The night the moon turned red was the night they decided I was no longer worth saving.

I remember the cold more than anything.

It seeped through the thin fabric of my dress as I stood barefoot in the middle of the pack courtyard, my knees trembling against the frozen stone. Hundreds of wolves watched from the shadows, their eyes glowing beneath the silver light of the moon.

No one spoke.

No one moved.

They simply stared.

At me.

At the girl everyone had spent eighteen years pretending did not exist.

My name was Amara Vale.

And I was an Omega.

At least, that was what they had always told me.

"Look at her."

Someone whispered from the crowd.

"She doesn't even have the strength to stand properly."

A quiet laugh followed.

I lowered my eyes.

That was what I had learned to do whenever they laughed.

Never look at them.

Never answer.

Never give them a reason to hurt you more.

The Alpha stood at the top of the stone steps, surrounded by his council.

Alpha Darius Blackthorn.

The most powerful wolf in the Northern Territories.

And tonight, his expression was colder than the winter wind.

Beside him stood his son.

Kael Blackthorn.

My heart betrayed me the moment I saw him.

It always did.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and dressed in black, his dark hair falling slightly over his forehead. The silver markings of the Blackthorn bloodline ran faintly along his neck, disappearing beneath his collar.

His eyes found mine.

For one brief second, everything else disappeared.

Then he looked away.

Like I was nothing.

Like I had never mattered.

I swallowed the ache in my throat.

I should have been used to it by now.

Kael had spent years treating me like an embarrassment.

I couldn't blame him.

Not really.

I had never shifted.

Not once.

Every wolf in the pack discovered their wolf before they turned eighteen.

Some shifted at thirteen.

Some at fifteen.

A few were late bloomers and shifted at seventeen.

But eighteen was the final threshold.

After that, if your wolf had not awakened...

It never would.

And tonight was my eighteenth birthday.

The night of the Blood Moon Ceremony.

The night when every unmated wolf came before the Alpha to present their wolf for the first time.

The night when I was supposed to prove that I wasn't defective.

Instead, I had spent the last hour standing before the Moonstone while the pack elders waited for my wolf to appear.

Nothing happened.

Not even a flicker.

The Moonstone remained dark.

The elders had exchanged glances.

The whispers had started.

And then Alpha Darius had ordered me brought into the courtyard.

I already knew what was coming.

Still, when he finally spoke, my heart cracked.

"Amara Vale."

His voice echoed through the courtyard.

I stepped forward.

"Yes, Alpha."

"You were given eighteen years."

My fingers curled against my palms.

"Yes, Alpha."

"You were fed by this pack."

"Yes."

"You were protected by this pack."

"Yes."

"And yet you have given nothing in return."

A murmur passed through the crowd.

My throat tightened.

"I have tried."

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

Alpha Darius's eyes narrowed.

"Speak when spoken to."

I immediately lowered my head.

"Forgive me, Alpha."

Someone laughed.

I heard it clearly.

Kael.

My eyes lifted instinctively.

He wasn't laughing.

But there was no sympathy in his face either.

Only disappointment.

That hurt more.

Alpha Darius descended one step.

"The elders have reached a decision."

My heart began pounding.

"No."

The word barely escaped my lips.

He continued.

"You are hereby stripped of your position within the Blackthorn Pack."

The courtyard went silent.

My breathing stopped.

"Alpha..."

"You will leave before sunrise."

My world tilted.

I stared at him.

"But where will I go?"

He didn't answer immediately.

Then he said the words that would follow me for the rest of my life.

"That is no longer our concern."

A few people smiled.

Someone whispered, "Finally."

My eyes burned.

I refused to cry.

I had cried enough in secret.

Behind the kitchens.

In the laundry room.

Inside the tiny room they had given me at the far end of the servant quarters.

I had cried every time someone called me useless.

Every time another girl laughed because I couldn't shift.

Every time Kael walked past me without acknowledging my existence.

But I wouldn't cry here.

Not in front of them.

Not tonight.

I looked toward the man I had secretly loved since I was thirteen.

Kael.

He was staring at me now.

Our eyes met.

There was something strange in his expression.

Not pity.

Not hatred.

Something else.

Something I couldn't understand.

Then his jaw tightened.

"Father."

The entire courtyard turned toward him.

Alpha Darius looked at his son.

"What?"

Kael hesitated.

For the first time in years, he looked uncertain.

"Perhaps..."

His eyes returned to me.

"Perhaps she should be given another night."

My heart jumped.

Hope.

Stupid, dangerous hope.

But before I could breathe, one of the elders stepped forward.

"Enough, Alpha Kael."

The old man shook his head.

"The Moonstone has spoken."

Kael's expression hardened.

"She is still part of this pack."

"Not anymore."

The elder looked at me.

"She is an Omega without a wolf."

His voice was merciless.

"She is nothing."

Something inside me broke.

Not loudly.

Not dramatically.

It simply...

Stopped fighting.

I lowered my head.

"Understood."

Alpha Darius turned away.

"Take her back."

Two guards approached.

I didn't resist.

I walked between them toward the servant quarters while the pack watched.

No one stopped me.

No one called my name.

No one cared.

By the time I reached my room, the first tear finally fell.

I shut the door.

Locked it.

Then collapsed onto the floor.

For several minutes, I couldn't breathe.

