SERA'S POV - FIVE YEARS AGO
I shouldn't even be at the Moonrise Ball.
Omegas like me—weak, late shifters, daughters of disgraced traitors—don't get invited to royal events. But Uncle Viktor insisted I come. Said it was important for the Ashwood name to be represented, even if that representation was pathetic me.
Now I stand at the edge of the crowd in a borrowed dress that's too tight in the shoulders and too loose everywhere else, trying to be invisible.
The ballroom is massive, filled with hundreds of wolves. Alphas in expensive furs. Betas showing off their strength. Beautiful omegas who actually matter because they're connected to powerful families.
I'm none of those things.
"Look, it's the Ashwood embarrassment," someone whispers nearby, loud enough for me to hear.
"Can you believe she didn't shift until she was sixteen? What kind of omega is that weak?"
"Her father was a traitor. Executed for betraying the Crown. Bad blood."
I keep my head down, studying the floor like it's the most interesting thing I've ever seen. If I don't look at them, maybe they'll forget I exist.
My wolf, Lunara, is quiet inside me. She's always quiet—so quiet I sometimes wonder if she's real. She barely speaks, barely stirs. Just like me, she's broken.
Uncle Viktor appears beside me, his hand gripping my arm hard enough to bruise.
"Stand up straight," he hisses in my ear. "You're making us look worse than we already do."
"Sorry, Uncle."
"And smile. Pretend you belong here, even though we both know you don't."
He walks away, leaving me alone at the edge of the crowd again.
I try to smile. It feels fake and wrong on my face.
The musicians start playing, and couples move onto the dance floor. I watch them, wondering what it feels like to be chosen. To be wanted. To matter to someone.
Then the moon rises.
The massive windows fill with silver light, and the entire ballroom goes silent. This is the sacred moment—when the Moon Goddess reveals fated mates. When bonds snap into place and lives change forever.
Everyone holds their breath, waiting.
I don't expect anything. Girls like me don't get miracles. I'll stand here, watch other people find their happiness, then go home and—
Pain explodes in my chest.
Not pain. Something else. Pain-pleasure-burning-aching-desperate need that steals my breath and drops me to my knees. Three separate bursts of sensation, three bonds snapping into place like lightning strikes directly to my heart.
Three.
I can't breathe. Can't think. Can't do anything except gasp and clutch my chest as the mate bonds form, locking into place with a finality that feels like destiny.
Inside me, Lunara wakes up for the first time in months. "MATES!" she howls with joy. "Three mates! The Moon Goddess blessed us!"
I look up through tears I don't remember crying.
Across the ballroom, three men have frozen in place. Three alpha princes—the most powerful, most desired unmated males in all Seven Kingdoms.
Kael Thornhart. The brutal Northern King with eyes like winter storms and a reputation for showing no mercy. He's staring at me with an expression I can't read.
Damon Nightshade. The beautiful, dangerous heir to the Shadow Court. Everyone wants him. He could have anyone. And he's looking directly at me.
Asher Silverclaw. The honorable warrior prince that every omega dreams about. Kind. Strong. Perfect.
They're all staring at me.
At pathetic, weak, broken me.
For one perfect, shining moment, I think my life is changing. I think the Moon Goddess has finally noticed me, finally given me something good. Three mates. Three princes. Three chances at happiness.
I start to smile through my tears.
Then I see Kael's expression change.
The shock on his face melts into something cold. Disgusted. Like he's just realized he stepped in something foul.
My smile fades.
No. Please, no.
He walks toward me, his boots echoing on the marble floor. Every conversation in the ballroom dies. Hundreds of wolves turn to watch.
I'm still on my knees, trembling, the mate bonds singing in my chest.
Kael stops in front of me and looks down. For a second—just one second—I see conflict in his eyes. Like he's fighting with himself.
Then his face becomes a mask of ice.
"This is a mistake," he announces, loud enough for the entire ballroom to hear.
My heart stops.
"No," I whisper. "Please—"
"I, Kael Thornhart, reject you, Sera Ashwood, as my mate."
The rejection hits like a physical blow to the chest. The bond that formed seconds ago shatters, leaving jagged edges that tear at my insides. It feels like dying. Like someone reached into my chest and ripped out a piece of my soul.
I can't breathe.
Can't scream.
Can't do anything except stumble backward, gasping, while my wolf howls in agony inside my mind.
The ballroom spins. Faces blur. I hear whispers, gasps, cruel laughter.
Before I can process what just happened, before the pain even starts to fade, Damon appears in front of me.
For a second, hope flickers in my chest. Maybe he's different. Maybe he'll accept the bond. Maybe—
His smile is beautiful and cruel.
"I also reject you," he says smoothly, like he's discussing the weather. Like my heart isn't breaking in front of him. "An Ashwood omega? My reputation would never survive."
He says it loud enough for everyone to hear. Making sure they all know he finds me beneath him.
The second rejection drives me to my knees again.
Two bonds shattered. Two pieces of my soul ripped away. I'm dying. I know I'm dying. No omega survives this kind of rejection.
Inside me, Lunara is screaming. Dying. Fading.
Through my tears, through the unbearable pain, I see Asher pushing through the crowd.
He looks anguished. Conflicted. His face shows real pain, real guilt.
He's different. He has to be different.
Hope blooms in my chest—stupid, desperate, foolish hope.
He'll save me. He won't reject me like the others. He's the honorable one. The kind one. He'll—
Asher kneels beside me and takes my hands.
His touch is gentle. Warm. For just a moment, I think I'm saved.
"I'm so sorry," he whispers, and I hear genuine pain in his voice.
I cling to those words like a lifeline. He's sorry. He won't do it. He'll accept the bond. He'll—
"I reject you, Sera Ashwood."
The words are louder now. Formal. Final.
Three rejections.
The world ends.
I collapse completely on the ballroom floor, sobbing so hard I can't catch my breath. My chest feels like it's been carved open. The mate bond scars burn like brands over my heart—three of them, forming and breaking in the same moment.
Around me, wolves whisper and stare.
Some laugh.
Some look away in embarrassment.
No one helps.
The pack alpha—a cruel man who always hated my father—steps forward and looks down at me with contempt.
"Sera Ashwood," he announces. "You are hereby exiled from this pack for the crime of embarrassing us all. You have one hour to leave our territory. If you're still here after that, my guards will kill you."
I try to speak. Try to beg. Try to explain that I didn't ask for this, didn't want this, didn't do anything wrong.
But I can't form words through the sobs.
Uncle Viktor drags me to my feet by my arm, his grip bruising.
"Get up," he snarls. "You've humiliated us enough."
He pulls me through the crowd. Wolves move aside, some sneering, some pitying. I stumble and fall twice. Viktor just yanks me back up and keeps dragging.
No one stops him.
No one says this is wrong.
No one helps.
The three princes stand together near the throne, watching me leave. Kael's face is blank. Damon has already turned away. Asher looks like he might cry, but he doesn't move.
None of them move.
Viktor drags me outside, throws me into a carriage, and we ride in silence.
I cry the entire way.
We reach the Outlands border as the sun rises. Viktor stops the carriage in the middle of nowhere—just barren land stretching as far as I can see. This is where exiled wolves come to die.
"Get out," Viktor orders.
I climb down on shaking legs. My borrowed dress is torn. My face is swollen from crying. The mate bond scars on my chest burn with endless pain.
Viktor looks at me with pure disgust.
"You know what you are, Sera?" he asks. "You're trash. Your father was trash. Your whole bloodline is trash. And now, finally, you'll die like the garbage you are."
He pulls out a knife.