Chapter 2

"Well, look who it is. Our future queen."

Scarlett's sharp, mocking voice echoed across the training grounds.

Every wolf in mid-spar instantly froze. Dozens of eyes snapped to me.

Some were curious, some were respectful, but most were filled with open hostility.

"What's wrong, Your Holiness?" Scarlett brandished her training sword with a smirk. "Afraid a lowly Beta like me might scratch that precious skin? Or does the great Saintess only know how to hide in her den and dream?"

A ripple of stifled laughter went through the crowd.

"I'm not here to spar," I replied calmly.

"Of course not!" Scarlett's laughter grew louder, more obnoxious. "What can a fragile omega who can't even shift properly do, besides mutter a few cryptic prophecies?"

Every word was a poisoned needle, aimed right where I was most vulnerable.

In my past life, I would have just quietly endured this humiliation.

I would have even naively waited for Kane to come and defend me.

Only now did I understand. You don't get respect by waiting for someone to give it to you. You take it.

"I said, I'm not fighting." I turned, refusing to waste any more time.

"Don't go, Saintess," Scarlett taunted, following me. "At least let everyone see the legendary power of the Saintess..."

She sidled up close. Just as I was about to brush past her, she let out a sharp cry and threw herself backward dramatically.

CRASH!

She slammed into a nearby weapons rack, sending training gear clattering to the ground.

"Ah—!" Scarlett clutched her shoulder, her face instantly twisting in pain as tears welled up. "She cursed me! Mira's jealous, so she used her magic to attack me!"

I didn't even bother to look at her.

"What's going on here?" Kane's voice boomed with unquestionable authority.

He strode through the crowd. When he saw Scarlett "writhing in pain" on the ground, his eyes blazed with fury.

"Mira! What did you do to her?!"

He didn't even ask. He just rushed to Scarlett's side, pulling her into his arms with a look of pure heartache.

"I did nothing."

"You're lying!" Scarlett cried, curled in Kane's arms as she pointed a trembling finger at me. "She's jealous that you love me, so she's trying to hurt me!"

Kane's gaze shot toward me, cold as a blade, filled with disgust and disappointment.

"As the Saintess, you would attack a common pack member? Mira, you've disappointed me more than I can say."

The crowd's whispers grew louder, bolder.

"How could the Saintess do something like that?"

"Looks like power really does corrupt."

Enough.

But the girl who stood and took it is dead. The woman standing here now is an avenger clawing her way back from hell.

I slowly raised my hand, my fingertips brushing my temple as power began to surge through me.

"You want to see my power?" My voice was quiet, but it held a chilling calm. "Then... as you wish."

The gift of prophecy, activated.

This time, I was weaving her greatest fear into a living nightmare, and pushing it directly into her mind.

She was lying in a pool of mud and blood, her chest torn open by the claws of the Bloodmoon Pack's Alpha.

Her warm guts spilled onto the ground.

She could smell the metallic tang of her own blood, feel her life draining away, bit by bit.

And she could see the giant wolf lower its head and sink its teeth into her throat...

I pushed the vision into her mind, a direct "experience" of her own death.

"AHHH—!!!"

Scarlett let out a bloodcurdling scream, shoving herself out of Kane's arms and clawing frantically at the ground.

Her hands clawed at her own throat, her eyes bulging with pure, undiluted terror.

"No... don't kill me... blood... it hurts... help me..."

She shrieked, lost in her own personal slaughter.

The mind link wasn’t completely severed. Her agony ripped through Kane in a vicious wave.

The bloody images and the despair of dying washed over his mind like a tidal wave.

His face went deathly pale, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Stop it!" He clutched his head, sinking to his knees with a guttural, animalistic roar. "Mira, I command you... STOP!"

The training grounds fell dead silent.

Everyone was frozen, terrified by the grotesque scene.

The mighty Alpha Kane was on his knees, begging for mercy.

And Scarlett, the woman he treasured, was utterly broken by fear, twitching on the ground like a dying insect.

I slowly lowered my hand. A wave of dizziness hit me.

My wolf spirit throbbed with a dull, aching pain.

This was the price of abusing my gift.

But I just looked down, cold and detached, at the two trembling figures on the ground.

"In the face of my power," my voice carried clearly across the grounds, "you would do well to learn some respect."