Chapter 2

The vision threw them back five years.

I lay dying in the ruins of my old pack, drenched in blood.

The Feral Curse was a plague. My pack, my family—all dead, torn apart by crazed wolves.

"Help me..." I reached out a trembling hand.

A feral wolf lunged for me, its claws aimed at my heart.

In that instant, Lachlan appeared.

His wolf form was massive, powerful. He tore the crazed Alpha apart in a single move.

Even in my haze of pain, my wolf knew him.

Mate.

He gathered my dying body into his arms. His steps were sure and strong, but his voice was a low, soothing rumble.

“Don’t be afraid, Anya. My pack has the best healers. We’ll save you.”

“My mate. I won’t give up on you.”

“I’ll watch the moonflowers with you on the next full moon…”

At the pack house, his parents, Richard and Isadora, looked at my blood-soaked form without flinching.

Isadora, the Luna, placed her hand on my forehead.

A cool energy that smelled of moonlight flooded my senses. It soothed my wolf, whose soul was on the verge of shattering.

It was a healing power only a pure-blooded Luna possessed, a gift from the Moon Goddess herself.

The illness came and went. Lachlan stayed by my side for over three months.

He fed me, using his Alpha strength to warm me when I shivered.

He would pull me against his scorching chest, and his Alpha scent was the most grounding thing I’d ever felt.

He wouldn't even let the cup touch my lips until he’d tested the water’s heat against his own skin.

Thanks to him, I was pulled back from the brink of death.

After I recovered, Richard and Isadora held my hands.

"Anya, you are the Moon Goddess's gift to Lachlan," Isadora said. "And from now on, you are our daughter, too."

Just like that, I went from a lone rogue to the protected, future Luna of the powerful Silvermoon Pack.

As the memory faded, angry roars filled the silver cell.

"Damned rogue! She has no right to be our Luna!"

"That omega bitch betrayed us!"

A wave of pressure slammed into me.

A fistful of silver powder flew through the air, striking my face.

The searing pain made me curl into a ball.

The man from my memories, my mate, grabbed my collar again, forcing me to look at him.

His eyes were bloodshot. "Wasn't I good enough for you, Anya?"

His stare was a silver needle piercing my heart.

Good? He was better than good. He was perfect.

No omega could ever dream of an Alpha’s love so complete.

But before I could make a sound, a graceful woman stepped forward and took Lachlan's arm.

"Lachlan, don't waste your grief on a low-life omega like her. Her soul is tainted. She was never worthy of your love. The Moon Goddess will punish her for this betrayal."

"Once she's dead," she purred, "I will be by your side. Your true mate."

I knew her. Sabrina.

Daughter of the Alpha from our allied Sunfire Pack.

After my imprisonment, she became the pack's unofficial Luna.

I hated her for taking Lachlan's love.

But I was also grateful. For the past year, she had stayed by his side.

She kept him from being completely destroyed by his hatred.

Seeing my continued silence, Lachlan nodded to his guards. They forced the second dose of the potion into me.

As my soul was torn anew, I saw Lachlan reach out and gently wipe a smudge of lipstick from the corner of Sabrina’s mouth.

I saw the faded scar on his wrist—one he'd gotten while saving me.

Just like the scar, my place in his heart had already vanished.

At the same time, the second memory appeared before them all.

The scene was from three years ago.

By then, everyone knew I would be Lachlan’s mate.

Richard and Isadora treated me like their own child, using all their resources to prepare for my Luna ceremony.

Lachlan’s mother personally marked me with the totem that granted access to the sacred grounds.

“This pack is your home now. We will never let Lachlan hurt you!”

Richard warned Lachlan that a wolf only gets one fated mate. One.

He forbade him from ever straying.

Lachlan just smiled, his handsome face full of happiness.

“Don’t worry, Mom, Dad. I love Anya more than anything. I’d never let her get hurt.”

To prove his devotion, Lachlan fastened the ancestral Luna necklace around my neck himself.

The entire pack was lost in joy.

Then, a new memory surfaced.

A night three years ago.

Victor Thorne and his pack launched a surprise attack on Silvermoon territory.

"Richard has violated the laws of the Werewolf Council!" Victor roared. "His pack must be punished!"

Richard had been framed and was facing a trial.

Lachlan fought Victor to protect his father.

He collapsed in front of me, covered in blood.

"Anya..." he said weakly. "If I die..."

"You won't!" I clutched him. "I won't let anyone hurt you!"

That night, I snuck into the pack’s forbidden sanctum.

I stole the one thing Victor Thorne had coveted for years: the Silvermoon Pack’s most precious artifact, the Heart of the Moon.

Then, I vanished into the darkness, heading for Blackstone territory.