Chapter One – The Violet Curse
Scene I— The Claiming Grounds
The full moon was at full blast tonight as it shone brightly over the Silverfang clearing, its light silvering the dew-soaked grass like it was a pilled stardust. Torches flickered in a wide circle, the light was casting dancing shadows across the gathered wolves. The air pulsed with anticipation, the expectation was thick with incense, unspoken fears, and the quiet hum of ancient magic was also in the background.
Selene Ashborne stood alone in the center of the sacred grounds. She was wrapped in a pale cloak that barely concealed the faint violet birthmark which was glowing across her chest. Her heart pounded as the pack stared at her steadily like she was a sacrificial lamb.
Tonight was her eighteenth birthday. It is also tonight that she will be claimed or cast aside.
She glanced toward the elevated stone platform where the Alpha's family stood. On the far right was Lucien Blackthorn, the Alpha heir, standing tall in his ceremonial armor, his obsidian hair tousled by the breeze, jaw clenched tight. His silver eyes were unreadable, they were locked on her with a kind of fury that made her breath hitch.
Her wolf stirred uneasily beneath her skin.
Why does he look at me like that?
Then came the moment. The Seer's voice rose above the murmurs.
"By Luna's decree, the Fated Bond has been awakened. Lucien Blackthorn, do you accept the bond the Moon has chosen?"
Silence.
Selene swallowed hard as her knees trembled. She had felt the pull days ago, it was the unmistakable heat of the mate bond. Her wolf howled with joy. She had dreamed of his hands doing wonders on her skin, his voice calling her name like it belonged to him.
Lucien stepped forward. Slowly. Deliberately.
Then he spoke.
"I reject the bond."
The air cracked with collective shock, even Selene's breath caught.
"I would rather mate with death than bond with a cursed bloodline," Lucien growled, his voice filled with venom as it echoed through the clearing.
Gasps rippled through the crowd, even as Selene's stomach dropped. It felt like the ground had been yanked from beneath her.
A cruel silence followed all that had happened, even the wind seemed to recoil.
"Lucien," the Alpha murmured, clearly taken aback. "Are you certain of what you just said?"
Lucien's eyes flickered with something, it looked like he was afraid of something, or he regretted his words, but he did not budge as his voice remained firm.
I will not bind myself to the bloodline of a disgraced priestess. Her mark is the stain of lunamancy, he repeated his earlier words.
Selene's hands clenched into fists, her pulse was beating a drumbeat of humiliation. The violet birthmark over her heart glowed brighter under the moonlight, as if it was mocking her.
"You did not have to shame me," she whispered to him, stepping closer. Although her voice was trembling, it was defiant. If you feared me, you could have said it, but is that fair? In front of everyone?
Lucien's jaw twitched. "I don't fear you, Selene. What I fear is the calamity you will bring. What your blood calls you."
Her wolf whimpered in her mind. The bond crackled between them, it was burning, unraveling, breaking.
Selene turned. She did not wait for anyone's permission. The crowd knowingly parted for her like she carried a disease. Her mother stood at the edge of the circle, her eyes wide with horror.
But Selene did not meet her gaze. She simply walked straight into the woods.
And never came back.
Scene II—The Poison in her Tea
Nightfall felt heavier, deeper in the trees. Selene sat alone in the glade which was beyond the ceremony, her breath was uneven, the rejection had seared into her soul like it was fire. Her heart ached deeply, not just from the bond snapping, but from the betrayal that is threaded through it.
She reached into her cloak and pulled out the ceremonial tea which they handed to her just before the Claiming. It is a traditional brew for omega initiates. Her hands shook as she raised them to her lips, needing something, anything, to drown the rising scream that threatened to burst out from the inside of her.
She sipped the tea, but
It tasted wrong.
It was bitter, burning.
Selene staggered, dropping the cup. Her vision had blurred at once as a cold sweat bloomed across her skin.
Then there came hurried footsteps. Someone was approaching.
"Selene?"
She blinked as a shadow moved through the trees.
"Kade?" Her voice became slurred at once. "Why… are you here?"
Kade Thorne knelt beside her. His scarred hands touched her cheek, even his eyes widened in alarm. He was older, and had always been a silent guardian since her childhood. A lone wolf who was never truly a part of the pack. They used to whisper that he had taken a blood oath to protect her mother once.
"They poisoned you," he said slowly to her. "The stars above, they actually did it."
Selene tried to speak, but the world tilted in her eyes and she stared dimly at him. Her limbs were leaden, as well as her wolf, which was fading. Her heart had slowed.
"I saw it in the visions," Kade whispered to her. He lifted her in his arms. They planned it all. Rejection was not the end. It was only a distraction."
Her head lolled against his chest. "Lucien….. She murmured."
Kade paused.
"I am sorry, little moon. "The boy you loved was never going to save you."
Selene passed out in his arms as the moon slipped behind the clouds, and in the distance, the ceremonial drums continued, but they were unaware that their future had just fallen into shadow.
Far away, in the temple ruins that once belonged to the Moon Priestesses, a violet light flickered briefly.
Inside, an ancient stone mural cracked open with a shudder. Beneath it, a sphere pulsed with faint energy, the "Moonstone", long dormant.
It stirred, but it was not for Lucien, nor for Kade.
It was only for Selene.
And it whispered.
"One bloodline has returned. "Two sons shall shape the world, one with mercy… the other with fire."