Chapter 1 1. THE ALPHA'S DAUGHTER

SERAPHINA

"A woman cannot lead a pack," my father, Alpha Darious Nightbane, declared coldly, standing before the gathered Council and warriors at the final trial of the Heir Selection Ceremony.

I stood, breathless and bloodied, having just defeated the last of the contenders in front of a crowd that expected a new leader to rise. I had won. Fairly. Decisively.

But it didn't matter. Not to him.

In my wolf form, I had towered over the last fallen candidate, my claws pressed firmly to his throat, not enough to kill, but enough to make him submit. The crowd had fallen silent, every gaze locked onto me.

I stood at the center of the grand arena, still in my wolf form, tall, lean, and blood-smeared, my white coat streaked with dust and crimson. My breathing was steady, controlled, the silence around me heavy with judgment. Across the room, my father's cold, commanding black eyes found mine. But I didn't blink.

"Why?" My voice rang out, sharp and unwavering, "I defeated every candidate. I earned this."

I was Seraphina Nightbane, the only child of the Alpha of the North. No one questioned him. No one dared. Although I always had.

My father's jaw clenched, his expression hardening but there was a flicker in his eyes. Regret, maybe. Or something dangerously close to it.

"Because it's tradition," he said, quieter at first, then louder as if he needed the conviction to hold. "Only men can lead a pack. That is the law. Women...were born to follow. To obey. Not to rule."

He looked away for the briefest second, then snapped his gaze back to mine. "This law has guided our kind for generations, and it will remain so. Tradition is not up for debate."

I was born of his blood, Alpha blood, and still it was never enough. I knew it wouldn't be. I could crush every opponent, prove myself a hundred times over, and it still wouldn't matter. All because I was a woman.

That one truth had always been enough to cage me.

Around us, the pack Elders nodded in solemn agreement, their expressions passive. Compliant.

A low growl rumbled in my chest, deep and primal. My claws scraped against the stone floor, muscles coiling beneath my white fur as fury surged through me.

With a snarl, I launched forward, teeth bared as all my restraint nearly slipped away.

"What was the point of the Heiress Selection Ceremony then?" I demanded, voice cracking but loud enough to echo. "Why make me compete at all if you never intended to choose me?"

He didn't blink. "It was never about naming you heir," he said coldly, "It was a formality. Meant to remind our people that tradition still matters."

My heart pounded. "So all this bloodshed, all this battle, me winning, it meant nothing?"

"Strength means nothing in a woman who forgets her place," he snapped, "You were born to support, not lead."

The words punched through me. "So I should have lost to make you comfortable?" I spat bitterly, "You raised me like a warrior only to cage me like a pawn."

A stunned hush fell over the crowd. His jaw clenched. Fury flickered in his eyes like fire catching wind.

"You dare question me?" His voice boomed, his cold eyes turned murderous.

I barely had time to brace myself when a frightening crunch of bone and sinew, my father transformed. His furiously black wolf loomed over me, radiating dominance and demanding submission.

Power exploded from him, thick and oppressive, slamming into me like a tidal wave. My lungs seized. My knees hit the stone floor with a crack.

His massive black wolf snarled, his aura like a storm pressing down on my spine. I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. My wolf whimpered deep inside, instinctively submitting under the weight of his dominance.

"I've made my decision," he declared, his voice booming across the arena, echoing against stone and silence.

"Since no candidate proved themselves worthy today, the Alpha title will pass to my nephew."

My breath caught like a blade in my throat.

My cousin?

A ripple of stunned gasps spread through the crowd, but my ears barely registered them. The ache in my chest drowned out everything.

Though he wasn't done.

"As for Seraphina," he continued, voice cutting through me like steel, "will marry the Alpha King."

The world stopped. Just... stopped.

"...What?" I whispered. My voice didn't even sound like mine. It came from somewhere small and broken. "You-no...you wouldn't-"

"The Alpha King arrives tomorrow," my father announced, his tone final, "You will become his Luna. He will take you from this pack, as traditional commands."

He growled at me, my wolf submitting to him completely.

I collapsed fully, my palms splayed against the cold ground, trembling beneath the force of him. Tears welled up in my eyes. I was being discarded.

Not just as an heir. But as a daughter. As a warrior. As a wolf.

I was a bargaining chip. A token bride for a king whose face I had never seen.

The crowd dispersed quickly leaving me alone in the arena.

Tears spilled as a sob tore from my chest but I controlled them. My claws scratched the ground as my heart bled. My body had given in, but my spirit hadn't.

"I refuse," I said softly, my voice like steel wrapped in velvet, "I won't be mated to a stranger, even if he is the Alpha King," shifting back into my human form, I sat on the cold floor slowly, " I will not serve as a pawn to preserve my father's alliances. If he won't give me the title I earned...I'll make my own."

My gaze shifted to a pamphlet about the Lupine Academy on the arena's pillar.

Lupine Academy, the elite training ground for male Alpha heirs.

"That...is my escape," I whispered, "And my path to the throne."

If this world had no place for a female Alpha then I would carve one out with my own hands.

I had one night before the Alpha King arrived.

One night to disappear. One night to reclaim my destiny.

I had one night to be reborn.

To become Seth, instead of Sera.