Cold snow. Hot blood. I opened my eyes to a sky stained crimson. The Blood Moon hung heavy over Silvermoon Valley, casting a sick red glow over the massacre. Smoke choked my lungs. I pushed myself up from the pile of mutilated bodies. My people. My family.

"Princess..." a choked voice gurgled to my left.

I scrambled toward the sound. My knees scraped against frozen earth and shattered bones. I found Kael, my father's captain, propped against a burning wagon. A deep gash ruined his chest.

"Kael. Hold on," I urged, pressing my hands over his wound.

"He... he knew the hidden path..." Kael coughed, spraying red across my wrists. "The gorge... how..."

"I told him," I confessed. The truth ripped my throat apart. "I gave him the maps."

Kael's eyes widened in sheer horror. "You..."

"I didn't know he would do this! Kael, please, tell me how to help you."

He shoved my hands away with the last of his strength. "Traitor."

Kael's chest stopped moving. His empty eyes stared up at the blood-red sky.

A sharp flutter pulled my attention downward. My hand instinctively pressed against my swollen belly. The baby kicked. His child. The butcher's child.

Three years ago, the Moon Goddess marked me as the fated mate to Darian, heir of the Blackclaw pack. I handed him my heart. I handed him my father's war councils, the hidden mountain passes, the ancient pack wisdom.

"Use this to build our future," I had told him, tracing the maps on our bed.

"I will conquer the world for you, Elvira," he had promised.

Lies. All of it.

Just hours ago, the full moon high, I stood outside our shared tent and heard his voice slice through the night air.

"The Silvermoon Pack," Darian had commanded his generals. "Leave no survivors."

I looked away from Kael's corpse and scanned the ruined courtyard. My gaze locked onto a jagged iron spear driven straight into the frozen ground. My father's body hung suspended from it. His eyes stared blindly ahead, his jaw slack.

"Father," I whispered.

Footsteps crunched over the charred earth. Heavy. Confident.

I didn't turn around. I kept my eyes on my father's lifeless face.

"It's done," Darian's voice echoed behind me.

I slowly rose to my feet. The wind howled through the burning pines, carrying the stench of roasted flesh. I faced my fated mate. He wore his black armor, spotless, untouched by the slaughter he orchestrated.

"You missed one," I said. My voice didn't shake. I offered no tears.

Darian stopped three paces away. His golden eyes swept over my ruined dress. "You are my mate. You belong to the Blackclaw now."

"I am Elvira Silvermoon."

"The Silvermoon Pack is gone," he stated. His tone remained flat, devoid of the warmth that used to whisper against my skin. "Your father resisted the integration. This was the price."

I let out a short, hollow laugh. The sound startled him. His jaw tightened.

"Integration?" I mocked. "Is that what you call a massacre? You used my maps. You used my father's strategies. You used me."

"You murdered my father," I continued, pointing at the spear.

"He refused to kneel," Darian replied, not even glancing at the corpse.

"He was an Alpha! Alphas do not kneel!"

"Then they die. I gave him a choice, Elvira. He chose pride over his people."

"You slaughtered the people too!" I shouted, my composure cracking for a fraction of a second. "Women. Children. You ordered them all dead."

"I ordered a clean slate." He stepped closer, towering over me. "Do not test my patience tonight, Elvira. You carry my heir. You'd best behave."

I tilted my head. "Behave."

"Accept your new reality. The past is ash."

I looked at the spear protruding from my father's chest. Then back to the man I once loved. "You think killing them erases who I am?"

"I think you have nowhere else to go," he countered. He reached out to touch my cheek.

I didn't flinch. I didn't pull away. I let his cold fingers smear my family's blood across my skin. I needed to remember this touch. I needed it to fuel the hatred taking root in my chest.

"Don't push me, Elvira," he warned, dropping his hand. "Return to the camp. The healers will check on the child."

"Of course, Alpha," I replied, the title tasting like poison on my tongue.

A shadow detached itself from the tree line behind him.

"Is she giving you trouble, Darian?" a feminine voice purred.

A woman stepped into the moonlight. Selena Bloodfang. Her reddish-brown hair whipped in the wind. She wore a smirk that matched the cruelty in her eyes.

"Mind your business, Selena," Darian snapped, though he didn't turn to face her.

Selena sauntered forward, stopping just over Darian's shoulder. She looked at me. No, she didn't just look. She tracked my movements like a starving wolf watching a wounded rabbit. Her gaze dropped to my rounded stomach.

