Tonight, the entire pack had gathered beneath the silver moon for the mate-recognition ceremony. More than three hundred wolves stood around the ceremonial grounds, their voices blending into one restless murmur as each unmated wolf stepped forward to touch the ancient moonstone.
I had watched others place their hands against it and receive a response almost immediately. Some stones glowed softly. Others became warm beneath their palms.
I had secretly hoped mine would be different.
Maybe tonight would finally be the night my life changed.
My name was called.
I walked toward the altar, forcing my trembling legs to carry me forward. Every step seemed louder than the last. I could feel eyes following me, waiting.
When my fingers touched the moonstone, I held my breath.
Nothing.
The stone remained cold.
I waited a little longer, refusing to move.
Still nothing.
The disappointment around me was almost worse than the silence.
Someone laughed quietly.
My cheeks burned as I lowered my hand.
I had failed again.
As I returned to my place, I kept my head down. I was used to the whispers by now. They followed me everywhere.
The girl without a wolf.
The strange Veyne girl.
The one who never should have been here.
The last one always confused me.
I barely remembered my father, and my mother had died when I was young. She had left me only a few memories and one silver pendant that never left my neck.
My fingers brushed against it.
A silver crescent surrounded a strange black mark.
My mother had once told me it was an old family symbol.
Nothing more.
I had never understood why she became so serious whenever I asked about it.
Tonight, however, the pendant felt unusually warm against my skin.
I frowned.
Before I could examine it, the atmosphere changed.
The conversations around me slowly died.
One by one, people turned toward the entrance.
A group of warriors had arrived.
They wore black uniforms, and even from a distance, their presence was enough to make the strongest wolves straighten.
Then he appeared.
Alpha Kael Draven.
I had heard his name countless times.
The Alpha of the Northern Territories.
Cold. Ruthless. Untouchable.
Stories about him had travelled far beyond his territory. Some said he had never forgiven an enemy. Others said even his own warriors feared disappointing him.
I expected arrogance.
Instead, the first thing I noticed was his eyes.
Dark and intense, they moved across the crowd until they found mine.
The moment our eyes met, pain exploded through my chest.
I stopped breathing.
Something inside me pulled toward him with a force I couldn't understand.
Then, for the first time in my life, I heard a voice inside my head.
Mate.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
No.
It couldn't be.
I had never heard my wolf before.
Yet that single word felt as though it had been buried inside me for years, waiting for him.
Kael's expression changed too.
The terrifying Alpha looked almost stunned.
His gaze dropped to my pendant.
The color drained from his face.
He moved closer, and I instinctively stepped back.
His attention remained fixed on the symbol around my neck.
"Your name."
His voice was low.
"Elara."
His eyes narrowed.
"Your full name."
My stomach tightened.
"Elara Veyne."
The reaction was immediate.
Something dark flashed across his face.
The warriors behind him exchanged uneasy looks.
Kael stared at me as though he had just seen a ghost.
For a moment, I wondered if I had misunderstood.
Then he spoke again.
"Veyne?"
I nodded.
He looked away, his jaw clenched so tightly that a muscle moved along his cheek.
I didn't know what my surname had done to him.
I only knew that whatever it was, it wasn't good.
A sudden commotion near the eastern wall interrupted us.
A warrior hurried toward the Alpha, his expression tense. He whispered something into Kael's ear before stepping back.
Kael's entire demeanor hardened.
An intruder had been found inside Silverpine territory.
Dead.
He had apparently taken his own life before he could be questioned.
But that wasn't what made Kael's attention return to me.
It was the weapon found beside the body.
A black blade.
The warrior carried it carefully as he approached.
Even from where I stood, I could see the strange marking carved into its surface.
A silver crescent.
Wrapped around a black symbol.
My hand immediately went to my pendant.
The same mark.
My heart sank.
Kael noticed.
For several seconds, his eyes moved between the blade and the pendant hanging against my chest.
Something in his expression told me he knew exactly what it meant.
And suddenly, I wasn't thinking about the failed ceremony anymore.
I wasn't thinking about being wolfless.
I wasn't even thinking about the mate bond that had just awakened something inside me.
I was thinking about the fear in the eyes of the most powerful Alpha I had ever seen.
Kael stepped toward me.
"You're coming with me."
I didn't understand why.
But before I could ask, he looked toward the warriors and ordered the gates sealed.
No one was to enter.
No one was to leave.
Then his eyes returned to mine.
There was something almost painful in his expression now.
"You said your name is Elara Veyne?"
"Yes."
His silence lasted several seconds.
Then he said the words that changed everything.
"Every Veyne was supposed to have died nineteen years ago."
My blood turned cold.
I couldn't speak.
Kael's gaze hardened.
"Your family was hunted for years."
He looked once more at the pendant around my neck.
"And somehow, you survived."
I touched the pendant with shaking fingers.
For the first time, I wondered if my mother's secrets had never been meant to protect me.
Maybe they had been hiding me.
And if Kael Draven was right, someone had just entered Silverpine territory carrying the symbol my mother had left me.
Someone had come looking for a Veyne.
Someone who believed the bloodline was already dead.
And now they knew I was alive.
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