Chapter 1 THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL

The moon hung bloated and cruel above the clearing, casting silver fire across the gathered pack.

The Crescent Moon Pack the wolves I had once bled for, lived for now stared at me with cold, merciless eyes.

I stood naked, bound by iron cuffs at wrists and ankles, chained to the sacred stone where leaders once took their oaths.

Now it would serve as my grave.

"Selene Blackwood," Kael's voice rang through the clearing, harder than any blade. "You stand accused of treason against the Crescent Moon Pack."

"I'm loyal!" I screamed back, my voice raw against the night. "Kael, you know me!"

He didn't even blink. His face might have been carved from ice.

Beside him, Adrienne, my closest friend once, my sister-in-everything-but-blood, clutched his arm like a trophy won in battle.

I yanked at the chains, blood slipping from torn wrists. "You're making a mistake! Look at me!"

Adrienne's lips curved in a smug, poisonous smile. "We are looking, Selene. And we see you now."

"I never betrayed the pack!" I roared.

"You brought enemies into our lands," Morwen said, voice smooth and oily. "You endangered all of us."

"I protected you!" I shouted. "I fought for you!"

"You fought for your gain," Adrienne said lightly, as though explaining a child's misbehaviour.

"Traitor!" someone from the crowd screamed.

"Kill her!" another bellowed.

Kael raised his hand for silence.

The crowd stilled at once.

"There can be no forgiveness for betrayal," Kael said. "Tonight, we restore the purity of the Crescent Moon Pack."

I locked eyes with him. "Kael," I whispered. "Please."

He turned away.

Coward.

Morwen gestured to the enforcers. "Begin."

Four wolves in human form face blank under masks of obedience, stepped forward.

One ripped away the last scrap of fabric from my body, exposing me fully to the cruel air and crueller gazes.

I shivered but stood tall, my chin lifting defiantly.

The first blade slashed across my thigh.

I bit my lip until it bled to keep me from crying out.

A second cut across my side, deeper.

Blood poured onto the stone.

Still, I did not fall.

The enforcers circled me, blades flashing.

Small cuts. Deep enough to scar, not to kill.

Shame before death.

"You're quiet," one sneered, driving his blade into my arm.

I spat blood at his feet. "I won't give you the satisfaction."

"Brand her," Morwen commanded.

An iron sigil was pulled from the fire, glowing white-hot.

Two enforcers pinned me down, forcing my abdomen forward.

"No," I gasped, thrashing wildly. "No, you don't"

They pressed the brand against my flesh.

I couldn't hold the scream anymore. Aaaaaaaaa! Aaaaaaaaa! Aaaaaaaaaaa! It ripped free of me raw, primal, agony incarnate.

The stench of burning flesh filled the air.

I sagged in their arms, breath sobbing from my body.

Kael looked away.

Adrienne laughed.

"Justice," she purred.

Kael stepped forward again.

He drew a dagger, long and curved.

"This is mercy," he said, his voice hollow.

"You call this mercy?" I rasped.

"I call it necessary."

He drove the blade into my side, swift and cruel.

I gasped, stumbling.

He stabbed again, burying it into my abdomen.

Pain flared white-hot, tearing through me.

A third thrust, this one slower, twisting.

The world seems to come to an end already.

I dropped to my knees, blood pooling around me.

From somewhere above, Adrienne's laughter pealed out, high and triumphant.

Kael stepped back.

"Take her to the Evil Forest," he ordered. "Let the cursed earth have her."

The enforcers dragged my broken body across the stones.

I caught glimpses of the pack, my people now turned spectators.

Elara, my oldest friend, turned her face away.

Beta Rowan watched grimly, arms crossed.

No one spoke.

No one protested.

The forest loomed ahead, black and endless.

They threw me into the dirt like trash.

I coughed blood, my vision narrowing.

"You'll regret this," I whispered to the night.

Then everything went black.

Between Worlds

There was no pain now.

No sound.

Only darkness.

I floated weightless in an endless void.

Then, a blinding and overwhelming light.

A figure emerged from the brilliance.

She was taller than any mortal woman, robed in shifting silver, and crowned with the cold fire of stars.

The Moon Goddess.

"Selene Blackwood," she said, voice rich and heavy, echoing through the void.

I tried to move, to kneel, to bow.

But I had nobody here.

"You were loyal," she said. "And you were destroyed because loyalty is a threat to cowards."

"Why didn't you stop them?" I cried, voice breaking. "Why let them kill me?"

The Goddess regarded me with sad, endless eyes. "Even gods must honour choice, Selene."

My spirit burned with grief, rage, and helplessness.

"You are not finished," she said.

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You have a choice," she said, stretching out a hand.

"Return," she said. "Five years into your past. Reclaim your destiny."

Fear shivered through me.

Hope, too.

"If I go back," I whispered, "will I still love him?"

"Perhaps," she said gently. "But you will love yourself more."

"And Adrienne?" I spat the name like poison.

"She will weave her noose," the Goddess said.

I hesitated.

Revenge called to me.

So did something deeper: justice. Power. Freedom.

I reached for her hand.

"Remember," she warned, "Vengeance is like a hungry fire. Feed it too long, and it will devour you, too."

I closed my eyes.

"I accept."

Her fingers closed around mine-

And the world exploded into searing light.

Rebirth

I woke with a gasp, tangled in soft linen sheets.

The scent of pine and woodsmoke filled the room.

My room.

My old room.

I sat bolt upright, clutching my stomach.

Whole. Unscarred.

I stumbled to the mirror.

A young woman stared back at me.

No burns.

No blood.

No betrayal was carved into her flesh.

But the eyes.

The eyes were not the same.

There was a hardness there now.

A fire.

A knock at the door jolted me.

"Selene?" Elara's voice. Sweet. Trusting. Innocent. "Are you up? Training's about to start!"

I remembered that day.

The day Kael first started drifting toward Adrienne.

The day the slow unravelling began.

I touched the mirror, steadying myself.

"Not this time," I whispered.

Not this life.

Another knock.

"I'm coming," I shouted, with a steady voice.

I dressed quickly, pulling on training clothes with hands that didn't tremble.

Every breath I drew solidified into a vow:

I would not beg Kael for love.

I would not plead for acceptance.

I would never kneel again.

I would burn their perfect little world to the ground before I let them break me twice.

I opened the door.

Elara blinked, startled. "You okay? You look... different."

I smiled.

A slow, dangerous smile.

"I feel different."

We walked toward the training fields. Wolves sparred in the distance, young and eager, oblivious to the storm about to rip through their world.

I spotted Kael standing tall, laughing with Beta Rowan, every inch the beloved Alpha-to-be.

He hadn't seen me yet.

Good.

Let him enjoy the last days of his innocence.

Because when I was done, Kael Blackthorne would regret the day he ever crossed me.

And Adrienne?

She would choke on her betrayal.

I smiled to myself, the cool wind lifting my hair.

This time, I would be ready.

This time, I will burn everything to the ground.