Chapter 5 — The Perfect Luna Candidate

The reception hall gleamed under crystal chandeliers, every surface polished to mirror the pack’s hierarchy.

Cassia Ashford stood at the center of it all, draped in silver silk that caught the light like moonlight on water.

She spoke easily with elders and warrior families, her laughter measured, her posture flawless.

Every eye followed her as if she already wore the Luna’s crown.

Mira moved through the same space carrying a tray of champagne flutes, her uniform plain, her gaze fixed on the floor.

No one looked at her unless they needed a refill.

Cassia belonged in the light.

Mira belonged in the shadows behind it.

The contrast was not accidental. It was the pack’s design.

Elder Corvin approached Darius near the Alpha’s table, his voice low but carrying enough weight to silence nearby conversations.

He praised Cassia’s noble blood, her ritual training, her rare silver wolf.

He did not say Darius must choose her.

He did not need to.

The entire room understood the unspoken command.

Darius nodded, his expression carefully neutral, his hands clasped behind his back.

But beneath his ribs, Fen stirred restlessly.

Each time Mira crossed the periphery of the hall, the wolf’s attention snapped toward her like a compass needle finding true north.

Cassia was the correct choice.

Mira was the impossible pull.

An omega servant fumbled a glass, sending it clattering against the marble floor.

Before any elder could reprimand her, Cassia turned with a gentle smile.

“It’s quite alright,” she said softly, kneeling to help gather the shards.

The hall murmured approval at her mercy.

But as Cassia rose, her fingers closed around the servant’s wrist just hard enough to bruise.

Only Mira, passing close with an empty tray, heard the whisper beneath the smile.

“Make me look careless again, and I will have you sent to the lower kitchens.”

The servant went pale, nodding frantically before retreating.

Cassia turned back to the crowd, her grace restored, her kindness unquestioned.

The pack saw compassion.

Mira saw the hand behind the smile.

Later, Mira carried a stack of empty glasses down a side corridor, grateful for the quiet.

Footsteps followed.

Cassia appeared behind her, the polite mask dissolving the moment they were alone.

She stepped close, forcing Mira to either retreat or meet her gaze.

“An Alpha may notice a broken thing,” Cassia said, voice smooth as glass. “That does not mean he intends to keep it.”

Mira stayed silent, her knuckles white around the tray.

She wanted to say she had never asked for Darius’s attention.

But Cassia would never believe her.

To Cassia, Mira’s mere existence was defiance.

Cassia leaned in, invading Mira’s space with deliberate pressure.

Then the scent hit.

Not perfume. Not candle wax.

Silver rain. Wet fur. Old blood. A lonely cry beneath moonlight.

Mira’s shoulder blade burned where no mark should be.

Her fingers went numb.

For one fractured heartbeat, a voice that was not sound echoed inside her skull.

Mira.

Cassia froze.

Her eyes flashed silver, but the emotion in them was not anger.

It was grief so raw it stole Mira’s breath.

Cassia grabbed Mira’s wrist, intending to threaten.

But the moment skin touched skin, her body betrayed her.

Claws pushed through manicured nails.

Her breathing hitched, ragged and uncontrolled.

The silver wolf surged forward, not in dominance, but in desperate recognition.

Then Cassia whispered, voice trembling with terror and fury, “Stop calling her.”

She released Mira and stumbled back, her composure slamming into place too late.

Mira stood alone in the corridor, wrist burning where Cassia’s claws had grazed her skin.

The tray remained steady in her hands, though her heart hammered against her ribs.

She had no wolf.

She had no voice in the pack link.

She had nothing that should reach inside another woman’s soul.

So who was Cassia afraid she would answer?