CHAPTER 3

Armida's POV

Sleep came in restless fragments.

Sometimes I drifted into a dreamless darkness so deep that, for a few precious moments, I forgot where I was, only to wake with a violent start as the cold stone beneath me reminded me that I was no longer in the safety of Blue Crescent. Other times, sleep refused to come at all, leaving me to stare endlessly at the rough walls surrounding my cell while the silence pressed against me until even the sound of my own breathing became unbearable.

Time had long since lost all meaning.

Without windows, there was no sunrise to welcome a new day or sunset to tell me another had come to an end. The only light filtering into the cell slipped through the narrow gap beneath the heavy metal door, stretching across the stone floor in a thin golden line that never seemed to change. I had tried counting the guards' footsteps at first, convincing myself I could somehow keep track of the passing hours, but that quickly proved impossible.

Eventually...

I stopped trying.

The prison had a cruel way of swallowing time until nothing existed except endless waiting. I let out a quiet sigh and rested my head against the damp wall behind me, searching desperately for something—anything—that might distract me from the suffocating silence.

At first, I counted my fingers.

When that became pointless, I traced the cracks running through the stone floor with my eyes, imagining shapes where there were none. That didn't last long either.

No matter how hard I tried to keep my mind occupied, my thoughts always wandered back to Blue Crescent, because memories were the only place these walls couldn't imprison me.

A small smile tugged at my lips.

School hadn't exactly been my favorite place.

Growing up without a wolf ensured I never truly belonged, no matter how kind people tried to be. The whispers always found me eventually, drifting through classrooms and hallways in voices they thought were too quiet for me to hear.

"Do you think she'll ever shift?"

"Maybe the Moon Goddess forgot about her."

"It's such a shame..."

Most of them weren't trying to be cruel.

Some genuinely pitied me.

Some were simply curious.

But pity had a way of hurting far more than open mockery ever could.

I learned to smile through it, to pretend their words didn't matter, and to laugh as though none of it reached me. Then I would go home, close my bedroom door, and allow myself to feel everything I had hidden all day.

Thankfully...

I hadn't faced those years alone.

Leo and Cleo had made sure of that.

The twins had adopted me into their little circle long before anyone thought to ask whether I wanted to join, and somewhere along the way, they became the closest thing I had ever had to siblings.

Another smile found its way onto my face.

Leo had an incredible talent for walking into every room as though the Moon Goddess herself had created it solely for his entrance. With his messy blond hair, warm brown eyes, and ridiculously charming smile, it wasn't surprising that nearly every unmated she-wolf in Blue Crescent believed she stood a chance of becoming his future Luna.

The ridiculous part was that he encouraged every bit of their attention.

He flirted shamelessly, accepted every compliment with a grin, and carried himself with the confidence of someone who believed the entire world existed for his entertainment.

Yet for all his confidence, the moment any she-wolf gathered enough courage to confess her feelings, he would panic so spectacularly that it became impossible not to laugh. His usual solution was to drag Cleo and me into whatever absurd escape plan he managed to invent.

A quiet laugh escaped my lips.

Cleo always said her brother possessed the survival instincts of an overexcited puppy.

She wasn't entirely wrong.

Unlike Leo, who preferred acting first and thinking later, Cleo somehow managed to think three steps ahead of everyone else. She had inherited all the patience in their family, while Leo seemed to have inherited every reckless impulse imaginable.

If he suggested climbing a tree simply because it looked tall, Cleo would already be explaining exactly how he intended to fall out of it. If he decided sneaking out after curfew sounded like fun, she would already have a lecture prepared before he even climbed through the window.

She complained constantly...

Yet she never stopped following him.

Or making sure I wasn't caught in the middle of whatever trouble he created.

One memory surfaced more clearly than the others.

Leo had proudly announced that becoming adults deserved a proper celebration, and according to him, the only acceptable way to celebrate was by sneaking into the nearby human town to try alcohol.

Cleo rejected the idea before he had even finished speaking.

I should have listened to her.

Unfortunately, Leo had always been far more convincing than he had any right to be.

The twins barely felt anything after drinking, thanks to their werewolf metabolism.

I wasn't nearly as fortunate.

By the time we left the restaurant, I could barely walk in a straight line, and the twins spent the entire journey back to Blue Crescent supporting most of my weight while trying—and failing—not to laugh at my endless rambling.

Our brilliant plan came to a spectacular end the moment Alpha Gerald caught us stumbling toward the pack house.

The memory still made me smile.

Leo had attempted to explain the situation with complete confidence, only for Alpha Gerald to grab both twins by their ears before either of them could finish speaking.

I laughed so hard that night my stomach hurt.

Even remembering it now was enough to make warmth spread through my chest.

For one precious moment...

I forgot I was sitting inside a prison cell.

The warmth of the memory slowly faded, and reality settled over me once again like a heavy blanket.

The smile on my lips disappeared as I looked around the small prison cell, the rough stone walls seeming even colder than before. It was strange how quickly the mind could carry you somewhere safe, only to abandon you the moment you opened your eyes.

I wondered if anyone had discovered I was missing yet.

Had they searched the forest?

Had they found any trace of me at all?

Or had I simply vanished without leaving behind a single clue?

The questions circled endlessly through my mind, each one more unsettling than the last. I wanted answers just as desperately as everyone back home probably did, but I had nothing to give them because I understood my situation no better than they would.

One thought, however, refused to leave me alone.