I pressed my fist against my mouth to keep myself from screaming.

I had known this day would come.

I had always known.

But knowing something and surviving it were two different things.

I looked around my tiny room.

A narrow bed.

A wooden table.

A cracked mirror.

A single window.

Everything I owned fit inside one small bag.

I had never belonged here.

And now I was finally being forced to admit it.

I wiped my face.

Then I noticed something.

The mirror.

There was something wrong with my reflection.

I froze.

Slowly, I stood.

The girl staring back at me looked exactly as broken as I felt.

Dark hair.

Brown eyes.

Pale face.

But then—

Her eyes changed.

For half a second, they weren't brown.

They were gold.

Bright, burning gold.

I stumbled backward.

The reflection returned to normal.

I stared.

"No."

My heart hammered.

I stepped closer.

Nothing.

Just me.

Just Amara.

The useless Omega.

I reached toward the mirror.

The instant my fingers touched the glass—

A voice whispered inside my head.

Run.

I jerked away.

My heart pounded.

"Who are you?"

Silence.

Then another voice.

Older.

Female.

Soft.

Almost like a memory.

They are coming.

I backed away from the mirror.

"Who's coming?"

No answer.

Then—

A knock sounded at my door.

I froze.

"Amara?"

Kael.

My heart immediately betrayed me again.

I didn't move.

"Amara, open the door."

I stared at the wooden door.

Why was he here?

After everything?

I wiped my cheeks quickly and unlocked it.

Kael stood outside.

For a moment neither of us spoke.

Up close, I could see the tension in his face.

"Why are you here?"

His eyes searched mine.

"Are you alright?"

I almost laughed.

"Do I look alright?"

He flinched.

Good.

For once, I wanted him to feel something.

"You heard what they said."

"I did."

"And you're still here."

"Yes."

"Why?"

He looked away.

"I wanted to make sure you weren't alone."

Something inside my chest tightened.

"You're too late."

He looked back at me.

"What?"

"I've been alone for eighteen years."

His expression changed.

I stepped closer.

"You never spoke to me."

"Amara—"

"You never defended me."

"I couldn't."

"You never even looked at me."

His jaw tightened.

"I looked at you."

"No."

I shook my head.

"You looked through me."

Silence.

The wind moved through the trees outside.

Kael stared at me for a long moment.

Then he whispered,

"I was trying to protect you."

I frowned.

"From what?"

He didn't answer.

"Kael."

He stepped closer.

His voice dropped.

"Do you remember anything about your parents?"

I stiffened.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything."

"What are you talking about?"

Before he could answer, a howl exploded through the night.

Not an ordinary wolf howl.

This one was deep.

Ancient.

Powerful enough to shake the windows.

Kael turned toward the forest.

His face went pale.

"What is it?"

He didn't answer.

Another howl followed.

Then another.

But this time they weren't coming from different directions.

They were coming from the same place.

The forest.

Kael grabbed my wrist.

"We need to go."

"Why?"

"Now."

I pulled my hand away.

"You're scaring me."

He looked at me.

For the first time since I had known him, I saw genuine fear in his eyes.

"Amara..."

"What?"

His voice became barely a whisper.

"Those aren't wolves."

A third howl shook the night.

Then every torch in the courtyard went out.

Darkness swallowed the pack.

Screams erupted outside.

Kael grabbed my hand.

"Run!"

We barely made it three steps before a deafening roar came from the forest.

The ground beneath us trembled.

Then the smell hit me.

Smoke.

Blood.

And something else.

Something strangely familiar.

I stopped.

Kael pulled me.

"Amara!"

But I couldn't move.

The voice from the mirror returned.

Only this time, it wasn't a whisper.

It was a command.

Wake up.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

A sharp pain tore through my chest.

I screamed.

Kael caught me before I fell.

My body convulsed.

Something burned beneath my skin.

I clawed at my chest.

"Amara!"

I couldn't answer.

The pain became unbearable.

Then—

Silence.

Everything stopped.

The screams.

The howling.

The wind.

Even my heartbeat.

For one impossible second, the world went completely still.

And then I heard it.

A growl.

Not outside.

Not from the forest.

Not from Kael.

It came from inside me.

My eyes opened.

Kael stared at me.

His face had gone completely white.

"What..."

I looked down at my hands.

Thin golden lines were glowing beneath my skin.

They spread from my fingertips toward my wrists.

Then up my arms.

Kael stumbled backward.

"No."

I looked at him.

"What is happening to me?"

He didn't answer.

Instead, he whispered a name.

A name I had never heard before.

A name that somehow made the ancient voice inside my head go silent.

"The True Omega."

I stared at him.

"What did you call me?"

Kael's eyes widened.

Behind us, something emerged from the darkness.

A massive black wolf.

Its eyes glowed red.

Kael immediately stepped in front of me.

But the creature didn't attack.

It lowered its head.

Not toward Kael.

Toward me.

Then it bowed.

Every instinct in my body screamed.

I should have been afraid.

Instead, something inside me recognized it.

The wolf lifted its head.

And from somewhere deep within my soul, a voice answered its silent call.

I have returned.

The golden markings on my skin blazed brighter.

And somewhere beyond the mountains, hundreds of wolves began to howl.

The True Omega had awakened.

And the world was about to remember why it had feared her bloodline.