Chapter 3

The trouble began before sunrise.

A servant woke me with the news that Evelyn Vane, the former Luna of Blackmoor, had taken a sudden turn for the worse.

For ten years, Evelyn had been confined to her chambers by an illness no pack healer could explain.

She rarely spoke, seldom opened her eyes, and had become little more than a shadow of the woman who had once stood beside Blackmoor's Alpha.

Kaelen visited her every day.

I'd seen him return from her chambers more than once, his expression colder than usual.

He never spoke about her illness, but I had the feeling that his mother's condition was the one thing in the world he couldn't command into submission.

Now, according to the servant, Evelyn had slipped into a coma. The healers didn't expect her to survive the night.

I hurried to her chambers with a basin of warm water.

The room smelled of herbs and old linen. Two healers stood beside the bed, speaking in low voices.

Kaelen was at his mother's side, one hand wrapped around hers.

He looked up when I entered.

"What are you doing here?"

"I brought fresh water. I'll leave it and go."

He hesitated, then stepped aside.

I placed the basin down, glancing at Evelyn’s dangerously shallow breathing.

"Find a way to save her," Kaelen threw a harsh glare at the healers.

"Alpha, we've tried every treatment—"

Before the healer could finish, the door swung open.

Seraphine swept in, trailing an elderly pack priest who wore a silver compass around his neck. Her eyes immediately zeroed in on my basin.

"Always appearing wherever she isn't wanted."

"Seraphine, this is not the time," Kaelen growled.

"Actually, Alpha, it is," she countered, gesturing to the priest.

"The elders are investigating the unnatural events surrounding this girl. The dead viper. The unrest. And now... Lady Evelyn's sudden collapse."

I stared at her. "You think I made a snake crawl under a rug?"

"I think we should stop pretending these are coincidences."

The priest stepped forward without a word and raised the silver compass.

The needle pointed firmly at Evelyn's bed, then suddenly snapped toward me.

It trembled for a second before spinning so violently that the chain loudly rattled against his knuckles.

The room held its breath.

"Is it dark magic?" Seraphine demanded.

"I... I've never seen it behave this way," the priest stammered, his brow furrowed in genuine confusion. "Something is disturbing the reading."

"Something," Seraphine snapped, pointing an accusing finger at me. "Or someone. She's draining Lady Evelyn's life force! The Moon Goddess is warning us!"

"That is ridiculous!" I shot back. "Your own priest just said he doesn't know what it means!"

"Enough!" Kaelen’s voice thundered, instantly silencing the room. "No one will accuse a guest under my protection without evidence!"

For a brief second, hope flickered inside me.

Maybe he really would protect me.

But his authority shattered the moment the door pushed open again.

Seraphine’s father, the Beta, marched in, flanked by two senior elders and a dozen armed guards.

Instantly, I noticed the terrifying shift: the guards weren’t looking at Kaelen for instructions. They were watching the Beta.

"Alpha," the Beta said, offering a shallow, insolent bow. "With Evelyn deteriorating, the elders council has granted me temporary authority over pack security."

"You granted yourself authority," Kaelen snarled.

"The priest's findings demand action," the Beta replied coolly, ignoring the priest’s weak protests about the reading being inconclusive.

He turned to the guards. "Seize the girl."

Kaelen drew his sword in a blur of deadly steel. "Anyone who touches her answers to me."

The guards hesitated for one heartbeat—until the Beta raised his hand. "Your orders are suspended under the council's emergency decree. Secure the Alpha."

Chaos erupted.

Kaelen fought like a cornered wolf, his blade flashing as he drove the first two men back.

But more guards swarmed in from the corridor. They struck the weapon from his hand, pinning his shoulders and forcing him toward the floor.

"Let go of me!" Kaelen roared, but the Beta barked for them to hold him down.

I backed away in sheer horror.

Kaelen was the Alpha, yet his own pack was overpowering him in his mother's sickroom.

Seraphine stepped into my personal space, a triumphant smirk on her face.

"You should have accepted your place when you had the chance."

"As what? Your personal punching bag?"

The Beta turned to the elders, sealing my fate.

"Under the ancient Blood Moon law, a threat to the pack may be offered as a sacrifice. Her death may save the former Luna—and protect us all. Take her to the altar."

Two guards violently seized my arms. I twisted and kicked, cursing them, but their grips were like iron.

"Felicity—don't let them—" Kaelen raged, struggling wildly. A guard slammed him to his knees.

For the first time, his icy, commanding exterior completely broke.

The Alpha who solved every problem through sheer power was now watching helplessly as his pack dragged me away. He looked furious. And terrified.

They dragged me into the corridor.

Servants and wolves watched in dead silence; they had already decided I was guilty on the word of a spinning needle and a bitter woman.

As the cool morning air of the courtyard hit my face, I looked back one last time.

Kaelen was still straining against three men in the doorway, reaching toward me.

For a ridiculous second, I felt wronged enough to cry.

I wasn't a curse. If anything, I was the only lucky thing to happen to this miserable pack in years.

Digging my heels into the dirt, I screamed at the man who had brought this disaster upon me.

"Kaelen, you blind idiot! I’ve told you a hundred times—I'm Felicity! F-E-L-I-C-I-T-Y! I'm the lucky one, not the fertile one! Why won't you believe me?!"

His face twisted in helpless torment as the guards dragged me relentlessly toward the silver pillar waiting beneath the Blood Moon altar.

"You'll regret this!" I shrieked back at Seraphine and her father. "Every last one of you will regret this!"

And for the first time since I'd arrived in Blackmoor, I wished my name really did come with a little magic.

Because I was about to need a miracle.