Four

The clearing thrummed with anticipation, the crowd’s chanting building like a tidal wave that could crush Seren where she stood. Torches flared, smoke curled upward in twisting ribbons, and the priestess’s silver bangles clinked as she raised her arms to the moon.

“Moon Goddess, reveal your will!”

Her voice cracked through the night, sharp as a blade. The air shimmered, thick with expectation. Seren’s skin prickled. This was it—the moment Nova would be chosen, Kael would reject her, and Seren’s humiliating laugh would set her cannon-fodder destiny in stone.

[Quest: Laugh when the heroine is rejected.]

[Time Remaining: 00:02:45]

The timer pulsed at the edge of her vision. Seren swallowed hard.

Nova stepped forward into the circle of light, every inch of her glowing with divine radiance. The goddess’s aura shimmered like a veil over her pale blue gown. Her voice shook, but it carried, sincere and trembling with hope.

“I… I am ready to receive the Alpha’s bond.”

The crowd sighed like one body, wolves lowering their heads in reverence. Someone whispered, “Blessed child…” Another murmured, “The perfect Luna…”

Seren clenched her fists. Perfect, perfect, perfect. She wanted to gag.

The priestess’s chant rose higher, the ancient words of binding spilling into the night like liquid silver. “Chosen of the Moon, step forth into destiny. The Alpha shall claim you, and the bond shall be sealed—”

Kael moved.

The crowd held its breath. Nova’s face lit with trembling joy.

And then—

“I do not accept.”

His voice cut through the clearing like a guillotine blade. Cold. Final.

Gasps split the silence, loud and disbelieving. Wolves shifted on instinct, fur bristling. The priestess froze, her chant dying in her throat. Nova’s glow flickered violently, then dimmed, like a candle guttering in the wind.

Her lips parted. “Wh… what?”

“I said,” Kael repeated, every syllable carrying the weight of command, “I do not accept her as my mate.”

The crowd erupted.

The priestess’s voice shattered, her chant breaking mid-word as Kael’s rejection ripped through the clearing. The Moon’s light dimmed, shadows racing across the crowd. Wolves whimpered, their instincts reeling.

Nova collapsed to her knees, hands trembling, divine shimmer cracking like glass around her. “No… no, no, this isn’t—this isn’t possible!”

[Quest: Laugh when the heroine is rejected.]

[WARNING: Timeline divergence critical.]

The words warped. Blue text fractured across Seren’s vision, sharp and burning, until the air itself seemed to glitch. Her lungs seized as the HUD exploded into cascading light.

[ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.]

[Rewriting directive… recalibrating host…]

Her body jolted, knees nearly buckling as a surge of power coursed through her veins like fire. She gasped. The pack saw it. Heads snapped toward her as though she’d become a beacon.

“What—what is that?” someone whispered.

“She’s glowing!” another hissed.

Seren’s hands shook, her gown sparkling unnaturally, the rhinestones throwing back shards of unnatural light.

[Upgrade complete.]

[New Role: Villainess Omega.]

[Failure penalties removed.]

[Directive: Rise. Rival. Rule.]

Her vision cleared just as Kael moved.

The Alpha descended the dais with the deliberate grace of a predator, the air bending around him. Every step sent shockwaves through the clearing. He did not look at Nova. He did not look at the priestess.

He looked only at Seren.

Gasps rippled. Lord Nightwind grabbed her arm, fingernails digging in. “What did you do?” he hissed, panic and awe warring in his voice.

Kael stopped before her, towering, his gaze dark and unyielding. The pack froze, holding its breath.

Then his voice rolled over them, deep and resonant, carrying the weight of something older than ritual:

“The Moon may decree. But my wolf—” his hand rose, curling around Seren’s chin, tilting her face up to meet his—“my wolf chooses her.”

The world broke.

Chaos erupted—shouts, growls, wolves snapping their teeth. The priestess screamed, “Blasphemy!” Nova sobbed into her hands, wailing like something had been torn from her soul. Lord Nightwind stumbled back, white-faced.

And Seren—her mind was nothing but static, her pulse a thunderclap in her ears.

[Attraction Rate: +55.]

Her lips parted, breath trembling.

The System whispered, smug and merciless:

[Congratulations, Villainess Omega. You’ve stolen the story.]

The crowd lunged forward, torn between worship and outrage. Someone shouted, “Seize her!” Another howled, “Protect the Luna!” Wolves surged—

—and Kael’s snarl ripped through the clearing, silencing them all in an instant.

His arm slid around Seren’s waist, pulling her against him with a possessive finality that left no room for doubt. His eyes burned like wildfire.

“She. Is. Mine.”

The torches guttered. The Moon above flickered as though even the Goddess herself had gasped.

And Seren’s only thought was a desperate, hysterical—

Oh, shit.

Seren barely had time to process the heat of Kael’s grip before the world erupted.

“Blasphemy!” the priestess shrieked again, voice shrill as a blade. Her bangles clanged like alarm bells as she jabbed a finger toward Seren. “That girl is an interloper! The Moon never chose her!”

Gasps rippled through the clearing. Wolves in their shifted forms snarled low, teeth bared, hackles raised. Nobles craned their necks, eyes glittering with both awe and disgust.

Lord Nightwind staggered back a step, his face pale but alight with naked ambition. “The Moon… the Moon’s light is upon her!” he shouted desperately, trying to ride the tide. “She is blessed—my daughter is blessed!”

“No!” Nova’s cry tore through the crowd. She had clawed her way to her feet, her divine glow cracked and guttering, eyes wild with anguish. “It’s mine! The Goddess chose me! I’m the Luna! She—” Her trembling hand pointed straight at Seren, the whole crowd following the gesture. “She stole it!”

Whispers surged, a flood of suspicion.

“Stole the Goddess’s blessing—”

“Impossible—”

“Witchcraft—”

“Villainess—”

The word struck like a thrown dagger, cutting straight through the noise. Villainess. Seren’s pulse faltered. The System flickered, words slicing across her vision like smug lightning.

[New Identity Confirmed: Villainess Omega.]

[Directive Initiated: Rule through fear, desire, or both.]

The glowing HUD pulsed bright enough that wolves nearest her actually shielded their eyes, mistaking it for divine fire.

Kael’s arm around her waist tightened, his low growl silencing the pack. But the damage was already done—the chant had begun. A chant not for her, but against her.

“Villainess. Villainess. Villainess.”

Seren’s stomach turned to ice. They weren’t wrong. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She had just hijacked the heroine’s story.

Kael leaned down, his breath hot against her ear, his voice pitched only for her: “Let them chant. A villainess…” His thumb brushed the line of her jaw, possessive and reverent. “…is far harder to forget than a saint.”

The System hummed in satisfaction.

[Attraction Rate: 60.]

The priestess lifted her arms, hysteria in her voice. “This is heresy! Tear her from him before the Goddess strikes us down!”

Wolves surged forward again, claws scraping the earth, eyes blazing with zeal.

And Kael’s snarl split the night like thunder. He shifted, just for a heartbeat—bones cracking, silver fur ripping through skin—before snapping back, his dominance blasting over the clearing like a stormfront. Wolves dropped to their knees, whimpering, unable to withstand it.

Kael looked at them all, eyes glowing molten gold, his voice a lethal decree.

“She is mine. Touch her, and you defy me.”

Seren’s head spun, her heart hammering so loud she could barely hear the crowd’s shuddering silence.

And somewhere above, the swollen moon flickered again—like the Goddess herself was deciding whether to laugh… or to strike….or to approve the Union.