Sloane's POV
"My name has never been Sloane."
The words come out of my mouth, but I'm not the one saying them. Someone else is speaking through me—someone ancient and powerful who's been sleeping inside me my whole life.
And she just woke up.
"Sloane?" Dacian's voice sounds far away, like he's shouting from the other end of a tunnel. "Baby, what's happening to you?"
I want to answer him, but I can't. This other presence—this other me—has taken control. I'm trapped inside my own head, watching through my own eyes but unable to move or speak.
The white wolf outside takes another step closer. Theron and Calix are still in their wolf forms, growling warnings, but the white wolf ignores them like they're not even there.
"Seraphine," the white wolf says in that strange, ancient language. Except now I understand it perfectly. "You've been asleep for so long."
Seraphine. Is that supposed to be me?
The presence inside me—Seraphine—smiles with my mouth. "And you've been waiting. Patient as always, Kieran."
Kieran. The white wolf has a name. And somehow, I know that name. Not me-Sloane knows it. But Seraphine knows it. She's known it for thousands of years.
What is happening to me?
Dacian grabs my shoulders and turns me to face him. "Sloane, look at me. Fight whatever this is. Come back."
For just a second, Seraphine's control slips. I gasp and grab onto Dacian's arms. "I don't know what's happening. There's someone else inside me. She's been here the whole time and I never knew—"
Then Seraphine shoves me back down. When I speak again, it's her voice, not mine: "Step aside, broken Alpha. This doesn't concern you."
Dacian's face goes white. "You're not Sloane."
"I am Sloane," Seraphine says coldly. "I've always been Sloane. But I'm also so much more than the weak little she-wolf you married."
No! I scream inside my own head. Don't talk to him like that! He's my husband!
Seraphine ignores me. She turns back to the white wolf—to Kieran. "Why now? Why wake me after all these centuries?"
Kieran's red eyes gleam. "Because she was dying. The broken bond was killing your vessel, and if she died, you died with her."
"So you triggered the awakening to save us both." Seraphine sounds almost amused. "How noble."
"I triggered it to bring you back to me," Kieran corrects. "Where you belong."
Outside, Theron shifts back to human form. He's naked but doesn't seem to care. "Somebody want to explain what the hell is going on? Who is Seraphine? Who is Kieran? And why is Sloane talking like she's possessed?"
"Because she is possessed," Calix says quietly. He's still in wolf form, but his voice echoes in all our heads through the pack bond. "By herself. Or rather, by who she used to be."
Dacian looks at Calix sharply. "You knew about this?"
"I suspected." Calix shifts back to human too. "There were signs. The way her wolf was too strong for a normal she-wolf. The way she could sense things before they happened. The way the broken bond affected her differently than it should have."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Dacian demands.
"Because I wasn't sure," Calix says. "And I thought maybe I was wrong. But I'm not wrong. Sloane—or Seraphine, or whoever she is—isn't fully human. She never was."
Seraphine laughs with my voice. "Smart wolf. Yes, I'm not human. I'm not even fully werewolf, though this vessel is." She touches my—her—our chest. "I'm something older. Something that existed before your kind split from mine."
"What are you?" Theron asks. He sounds angry and scared at the same time.
Seraphine tilts my head, considering. "I suppose you'd call me a Primordial. The first wolves. The ones who came before Alphas and Betas and all your silly little ranks." She looks at Kieran. "We were gods once. And then we went to sleep, hiding inside human bloodlines, waiting to be awakened."
My heart is racing so fast I think it might explode. Inside my own head, I'm screaming, trying to break free. This is my body! My life! Get out!
Seraphine feels my struggle and sighs. "Oh, calm down, little one. I'm not going to hurt you. We're the same person, after all."
We are NOT the same person!
"We are," Seraphine insists, and I realize she can hear my thoughts. "You're me, just... asleep. Unaware. The human side that I created to hide in while I waited for Kieran to find me again."
This is insane. I'm not some ancient wolf god's disguise. I'm just Sloane. I teach literature at the university. I like coffee with too much cream. I cry during sad movies. I'm NORMAL.
"You were never normal," Seraphine says gently. "Why do you think the mate bond with Dacian felt so intense? Why do you think breaking it nearly killed you so quickly? Regular she-wolves take years to go feral from broken bonds. You had months because you're not regular."
Dacian is staring at me—at us—like he's looking at a stranger. "So everything was a lie? Our whole marriage? You never really loved me?"
For the first time, Seraphine's expression softens. "That's not true. Sloane loved you. Loves you. That's real. I kept myself buried so deep that she truly believed she was just an ordinary wolf. Her love for you is genuine."
"But you don't love me," Dacian says flatly.
"I love Kieran," Seraphine admits. "I have for three thousand years. And now that I'm awake..." She looks out at the white wolf. "Now I remember what I've been missing."
Kieran's tail wags slightly. "Come to me, Seraphine. Leave the broken Alpha. Leave this weak vessel's life behind. We can be together again, like we were meant to be."
Yes! I scream inside. Leave! Get out of my body and go be with your creepy white wolf boyfriend!
But Seraphine hesitates. "There's a problem."
"What problem?" Kieran asks.
She turns to look at Theron and Calix. Both of them are watching her warily, muscles tense like they're ready to fight or run.
"The secondary bonds," Seraphine says. "When Sloane's wolf was searching for new mates to save her life, she didn't just find any males. She found them." She points at Theron and Calix. "And I know these two."
Theron's eyes narrow. "We've never met before."
"Your human forms haven't met me," Seraphine agrees. "But your wolves have. Your true wolves. The ones that existed before you were born into these bodies."
Calix goes very still. "That's impossible."
"Is it?" Seraphine smiles. "Tell me, have you ever felt like you were meant for something more? Like there's a part of you missing? Like you've been searching your whole life for something you can't name?"
Both men are silent. But I can see the truth on their faces.
They have felt that way.
"You're Primordials too," Seraphine says. "Just like me and Kieran. You've been asleep in human vessels, waiting to wake up. And Sloane's desperate wolf didn't just find random mates. She found you. Her true mates from the beginning of time."
The world seems to stop.
Theron and Calix stare at each other, then at me, then at Kieran.
"That's four Primordials," Dacian says slowly. "All in one place. What are the odds of that?"
"Not odds," Kieran says. His voice drops to a growl. "Destiny. We were always meant to find each other again."
Seraphine nods. "The question is—what do we do now?"
And that's when the sky turns black.
Not nighttime black. Wrong black. Like someone poured ink across the sun. Thunder cracks without any clouds. The ground shakes.
Kieran's ears flatten. "No. It can't be."
"What's happening?" Dacian shouts.
Seraphine's face goes pale. For the first time, she looks scared.
"We woke up," she whispers. "The four of us. All at once. All in the same place." She looks at Kieran. "You idiot. You triggered the Convergence."
"What's the Convergence?" Theron demands.
Before anyone can answer, the ground splits open.
Right down the middle of Dacian's front yard, a crack appears. It widens, deeper and deeper, glowing with red light from somewhere far below.
And from that crack comes a voice—ancient, horrible, hungry.
"At last," it says. "The Primordials have awakened. And now... they're mine."