[ AURORA’S POV ]

I blinked against the dim light, the world turning as my eyes darted open. The sharp, earthy scent of herbs stung my nose, making me cough and choke.

I jerked upright, heart beating, scanning the unfamiliar room. “Mabel?” My voice cracked, small and desperate.

From the doorway, Elder Mariam stepped forward, her robes rustling softly. “You’re awake,” she said, her voice calm but steady, carrying the weight of someone who had seen too much.

I scrambled to my feet, knees wobbling, eyes frantically searching the room. “Where… where is Mabel? My father?” The words tumbled out, ragged, almost pleading. “Where is everyone?”

She held me firmly, fingers pressing into mine, anchoring me. “My child,” she murmured, voice low, patient. “I asked the guards to bring you here, from the gathering.”

Her hands, warm and lined with age, closed over mine. I clutched them like a lifeline, tears streaming down my cheeks. My sobs shook my shoulders as I sank to my knees beside her. 

“Help me… please… do something,” I gasped, voice breaking with every word. “My wolf can’t just vanish like that. Help…please.”

She squeezed my hands, and I could feel the faint pulse of her own heartbeat beneath my fingers. 

“Aurora… Some wolves don’t come on the wolf awakening day. Some arrive stronger, some never arrive at all. But…don’t lose hope. You mustn’t give up yet.”

I pressed my forehead to hers, gripping her hands as if letting go would make everything vanish. Sobs rattled my chest, hot and unstoppable. 

The room swirled around me, her perfume, the herbs, the soft rustle of her robes, and for the first time in hours, it felt like a tether, a small thread I could hold onto.

————————

I walked back to the gathering and climbed the platform once more. The wood was cold beneath my bare feet, familiar in a way that made my chest tighten.

I reached inward, searching, pushing past the echo of my breath, past the frantic pounding of my heart.

The same hollow silence stared back at me. My shoulders sagged. Whatever strength had been holding me up upright slipped away, and I stumbled off the platform, legs unsteady.

I made it only as far as the nearest tree before my knees gave out. I sank weakly beneath a tree, my back pressing into the rough bark as if it were the only thing keeping me upright.

 The night air felt colder here, heavier. My body finally gave in, trembling like it had been holding back, shoulders caving inward as the sounds of the ceremony blurred into something distant and hollow.

I closed my eyes.

Images of their betrayal flash across my mind unbidden, twisting my stomach. My fingers clenched the bark, and I squeezed as if I could hold back the memory.

But I couldn’t.

Seraphina’s hand on Mabel’s arm.

The way his body had angled toward hers. Holding her in place as if she’s the most expensive treasure in the world.

The certainty in his voice when he chose her.

I hadn’t watched them leave. Seraphina was laughing and smiling as they called her Luna.

Her leaning into him, already comfortable, already claimed. His arm around her as it belonged there, like it always had. The pack parted for them.  

My butt sat rooted to the ground. The world shifted around me, laughing and claiming what I had imagined for myself. I couldn’t feel my hands.

A jagged ache tore through my chest. I gasped, shoulders jerking as the air escaped me in a strangled sound.

 My heartbeat slammed against my ribs like a caged thing. A broken sound escaped my throat before I could stop it, and then the tears came—hot, uncontrollable, sliding down my face and dripping onto my hands clenched in my lap.

I wiped at them angrily, but they kept coming.

When I forced my eyes open, I searched the clearing without meaning to.

My parents were gone.

The space where they had stood earlier was empty, trampled grass and fading footprints the only proof they had ever been there.

 No one was looking for me. No one had stayed behind. It was as if my failure had erased me.

My fingers curled into the dirt, gripping the soil until it worked its way beneath my nails. I welcomed the ache in my hands. It was solid. Real. The grit under my nails digs into my palms. The sharp ache grounded me, real and heavy.

“No…” I whispered, voice cracking. My lips trembled, word barely escaping as if the sound itself could break in my throat.

The words sounded fragile, like they might shatter if I said them too loudly.

My throat burned.

I pushed myself up unsteadily, legs wobbling beneath my weight. My legs wobbled beneath me. I sank my teeth into my lower lip, forcing one trembling step after another. 

The word spun, but I didn’t fall. Sitting there wasn’t helping. Letting the memory replay was killing me.

I needed answers.

Or maybe I just needed to hear him say it again, to my face, to be sure Seraphina did not tie him down with a pup.

That must be it. The reason why he acted like that toward me. I will accept it. I will take the pop as mine.

I turned and ran.

I ran without looking, feet carrying me instinctively through the road. The path to the pack house stretched ahead of me.

 lit by ceremonial lanterns that blurred through my tears. My dress snagged against branches, my breath tore painfully from my lungs, but I didn’t slow.

 The pack house looked bright with different ceremonial lanterns but was silent. Ahead, the echoes of what I couldn’t undo pressed in on me, cold and unyielding.

———————-

I burst into the pack house, my breath tearing in and out of my chest. The heavy doors swung wide, slamming against the stone walls with a sharp echo that rang through the halls.

No one stopped me.

The guards standing by the entrance glanced up, recognition flickering across their faces. I was Aurora Vale. The Alpha’s chosen, at least I had been. 

Their hands stayed at their sides as I passed, eyes following me in silence. No challenge. No orders to turn back.

That hurt more than if they had blocked my way.

My footsteps slapped against the cold marble floor as I moved deeper into the house.

 The air pressed against my skin, thick with authority and expectation. My stomach knotted. Every echo of footsteps, every shadow along the marble walls, weighed on me like stones.

I didn’t slow down. I didn’t hesitate.

