## Chapter 12
The snow drank Serena’s blood greedily, staining white into crimson.
I dropped to my knees beside her, clutching her icy hand. Her eyes fluttered half-open, glazed with pain, but her lips still trembled with words.
“Clara…” She coughed, blood flecking her teeth. “He wasn’t meant to find out. Not like this.”
My heart seized. “Who? Serena, who?”
Her fingers curled weakly around mine. “Damien. The bond…the bite…” Her gaze flicked to Damien, who hovered over us, fury etched into every line of him. “He thinks he chose me. But he never asked why the Goddess gave him two.”
The air froze.
Damien’s golden eyes snapped to her, sharp and dangerous. “What are you saying?”
Serena’s breath rattled, every word torn from the marrow of her soul. “I…I took it. The blessing wasn’t mine. It was hers.” Her trembling hand lifted—toward me. “Clara was always the true Luna. I…I stole it.”
The grove went silent. My heart slammed so hard it felt like it might crack my ribs.
“No,” I whispered. “No, that’s not possible.”
The Rogue King laughed, the sound low and vicious. “Ah. The pretty sister admits her crown is forged of theft. Delicious.” His silver eyes cut to me. “Now you understand why the bond tasted wrong. Why it broke. You were never meant to be severed. You were meant to rule.”
Damien’s body went taut, his fury turning wild. “Serena,” he growled, claws digging into the snow. “Explain. Now.”
Her voice was barely audible. “The night of the Gathering…I begged the Priestess. I couldn’t let her take everything. She said there was a way…a way to shift the Moon’s will. Just for long enough. Just until you marked me.”
Damien’s roar shook the earth. He surged to his feet, chest heaving, betrayal twisting his face. For the first time since I had known him, the Alpha looked broken.
I staggered back, my stomach hollow. My wolf keened, fury and grief braided together. She stole it. My own sister stole my mate, my mark, my future.
Serena’s tears mixed with blood. “I only wanted to protect you. Damien’s world is power and teeth—you would’ve drowned. Better me than you.”
The words splintered me. Protection or betrayal, love or envy—I couldn’t untangle it.
The Rogue King stepped forward, his power sweeping through the clearing like fire. “She played the thief. He played the tyrant. But you, Clara—you shattered chains meant for gods. The packs will kneel to a wolf who broke her Alpha. Come with me, and I’ll give you a kingdom built from ruin.”
Damien’s head snapped up, golden fire burning again. He was bleeding, betrayed, furious—but his voice was steel. “No. She is mine. She has always been mine. Goddess or no Goddess, bond or no bond, Clara belongs to me.”
Two predators. Two paths. Both staring at me as if my next breath would crown or condemn me.
My sister’s blood still steamed in the snow. My wolf trembled, aching for a choice that wasn’t death or leash.
And in that moment, the truth slammed into me like a blade—
This was never about bonds. Never about fate.
This was about power.
And for the first time, I realized I didn’t have to be prey, or Luna, or prize.
I could be hunter.
I rose, blood on my hands, snow crunching under my boots. My eyes burned silver as my wolf surged to the surface, strong and furious.
“Enough,” I said, my voice ringing through the grove like the toll of a bell. “No more chains. No more crowns. I am done being chosen.”
Damien’s breath caught. The Rogue King’s smile widened.
The pack whispered, shuddering under the weight of the power lacing my words.
I wasn’t theirs. I wasn’t bound.
I was mine.
And the world would burn before I knelt again.
