Chapter 3

Seraphina POV

The grand Pack Hall was decorated in black velvet and silver silk for my birthday banquet. Hundreds of wolves gathered under the massive glass dome, their voices a low hum of excitement. I stood near the ceremonial bonfire, my face an unreadable mask. I leaned forward and blew out the flames, signaling the end of the birthday rites. Elara stepped forward from the crowd, acting as if the morning's confrontation had never happened. She handed me a small, poorly wrapped box. "A little something for my best friend," she chirped, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. I opened it. Inside was a cheap glass crystal. Carved into its center was a three-dimensional image of my face during my first Shift, my features contorted, my jaw unhinged in a grotesque snarl. It was a deliberate insult. Before I could throw it away, Kaelen stepped in front of me. He dropped down to one knee right in the middle of the hall. The crowd gasped. He pulled out a small velvet box and opened it, revealing a massive mythril diamond ring. It was the symbol of the Luna, the highest honor a she-wolf could receive. "Seraphina," Kaelen said loudly, making sure the pack Elders sitting in the front row could hear every word. "Elara has apologized. It's time to drop this petty grudge. Accept my mark and take your rightful place as my Luna." He was using the Elders and the crowd to publicly pressure me. He wanted to force me into submission in front of the entire pack. I looked down at his handsome, hypocritical face. I looked at the ugly glass crystal in my hand. A muscle just below my cheekbone gave an involuntary twitch. I bit down on my jaw, the pressure sharp and grounding, until the coppery tang of blood bloomed on my tongue, just enough to stifle the broken laugh clawing its way up my throat. The crowd awed softly. Kaelen and Elara exchanged a victorious glance. They actually thought I was crying tears of joy, completely subdued by his overwhelming Alpha charm. I closed my eyes and slowly raised my hand. I opened my mouth, preparing to speak the ancient words of Rejection to sever our Fated Mate bond forever. Suddenly, a loud burst of laughter echoed from the upper balcony. Before I could react, a massive bucket tipped over the railing above me. A thick, foul-smelling mud crashed down onto my head. It soaked my designer dress, ruined my hair, and dripped into my eyes. My skin immediately began to burn. The mud was mixed with Wolfsbane, a toxic purple flower that was highly poisonous to our kind. For any normal wolf, this concentration would have meant hours of agony and permanent scarring. My Elder bloodline raged in response, a furnace in my veins that suppressed the poison just enough to keep me standing. The entire hall erupted into cruel laughter. I stood there, humiliated and burning, while my supposed pack pointed and mocked me. Kaelen stood up, casually brushing a speck of dirt off his suit. "Relax, Sera," Kaelen said dismissively. "It's just the traditional Luna endurance test—wait, what is that smell? Is that Wolfsbane? Which one of you warriors went too far?!" My inner wolf snapped. The rage I had suppressed for twelve years exploded into a violent inferno. I fought through the caustic burn in my eyes, wiping away the toxic sludge with the back of my hand. I swung my arm and slapped Kaelen across the face with all the strength of an Elder-blood wolf. The sharp crack echoed through the silent hall. The Luna ring flew from his hand and bounced into a dark corner. Elara shrieked and lunged forward. "Are you insane?!" Elara screamed. "You think your money gives you the right to hit your Alpha?" I did not hesitate. I backhanded Elara across her jaw. She collapsed to the floor, letting out a pathetic, high-pitched Omega whimper. Chaos erupted. The Elders and Warriors rushed forward, shouting and scolding me. "You dare strike the Alpha?!" an Elder barked. Kaelen's face darkened with pure fury. He stepped toward me, his eyes glowing with a dangerous red light. He opened his mouth and unleashed the Alpha's Command. It was the absolute power of a pack leader, a heavy, suffocating pressure that forced lower-ranking wolves to their knees. "Apologize to Elara," Kaelen commanded, his voice vibrating with unnatural power. The air grew heavy. The Omegas and Betas in the room dropped to the floor, unable to bear the weight of his voice. "You've always had a vile temper, Seraphina," Kaelen lectured, looking down at me like a disappointed god. "Elara actually begged me to propose to you tonight. You should be thanking her." He reached out with a dirty handkerchief, trying to wipe the toxic mud off my face to force the ceremony to continue. I stood perfectly straight. My high-ranking blood easily resisted his pathetic Command. I slapped his hand away. I ignored him and pressed 'enter' on my phone. Instantly, the massive glass dome above us lit up. My family's cyber division instantly hijacked the hall's entire system. Giant holographic screens projected across the ceiling for the entire pack to see. Displayed in massive, glowing text were all of Elara's dark web posts, complete with decrypted IP addresses tracing straight back to the Alpha's private quarters. Next to them were the decrypted Mind-Link logs between Kaelen and Elara. The text messages detailed Elara's heat cycles, their plans to announce Elara's current pregnancy, their constant mockery of my past miscarriage, and their constant, mocking betrayal of the Fated Mate laws. The laughter in the hall died instantly. Dead, horrifying silence filled the room. Elara scrambled back, her face pale as a ghost, and fell to her knees in pure panic. Kaelen stared up at the screens. I watched as the rigid line of his spine went taut. His throat worked, a frantic, desperate motion, but not a single sound emerged. His pupils, dilated and stark, reflected nothing but the damning, ghostly white of the screens. And in that silence, the entire pack finally saw the truth: their Alpha was not a king. He was a parasite, and his host had just exposed him to the light.