Sera's POV
You're not walking into a trap without me.
Kael's words hang in the air, protective and possessive. Raven shakes her head, frustration clear. Bad idea, Alpha. If Jason sees you, he'll run. Or attack. Either way, we lose our chance at information.
Then I'll stay hidden, Kael says firmly. But I'm not letting her go alone. Not negotiable.
Ash stands, always ready for action. I'm coming too. Extra backup never hurts.
No. Kael's voice carries Alpha command. Too many wolves will spook him. He'll sense us. Just me and Sera.
Elena touches my arm gently. If this is a trap, your power will protect you. It responded to danger before. Trust it. Trust yourself.
Twenty minutes later, Kael and I head into the forest. The neutral ground is a clearing between Shadowfang and Silverpine territories. A place where packs can meet without it being an act of war. Sacred ground, in its way.
Stay alert, Kael murmurs, his body tense beside me. If anything feels wrong anything at all we run. No heroics.
I'm not running from my brother.
He sold you to the Shadow Council, Kael reminds me, voice hard. He's not your brother anymore. He's your enemy.
The words hurt because they might be true. But I have to know for sure. Have to hear it from his own mouth.
We reach the clearing. Jason stands in the center, alone. He's in human form, hands raised to show he's unarmed. He looks terrible exhausted, haunted.
Sera. His voice cracks with emotion. You came. Thank God, you came.
I step forward into the clearing. Kael melts into the shadows behind me, hidden but close. I can feel him through the bond, watchful and ready.
You have five minutes, I say. My voice is harder than I've ever heard it, colder. Talk.
Jason's face crumples. I'm sorry. For everything. For all of it.
For selling me to the Shadow Council?
He freezes, pain flickering across his face. The vision showed you that. Did it show you why?
There's no good reason
There is if you're saving your sister's life. Jason takes a careful step closer. The Shadow Council has watched you since birth. Since Grandmother died and they realized what you were. Marcus Reed infiltrated our pack years ago, became Dad's advisor. When he learned about you, about your power, he planned to take you when you turned eighteen.
My heart pounds. So you helped him?
I made Dominic reject you publicly so you'd run before they could take you quietly, Jason says desperately. I prayed you'd find allies. Find safety. I never thought He pulls out a folded paper from his pocket. This is every Shadow Council member. Every spy in every pack. I've been gathering evidence for three years, Sera. Three years of pretending to work with them while documenting everything.
He holds it out. Someone you trust is on this list. Someone close to you right now.
My blood runs cold. Who?
Elena Grey.
The world tilts. That's a lie. Elena's helping me
Making you stronger so they can harvest more power when they take you, Jason interrupts. She's been with the Shadow Council for decades. How do you think she knows so much about Moon Blessed wolves? Why do you think the enforcers arrived so fast after your power surge? She called them.
The moon water. Elena gave it to me. Showed me the vision. Showed me what she wanted me to see.
Behind me, I hear Kael step from the shadows, unable to stay hidden any longer. He's lying, Kael growls. Elena saved Sera's life.
Jason tenses at seeing Kael, fear and determination mixing on his face. Did she? Or did she just stabilize her so the Council could take her intact? So her power wouldn't burn out before they could harvest it?
Enough. I hold up my hand, and silver light flickers around my fingers. If Elena's the traitor, why did she tell me about the Shadow Council at all? Why warn me?
Because you needed an enemy to focus on. Someone external to hate. Jason takes another careful step forward. Think about it, Sera. Since Elena arrived, what has she actually done? Pushed you to unlock your power faster than it's safe. Isolated you from your real family. Bonded you to the Shadowfang Alpha
Kael snarls, his Alpha rising. Watch it, Silverpine.
The chosen bond, I whisper, realization dawning. Elena explained it. She said it was anchoring my power. Stabilizing it.
