Seraphina POV
My paws hit the ground in perfect rhythm—run, run, run, faster, faster, FASTER.
Trees blurred past me. Branches whipped my fur. I didn't feel any of it. All I felt was the burning shame, the crushing betrayal, the image of Ember's triumphant smile burned into my brain like a brand.
Eight months.
They'd been laughing at me for eight months.
My wolf howled, the sound ripping through the forest like a war cry. Behind me, I heard other wolves responding—my pack, probably my father's enforcers coming to drag me back, to force me to face the humiliation, to go through with tomorrow's ceremony anyway because politics and duty and what will the pack think?
I pushed harder, my wolf muscles screaming as I ran faster than I'd ever run in my life.
The forest started to change. The trees grew thicker, darker. The scent markers shifted from familiar Silvercrest territory to something else. Something dangerous.
The border.
Every wolf knew the rules: Cross into Shadowfang territory and you die. The enemy pack killed trespassers on sight. No questions, no mercy, no exceptions.
I didn't slow down.
Let them kill me, I thought wildly. At least it would stop this pain.
"Seraphina, STOP!" My father's Alpha command crashed through the forest, the power in his voice designed to freeze any pack member in their tracks.
For a second, my wolf hesitated. Alpha commanded, wolf obeyed—it was basic pack law, bred into our bones.
But my human side was stronger. Angrier.
I crossed the border.
The moment my paws touched Shadowfang land, the scent markers changed completely. Everything smelled of pine and smoke and danger. This was enemy territory. This was suicide.
I kept running.
My father's howl of rage echoed behind me, but he didn't cross the border. He couldn't—it would start a war. So he stood at the territorial line and howled for me to come back, his Alpha voice mixing with his father voice, both demanding and begging.
I ignored him and plunged deeper into forbidden territory.
The full moon blazed overhead, making everything silver and sharp. My wolf felt it pulling at her, making her wild, reckless, free. For the first time in my life, I wasn't the Beta's perfect daughter. I wasn't the future Luna. I wasn't anything except a wolf running through the night, and it felt amazing.
Until I smelled him.
The scent hit me like a wall—pine and leather and something wild and masculine that made my wolf stop dead in her tracks.
Another wolf. A big one.
I spun around, ears flat, teeth bared. If I was going to die tonight, I'd die fighting.
He stepped out from between the trees, and my breath caught.
The wolf was massive—easily twice my size, with midnight-black fur that seemed to absorb the moonlight. His eyes glowed golden in the darkness, fixed on me with an intensity that should have terrified me.
But my wolf didn't feel afraid.
She felt... curious.
He circled me slowly, keeping his distance, head lowered. Not attacking. Just... watching. Studying me.
I circled too, matching his movements. We moved like dancers, two wolves sizing each other up under the full moon.
He should kill me. I was trespassing. I was the enemy. Those were the rules.
Instead, he tilted his head, and I swear he looked confused.
Then he did something impossible.
He shifted.
One moment, he was a massive black wolf. The next, he was a man—the most beautiful man I'd ever seen. Tall and muscular, with black hair that fell across his eyes and those same golden wolf eyes burning into mine.
He was shirtless, wearing only torn jeans, his skin covered in scars that told stories of battles won and lost.
"You're trespassing," he said, his voice deep and rough like gravel.
My wolf wanted to shift too, wanted to talk to this stranger who hadn't killed me yet. I let her.
The shift rippled through me, and suddenly I was standing there in human form, naked under the moonlight. I should have been embarrassed. I wasn't. My wolf felt safe with this stranger, which made no sense at all.
"I know I'm trespassing," I said, surprised my voice worked. "Are you going to kill me?"
He took a step closer, his golden eyes searching my face. "You're crying."
I hadn't realized. I lifted my hand and felt the wetness on my cheeks—tears I'd been too numb to notice.
"Someone hurt you," he said, and it wasn't a question.
"Everyone hurt me," I whispered, and suddenly the dam broke. All the pain I'd been running from crashed over me like a wave, and I was sobbing, my knees giving out.
He caught me before I hit the ground.
His arms wrapped around me, strong and warm and solid. He smelled like safety, which was crazy because he was the enemy, a Shadowfang wolf who should rip my throat out.
Instead, he held me while I cried, one hand stroking my hair like I was something precious.
"What's your name?" he asked quietly.
"Seraphina." I looked up at him through my tears. "What's yours?"
His golden eyes blazed with something I couldn't name. "Does it matter? After tonight, we'll never see each other again."
Something in my chest twisted painfully at those words.
"Then tonight is all we have," I heard myself say.
He stared at me for a long moment. Then his hand cupped my face with surprising gentleness.
"You're Silvercrest," he said. "I'm Shadowfang. This is forbidden."
"I don't care." And I didn't. After what Thorne and Ember did, after my father tried to force me back into that humiliation, I was done with rules and duty and doing what everyone expected.
Tonight, I wanted to do something just for me.
"I don't even know you," he said, but his thumb traced my cheekbone, his touch making my skin burn.
"Good," I whispered. "I don't want to know. I just want to forget. Can you help me forget?"
His eyes darkened, gold bleeding into black. "Yes," he growled. "I can make you forget everything."
He kissed me.
And my world caught fire.