“Interesting,” I murmured, my gaze remaining fixed on Sera.
“Interesting?” Maya barked out a laugh. “That woman’s going to eat Jessica alive if she keeps this up. And about damn time, too.”
She punched my arm lightly, her grin feral. “You were right to bring her here, Lucian. She’s one of us now.”
I didn’t answer. Not aloud. But the thought circled in me like a hawk: One of us? She might very well surpass even that.
Sera didn’t object when I walked up to her after training and asked her out to dinner.
The restaurant around us glowed with low amber lights, crystal glasses catching flickers of candlelight.
Soft music drifted from the corner, barely louder than the muted hum of conversation from other tables.
But for me, the world narrowed to the woman sitting across from me.
Sera.
Her posture was different tonight. Less guarded than usual.
She ate slowly, calmly, but with an case I’d seen flicker once or twice since she first arrived at OTS.
But now, it settled around her like it had always been there, and she looked steady. Centered.
When her gaze lifted and brushed mine, I saw it-the glow of something I had feared she might never find.
Confidence.
I waited until the server cleared our plates and replaced them with dessert. The nearby tables emptied, leaving only the soft clatter of cutlery in the distance.
A bottle of wine sweated between us, the scent of roasted garlic and herbs still lingering in the air.
“You’ve changed,” I said, studying her carefully.
Her fork paused midway to her lips. “Changed?”
“Yes.” I leaned back in my chair, steepling my fingers. “You carry yourself differently. Training doesn’t seem to weigh on you the way it did before.”
She set the fork down, tracing the rim of her glass with one finger.
For a long moment, I thought she might deflect-but then she smiled. A small, wry thing, as though the act itself surprised her.
“I suppose I have,” she admitted softly. “I spent so long mourning what I didn’t have, what I thought I was losing, that I forgot what I still had. Or what I could still build.”
There was something in her tone that pulled me closer, though I hadn’t moved an inch. “And what reminded you?”
She hesitated, as if debating whether to bare the truth. Then she sighed and lifted her gaze to mine.
Ironically, my past. I’ve carried it around like chains for so long. Every memory of rejection, of being overlooked, of everyone choosing Celeste-it used to feel like a weight I could never crawl out from under, and that was all I focused on. But when I thought of Daniel, and how he sees me…”
Her lips curved upward again, faint but unshaken. “For the first time, I could look back and not feel crushed. I could smile. Those days don’t own me anymore-I’ve grown past it.”
Something twisted in my chest-admiration, yes, but also a pang of sympathy so sharp it almost made me wince.
I wanted to reach across the linen-covered table, to tell her she had every right to still ache, that strength didn’t mean erasing scars.
But before I could speak, she cut me off, her eyes bright with fierce resolve.
“Don’t misunderstand, Lucian. I’m not telling you this because I want your pity. I’m telling you because I need you to know-I clawed my way out. That history can’t bury me anymore. I’ve built my own armor. And now I believe I can achieve anything I want.”
Her voice carried not arrogance, but certainty. The kind forged in fire, tempered by pain.
I reached across the table anyway, closing my hand around hers.
“You’re right,” I said quietly. “You can. More than you even realize. I knew it from the moment I met you, Sera: you embody what OTS was built for-wolves who refuse to be defined by what they lack. Wolves who carve out their worth with their own hands. You are exactly the kind of wolf the Moon Goddess meant to bless.
Whether you Shift or not, your value is undeniable.”
Her lips parted slightly, as though my words startled her.
“And now,” I continued, my grip tightening just enough for emphasis, “we’re going to make sure everyone-at the LST, in every pack-sees that truth. No one will ever mistake you for weak again.”
Her eyes shone, a mixture of gratitude and determination, and in that moment, I wasn’t just looking at a survivor. I was looking at a woman who had the potential to be more than even she imagined.
Sera had the heart of a Luna.
Not the ornamental kind, draped on an Alpha’s arm for show. No. She was the kind of Luna who inspired, who rose from ruin and made others believe they could too.
The kind of Luna who would stand shoulder to shoulder with her Alpha and command respect in her own right.
My perfect Luna.
Her hand was still in mine when her smile widened, free, unguarded.
And I thought, not for the first time, that if fate had been kinder, if I had met her under different stars…
Perhaps I would not only admire and respect her.
D9 AD
Perhaps I would truly love her. Maybe the way I had loved-
But I kept that thought locked away, deep in my chest. For now, it was enough to see her rise. Enough to stand at her side and ensure the world learned what I already knew.
Seraphina Blackthorne was no longer a shadow.
She was becoming an unstoppable force.
SERAPHINA’S POV
Resolve was a strange thing. It didn’t always arrive like a thunderclap or a war cry.
Sometimes, it slipped in quietly, like a tide I hadn’t noticed until it carried me farther than I expected.
After my dinner with Lucian, that tide hadn’t receded. It stayed with me, washing away the last clinging doubts I had about my place here.
His words ‘You are exactly the kind of wolf the Moon Goddess meant to bless’-still echoed in my head.
I wasn’t na?ve enough to let praise turn me reckless, but it had steadied me.
I wasn’t here just to grow stronger for myself anymore.
I was here for all of us-every wolf who had ever been told they were half-formed, unworthy, invisible. Wolves like me. Wolves who had forgotten what it felt like to hold their heads high.
And there wasn’t much time left. Barely two weeks stood between us and the LST.
It had been ten years since OTS first opened its gates, and according to Maya, this anniversary’s LST had drawn more wolves than in the history of OTS.
Volunteering along with many other students to help with preparations was a no-brainer.
That was how I got partnered with Judy Barnes, a pretty redhead Omega who had apparently baked the cake for my surprise birthday party.
We ended up at the reception desk of the Grand Crest Hotel, arms full of ledgers, guest lists, and room keys, trying to corral the chaos that descended with every new arrival.
The lobby buzzed with sound-laughter, barking orders, the shuffle of boots on polished marble.
Wolves poured in from every direction, representing packs from the south-which was Judy’s and my jurisdiction.
Some radiated sharp dominance, others carried the mellow air of travelers come to observe rather than compete.
“Okay,” Judy muttered beside me, flipping through a ledger while her auburn braid slid over her shoulder. ” Next up: Cypress Vale Pack, twelve members.”
I glanced toward the doors. Sure enough, a group strode in, led by a tall man with raven hair streaked with silver. His smile was easy, his eyes bright with the kind of warmth that made me think of fall.
“Welcome to the Grand Crest Hotel,” I said, inclining my head with a warm smile. “I’m Sera, and this is Judy.
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