The Last Noctari

The Moonstone Temple sits at the edge of Brightmane territory, its white walls glowing soft and silver under the two moons. I have never been here before.

I have never been anywhere outside the Stonefang borders. But tonight, all twelve packs are gathering, and even someone like me can't stay hidden.

I press my back against a cold stone pillar and try to disappear.

Wolves fill the courtyard around me. They're wearing their best leathers, their fur brushed until it shines. Alphas stand tall with their Betas close behind them.

Warriors show off fresh scars like they're trophies. Everyone's laughing, talking loud and sure of themselves. They belong here. I don't.

I pull my healer's cloak tighter around my shoulders. The rough brown fabric marks me as low rank — useful, but not important. No one looks at me twice. That's exactly how I like it.

Nyssa finds me within minutes. She always does.

"There you are," she says, her curly black hair bouncing as she rushes over. Her golden-brown eyes are lit up with excitement. "Why are you back here hiding? The ceremony's about to start."

"I'm not hiding," I say. "I'm watching."

She snorts. "You're hiding."

I don't argue. She knows me too well for that.

The truth is, I don't belong at gatherings like this. I'm a healer's assistant. A wolf who can't shift. A woman with no wolf to talk to, no voice in her head, no connection to the beast that's supposed to live in her blood.

Other wolves can sense it. They smell it on me, like something gone bad. They look at me and see something broken.

Nyssa never looks at me that way. She's the only one who doesn't.

"Come on," she says, grabbing my arm. "You have to see the Lycan King. They say he's terrifying. And beautiful. And terrifyingly beautiful."

"I've heard."

"He never comes to pack gatherings. Everyone says he hates politics. But the Council made him show up tonight. Something about a new treaty."

I let her pull me through the crowd. Wolves step aside for her, but their eyes slide right past me, like I'm just another piece of furniture. I'm used to it. I've spent twenty-three years being invisible.

The courtyard opens into a wide, round space. Stone benches rise in rings around a platform where the Alphas sit. Above them, on a raised black stone platform, stands a throne carved from the same dark rock. It's empty.

The crowd hums with excitement.

I feel it too, though I don't know why. My heart starts beating faster. My skin tingles. Something stirs deep in my chest — something I've never felt before. I press a hand to my collarbone and feel heat under my palm.

"What's wrong?" Nyssa asks.

"Nothing," I lie. "Just nervous."

She squeezes my arm. "You have nothing to be nervous about. You're just watching. Nobody expects anything from you."

That's supposed to make me feel better. It doesn't. Being invisible is safe, but it's lonely too. Sometimes I wonder what it would feel like to be seen. To be wanted. To matter to someone.

The crowd goes quiet.

The Lycan King has arrived.

He walks through the crowd like a blade cutting through silk. Wolves step aside, bowing their heads, backing away. He doesn't look at any of them. His silver-gray eyes move across the courtyard, cold and sharp, missing nothing.

I forget to breathe.

He's tall, broader than any wolf I've ever seen. His black hair falls carelessly over his forehead, and his jaw is sharp enough to cut glass. He's wearing a dark black leather tunic, threaded with silver that catches the light like veins. His presence fills the whole courtyard. I can't look away from him.

His eyes find me.

For one heartbeat, maybe two, he looks straight at me. His gaze pins me in place. I feel like prey caught under a predator's stare. My chest goes tight. My hands start shaking.

Then he looks away and climbs the black steps to his throne.

I let out a breath. My legs feel weak. I grab onto Nyssa's arm to stay standing.

"Did you see that?" she whispers. "He looked at you."

"He looked at everyone."

"No. He looked at you. I saw it."

"It doesn't mean anything."

But my heart doesn't believe that. It's pounding against my ribs like a bird trapped in a cage. The heat under my collarbone keeps growing warmer.

The ceremony begins. The Alphas take their seats. The Elder Blood Council walks in — five ancient wolves in silver robes. Their leader, Lord Malric Drake, walks in front. His silver-black hair is combed neat and perfect, and his dark brown eyes carry a faint red glow I try not to stare at.

