Selene’s POV

“Run, Selene. Before they burn you.”

The voice wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. It slithered through my mind in the same way the nightmare had, curling in the quiet places of my soul. I clutched my chest, willing the sound to fade, but instead it throbbed deeper, like it had been waiting for this moment all along.

My wolf whimpered, unsettled. And for the first time since she’d awoken, she didn’t comfort me—she cowered.

The blood from my nose slid against my hand as I tried to steady my breathing. Damian was still watching me, his expression unreadable, his hazel eyes flickering with something close to alarm. Not fury. Not indifference. Something… dangerous.

Amber said something sharp beside him, but neither of us heard it. The hallway seemed to shrink until it was just his stare, my pulse, and the scent of iron thickening the air.

I wiped frantically, desperate for the blood to vanish. Desperate for him not to see me break anymore than he already had. But of course, Damian noticed everything. He always did.

“Selene.” His voice was low, like a growl held tightly in his throat.

My legs buckled slightly at the weight of it. The entire corridor stilled. No one dared move when Damian spoke like that. His friends watched, Amber stiffened, the world tilted…

And then he looked away. Just like that.

“Handle yourself,” he muttered, dismissive, and walked out the door.

The thread in my chest yanked hard—rejection slashing across the fragile hope my wolf had stupidly nursed. I wanted to scream at him, claw at him, demand he admit what had just happened between us. But instead, I swallowed it down, letting silence chew at my heart.

Later that night, I sat hunched by the window, my hand curled around the pendant my mother had given me before everything fell apart. The nightmares haunted me again. The same crimson veil. The blade. The Alpha’s death—all of it played like a prophecy on loop.

But tonight, something new slithered into the dream.

A boy.

Standing in the shadows of the chamber, his eyes like wildfire. He wasn’t Damian—but there was something just as dangerous about him. His lips parted, whispering a sentence that twisted my insides to ice.

“You’re not cursed, Selene. You’re chosen.”

I jolted awake, the echo of his words thudding through my pulse.

The next morning at Crescent Vale High, I could feel it before I even walked inside. Whispers. Stares. More than usual. My secret humiliation in the basketball court hadn’t stayed hidden. Word traveled fast—and I was the favorite story.

“That’s her,” someone muttered as I passed.

“The Omega trying to touch the Alpha’s heir.”

“Pathetic. She doesn’t know her place.”

The cruelty was sharp, but I wore silence like armor. My wolf whispered faint things about strength, about not breaking, but all I could feel was the heavy echo of my dream.

As I approached my locker, a note slipped out. Folded neatly. No name. Just three words scratched in ink:

“Do. Not. Trust.”

Unease coiled in the pit of my stomach.

By lunch, Lizzy had found me, dragging me to a quiet table away from the Elites’ stares. She clutched my hands, her words a rush of panicked air.

“Selene—you need to be careful. There’s a new transfer coming in today. People say he isn’t just another wolf. They say he’s…” she hesitated, “… cursed.”

I blinked at her. A laugh almost escaped, but nothing about Lizzy’s pale face was funny.

“What do you mean cursed?”

She leaned closer, lowering her voice. “Alexander Woods. He’s from the Northern packs. You know—they don’t follow Crescent Vale’s laws. He’s dangerous, Selene. He got expelled from his last school for…” her voice dropped to almost nothing, “… blood magic.”

I stilled. My fingers trembled around hers. The words struck so close to my nightmare that it rattled my bones.

Blood. Magic. Death.

I barely had time to process before the cafeteria doors groaned open behind me. The noise dimmed. Conversation stuttered into silence.

He had arrived.

Long, dark hair brushed his shoulders. His eyes were sharp, glinting red when the light caught them. He carried himself like someone who had never once bowed—like the rules bent around his existence instead. Power radiated off him in a way that chilled me.

And when his gaze swept the cafeteria, it landed squarely on me.

Heat rushed across my face, but not the nervous, humiliating heat Damian coaxed out of me with cruelty. No. This felt different. More dangerous. More… fated.

His lips twitched into something between a knowing smile and a promise.

“Selene Silas,” he said evenly, like he’d known my name long before walking into this room.

Every muscle in my body went rigid. Whispers broke across the tables. My wolf whimpered, not in longing this time, but in pure fear.

Damian, somewhere across the room, growled deeply, his chair screeching against the floor as he stood.

And I realized, too late—

This wasn’t about whispers anymore. This was the beginning of war.

Damian and Alexander’s eyes lock across the crowded cafeteria. One filled with murderous rage. The other smirking, daring him to make the first move. And between them—the cursed mate bond tying me like prey.