"Such a tragedy," Selena crooned, her lips curling into a wicked smile. "Losing your entire family in one night. The stress cannot be good for the baby."

"The baby is fine," Darian barked. "Escort her to the tent, Selena. Make sure she doesn't wander."

"With pleasure." Selena's eyes never left mine.

Darian turned his back on me and walked away into the smoke. He didn't look back at the ruin he had made of my home.

I stood alone with my enemy's ally.

"You look pathetic," Selena whispered, closing the distance between us.

"And you look like a vulture waiting for scraps," I shot back.

Her eyes flashed with anger. She grabbed my chin, her nails digging into my jaw. "Watch your mouth, Silvermoon. You have no pack to protect you anymore. You are just a breeding vessel now. Once that pup is born, you will be nothing."

I ripped my face from her grip. I smoothed my hands over my stomach. The baby kicked again. Stronger this time.

"We will see about that," I said.

Selena laughed, a high, grating sound. "Walk, princess. Before I drag you by your hair."

I turned away from her. I took one last look at my father. I didn't say goodbye. I wouldn't let his spirit rest. Not yet.

I touched my belly one more time. This child was my tether to the living. It was also the weapon I would forge to destroy them all.

"Move," Selena ordered, shoving my shoulder.

I stumbled forward but caught my balance quickly. I stepped into the ashes of my home, following the woman who wanted me dead, toward the tent of the man who had ruined me.

I would play the broken mate. I would smile and nod and let them think they had won.

But as we reached the edge of the burning valley, a low, guttural howl pierced the night—a sound that didn't belong to any Blackclaw wolf.

Selena stopped dead in her tracks, her smirk vanishing.

I looked into the dark woods, a cold smile forming on my lips. Someone else had survived.

"Your evening draught, Luna."

Mara’s voice trembled. She extended a steaming clay bowl, keeping her gaze pinned to the floorboards.

I took the vessel. My heavy, swollen belly pressed uncomfortably against the silk nightgown. A sweet, unfamiliar floral scent cut through the usual bitter herbs. My stomach tightened.

"What did the healers put in this tonight?" I asked.

Mara shrank back. "Just... just the usual root extracts for your strength."

I looked across the dimly lit bedchamber. Darian sat by the arched window, tracing lines across a spread of territory maps. My father's maps.

"Darian," I called out.

He didn't turn his head. His finger tapped against a marked valley. "Drink it before it gets cold."

"The scent is wrong," I pushed, keeping my eyes on his broad shoulders. "It smells sweet. Like oleander."

"The healers adjusted the dosage," he replied. His voice held all the warmth of a frozen lake. "You are in your final month. The pup needs strength."

"Does he?" I challenged.

"Do not start an argument over medicine, Elvira. Drink."

He finally flipped a parchment page. He never even glanced at me.

I stared at the dark liquid. A strange laugh bubbled up my throat. I smiled, a hollow, mocking expression that felt entirely out of place in the quiet room. If he wanted me to drink his healers' brew, I would. I lifted the rim to my lips and swallowed the foul liquid in three large gulps.

"Done," I said, slamming the bowl onto the wooden nightstand.

Mara snatched the empty clay dish and scurried out the door. Darian kept reading.

Less than an hour later, the pain hit.

It didn't start as a dull ache. It struck like a broadsword slicing through my center.

"Ah!" I cried out, doubling over.

Warm wetness soaked my thighs. I threw the heavy furs aside. A horrific pool of crimson stained the white sheets.

"Mara!" I screamed.

The door banged open. The maid took one look at the blood and shrieked.

"Fetch the midwives!" I ordered, clutching my stomach. "Now!"

Chaos erupted. Three older women rushed into the chamber, carrying basins and linens. The metallic smell of fresh blood choked the room.

"She is hemorrhaging!" the head midwife yelled, tossing a stack of towels between my legs. "Apply pressure!"

"The pup is coming too fast!" another shouted.

"Save the child," a guard barked from the hallway.

"Push, Luna!" the head midwife commanded. "You must push, or you both die!"

I gripped the wooden bedposts. My knuckles turned white. I pushed until black spots danced across my vision.

"More towels! She’s losing too much!"

"I can see the head!"

"Again, Luna! Scream if you have to, just push!"

I didn't scream. I clamped my teeth together until I tasted copper. I drove every ounce of my remaining strength downward.

A sharp, piercing cry echoed off the stone walls.

The pressure vanished. My head fell back against the soaked pillows.

"A boy," the head midwife announced. She held up a squalling, blood-slicked infant.

