Chapter OneX
After my cousin Lyra vanished eleven years ago, abandoning her mate, Alpha Ronan, and their newbom triplets–Calix Ryker, and Elara–l stepped in.
For eleven years, I became their anchor. I raised them, protected them, and poured every ounce of affection into them
On their eleventh birthday, I gifted them a rare shadowvine blossom–Lyra’s favonte, but also sacred to the Silverclaw line.
The stew was dumped over my head–hot and scalding. Then they smashed the charm beneath their boots.
“You think you can replace her?” Calix growled, his eyes wild with shifting gold.
“You wear her memories like trophies, but you’re just a leech Ryker spat.
“A vicious female wolf like you who will do anything to achieve her goal, I wish I could kill you with my own hands!”
“Only by killing you can I avenge my lost mother!”
Elara didn’t speak. She simply opened her palm and blew bonedust in my face–a silent curse woven in sorrow and rage
While I crouched, trembling and burned, they pushed me into the moonwell.
“Just die here! This way you can go to heaven and apologize to our mothers!” Ryker said as Elara walked away, the moonlight catching her silver eyes But they weren’t done li
Two nights later, they comered me in the sacred stone circle. Calix held the ancestral dagger to my chest, his hand steady
“One cut he whispered, “and the curse she left behind will finally die with you
That was the moment I knew)
No matter what I gave my heart, my years, my soul–I would never be enough. I would never be their mother. Never be loved. So I left.
But just as I bound myself to another Alpha in a sacred ceremony meant to mark my rebirth.
Ronan and the triplets stormed into the ritual hall.
Begging Pleading Crying out for forgiveness.
mindlinked my
711 retum in two days to complete the bond with Alpha Thome of the Bloodpine Pact. Just tell me what’s required,” I m father, my voice barely a whisper in the sacred corridor beneath the Temple of Echoes.
The connection throbbed with ancestral energy–my father’s voice weighted and tired.
“You already know. Arrive with your bloodline token and surrender your former bes. You’ll be reborn among the Bloodpine wolves, Selene.
I nodded silently and ended the link. ⠀
My chest rose and fell as years of loyalty, sacrifice, and shattered illusions bled out of me in one long exhale.
A sudden crash from the kitchen jarred me back to the present
“Get out of our temtory, you cursed witch Calur’s voice rang out, sharp as a blade t
i tumed toward the arched entrance of the kitchen. Calix stood there with Ryker beside him, both taller now, shoulders squared with adolescent cruelty Behind them, Elara lingered in silence, her fingers curled tightly around the charm I’d made from the shadowvine blossom–now cracked and barely holding its shape.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this I had made duskfire stew. Stimed for hours until the spice was just right. I’d even poured it into Lyra’s old ceremonial bowl. The scent filled the room with comfort
I offered a smile I no longer believed in. “It’s a hard day, I know. But I thought this might bring peace.”
Cal’s eyes narrowed Peace? You think cooking her death dish brings peace?”
I blinked, confused. “It was her favorite-”
“She’s dead because of your Ryker shouted
“You wear her memories like trophies, but you’re just a leech” Ryker spat
“A vicious shewalf like you who will do anything to achieve her goal, I wish I could kill you with my own hands
“Only by killing you can ge my lost mother!”
Then, without warning, Calix grabbed the bowl and hurled it at me. The duskfire stew splashed across my face and chest–boiling. blistering Ioned out stumbling back as the bowl shattered at my feet I
The stew clung to my kin a curse Pain exploded down my arms.
Before I could
Ryker stuck out his foot. I tripped and crashed into the low counter my ribs slamming against the edge rely caught myself My knees buckled Elara moved last Silently Gracefully. She opened her palm and blew the remaining powdered me dust into my face–the final act of rejection
touched my lips gasped and slumped to the floor, shaking, stew dripping from my face, hands trembling And the triplets? They just stared Watching
“This is just the beginning” Ryker wespered “Next time, the whole pack will see what you are What you’ll always bes
Footsteps
undered in behind them. The omega maid Myla, skidded to a halt, her eyes going wide at the mess. Her nose wrinkled at the
one magic i
Moon‘ name
“she snapped,
the three figures turning their backs on me “What
10:59 AM & c
“She deserves it!” Elara spat eyes glinting silver. “She’s not our mother. She’s a liar. A pretender. A thief.” The words stung worse than the stew.”
The triplets stormed off. Myla helped me to my feet and led me to were gentle, but her jaw was set.
to the come
comer bench, grabbing a healing balm from the shelf. Her hands
m on my arm. “They’re not worth it.”
“I don’t know why you keep enduring this,” she murmured, dabbing the salve along the welled burn on
I didn’t answer My eyes fell to the crescent–shaped scar already beginning to form just above my wrist–a mark of both magic and memory
They think Lyra is dead. But I know the truth.
She left them Left Roman Left me
Eleven years ago, I stepped in because no one else would. I raised them. Fed them. Watched over them while their father buried the truth and drowned in grief. I gave my youth for theirs.
And still, I am nothing but a shadow A curse in their story.
re than a helper–but they call her
They love their woll–nanny, Lily. She tucks them in, makes them laugh. She was never meant to be more “mother” with the affection I’ve never eamed.
And I–I’m the villain in their bedtime tales But no more. I will say my goodbyes.
In two days, I’ll marry Alpha Thome of the Bloodpine Pact–a union meant to seal an alliance between Silverclaw and their northern
warriors..
I will be rebom under their crest. Not for love Not for glory But for freedom.
Let Ronan mourn his ghost Let the triplets worship a lie
I’m done.I’m done pretending I’m done waiting to be chosen.!!
Today I made a decision, I decided to leave. I decided to go and mate with another alpha wolf.
