The Touch

CHAPTER ONE

Sera’s POV

The ceremonial platform feels like a stage built for my execution. Torches burn high in a circle, flames licking the night, throwing dancing shadows across the faces watching me. Two packs—Nightshade and Shadowcrest—stand divided by ancient boundary stones.

The air bites sharp with pine and smoke, thick with the musk of wolves. I shouldn’t be here. I don’t belong here. But here I am, in the center of their world, in the center of their judgment.

Alpha Kade Blackthorn stands three feet away—towering, broad-shouldered, dangerous. His dark hair falls over his forehead, his gray eyes glint like polished steel. His presence alone commands the clearing. He extends a hand toward me.

Around us, murmurs ripple through the crowd. They came for blood, and they’re getting it.

The Claim of Shame—a ritual that hasn’t been invoked in over a century. A pack can settle its debts by giving up its most worthless member as a mate.

That worthless member? Me. Sera Nightshade. Twenty-two, daughter of the Nightshade Beta. Descended from alphas on both sides—but wolfless.

Three failed shiftings under three full moons. Three humiliations. Tonight should’ve been my exile, but Kade interrupted with twelve warriors and a law so old it shouldn’t still exist.

Now he means to claim me—to pay off a “blood debt” I still don’t understand.

Kade’s voice cuts through the murmuring crowd. “Sera Nightshade, do you accept this claim?”

Before I can breathe, a roar explodes from my left.

Marcus—his Beta—steps forward, huge and furious, scar slicing through his eyebrow. “No. She doesn’t.”

The clearing erupts. Wolves shout, laugh, whisper. Some cheer the rebellion. Others snarl at the insult.

Across the stones, my father stands among the Nightshade wolves, arms folded. His face is carved from stone. He’s the one who said it—“Sera Nightshade is no daughter of mine.” The words still echo in my skull like a curse.

Kade doesn’t flinch. “Move, Marcus.”

“I said no.” Marcus plants himself between us, shoulders squared. “This wolfless thing isn’t fit to stand beside an alpha.”

The word thing slams into me like a physical blow.

Kade’s jaw tightens. “You’re out of line.”

Marcus jabs a finger toward me. “You wanted to humiliate Nightshade? Fine. You’ve done it. Take her as a prisoner, a servant—anything but a mate.”

The crowd buzzes louder. I can feel every pair of eyes on me. My heart beats wild against my ribs. The white silk dress clings cold against my skin. If Marcus stops this, I’ll be exiled. No wolf. No protection. No chance.

Kade steps around him, slow and deliberate. The air thickens with the weight of power as he stops an inch from me. His voice lowers. “Sera Nightshade, do you accept this claim?”

My lips part, but nothing comes out.

“Say it,” he demands, gray eyes locked on mine. “Yes or no.”

There’s no real choice. I laugh softly, bitterly. “As if that matters.”

Something flickers in his eyes—intensity, not kindness. Like this claim means more than humiliation. Like it’s personal.

I inhale sharply. “I—”

Marcus lunges and grabs my wrist. His hand is rough, hot against my skin. “You’re not doing this,” he snarls at Kade. “You’ll regret it.”

That’s when it happens.

Something inside me shifts—the presence I’ve felt my whole life, the hollow place where my wolf should’ve been. It moves. Writhes. Reacts.

“Don’t—touch me—” I gasp, trying to pull free.

Too late.

Marcus’s eyes widen. His pupils dilate, amber fading to dull brown. His grip loosens. He stumbles back, clutching his chest.

“Marcus?” Kade’s voice sharpens, the first hint of panic.

The Beta drops to his knees. His body jerks violently. Gasps ripple through the crowd.

“Shift!” Kade barks, crouching beside him. “Let your wolf heal you!”

Marcus tries—his face twisting with pain. Muscles flex. Bones strain. But nothing happens. No fur. No growl. No shift.

Whispers rise like smoke. What’s happening? What did she do?

The pack physician pushes through the circle, kneeling beside them. He lays his hands on Marcus’s chest, his temples, his neck.

Seconds drag. The old wolf’s eyes widen. “Alpha… his wolf is gone.”

Kade’s head snaps up. “What?”

“Gone,” the physician repeats, voice trembling. “I can’t feel it. It’s like it was ripped out of him.”

Gasps echo. Someone snarls. Someone else mutters my name like a curse.

My stomach drops. I step back, shaking my head. “I didn’t—I didn’t do anything—”

Marcus’s eyes roll white. He convulses once, twice—then goes still.

Kade’s roar splits the night. “What did you do to him?”

“I don’t know!” My voice breaks. “He grabbed me, and then—”

He’s on his feet in a flash, eyes blazing silver, power rolling off him so thick it makes the air vibrate. He steps toward me.

Wolves shift in the crowd, ready to tear me apart.

“I said,” Kade growls, “what did you do?”

I stumble backward, heart hammering. “I swear—I didn’t—”

“Liar.” He closes the distance in two strides, his hand shooting out to grab me—

“Alpha!” the physician yells. “Don’t touch her!”

Kade freezes mid-step, his eyes snapping to the trembling old wolf.

The physician’s voice shakes. “Whatever she is… it spreads through touch.”

The crowd recoils. Even Kade hesitates, breathing hard.

My pulse pounds in my ears. Every pair of eyes in the clearing turns on me—fear, anger, awe.

Marcus lies motionless at Kade’s feet. His wolf—gone.

And I realize, for the first time, that whatever lives inside me isn’t a weakness.

It’s a curse. Or a weapon.

Kade’s eyes lock on mine, unreadable, cold as death.

Then he says it, low and deadly:

“Take her. Alive.”

Warriors surge toward me, torches flaring.

I run—because whatever I am, whatever I just did—I know this much.

If they catch me, I won’t live to see the next full moon.