It's tethering you, Jason says urgently. When the Council comes, they'll take both of you. Use Kael to control you. Use the bond as a leash. You do what they want, or they hurt him. He does what they want, or they hurt you. Perfect control over a Moon Blessed.
I look at Kael. His face is torn between rage and doubt, between wanting to kill Jason and wondering if he's telling the truth.
I don't know who to believe anymore, I admit, voice small.
Believe the evidence. Jason holds out the paper again, desperate. Read it. Check the names. Verify everything. Then decide. But please, Sera trust me one more time.
I reach for the paper, my hand trembling
Silver chains shoot from the trees, moving impossibly fast. They wrap around my wrists before I can react.
I scream. The chains burn like acid, like they're made of pure agony. My power tries to respond but the chains suppress it, draining my strength.
Sera! Kael lunges but more chains fly at him from different directions. He shifts into his massive black wolf, dodging with supernatural speed.
Six wolves emerge from the shadows. Shadow Council enforcers. One shiftsan old man with white hair and cold, dead eyes.
Thank you, Jason, the old man says, his smile cruel. Your distraction worked perfectly. She walked right into our trap.
I didn't know! Jason shouts, looking genuinely shocked. Marcus, you said you just wanted to talk to her
And you believed that? Marcus laughs, the sound echoing. You've been our puppet for years, boy. Dancing on strings you didn't even know existed.
The chains pull me toward the enforcers. I fight, but they're too strong. Kael attacks but three enforcers pile on him, wrapping him in more chains that glow with suppression magic.
Jason shifts and attacks the enforcers. Run, Sera! Break free and run!
But I can't. The chains drain me. My vision blurs. This is it. This is how they take me.
Thena familiar voice from the edge of the clearing. Stop.
Elena steps into view. The enforcers pause. Turn. Bow their heads to her in respect.
Elder Elena, Marcus says deferentially. We have her. Just as you planned.
No. No, no, no.
Elena walks to me calmly. Touches my face gently, almost tenderly. I'm sorry, child. But your power is too important to waste on freedom. Too valuable to leave uncontrolled.
You... Tears stream down my face, hot and bitter. You betrayed me. Jason was telling the truth.
I saved you, Elena corrects softly. The Council would have killed you by now if not for me. Drained you and discarded you. With me guiding them, you'll live. You'll be protected, cared for. You'll just belong to us.
I'll kill you, Kael snarls, still fighting the chains that bind him.
Elena smiles sadly at him. No, Alpha. You'll serve us. The chosen bond means hurting her hurts you. Killing her kills you. You'll do whatever we say to keep her alive. She looks at me. And she'll do whatever we say to keep you alive. Perfect control. Perfect symmetry.
Horror washes over me in waves. Jason was telling the truth about everything. Elena played me from the very start.
Take them both, Elena orders the enforcers. Bind them with the unbreakable chains. And kill the Silverpine wolf. He's served his purpose.
NO! I scream as an enforcer advance on Jason with murder in his eyes.
Rage explodes inside me. Not the same rage as before. This is different. Deeper. Primal. The same rage I felt watching Dominic reject me, but magnified a thousand times.
Silver light erupts from my body, so bright it's blinding. So powerful the ground shakes.
The chains shatter.
Every chain on me, on Kael, explodes into glowing fragments. The enforcers fly backward like they weigh nothing, slamming into trees.
Elena's eyes widen in genuine shock. Impossible, she breathes. No Moon Blessed has ever broken the binding chains they're specifically designed
I don't let her finish. Power floods through me, and I know finally, instinctively knowhow to use it.
I shift.
Not into a normal wolf. Into my true form. My Moon Blessed form.
Silver fur. Glowing eyes. Twice the size of any wolf here, radiating power like the moon itself.
And I roar.
The sound shakes the forest, sends birds fleeing from trees, makes even the enforcers cower.
Elena's face goes pale.
Run, I growl, my voice echoing with power.
And for the first time since I met her, Elena Grey looks afraid.