Chapter 2

It was like they were granting me some huge favor, their Alpha-candidate orders leaving no room for argument.

Bitterness and a wolf's mournful cry welled up in my chest, each breath a tearing pain.

After dropping their cold commands, Mitchell and Jax shifted into two wolf forms and bolted from my cave, heading straight for the den where Elara was recovering.

Mitchell's roar drifted back: "The patient in the lower cave – take good care of her! If anything happens to Elara, your entire patrol team will go join the Nightshade ghosts!"

Jax added immediately, his voice icy, "What Mitchell said goes for me too. Screw up, and you'll pay."

It was obvious who that "special patient" was.

I stared numbly at the cave ceiling, a nightmare reel of memories playing in my head.

Before Elara Thorne showed up, the bond between the three of us was the stuff of Blackwood pack legend.

From playing together under the moon as pups to hunting and fending off enemies as adults, we were inseparable.

Every time I got picked on because I hadn't mastered my Luna powers, they were the two who stood in front of me, shielding me with their Alpha-candidate presence and their claws.

On stormy nights, they'd bring me the plumpest salmon.

After a hunt, they'd wordlessly push the best part of the kill to me.

On the full moon of my coming-of-age ceremony, they worked together, using glow moss and moonflowers to create a dreamlike clearing for me.

Those scenes were so vivid, but now everything was different.

Elara was "rescued" by Mitchell and Jax – together – from the Nightshades' clutches two months ago, during a raid on their remaining forces.

When I first saw her, Mitchell and Jax had me behind them, their eyes full of suspicion and caution as they looked at Elara.

Mitchell had ordered, "Sera, stay away from this Omega of unknown origin. Don't want you getting into trouble."

And Jax had snarled at a cowering Elara, "Remember, Sera is the Luna you must obey! Show any disrespect, and I'll snap your neck!"

But later, I became the "trouble" they needed to be wary of.

Their words changed too. Those wolf eyes that once only reflected me started to look more and more at Elara.

"Elara's had a rough life. It’s just a decorative belt, Sera. As future Luna, let her have it. Consider it Blackwood’s pity," Mitchell had said.

"Elara's coming-of-age is next full moon too, Sera. Let's do her celebration first. Yours, we'll do it after Mitchell and I figure out who's Alpha," Jax had said.

"Elara likes your snow-wolf fur cloak, Sera. You hardly wear it anyway. Give it to her, let her look a bit more presentable." This time, it was both of them, in unison.

I had only questioned Elara, according to pack rules, for taking rare herbs from the pack's reserves without permission.

She just knelt before me, looked at Mitchell and Jax, and started slapping herself, crying.

Mitchell and Jax didn't even ask what happened. The fury of both Alpha candidates hit me at once.

"It's just a few herbs, Sera! Can't you tolerate one orphan girl?!" Mitchell's wolf eyes flashed with disappointment.

"What Alpha would dare entrust the pack to a cruel Luna like you?!" Jax's words were like ice picks to my heart.

All my explanations died in my throat. My wolf's pride wouldn't let me show weakness.

Mitchell bent down, comforting Elara with a gentleness I'd never seen, and scooped her into his arms. Jax followed close behind, shot me a wary glare, and left without a backward glance.

From that day on, the bond between us was truly broken.

The future Alphas who once swore to protect me ended up being the ones to push me into the abyss.

The next morning, an apprentice from the artisan making my Luna gown brought a message.

"Future Luna, Miss Sera, Alpha candidates Mitchell and Jax have jointly ordered that the ceremonial gown prepared for you be taken away… they said… it’s for Miss Elara to try on for size…"

Before I could even process it, Elara pushed open my cave door, her expression deliberately woeful.

"Sera, are you okay?" she began, her voice timid.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know those Nightshades would actually do it. We all thought they were just bluffing about setting the fire… And I never expected Mitchell and Jax to choose to save me first…"

I lay on the stone bed, unable to move, every breath sending jolts of pain through my face.

But she looked like she was the one who'd suffered some terrible injustice, sobbing her heart out.

Her knees hit the stone floor hard as she kept begging:

"Sera, please forgive me, don't kick me out. Elara only has Alpha Mitchell and Alpha Jax to rely on in this world…"

The next second, two figures burst in. Jax quickly pulled Elara up and shielded her behind him, both pairs of wolf eyes glaring at me angrily.

"Seraphina! Can't you even behave when you're injured?! Still trying to cause trouble for Elara?!"