The room erupted. Dante kissed her.

I waited for the pain. The jealousy.

Nothing. Just silence.

I turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Isabella pointed from the stage.

"Sarah! Come here, sister! I want you to be the first to bless us!"

She wasn't done playing with her food.

I stopped. I turned.

And I smiled. A wolf bearing teeth.

"Coming, sister."