Sera's POV
I can't stay in my chambers.
The shadow-woman's warning echoes in my head: They're coming for you tonight.
Every creak makes me jump. Every shadow looks like an attacker. I pace my room like a caged animal, waiting for death to knock on my door.
At midnight, I can't take it anymore.
If they're coming for me, I won't die trapped in a room. I'll face them on my own terms.
I slip out of my chambers and head for the Keep's gardens. At least there, I can see the moon. At least there, I can breathe.
The gardens are wild and beautiful, with ancient trees twisting toward the sky. Moonlight turns everything silver. I walk deeper in, my footsteps silent on the stone path.
For the first time in days, I feel almost peaceful.
That's when they strike.
Hands grab me from behind rough, brutal, covering my mouth before I can scream. Three men in dark clothes surround me, their eyes glowing with wolf-light.
Quiet, little Queen, one hisses in my ear. This will hurt less if you don't fight.
Terror explodes through me. I kick and claw and bite, but they're too strong. They drag me toward the garden's far wall, away from the Keep, away from any help.
Please, I try to say against the hand covering my mouth. Please don't
One attacker pulls out a knife. The blade gleams in the moonlight.
The ritual needs her blood first, he says calmly, like he's discussing dinner. Then we take her heart. The Moon blessed power dies with her, just like her mother.
Moon Blessed. Just like the book said. Just like the shadow-woman showed me.
They're going to kill me the same way they killed my mother.
NO! The scream tears from my throat, ripping past the hand on my mouth.
Something inside me breaks.
No not breaks. Explodes.
Silver light erupts from my body like a bomb going off.
The attackers fly backward, thrown by an invisible force. They slam into trees and walls, their bodies crumpling. The garden stones beneath my feet crack and splinter, spreading out in a perfect circle.
Power pours out of me in waves pure, massive, terrifying. My skin glows like I've swallowed the moon. My hair whips around my face even though there's no wind.
I stare at my hands. They're burning with silver fire that doesn't hurt.
One attacker groans, trying to stand. He looks at me with wide, terrified eyes.
I don't think. I just react.
I throw my hand out, and silver lightning shoots from my fingers. It hits him square in the chest, and he drops like a stone.
Dead.
I killed him.
What are you? another attacker gasps, scrambling backward.
I don't know, I whisper. And it's true. I don't know what I am. What I'm becoming.
The two remaining attackers turn and run.
They make it three steps before a massive black wolf crashes into the garden like a storm made flesh.
The wolf is enormous bigger than any I've ever seen. Pure black with eyes like winter storms. Kael's eyes.
He tears into the attackers with brutal, terrifying efficiency. There's no hesitation, no mercy. Just death delivered with fangs and claws.
In seconds, all three attackers are dead, their blood staining the garden stones.
The wolf shifts, bones cracking and reforming. Kael stands in human form, naked and covered in blood. His chest heaves with breath. His eyes are wild, dangerous.
Those eyes lock onto me, still glowing with silver light.
What are you? he demands, his voice rough. Not curious. Afraid.
The power inside me flickers like a candle in the wind. Suddenly, I'm exhausted. So tired I can barely stand.
I don't... The world tilts sideways. I can't...
My legs give out.
Kael moves faster than should be possible. He catches me before I hit the ground, his arms strong and warm around me.
I look up at his face. His expression is shocked, but there's something else there too. Something that looks almost like recognition. Like he knows what I am even though I don't.
Kael, I whisper. They said... they killed my mother...
I know, he says quietly. And the way he says it like he's known all along makes my blood run cold.
Darkness creeps in at the edges of my vision. I'm falling, falling, falling into nothing.
The last thing I hear is Kael roaring, GUARDS! GET ELDER THORNE! NOW!
Then everything goes black.
I wake up screaming.
No not wake up. I'm somewhere else. Somewhere dark and cold and wrong.
I'm standing in a forest I don't recognize. The trees are dead, their branches reaching toward a blood-red moon. The ground beneath my feet is covered in bones.
Welcome, daughter.
I spin around.
A woman stands behind me. She's beautiful and terrible at the same time, with silver hair that flows like water and eyes that glow just like mine.
Who are you? I demand.
I'm your mother. She smiles sadly. Or what's left of her. They killed my body ten years ago, but my spirit has been waiting. Waiting for you to wake up.
This is a dream, I say, even though I know it's not.
This is a warning. My mother steps closer. You survived tonight, but they'll come again. Stronger next time. And there's a traitor in the Keep, Sera. Someone close to Kael. Someone who's been planning your death since the moment you arrived.
Who? I ask desperately.
I can't see their face. They're protected by dark magic. She reaches out and touches my cheek. Her hand is cold. But I can tell you this: trust your power. Trust your wolf when she finally speaks. And whatever you do...
She leans close, her voice dropping to a terrified whisper.
...don't let Kael know the full truth about what you are. Not yet. Because the Moon Blessed and the Alpha Kings were bound together three hundred years ago by a blood curse. If he discovers you're his true fated mate, the curse will activate. And one of you will have to die.
My heart stops. What?
One mate must die so the other can live. That's the curse. Tears stream down her face. Your father figured it out. That's why he killed me. He thought if I died first, the curse would break and he'd be free.
No, I whisper. No, that can't be
You're bound to Kael now, Sera. The moment you married him, the curse locked into place. And when he figures out you're Moon blessed, when the bond fully awakens between you...
She fades like smoke, her last words barely a whisper:
...one of you has to die.