Chapter 3 THE GOLDEN AWAKENING

On the morning of the wedding, the air in the house was thick with a cruel conspiracy. The plan was simple yet treacherous: Audrey would stand at the altar in Samantha's place. However, the deception required Audrey's body to move, and for that, they needed her submission. They dragged her into the dressing room, the door clicking shut like a trap. When they revealed the plan, Audrey recoiled, shaking her head in a desperate "no." But as she turned to flee, her stepsister's hand snared her arm, followed by the sharp sting of a slap.

Audrey gasped, her lungs burning as she fought back a flood of tears. "Do this, and you are finally free of us," they hissed, punctuating the promise with a deadly threat. Audrey looked at their cold eyes. She didn't know that marrying the Alpha was a death sentence for any girl who wasn't the "Marked Princess"-how could she, when she had been kept in the shadows like an outcast? She only saw an escape. She saw a chance to leave behind a father who didn't love her and a family that loathed her. Maybe, she thought, the Alpha would love her. Maybe his bite would finally wake the wolf inside her. She nodded. Dressed in beaded peach silk with a white mask concealing her face, Audrey became a perfect mirror of Samantha. As she descended the stairs, her brown eyes shimmering and her dark hair glossy, not a single guest suspected the switch. When she reached the altar, the blind Alpha reached out. The moment his skin touched hers, a jolt of warmth and a powerful bond surged through him. He smiled, sensing a soul he didn't realize wasn't the one promised to him. They exchanged rings and left the celebration behind, heading toward a wedding night that would change everything. The world outside the Silver Manor was screaming. Thunder shook the very foundation of the stone walls, and the wind howled like a pack of mourning spirits. But inside the master suite, the air was thick with a silence so heavy it felt like a physical weight. Audrey lay on the silk sheets, her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs. When Lucas's teeth had first grazed the sensitive skin of her neck, she had braced for the cold sting of death. She had expected to feel her life force drain away, just as Samantha and Selene had secretly hoped. Instead, the moment his fangs pierced her skin, a golden fire erupted in her veins. It wasn't the heat of a fever; it was the heat of a sun being born. The "nothingness" she had felt for twenty-one years-that hollow ache where a wolf should have been-was suddenly filled with a roar so loud it drowned out the thunder outside. "Ah!" Lucas gasped, pulling back. He clutched his head, his body racking with a violent tremor. His clouded silver eyes began to burn. The grey film that had stood between him and the world for two decades began to dissolve like mist under a mid-day sun. Audrey couldn't speak. Her body was changing. Her bones weren't breaking; they were expanding, vibrating with a frequency that made the glass lamps in the room shatter. A brilliant, ethereal light began to pour from her skin-not the dull blue of Samantha's power, but a blinding, regal gold. I am here, a voice whispered in her mind. It wasn't the voice of a servant or a shadow. It was the voice of a Queen. We are one. Lucas fell to his knees beside the bed, his hands covering his face as the first rays of light hit his optic nerves. The world was coming into focus-the rich mahogany of the furniture, the deep red of the carpets, and finally, the woman lying before him. He lowered his hands, his breath hitching in his throat. He didn't see Samantha, the "perfect" princess he had been promised. He saw a girl with eyes like molten amber, her black hair fanned out across the pillows like a dark halo. But more than that, he saw the mark on her shoulder-the one the bite had revealed. It wasn't a standard pack mark. It was a silver crescent moon entwined with a golden sun. "You..." Lucas whispered, his voice raw with wonder. "You aren't the one they described." Audrey sat up, her movements fluid and powerful. The weakness that had defined her life was gone. She felt the strength of ten men in her limbs. She looked at Lucas, really looked at him, and for the first time in her life, she didn't feel the need to look away. "My name is Audrey," she said, her voice steady and resonant. Lucas reached out, his fingers trembling as he touched her cheek. His sight was perfect-sharper than any wolf in his pack. "They lied to me. They told me the princess was Samantha. They told me she was the only one with the bloodline." He let out a dark, low chuckle. "But the bond doesn't lie. The prophecy didn't say the 'favored' daughter. It said the Marked one." Suddenly, Audrey stiffened. Her new, heightened senses picked up a sound from miles away-the sound of laughter back at the Moon Shadow Pack. She could hear her father's voice, boasting about the "sacrifice" he had made to secure an alliance. She could hear Samantha's cruel giggle as she imagined Audrey's lifeless body. A low, guttural growl vibrated in Audrey's chest. It was a sound of pure, predatory power. "They tried to kill me, Lucas," Audrey said, her eyes glowing brighter. "They sent me here expecting your bite to be my execution." Lucas's expression shifted instantly. The wonder in his eyes turned into a terrifying, icy rage. The Alpha of the Silver Pack stood up, his massive frame casting a shadow over the room. The power he had just regained flared around him like a storm. "They sent a goddess to my bed and expected me to be her end?" Lucas growled, his hand finding hers and gripping it with a fierce protectiveness. "They have no idea what they've done. They didn't just give me my sight, Audrey. They gave me a reason to burn their world down." Outside, the rain stopped as abruptly as it had started. The clouds parted to reveal a moon that was no longer white, but a shimmering, brilliant silver-the mark of the True Luna's awakening.