Ever since I had woken up inside Black Moon's territory, the strange sleepwalking episodes hadn't happened.

The dreams that had always drawn me toward the forest had vanished completely, as though they had fulfilled whatever purpose they had been meant to serve.

I frowned.

The realization should have brought relief, yet it did the exact opposite.

Why had they stopped now?

Had coming here somehow broken whatever had been happening to me, or had the dreams been leading me to this place all along?

The thought sent an uncomfortable chill crawling down my spine.

No.

That couldn't be right.

There had to be another explanation, one that actually made sense. Before I could lose myself in those thoughts any further, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed through the corridor outside my cell.

I immediately straightened.

The footsteps were slow and deliberate, accompanied by the faint jingle of keys striking against metal with every step. They carried none of the laziness I had grown accustomed to hearing from the guards who occasionally passed my cell without stopping.

Whoever was coming...

They were coming for me.

The footsteps stopped just beyond the door.

For one suspended moment, everything became still.

Then the lock released with a heavy metallic click before the thick door groaned open.

A guard stepped inside.

His broad shoulders almost filled the narrow doorway, and the little light spilling in from the corridor disappeared behind him, casting the room into shadow once more.

Instinct took over before reason had a chance to intervene.

I scrambled backward until my spine collided painfully with the stone wall, wrapping the prison blanket more tightly around myself as though the thin fabric could somehow shield me.

The guard barely acknowledged my reaction.

He crossed the small distance between us in two long strides before firmly taking hold of my wrists and pulling me to my feet. I stumbled as my legs struggled to support me after sitting on the hard floor for so long.

"W-Where are you taking me?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady despite the fear tightening around my throat.

He didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he began leading me out of the cell with the same unwavering pace he had entered with.

"The Alpha wants to question you."

The words struck me harder than I expected.

My pulse quickened.

Every story I had ever heard about Black Moon's

Alpha rushed back into my mind all at once.

An Alpha whose enemies rarely lived long enough to regret crossing him. I had never cared much for rumors but I didn't disregard it completely even though people often exaggerated the reputations of powerful Alphas.

But standing inside Black Moon's prison, with my fate resting entirely in the hands of a man I had never met, those stories suddenly didn't seem so easy to dismiss.

"You'd better pull yourself together," the guard said without looking back. "The Alpha has little patience for tears."

I lowered my eyes, forcing myself to breathe through the tightness in my chest.

"I won't cry," I whispered, though I wasn't sure whether I was trying to convince him or myself.

The guard didn't respond.

He simply continued leading me through the prison corridors, his footsteps echoing against the stone while mine struggled to keep pace behind him.

The further we walked, the more the prison seemed to come alive around us. Heavy doors lined the corridor, each one secured with thick steel locks, and every now and then I caught the distant sound of chains shifting or voices murmuring somewhere beyond the walls.

No one called out or even  begged for help. The silence was almost more unsettling than screams would have been. Eventually, we reached a pair of reinforced doors unlike the others.

As they slid open, warm sunlight poured inside, forcing me to squint after spending so long beneath the prison's dim lights.

For a brief moment, I simply stood there.

The warmth against my skin felt almost unreal.

I had never imagined something as ordinary as sunlight could feel like such a gift. But the feeling passed almost as quickly as it came.

Because freedom was only a few steps away...

And yet it remained completely out of reach.

The guard urged me forward, and I followed him into the pack grounds. The difference between the prison and the world outside was almost overwhelming.

The previous sight of warriors crossing the training field carrying weapons, their movements disciplined and precise greeted me. Pack members went about their daily routines, but conversations faltered the moment they noticed me.

Curious eyes followed us wherever we went.

Some wolves looked at me with open suspicion.

Others simply stared, as though trying to understand why a stranger was being escorted through the heart of Black Moon instead of chained inside its dungeon.

I kept my gaze forward.

Meeting their eyes would only make me more aware of how out of place I was.

As we continued walking, the buildings grew larger and more imposing until one structure towered above all the others. It stood at the center of the territory like a silent reminder of who ruled this pack.

Dark stone walls rose several stories high, while enormous banners bearing Black Moon's crest hung from either side of the entrance, swaying gently in the afternoon breeze. Two Enforcers stood guard outside the massive doors, their expressions unreadable as we approached.

Neither of them spoke.

One simply stepped forward and pulled the heavy door open.

The moment I crossed the threshold, the atmosphere changed.

The sounds from outside disappeared behind us, replaced by a quiet so complete that every footstep seemed almost disrespectfully loud.

The interior of the pack house was grand, yet there was very little warmth within it. Everything was immaculate, carefully ordered, and intimidating in a way that made it obvious this was not merely a home.

It was the heart of Black Moon's authority.

Every wolf we passed lowered their head respectfully toward the guard escorting me before quickly returning to whatever duty they had been carrying out. No one lingered.

It was as though everyone understood that curiosity had its limits within these walls.

The guard led me through a series of long hallways before finally stopping in front of a pair of towering black doors that were noticeably larger than any we had passed.

My breath caught, even without being told, I knew who waited behind them.

The guard knocked once. The silence that followed stretched so long that I became painfully aware of the sound of my own breathing.

Then a deep, commanding voice came from the other side.

"Enter."

A shiver ran through me, the guard turned toward me, his expression as unreadable as ever.

"The Alpha is ready to see you."

Every nerve in my body tightened.

This was it.