The voices weren't even hushed anymore.
Alpha Lucian watched from his elevated stone seat, draped in furs, his eyes filled with controlled disappointment - and something colder. Something cruel.
"This is your third Crimson Eclipse," he said aloud, his voice echoing through the woods. "And still, nothing?"
Seraphina clenched her fists, willing herself not to cry. "I tried, Alpha. I feel... something. But it won't-"
"It won't?" he snapped, standing. "Or you won't? Maybe the spirit of your coward father lives on inside you."
The crowd snickered.
Her heart twisted. He always did this - always found a way to bring up her parents, even when the ritual had nothing to do with them.
They were murdered by rogues, they said.
She was lucky to survive, they said.
But no one ever told her why the Alpha never looked her in the eye when he spoke of them.
Lucian stepped forward, descending the steps with slow menace.
"You are a stain on this pack," he hissed. "A disgrace to the bloodline. And every day you breathe, you dishonor the wolves who died protecting our lands."
Seraphina said nothing.
Because deep down, something inside her - something ancient - was whispering.
Not yet...
---
Shame Served in Silence
"You've failed again," Lucian declared. "So your punishment shall be public."
The crowd stirred.
Her punishment?
Before she could ask, two enforcers grabbed her arms and forced her to her knees. Lucian walked in a slow circle around her like a lion savoring a kill.
"You've been given food, shelter, and protection all your life. Tonight, you lose all three."
He raised his hand.
"I strip Seraphina of her name, her home, and her right to the pack lands. Until she learns to shift - or dies trying - she is nothing."
There was no ceremony. No mercy.
Just the howl of wolves as her own people turned their backs.
---
Exile
That night, she walked into the forest barefoot and alone, her white ceremonial robe stained with dirt and blood.
She didn't cry.
She didn't scream.
She just walked.
Because deep inside her chest, something stirred. Like a drumbeat. Like an ancient wolf waking from a long, cursed slumber.
The wind blew harder. The trees bent.
And that voice whispered again.
"They think you're weak. Good. Let them."
---
Unknown Eyes
Far behind her, at the edge of the trees, someone watched her walk into the night.
Not a pack wolf.
Not even something living.
A cloaked figure stepped into the shadows, eyes glowing silver.
"She's waking," it said to no one.
Then it vanished with the wind.
---
End of Chapter One