The doors to the king’s lounge stood ahead, tall, carved with ancient symbols of dominance and rule. Light spilled out from beneath them. Voices murmured inside. Familiar. Intimate.

My hand trembled as I reached for the handle.

I pushed the doors open.

Heat hit my face as laughter echoed in the lounge. My eyes darted around, scanning, every muscle taut, every straining.

I’m looking for only one person. My mate.

[ AURORA’S POV ]

I froze just past the doorway. Seraphina lay sprawled across the living room couch as though it belonged to her alone. One arm draped lazily over the backrest, legs crossed at the ankles. Bowls of snacks surrounded her like offerings, sweet, salty, colorful. She didn’t look up when I stepped inside.

My knees trembled, not enough for anyone to notice, but enough that I had locked my knees to stay upright. My shoulders felt heavy, my chest tight, as though I had been carrying a weight too large for my small body.

   “Oh,” Seraphina’s voice cut across the room suddenly, sharp as a whip.” Look who finally crawled out. The wolfless, deciding to leave her pit.” She said tilting her head, eyes glinting.” So…..how does it feel? To be useless?”

  I blinked, unsurprised, heart stuttering. She didn’t look away as she reached for another snack, chewing slowly, like she owns everything in the room including me.

Her eyes scanned me from my disheveled hair to my shoes that were now dirty. And then she smiled.

“ Did you forget how to tell time,” she asked,” or do you just enjoy making me wait?”

I tried to speak. My mouth was open, but nothing came out.

She stood brushing crumbs from her fingers with care.” I knew it was about time you would be here. And you never disappoint."

I realized my feet hadn’t moved since I entered, so I tried to step forward. My feet wouldn’t move. My knees trembled.

No, I can't rush it. I need to let her know I’m not here to fight. And that I have accepted the child as mine, and would forgive her for sleeping with my man.

“I…. I just. I went to see  the healer.” I managed to say.

Her amusement flickered immediately.

“The healer?” She repeated. Why?”

I lifted my chin.” I wanted to know if there was…something wrong with me.”

A laugh escaped her. Soft. Cold. Disbelieving.

“And?” She prompted .” Did she magically give you a wolf?” 

“She said it might come late,” I said quietly. That's some wolves.”

“Are special?” Seraphina finished for me, lips curling .” Is that what she told you?” 

Heat rushed to my face.” She said.”

   “She lied,” Seraphina cut me off flatly. “Or you imagined it. Healers do that when they pity people.”

    My throat tightened. I swallowed once, then again, but the pressure only grew.

    “Why?” The word I had been dying to ask finally left my lips. My eyes were so blurry that I could barely see her.

    She paused mid-step, eyes widening slightly. Then she laughed, sharp and bright.

    “Oh, finally,” she said.

    I stepped forward despite the twist in my stomach. “If I did something wrong, tell me. I’ll fix it. But you can’t take my place Seraphina. You’re my sister and have always been good to me.”

    Her laughter faded.  “Sister? Good?,” she said slowly.

“You're wolfless,” She interrupted, stepping closer,” and have never seen you as my sister,” She leaned in until I could smell her perfume. Sweet, suffocating.

“Worthless,” she murmured,” useless and arrogant,” my breath seized. “I have always hated you, you’re nothing special, and yet people always like you more than me. We met the Alpha on the same day and yet he picked you over me. What makes you think you’re better than me?”

I looked at her strangely, this is not the sister I know. It’s like she’s possessed.

“I’m sorry that you have to feel that way Seraphina but we can work this out. I will raise your pup. I said, my voice shaking. “Don’t do this to me. To us.”

She laughed, her tone rang out.

“You will raise my child? Really? How dare you think I would let a low-life like you raise my heir the future Alpha to this pack? Who gave you the mindset? Let me remind you,” she said softly,” Where you belong.”

She stepped back, looking directly into my eyes earnestly, with a sly smile like a fox. Before I could even blink, she was on the floor—and what followed was a loud, deafening scream.

I barely had time to register the sound before she collapsed, holding onto her chest.

“My chest! Father! Mother! Mabel!”

A scream tore through the room. Feet pounded in all directions. Someone slammed into my shoulder. My back hit the floor hard. 

“She pushed me! Seraphina sobbed, already cradled in Mabel’s arms. Her trembling hand pointed at me.

“I didn’t,” I whispered, struggling to sit up .” I didn’t touch her.”

The slap came without warning. My head snapped sideways. Fire exploded across my cheek. I tasted blood.

Father didn’t blink. His gaze slid over me like I wasn’t there. “ Enough.”

Mabel turned to a guard, “Take her. No food, he added.” Lock her in.”

A guard appeared at my side, his hands gentle as he helped me up, my eyes glinting with quiet sorrow.

“Wait,” I shouted. I didn’t push her; she was lying against me. I did nothing of the sort.

“Enough, Mabel roared. You knew she was carrying my pup and yet you pushed her. I didn’t know you were wicked Aurora. Take her out of my sight this minute.” 

The guard now pulled me roughly pushing me towards the dungeon. How could they betray me like this?

“Father, believe me. I didn’t push her. I would never push her.” I said looking at the father's side, still struggling with the guard.

“You never should have come here, Aurora. Or even think of pushing your sister because she was chosen as the Luna. Take her away till she learns her lesson,” my father said, not looking at me.

I could hear their voices behind me as they asked Seraphina if she was okay.

The iron gate opened. I could see some prisoners in the dungeon but I was taken to another part.

The cage was looking okay compared to where they put the others. A small bed was laid at the corner and a blanket that would keep me warm through the night.

The door clicked shut. Darkness swallowed me. My chest heaved. My body trembled. And for the first time in my life, I felt completely invisible.