He smiles at the crowd like a grandfather greeting his grandchildren. Everyone trusts him completely. I don't know why that makes something in me go uneasy.

The speeches start. Something about unity. Something about the treaty between the packs and the Lycan Court. I try to pay attention, but my eyes keep drifting back to the throne. Back to the cold, beautiful man sitting on it.

He's not listening. I can tell. His eyes move over the crowd, restless, like he's searching for something. Then they stop.

On me.

Again.

My breath catches. This time, I can't look away. Neither can he. Everything around us fades — the voices, the crowd, the cold night air. There's only him. There's only me. Something pulls inside my chest. Something old, something deep. My wolf stirs.

I don't have a wolf. I've never had a wolf.

But something is stirring.

His eyes go wide. His jaw tightens. He grips the arms of his throne so hard his knuckles turn white.

I feel it too. A pull, warm and electric, right where my heart should be. He's my mate.

The realization hits me like a punch. My legs buckle. Nyssa catches me.

"Aurelia? What's wrong? You've gone pale."

"I need to sit down," I whisper. "I need—"

The Lycan King stands up.

The crowd goes dead silent. Every eye turns to him. He comes down the black steps, his movements smooth, almost like a predator's. He walks straight toward me. The crowd parts for him. I can't move. I can't breathe.

He stops in front of me.

Up close, he's even more beautiful. His silver-gray eyes cut straight into mine. His scent wraps around me — pine, and cold stone, and something dark and pulling. My whole body trembles. My wolf — my silent, missing wolf — howls inside me.

"Mine," I hear in my head. A voice I've never heard before. A voice that isn't mine.

I feel the mark start to form. A burning spot beneath my collarbone. I want to run. I want to stay. I want to cry. I want to laugh.

His face gives away nothing. Cold. Distant.

"She is weak," he says.

The words cut through the silence like a blade.

"Her wolf is silent. She can't even shift. She is unworthy of a king."

I feel like the ground has opened up under me.

"What?" I whisper. "No. I felt it too. You felt it. We're—"

"We are nothing," he says. "I reject you. In front of everyone. You are not my mate. You are not anything to me."

The bond should snap. It should just break. Instead, pain rips through my chest, blinding and hot. I cry out and drop to my knees. Nyssa crouches beside me, hands on my shoulders.

But the pain isn't the end. Something else happens. Something impossible.

The bond doesn't break. It changes.

The mark under my collarbone pulses. It spreads, growing wider. I feel my wolf — my silent, missing wolf — stir again. Not from pain this time. From rage.

A voice rises up inside me. Old. Female. Furious.

"How dare he."

I look up at Draeven through tears. His face is still cold, but something flickers behind his eyes. Confusion. Fear. Recognition.

Then Malric Drake speaks from behind him.

"The mark," he says, his voice smooth as poison. "It's black. Noctari black. The last of that bloodline still lives."

The crowd bursts into whispers. The word spreads like fire through dry grass. Noctari. Noctari. The bloodline that was hunted until it was gone. The bloodline that carried power over dreams and memories. The bloodline erased from history.

I don't understand any of it. I'm a healer's assistant. A weak, broken wolf. I can't shift. I have no power.

But the mark on my chest says otherwise. And the look on Malric's face says he knew all along.

He knew who I was. He knew what I would become. And he wanted me controlled.

Now I understand.

I'm not weak. I was silenced. Someone locked my power away. Someone erased my memories. Someone made sure I stayed small.

But they failed.

I stand up. My legs are still shaking, but I force myself upright. I look at Draeven. I look at Malric. I look at the crowd of wolves who watched me get humiliated and did nothing.

"You made a mistake," I say.

My voice doesn't shake. I don't know where the strength comes from. But it's there.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance."

Malric smiles. "Oh, dear child. This is only the beginning.”