Lucian appeared at that moment.

His eyes were blazing.

And the aura he carried, I had never seen anything like it before.

His eyes weren’t their usual mischievous silver. They were gold. Fierce. Dominant.

Ronan moved immediately, his posture shifting, his own aura rising to match Lucian’s. Power crackled in the air between them, thick and dangerous. The two of them looked like they were moments away from ripping each other apart.

I wanted to step forward, to stop it, to speak, but my knees buckled before I could. The last thing I saw was their snarling faces before everything faded to black.

—

A sharp, searing pain jolted me back to consciousness. My whole body felt like they were on fire. My bones throbbed beneath my skin, as if something inside me had cracked open.

I gasped, sitting upright with a sharp breath. The room spun for a second before I realized—

This place…

I knew it.

The wood was older now, worn and faded, but the scent; earthy, wild, and familiar lingered. This was the place I grew up. The house my mother raised me in before everything changed. Before she vanished.

A deep, masculine scent hit me next, and my body tensed instinctively.

Footsteps.

The door creaked open, and my heart nearly stopped.

Lucian.

I flinched, pulling the sheet around me “You?”

He stepped inside like he owned the place. The golden glow in his eyes had dimmed to amber, but the power in his presence hadn't. This wasn’t the charming Lucian who flirted over whiskey and late-night banter. This Lucian was cold, unreadable, and frighteningly still.

He said nothing at first. His eyes flicked over me like he was studying something he couldn’t quite name. My heart thundered in my chest.

This was wrong. All of this was wrong.

I rubbed my temple, trying to remember what happened. “I was with Ronan… He was right there. We—” I looked back up, realization punching the breath from my lungs. “What did you do to him? Where’s Ronan?”

Lucian’s face twisted into something dark and unreadable. “Ronan?” he sneered. “Oh, you mean the mighty Alpha who rejected you like a piece of trash?”

I tried to stand but collapsed back down as pain lanced through my side. It felt like something inside me was unraveling, breaking and reforming at the same time.

“Answer me!” I shouted, biting through the pain. “Where is Ronan?”

“I saved you,” Lucian growled, stepping closer. “That bastard would’ve let you burn. Do you think he would’ve caught you if you fell? He watched it happen.”

I tried to stand, but my legs trembled beneath me.

You?” I gasped. “Why are you here? How did I get here?!”

I was still struggling to get up when I heard footsteps. Another presence.

The scent was unmistakable.

My father.

The Alpha of the Moonlight Pack stepped into the room, standing beside Lucian like they were allies. My blood went cold.

I scrambled back on the bed. He wouldn’t even look at me.

“Lucian…” My voice cracked. “You’ve been working with my father all along?”

“You’ve been lying to me this whole time?”

Lucian’s lips parted, but he didn’t speak. Instead, my father’s voice cut through the silence like a blade.

“If you had stopped living in your fantasies and accepted your duty, none of this would’ve happened.”

“He’s my mate!” I shouted, shaking with anger. “Do you hear me? My mate!”

My father’s eyes narrowed. “And he’s the reason your mother died.”

My heart stopped.

Silence.

I stared at him, the words bouncing in my head like they couldn’t land.

“What?”

“The Blackstone Pack. They are the reason she left. The reason she never came back. Do you get that now?”

His voice was like a blade, slicing through what was left of my sanity.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the room spun again.

“That..can't be..”

I tried to stand, shaky on my feet. The tears blurred my vision, but my mind was razor sharp, slicing through the silence. “I’m going to ask him. I have to.” My voice trembled.

Lucian stepped in front of me, grabbing my arm. “Seliene, stop.”

“I said I’m going to ask Ronan!” I snapped, my voice cracking as tears streamed down my cheeks. “I need to look him in the eyes and demand the truth!”

Lucian’s growl rumbled in his chest. “Oh? And you really think he’ll answer you? Admit that his pack, his precious Blackstone pack had a hand in your mother’s death?”

My breath caught. I froze, the weight of his words slamming into me. My knees nearly gave out.

Lucian’s voice hardened. “Get a hold of yourself, Seliene. Why the hell do you think he rejected you?”

That broke me.

I stumbled backward, clutching my chest like it would hold me together. My fists curled. Rage bubbled in my stomach, climbing up my throat like acid. “Does Ronan know who I am?” I choked out, barely recognizing my voice.

“Did he know all along?”

I screamed then, loud and broken. “Why? Why the hell would he do this to me? Why the hell is this happening?”

My vision blurred again this time not from tears, but from fury. The betrayal burned hotter than anything I’d ever felt before.

“If you truly want answers,” my father’s cold voice cut in, his tone like a blade, “If you really want to know how your mother was massacred by the same pack you're foolishly clinging to... then stay. Become Luna of the Moonlight Pack. Accept your place.”

I stared at him, wide-eyed and breathless. His words rattled around in my skull. Become Luna?

That wasn’t a choice, it was a prison dressed in power.

Lucian lingered in the doorway, and just before stepping out, he looked back at me. His expression softened for a flicker of a second. “Seliene… whatever happens between us… know that I’ve always cared about you.”

Then he was gone.

I sank to the floor, my knees finally giving way. The weight of everything crashed over me. My wolf whimpered inside me, her pain a mirror of my own. She cried for us, for everything we lost, for everything we never had. I didn’t even know who I was mourning anymore.

My mate?

My past?

My mother?

Or the lie I’d been living in?

I don’t know how long I slept. Hours. Maybe more. But it was the light creeping through the window that finally stirred me