Mira's POV
The gates slam shut and the sound echoes through her bones like a death knell.
Mira stands alone in the Northern Hunting Grounds wearing nothing but thin clothes and carrying a single knife. The forest stretches endlessly in every direction. Dense trees. Rocky terrain. Shadows that move when she is not looking at them.
This is where her parents died.
She forces herself to breathe and start walking. Stopping means panic. Panic means death. Movement means survival, or at least the illusion of it.
The first day is about learning.
She tries to shift into her wolf form but the pain in her burned paws is unbearable. So she stays human and learns what humans know. How to move quietly through the forest. How to listen for sounds that mean danger. How to smell the air and understand what it is telling her.
By noon her stomach is screaming.
She remembers something Isla mentioned about traps. Something about using branches and vines to catch small prey. Mira spends two hours constructing something that barely qualifies as a trap. It is flimsy and probably useless but she sets it anyway and keeps moving.
When she returns at dusk, a rabbit is caught in the branches.
It is not much. But it is food. She kills it quickly, trying not to think about its eyes, and roasts the meat over a small fire she builds from dry wood. The flesh is tough and gamey but she eats every piece. Her burned hands hurt too much to do anything complicated so she uses the knife to tear pieces off and shoves them in her mouth.
It barely stops her stomach from cramping.
The second day is about survival.
She finds a stream and drinks until her belly is bloated. The water tastes like earth and minerals but it does not matter. Water means she can survive longer. Water means the forest has something to offer besides death.
She follows the stream because water always leads somewhere. Following it means not getting completely lost. It means having direction when everything else is chaos.
That night she builds a shelter from fallen branches and moss. It is barely protection but it keeps the worst of the wind off her. She lies there in the darkness and can feel the bond with Kael pulling at her like a rope. He is terrified. She can feel it through their connection. Feel him pacing. Feel him counting the hours until she is supposed to return.
She holds onto that feeling because it reminds her why she has to survive.
The third day is about understanding.
Mira has been in the forest for almost two full days and nothing has killed her. The forest has tried. The cold tried. Hunger tried. Exhaustion tried. But she is still alive and that realization shifts something inside her.
She is stronger than she thought.
She catches another rabbit. This one is easier because she understands the trap now. She finds edible plants that Isla described. Her human form is weak but her mind is working faster than it ever has.
Then the sun sets on the second night and everything changes.
The smell hits her first. Rogue. Not one. Three of them. All violence and hunger and the kind of death that does not care about excuses.
Mira stands very still and listens.
They are circling. Moving through the trees like they are herding prey toward a trap. They are smart. They are organized. They have killed many times before.
She can feel them closing in.
Mira knows she should run. Every instinct screams to run. But running just makes predators hunt faster. So instead she shifts into her wolf form.
The pain is immediate and brutal. Her burned paws scream as they touch the ground. Her whole body is weak from days of minimal food and exhaustion. Her wolf form is smaller than any of the rogues coming toward her.
She is completely outmatched.
The three rogues step into the clearing where she stands. Their fur is matted and scarred. Their eyes are feral and hungry. One of them growls and the sound vibrates through her entire body.
This is how her parents died. Alone in the forest. Outnumbered. Surrounded by predators that saw them as nothing but meat.
Mira realizes she is about to become just another ghost story. Another Omega that disappeared in the Northern Hunting Grounds and was never mentioned again.
The largest rogue lunges.
In that moment something inside Mira breaks open.
Not her body. Not her spirit. Something deeper. Something she has been carrying her whole life and never knew how to use.
Power.
Raw and wild and terrifying.
It explodes outward from her like lightning and her violet eyes begin to glow. Not the soft color they have always been. Glowing. Burning. Blazing like her entire body is a beacon made of starlight.
The word tears from her mind without her speaking it aloud.
STOP.
The force of it crashes against the three rogues like a physical wave. They freeze mid-attack. All three of them. Their bodies go rigid and their eyes go wide with confusion. They are trying to move but cannot. Trying to understand what is happening but cannot understand.
Mira staggers backward, shocked at what just happened.
She did not speak but they obeyed.
She did not fight but they submitted.
The power is still flowing through her veins like fire. She can feel it in every cell. Can feel it responding to her will. Can feel it waiting for her command.
She thinks about the rogues sitting.
All three of them drop to the ground, their massive bodies collapsing onto the forest floor. They are struggling against invisible chains. Fighting something they cannot see or touch or understand.
Mira stares at them in shock because she understands exactly what is happening.
The prophecy.
The ability to command the very wolves that hunt beneath the moon.
She has it.
The power courses through her and she realizes that the Elders are right to be terrified. Not because she cursed Kael. Not because she is a witch.
Because she is something they have never seen before.
An Omega with dominance that rivals any Alpha.
An Omega who can make wolves bend to her will with just a thought.
An Omega who is about to change everything.
Mira stands there in the forest with three rogues forced into submission at her feet and her violet eyes burning bright enough to light the darkness. She is weak. She is exhausted. She is still wounded and barely fed.
But she is not powerless.
She is not invisible.
She is not nothing.
The rogues whimper underneath the weight of her command. They are confused and terrified and completely helpless against what she can do.
Mira takes a breath and makes a decision.
She releases them from her hold and steps aside.
The three rogues scramble to their feet and bolt away from her, disappearing into the forest like she is the most terrifying thing they have ever encountered. And maybe she is. Maybe she has always been. Maybe she just needed to be alone long enough to understand it.
Her violet eyes fade back to normal but the power is still there. Still thrumming underneath her skin. Still waiting for her command.
Mira realizes that when she returns to the pack tomorrow, everything will be different.
They wanted to send an invisible servant girl into the forest.
She is coming back as something that burns.