Flipping the Script

The Grand Hall of the Blood Moon Pack was choked with the scent of pine, ozone, and arrogance. Hundreds of high-ranking wolves filled the galleries, their predatory eyes locked onto me as I walked beside Caleb toward the raised dais.

In my past life, their intense stares had made me shrink. Today, I held my head high, my midnight-gold gown cutting a sharp, regal silhouette against the pack's drab grey banners.

"You're drawing too much attention, Aria," Caleb muttered under his breath, his smile fixed for the crowd but his voice tight with irritation. "A human Saintess should be modest. You are making my elders uncomfortable."

I didn't look at him. "If your towering, bloodthirsty elders are made uncomfortable by a nineteen-year-old girl in a dark dress, Caleb, perhaps they aren't fit to rule a pack. They look fragile. Should I order them some tea?"

Caleb’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek. He wasn't used to this biting sarcasm from his once-docile fiancé.

At the front of the hall stood Elder Thomas, Caleb’s uncle and the chief architect of the treaty that had enslaved my people. Standing right behind him, dressed in elite guard armor, was Elena. Her gaze burned holes into my face, her lips curled in a smug, knowing smirk. She thought she was in on the grand secret. She thought I was the sacrificial lamb.

"Welcome, Saintess," Elder Thomas boomed, spreading his arms. "Today, we unite the wolves and the humans. To solidify this grand alliance, we require your signature on the traditional Accords of Goodwill."

An attendant stepped forward, presenting a heavy parchment scroll.

In my past life, I hadn't even read it. I had trusted Caleb blindly when he told me it was just a formality to open a trade route. In reality, that document legally signed over the human territory’s mountain mines—the source of our economic survival—to the wolves, while stripping the human guards of their weapons. It had left my people entirely defenseless.

I took the silver quill, but instead of signing, I slowly unrolled the parchment, skimming the complex, archaic legal runes.

The hall grew dead silent. Wolves didn't like to wait, let alone for a human.

"Is there a problem, Aria?" Caleb asked, his voice laced with a subtle, commanding alpha aura meant to make me submissive. "It's just a standard trade pact. Sign it so we can celebrate."

"A standard trade pact?" I asked, my voice ringing clearly through the cavernous hall. I looked up, locking eyes with Elder Thomas. "Then I am confused. Why does Section Four state that the human militia must dismantle their silver-tipped arrows and hand them over to the Blood Moon armory within thirty days?"

Elder Thomas smoothed his beard, his expression turning cold. "A gesture of trust, Saintess. Wolves cannot feel safe coexisting with humans who carry weapons meant to kill us."

"Ah. I see," I replied, tilting my head. "So to ensure your safety, the humans must become entirely defenseless against rogue attacks? Tell me, Elder, if a pack of feral rogues breaches the southern border, will your wolves arrive fast enough to shield human children, or should we just ask the rogues to wait politely while you finish your lunch?"

A collective gasp rippled through the gallery. No human had ever spoken to a pack elder like that.

Elena stepped forward, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword, her eyes flashing a dangerous wolf-yellow. "Watch your tongue, human. You speak to a pack elder. Your magic may be sacred, but your throat is still soft."

I didn't flinch. I turned my gaze directly to Elena, looking her up and down with utter disdain. "And you are a mere guard, standing in a hall of lords. I am the Saintess of the Human Realms and the future Luna of this pack. If I want your opinion, servant, I will look down at the floor and ask for it. Until then, learn your place and stand at attention."

Elena’s face flushed a violent, furious red. She snarled, her claws beginning to extend, but Caleb sharply raised his hand to stop her. He was sweating now, realizing the situation was spiraling out of his control.

"Aria, enough!" Caleb hissed, grabbing my wrist. "You are embarrassing me. Sign the contract. We discussed this."

"We discussed a partnership, Caleb. Not a surrender," I said, tearing my wrist from his grip with surprising force.

I dipped the quill in red ink, but I didn't sign my name. Instead, I drew a sharp, brutal line straight through Section Four, crossing out the disarmament clause entirely. Then, beneath it, I wrote a new clause in bold, sweeping strokes: The human realms retain full sovereignty over their military and will charge a forty percent tariff on all wolf trade passing through the mountain gates.

"What are you doing?!" Elder Thomas roared, stepping forward. "That ruins the entire treaty!"

"No, it balances it," I corrected smoothly, tossing the quill onto the table. "You want my sacred magic to mask your pack's dark aura from the High Council? This is the price. If you don't like the terms, the alliance is void, and I will take my magic to the neighboring Eclipse Pack. I hear Alpha Jaxon has been looking for a reason to expand his territory."

Caleb looked at me as if he were seeing a ghost. The entire hall was in an uproar. By threatening to go to his fiercest rival, I had just backed the Blood Moon Pack into a corner. If they refused, they looked weak; if they accepted, their plan to crush the humans was delayed.

"Fine," Caleb choked out through his teeth, his eyes burning with a promise of future violence. He signed his name next to my altered clause. "We accept."

The crowd murmured in shock. I had won the first round.

But as the attendant took the scroll away, a strange, phantom sensation rippled through my veins. A sudden, ice-cold chill washed over me, followed by a burning heat in my chest—right where the Lycan King had kissed me in the future.

My eyes instinctively darted toward the eastern windows, looking past the pack grounds toward the mountains where the forbidden, heavily guarded catacombs lay.

A dark, powerful pulse vibrated through the earth, unnoticeable to the wolves, but loud as a thunderclap to my soul.

He's awake, a voice whispered in the back of my mind.

The Lycan King wasn't supposed to wake up for another five years. But because his future magic was bound to my soul, my presence here—my altered destiny—had triggered a chain reaction. The monster was stirring in his prison early.

I looked at Caleb’s furious face, then at Elena’s murderous glare. I had bought my people time, but a forty percent tariff wouldn't save them when Caleb eventually turned desperate. I needed real power. I needed the ultimate weapon.

Tonight, I thought, a thrill of dangerous anticipation running down my spine. Tonight, I go to the catacombs.