Serena POV
Sonia stepped out from the shadows of the tall iron gates.
The moonlight caught the expensive diamonds around her neck. She smelled strongly of sweet vanilla and chemical floral perfume. Up close, I caught it—a faint, wild undertone beneath the artificial sweetness, something feral and wrong that her perfume was desperately trying to smother.
And now, beneath that cloying sweetness, I detected something else. Something old. Something that made my Omega instincts scream a warning I had ignored for five years.
"Leaving your pup here for three months," Sonia said softly, tilting her head. "Run into a Rogue? Or are you in some kind of trouble?"
I kept my back straight. I refused to show weakness in front of the woman who took my place.
"For five years, she has known only my care," I answered, my voice a carefully constructed wall against the wind. "It is past time her Sire acknowledged his duty. That's all."
Sonia let out a small, elegant laugh.
"Are you trying to use the pup to win his attention back?" she asked. Her sweet tone was gone, replaced by a sharp edge.
She took a step closer to me.
"Do not forget, Serena," Sonia whispered. "Five years ago, Silas stood in front of the Elders. He fought the oldest, most powerful wolves in our Pack just to strip you of your Luna title."
The Luna was the spiritual heart of the Pack. To remove a Luna was a massive scandal.
"He risked everything for me," Sonia smiled proudly. "A pup won't change his mind."
"My conscience is clear," I replied evenly. "Take good care of Maya. That is my only concern."
I turned my back on her and walked away into the dark street.
I only made it two blocks before the pressure in my head became unbearable.
A warm liquid dripped down my upper lip.
I wiped my face with the back of my hand. In the dim light of the streetlamp, my blood was shining.
It was a thick, metallic silver, but deep within the sluggish liquid, a faint, pulsing white luminescence flickered—something I had never seen before.
I leaned against a brick wall, breathing heavily. The silver was eating away at my red blood cells.
I managed to drag myself back to my empty apartment.
I collapsed onto my small bed. The pain in my bones was like being crushed slowly under a frozen lake.
I stared at the ceiling, my mind drifting to the past.
Sonia was right about one thing. Silas had gone against all our werewolf instincts for her.
Our kind had highly sensitive noses. We hated artificial, chemical scents. They burned our senses.
But five years ago, Silas allowed Sonia to fill his car, his clothes, and his office with her suffocating perfume.
He forced his Inner Wolf to endure the pain, just to keep her happy.
That was the moment I knew our marriage was over. An Alpha would only suppress his primal nature for his true obsession.
I swallowed two strong human painkillers and closed my eyes.
The drugs pulled me into a deep, heavy sleep.
I dreamed of the past. Maya was only nine months old.
We were sitting in the sunlit garden of the Packhouse. Maya lifted her tiny head and let out her very first, clumsy wolf howl.
Silas had laughed. It was a deep, joyful sound. He wrapped his strong arms around both of us.
"We're a Pack, Serena," he whispered in my dream. "We'll always be together."
The dream shattered like glass.
I woke up gasping. The morning light was shining weakly through my dusty window.
I turned my head and coughed violently.
Silver blood splattered across my white pillowcase. It shimmered horribly in the sunlight. And there it was again—that faint white glow threading through the silver, pulsing like a trapped star.
My time was almost gone. The Moon Goddess was calling my spirit home.
I forced myself out of bed. I washed my face, brushed my hair, and put on my best black dress.
I walked out of the territory and found a small human photo studio.
I sat straight in the chair and looked at the camera. I did not smile.
I paid the photographer in cash and took the large, black-and-white portrait with me. It was for my future memorial service.
Next, I took a bus to the towering glass building of the Pack Corporation.
I went straight to the Legal Department. I signed the final papers to officially resign from my job.
I walked down the hall and knocked on a frosted glass door.
"Come in," a calm voice answered.
I opened the door and saw Caleb.
He was the Chief Legal Counsel of our Pack. He was a Beta, the second highest rank in werewolf society.
He was also my closest friend.
Caleb looked up from his paperwork. His sharp brown eyes immediately noticed how pale I was.
"Serena," Caleb stood up, his scent of fresh rain and parchment filling the room. "What is wrong?"
I walked over to his desk and placed a sealed brown envelope in front of him.
"Caleb," I said softly. "This is my will. I am leaving this territory and everything I own to Maya."
Caleb stared at the envelope, his jaw dropping.
"And," I took a deep breath. "I need you to handle my afterlife arrangements."
Caleb's hand trembled as he reached for the envelope, but he did not open it. Instead, he looked at me with an intensity that made my breath catch.
"Serena," he said quietly. "Tell me everything. From the beginning."
I met his eyes, and for the first time since the diagnosis, I let the mask slip. "There's something I need you to investigate, too," I whispered. "Sonia. She knew about the silver before anyone else. She knew, Caleb. And I don't think she's just an Omega."