Heavy footsteps thudded against the floorboards. The crowd of servants parted instantly.

Darian stepped into the room. He wore his formal armor, completely out of place in a birthing chamber. His golden eyes swept past my pale face, past the ruined, blood-soaked bed, and locked onto the crying bundle.

"Bring him here," Darian ordered.

The midwife hastily wrapped the baby in a clean cloth and presented him to the Alpha.

Darian peered into the folds of the fabric. He didn't smile. He didn't reach out to touch his son.

"It's an heir," he stated.

He turned on his heel.

"Darian," I rasped. My throat felt like shattered glass.

He paused at the threshold.

"Let me hold him," I begged.

"Clean the room," Darian instructed the staff, ignoring me entirely. "Ensure the boy is fed."

The heavy oak door shut behind him.

Night swallowed the castle. Fire raged through my veins.

My skin burned to the touch, yet violent shivers wracked my spine. I drifted in a dark void, too weak to open my eyes.

The heavy door groaned on its iron hinges.

Footsteps padded softly across the stone floor. Two sets.

"Is she awake?" a woman purred.

Selena.

"No, Lady Selena," Mara whispered. "The fever took her hours ago. She hasn't moved."

"Check her pulse."

Fabric rustled. Two fingers pressed against my neck. I kept my breathing shallow. I didn't twitch a single muscle.

"It is very faint," Mara reported. Her voice shook.

"Good," Selena said. "You did well, Mara. That woman won't live much longer."

"Will the Alpha... will he investigate?"

Selena let out a sharp, cruel laugh. "Investigate what? A weak Silvermoon female bleeding out during childbirth? It happens every day."

"But the dose was high," Mara stammered. "The blood loss—"

"The blood loss ensures she doesn't survive the night," Selena interrupted. "Darian has his heir. He doesn't need the breeding mare anymore."

Poison.

The word slammed into my fragile consciousness like an ice pick. The sweet floral scent. The oleander. Darian telling me to drink.

"What about the rest of the vial?" Mara asked.

"Burn it," Selena commanded. "Leave her to die. If she somehow wakes, do not give her water."

"Yes, my Lady."

They turned away. Their footsteps retreated. The door clicked shut.

Silence returned, heavy and suffocating.

I opened my eyes to the empty, dark room. The fever boiled my blood, but ice wrapped around my heart.

I reached down and grabbed a handful of the thick fur pelt beneath me. I squeezed until my fingernails bent. A sharp snap echoed in the quiet room as two of my nails broke off, digging into my palms.

I welcomed the sting.

They poisoned me. Under Darian's roof. Under his command.

I forced my head to turn toward the empty bassinet in the corner. They had taken Lucas to the nursery.

"I will not die," I whispered to the empty room.

A shadow shifted by the window curtains, separating from the darkness.

"No," a deep, unfamiliar male voice agreed from the corner. "You won't."

"Drink this, Lucas," I instructed, setting the heavy ceramic bowl on the oak table.

Eight years had passed since the poison ruined my body. I walked with a permanent limp, my lungs rattling with every breath.

My eight-year-old son sneered. His silver eyes—my eyes—flashed with open contempt. "I don't want your sick-blood water."

"It is marrow broth," I corrected, keeping my tone entirely flat. "You need your strength for training."

"I don't need anything from you."

"Drink it."

Lucas shoved the table. The bowl tipped, shattering against the stone floor. Hot broth and splintered bone splattered across my bare toes.

"Lady Selena says you are a useless burden," the boy spat, stepping over the mess. "She says the Blackclaw pack would be stronger if you just died already."

My jaw locked. I grabbed his wrist. "I am your mother."

"Selena is my mother!" he yelled, jerking his arm free with surprising force. "You are just a weak breeding mare!"

"Who taught you to speak to me that way?"

"Everyone!" He backed toward the hallway. "You don't even have a wolf. You're a cripple."

"Get back here and clean this up, Lucas."

"Make me."

He bolted out the door.

I chased after him, my ruined chest heaving. The harder I pushed him, the faster he ran.

He led me straight past the castle gates and into the treeline. The Dark Forest.

"Lucas!" I shouted. Frozen pine needles whipped my face. "The perimeter guards haven't cleared this sector! Come back!"

"Leave me alone! I hate you!" his voice echoed from the gloom.

A low, vibrating growl shook the freezing air.

My blood ran cold.

I found him frozen in a small clearing. A shadow-stalker crouched ten yards away. Thick saliva dripped from its jagged jaws.

"Mom!" Lucas shrieked, stumbling backward into a tree trunk.

