Damian’s POV

“You’re losing control of your pack.”

The words did not come from my father this time, but from Lucas—my best friend, my Beta-to-be—voice taut with fear as he blocked my path after training.

I bared my teeth. “Say that again?”

Lucas swallowed but held his ground. Brave. Loyal. Stupid. “You’re unraveling, Damian. Everyone saw it yesterday. They’re still talking about it today. You almost ripped my throat out in front of half the team.” His voice softened, but only slightly. “And now… they’re not afraid of you. They’re laughing.”

The tone in his voice wasn’t betrayal. It was pity. Which made it worse. My fists clenched until blood pricked my palms.

“Let them laugh. I’ll remind them why they don’t.”

But something in my chest twisted the moment I said it. Because deep down? I knew he was right.

The pack could smell weakness. Every wolf knew that. And lately—ever since Alexander showed up and Selene’s scent started burning through my veins—I’d been dripping weakness everywhere I went.

By evening, whispers snaked through Crescent Vale’s halls like wildfire.

“They say Alexander touched her hair.”

“Damian didn’t stop him.”

“What if she ends up with the Northerner?”

“Maybe the goddess chose wrong. Maybe she’s supposed to belong to him.”

That last whisper nearly split me in two.

I stormed into the locker room, the bond burning too hot in my chest. My wolf thrashed against me, snarling, clawing inside my ribs. She’s ours. Ours.

But the whispers wouldn’t leave my head. Alexander, watching her like she was already his. The way she’d collapsed when I told her she didn’t deserve me. The broken sound of her voice asking why.

I punched the steel lockers. Once. Twice. Until dents cratered the metal and blood streaked my knuckles.

But no amount of brutality silenced the truth—Selene wasn’t slipping away because of Alexander. She was slipping away because of me.

And she had every right to.

That night, Father called me into his office again. His disappointment weighed heavier than the chandelier casting shadows across the room.

“So,” he said coolly, sipping from his glass, “it begins.”

I forced my voice low. “What begins?”

He raised a brow. “Your brother maneuvering himself into the cracks of this pack while you stand here, sulking like a child.”

“He’s not my brother,” I snapped, my claws digging into the chair arms.

Father’s smirk was merciless. “Blood says otherwise. And so does the prophecy.”

My stomach coiled violently. “You don’t actually believe that cursed nonsense, do you?”

His eyes sharpened. “I believe what I see, Damian. A bastard son I never raised walking into Crescent Vale like he owns it—and wolves already start whispering his name. While you? You throw fists at shadows and spill temper instead of dominance.”

The words cut worse than steel.

“Then give me a chance to end him.” My voice was guttural, more wolf than human. “Let me prove I should be Alpha.”

For the first time, Father leaned forward. His eyes gleamed with the kind of danger I wasn’t sure anyone could survive.

“Careful what you wish for, son.”

The chill in his tone settled deep into my bones.

Later, when the moon rose high, I found myself pacing the woods, my wolf begging for release. The trees blurred with every step, my claws already tearing through skin, but I couldn’t shift. Not fully. I was too fractured, tearing at myself on the inside.

Then I smelled it.

Moonlight. Snow. The faint crackle of fire burning cold.

Selene.

And she wasn’t alone.

I heard the low murmur of Alexander’s voice filtering through the shadows. Smooth, coaxing. The same voice that grated against my skull since the day he first arrived.

“Your dreams aren’t accidents, Selene,” he said, voice carrying lightly. “They’re threads. Threads tying us to what’s coming. To power you haven’t even touched yet.”

Her voice broke through next. Fragile. Hesitant. “I… I don’t want power. I don’t want any of this.”

“You want freedom,” Alexander countered softly. “And he’ll never give you that.”

He meant me.

I could smell the ache in her scent, hear the uneven breaths she tried to hide. And when he leaned close enough that I could see his breath stir her white hair in the moonlight, my vision went red.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

The word thundered through every vein in my body, pulling a guttural growl from my throat before I even realized I’d stepped out from hiding.

Alexander turned to face me instantly, lips curling into a smile dripping with challenge.

“Well, well,” he drawled. “Look who finally decided to join us.”

His hand still hovered too close to her.

Selene gasped softly at my sudden appearance, confusion carving into her face as she looked between us.

And I realized in that moment—the pack wasn’t just fracturing. The Goddess was laughing at me. Laughing because I couldn’t decide which was worse: losing my mate… or losing my throne.

Damian’s wolf bursts to the surface uncontrollably, his eyes blazing gold as he lunges toward Alexander—right in front of Selene, who screams his name, realizing she’s about to witness one of them spill blood for her.