Sera's POV
The bowl slipped from my hands and shattered on the kitchen floor.
I stared at the pieces, my heart hammering. This was the third thing I'd broken today. My fingers had been trembling all morning, and I couldn't make them stop.
"Sera?" Maya rushed over, her eyes wide. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I lied, bending down to pick up the broken pieces. "Just clumsy."
But I wasn't clumsy. Something was happening to me. Something I didn't understand.
Ever since that night in the woods, when Alpha Kael had saved me from the rogues, everything felt different. Wrong. My skin tingled constantly, like tiny sparks dancing under my flesh. My senses were sharper. I could hear conversations from three rooms away. I could smell emotions on people—fear smelled like rust, anger like smoke, sadness like rain.
And the dreams. Every night, I dreamed of silver light and ancient voices calling my name.
"Everyone's talking about you," Maya whispered, glancing toward the dining hall where the pack was gathering for lunch. "They're saying strange things."
My stomach twisted. "What kind of things?"
Maya bit her lip. "Elder Ruth's arthritis disappeared after you brought her breakfast yesterday. The flowers in the garden that died last winter? They're blooming again, right where you walk every morning. And Tommy's fever broke the second you touched his forehead."
"That's just coincidence," I said quickly, but my voice shook.
"Ten coincidences in three days?" Maya's eyes were kind but worried. "Sera, something is happening to you."
I opened my mouth to respond when a sharp pain shot through my head. I gasped, clutching my temples as a vision flashed before my eyes—Alpha Kael, surrounded by darkness, reaching for me, his face twisted in agony.
"Sera!" Maya grabbed my shoulders. "What's wrong?"
The vision vanished as quickly as it came. I blinked, my breath coming in short gasps. "I... I need some air."
I stumbled out of the kitchen, ignoring Maya's worried calls. The packhouse felt too small, too crowded. Voices followed me through the hallways, whispers that made my skin crawl.
"Did you see her eyes flash gold yesterday?"
"Impossible. She's wolfless."
"My mother says she's cursed."
"Or blessed."
I pushed through the back door and ran toward the forest. The trees welcomed me like old friends, their branches reaching down to brush my shoulders. Here, away from judging eyes and frightened whispers, I could breathe.
But I wasn't alone.
"Running away won't change what you are."
I spun around. Alpha Kael stood ten feet away, his dark eyes fixed on me. He wore simple training clothes, and sweat glistened on his arms like he'd been working out. But it was his expression that caught me—not angry or cold like usual, but curious. Intense.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, backing away.
"Don't you?" He moved closer, silent as a shadow. "The pack is buzzing with stories about you. Miraculous healings. Plants coming back to life. And you expect me to believe it's all coincidence?"
"I'm wolfless," I said desperately. "I'm nobody."
"No." His voice was soft but firm. "That's what everyone believed. What you believed. But something is waking up inside you, Sera. I can feel it."
He was too close now. I could smell pine and earth on his skin, could see the gold flecks in his dark eyes. My heart raced, but not from fear.
"What do you want from me?" I whispered.
"The truth." He raised his hand slowly, giving me time to pull away. When I didn't, he touched my cheek. His fingers were warm, and where they met my skin, that familiar tingling sensation exploded into something more—like lightning running through my veins.
Kael jerked his hand back, his eyes wide. "What was that?"
"I don't know!" Tears burned my eyes. "I don't know what's happening to me. Everything is changing, and I'm scared, and nobody will tell me anything!"
For a moment, something soft crossed his face. Almost like understanding. But before he could speak, a howl split the air.
Not a normal howl. This one was filled with pain and terror.
Kael's head snapped toward the sound. "That came from the north border."
Another howl joined the first, then another. The pack link blazed to life—I couldn't hear it like the others could, but I saw Kael's expression shift from concern to horror.
"Rogues," he growled. "A lot of them."
He started running, and without thinking, I followed.
"Sera, no! Get back to the packhouse!"
But I couldn't stop. My legs moved on their own, carrying me faster than I'd ever run before. Trees blurred past us. The howls grew louder, mixed with snarls and the sound of fighting.
We burst into a clearing, and I froze.
Twenty wolves circled five of our pack members. The rogues' eyes glowed red with madness, foam dripping from their jaws. Our wolves were already bleeding, backing toward each other in a defensive circle.
"Stay behind me," Kael commanded, shifting into his massive black wolf.
But as he charged into the fight, one of the rogues broke away from the pack. It was huge, its fur matted and scarred, and it ran straight toward me.
I stumbled backward, knowing I couldn't outrun it. The rogue leaped, its jaws open wide.
Then something inside me exploded.
Light burst from my hands—pure, silver light that lit up the entire clearing like a star had fallen to earth. The rogue flew backward, slamming into a tree with a sickening crack. Every wolf in the clearing froze, staring at me.
I stared at my hands, watching silver energy dance across my palms. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening.
"Impossible," someone whispered.
The rogues recovered first. Instead of attacking, they all turned to face me. Twenty pairs of red eyes locked onto mine, and in perfect unison, they bowed their heads.
Then they spoke, their voices blending into one terrible sound: "The Lunar Heir awakens. The prophecy begins."
They vanished into the forest, leaving only silence behind.
I looked up at Kael, at our pack members, at all the shocked faces surrounding me. My hands still glowed with silver light I couldn't control.
"What am I?" I whispered.
From the shadows at the edge of the clearing, a figure emerged. She was ancient, her hair white as snow, her eyes clouded with blindness. But she moved with purpose, pointing one gnarled finger directly at me.
"You are the one we've been waiting for," she said, her voice cracking like old paper. "The first Lunar Heir born in three thousand years. The one who will either save us all..."
She paused, and her next words made my blood run cold.
"...or destroy everything."