"Run to the gates!" I ordered. "Now!"

The beast lunged.

Lucas froze, his eyes wide with terror.

I threw myself over his small frame just as the monster struck. Razor-sharp claws tore through my wool cloak, sinking deep into my shoulder and ripping straight down my spine.

Flesh parted. Hot blood sprayed the white snow.

I didn't scream. I laughed. A wet, broken, hysterical sound that bubbled up from my throat.

The stalker paused, confused by the noise.

That second of hesitation saved us. Three pack guards burst through the brush, silver blades flashing. The monster collapsed with a severed neck.

I slumped into the red snow, clutching my shredded back. "Lucas... are you hurt?"

He didn't answer. He didn't even look at me. He scrambled to his feet and sprinted back toward the safety of the castle.

I crawled.

Every inch sent fire through my ruined nerves. Blood soaked my dress, leaving a thick, glistening trail over the courtyard cobblestones, up the grand staircase, and down the west hall.

I reached Darian's bedchamber. The heavy oak door sat slightly ajar.

I pushed it open, leaving a bloody handprint on the wood.

"Darian," I choked out.

He was on the bed, his pants completely undone, pinning Selena against the mattress. His large hands gripped her bare thighs, fingers digging harshly into her flesh.

"Fuck, Selena, open up," Darian growled, his hips grinding down against her. "You're so fucking wet."

Selena arched her back, her fingers tangling in his dark hair. "Take me, Alpha. Ruin me."

"I'm going to tear you in half."

But they weren't alone.

Lucas knelt right beside the bed. He didn't look at the rutting adults. He kept his posture perfect, looking up at Selena's face.

"Mother," Lucas announced, his voice steady and bright. "I'm back."

Selena paused, her painted lips curving into a wicked smirk. She patted Darian's chest, signaling him to stop.

Darian pulled back. His golden eyes locked onto my ruined, bleeding form in the doorway. He didn't bother pulling up his pants.

"What the fuck is this mess?" Darian demanded.

My blood pooled over the threshold, seeping into the expensive imported rugs.

I stared at my son. "Lucas."

The boy turned his silver eyes toward me. The warmth he just showed Selena vanished, replaced instantly by utter disgust.

"You got blood on my boots," Lucas complained.

A horrific silence stretched across the room.

I didn't cry. I smiled. A wide, unhinged grin that stretched my pale cheeks until they ached.

"I saved your life," I whispered.

"You ruined my hunt," Lucas shot back. "Selena promised me a shadow-stalker pelt today."

Selena sat up, lazily pulling a silk sheet over her bare breasts. She waved a manicured hand toward the hallway. "Drag her out. She’s ruining the floor."

Two guards stepped from the shadows of the corridor.

"Wait," Darian said, his brow furrowing slightly. "She's bleeding out."

"Let her," Selena replied, stroking Lucas's hair. "The boy doesn't need her. She is a defect."

I looked at the child I carried for nine months. The child I took poison for. The child I just took a lethal blow for.

"Lucas," I rasped. "Tell them."

He turned his head away, staring blankly at the stone wall. "I don't know this woman."

The guards grabbed my arms.

Agony exploded across my shredded back. I went limp, letting them haul me away.

They dragged me down the grand staircase. My blood painted the marble steps.

The heavy iron doors of Blackclaw Castle groaned open.

"Throw her," the taller guard grunted.

They tossed me into the howling blizzard.

The massive doors slammed shut behind me. Heavy iron deadbolts locked into place, sealing my fate.

I lay in the deep snow, staring up at the night sky. The full moon hung directly overhead, casting a brilliant, piercing silver glow across the valley.

The cold seeped into my bones, numbing the shredded flesh of my back.

My father. My pack. My mate. My son.

All gone.

A strange heat sparked directly between my eyebrows.

"Ah," I gasped.

The warmth spread, burning brighter and hotter until my forehead felt like it was pressed against a branding iron.

Moonlight poured down from the sky. It didn't just shine; it flowed. A brilliant waterfall of pure silver energy crashed directly into my chest.

My heart slammed against my ribs. Once. Twice.

The chronic sickness in my lungs evaporated. The torn muscle in my back began to knit together, pulling tight with a fierce, snapping energy.

Something ancient cracked open inside my soul.

"You won't die," that deep voice from eight years ago echoed in my mind.

My silver eyes snapped open, glowing fiercely against the dark. The snow beneath my body began to melt, turning to steam.

The Luna of the Silvermoon was dead.

What was waking up in her place?