ECLIPSE
The Masquerade Ball was held once every decade.
Known as a sacred celebration, the ball was an evening where the Moon Goddess was honored and the packs gathered as one. Unity was the tagline, but—
Eclipse Stones knew better.
The masquerade ball was just yet another room where power was strutted openly, and the powerless were expected to smile through it. And even though she fell squarely at the latter, she stood tall regardless.
Spine straight. Chin lifted. Shoulders squared beneath silk that had cost her sister more than Eclipse liked to think about.
Their Stones Pack might be a border pack, but they would not be represented as beggars.
Still, the looks came.
Measured. Dismissive. Curious in the way predators appraise things they don't intend to keep.
Lowly border pack, they said without saying it.
Like she cared.
After all, her sister dearest, Alpha Rose Stones, heavy with child and heavier with responsibility—had sent her in her stead to represent their small, border Pack to what was tagged the event of the century.
So knowing the grave importance, Eclipse smiled through her teeth at every passing look of disdain she encountered.
She shamelessly pitched the pack's herbal business to anyone who pretended to listen. Even when they would eventually try to shrug her off in annoyance, she would pretend to be poor at picking social cues and just continue rambling their ears off.
Afterall, the one mercy the Masquerade ball offered was the fact that no one was allowed to take off their mask. And the gift of that partial anonymity meant that she could be as shameless as she wanted to be.
Tonight, consequences were dulled.
Five hours passed in a blur of music, clinking glasses, and practiced smiles. She was midway through explaining frostroot distillation for the third time when the ballroom doors opened.
The air changed.
Not gradually. Not even subtly.
It tightened—like a held breath across hundreds of chests.
Conversation faltered. Laughter died mid-note. Even the musicians stilled, bows hovering above strings.
Eclipse turned instinctively.
A woman descended the grand staircase, the gravity of her presence unmistakable even beneath the crescent-shaped masquerade mask covering half her face. Greyish white hair flowed freely over her shoulders, unbound and unapologetic.
Scarlet NorthSteed.
Alpha Queen of the North.
The room bent toward her.
Reverence was one thing, but this? This was something closer to submission. And for good reason.
Eclipse abandoned her wine and edged toward the periphery for a better view, heart thudding.
The North had not sent representatives to the Masquerade Ball in decades. For the Alpha Queen herself to attend—
Her breath caught.
Walking beside Scarlet NorthSteed was another woman. Smaller. Older. Draped in dark robes that swallowed light. A mask concealed her face entirely, save for her mouth. Yet it didn't conceal the woman's apparent blindness going from the way she gripped her staff.
Her crooked walking stick struck the marble floor with soft, deliberate taps—easily revealing her infamous identity on her behalf.
The Theta of the North.
Seer. Witch. Oracle. Curse.
But only the sensible called her what she was: dangerous.
People parted instinctively as the two passed. Not from the Alpha Queen, but mostly from the woman at her side.
That was when she felt it then.
A prickling along her spine. A tightening at the nape of her neck.
The Theta stopped.
Slowly, impossibly, her masked face turned—directly toward Eclipse.
It was absurd. She was blind. Everyone knew that.
Yet Eclipse's breath stalled as the woman's lips curved into something resembling a smile.
For one suspended heartbeat, Eclipse was certain she was being seen.
Then the moment passed. The Theta moved on, swallowed by the crowd.
Eclipse exhaled shakily.
Ridiculous. She'd been standing too long. Thinking too much. Her wolf stirred uneasily.
She turned back toward the crowd—only to freeze as a voice slid into the space just behind her ear.
"Do you believe in fate?"
Eclipse flinched hard enough to nearly lose her balance.For lo and behold, the Theta now stood before her.
Too close.
Her walking stick slammed once against the marble floor as if impatiently waiting for an answer to her abrupt question that had not yet registered with her.
"D–do I what?" Eclipse managed, fingers tightening instinctively at her mask as though it were armor to shield her against the woman.
The Theta tilted her head. Her voice was low. Calm. Terrible.
"Do you believe that some lives are bent before they begin?"
A step closer.
"Do you believe that some meetings are not meetings at all—but collisions?"
Eclipse swallowed. Her pulse thundered. It almost seemed like it, but she knew the woman was not referring to them… at least, not this meeting of theirs.
"I suppose," she said carefully. "I do."
The Theta smiled—not kindly.
"Good." The word landed like a verdict. "Because tonight," the woman whispered, "you shall collide with your fate."
Before she could make real sense of the words, the woman was breezing out the same way she waltzed into her space, and something struck her square in the chest.
Not pain, but immense pressure. The kind that happened when someone remained submerged underwater for the longest time. And in that moment, she felt just that way.
Like she had been submerged below for the longest time but was now only noticing that she was on the very precipice of drowning.
Her breath vanished. Her knees weakened. Heat surged through her veins like wildfire. The world before her narrowed, sound dulling, colors bleeding together like the chaotic meeting of rainbows.
Her wolf surged forward, awake, frantic, feral.
'There', it screamed.
'There'—
Eclipse gasped, clutching at the nearest table as the room spun.
And then—
Mate.
The word was not spoken.
It was felt like a feeling she was naturally born with. But she couldn't help but wonder, who among the sea of people around her was finally colliding with her that night.