The hall was filled with murmurs, drinks were being poured, and laughter rang out, but to Damian, it all felt distant. His chest felt empty, and his wolf clawed at him, howling in pure agony. Selene's scent still lingered in his nostrils, reminding him of what he had just done. The image of her tear-streaked face, her wide, disbelieving eyes wouldn't leave him.
But he had to move.
He exhaled slowly, masking his inner turmoil beneath a smirk as he turned toward Lyra.
She stood with an air of cool detachment, swirling the wine in her glass, golden hair cascading over her shoulder. Her wolf also felt broken but she was indifferent to it. Telling herself, it's just a man. She couldn't imagine herself with that lackey. Unlike Selene, who radiated innocence and warmth, Lyra was sharp. Polished. Dangerous in her own way. She wasn't a bad choice, not at all. But she wasn't his.
Forcing his feet forward, he closed the distance between them.
"Well," he said casually, though his voice held a forced lightness. "It seems everyone's found their mate, and here we are, the last ones standing." He tilted his head, flashing a charming grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Lyra Kade, would you be my mate?"
A heavy silence descended on the hall as all eyes turned to them.
Alpha Castor swelled with pride, his grin practically splitting his face. This was what he wanted. Not that ruffian, as he no doubt thought of Selene, but Lyra. Beta Kade's daughter. A high-ranking she-wolf. A proper match. His bastard son would no longer be an embarrassment. He could pretend, at least for tonight, that Damian was worthy of standing beside his legitimate heirs.
Lyra arched a brow, assessing him with those calculating green eyes. The room held its breath as she let the silence stretch, long enough to make people wonder if she'd reject him too.
Then, with a delicate sip of her wine, she met his gaze.
"Damian Castor," she drawled, her lips curving into an amused smile. "I suppose it would be a waste for two wolves as powerful as us to go unmated." She let her fingers trail along the rim of her glass before nodding slightly. "Yes. I accept."
The hall erupted in applause, Alpha Castor beaming with satisfaction.
"More wine!" Alpha Castor ordered
Servants rushed in, bringing trays of wine and roasted meat. It was a successful mating ceremony, after all. His sons had secured powerful mates, and now the festivities could begin.
Damian forced himself to drink, to smile, to nod at the congratulatory pats on his back. But his hands felt numb. His body was here, standing beside Lyra, but his heart and his wolf were somewhere else.
His gaze flickered to the exit.
Selene.
She had run out into the night, broken and humiliated. I'll check on her after the party.
Beside him, Lyra sipped her drink, watching him with a knowing gaze. She had noticed the way he looked toward the door. She wasn't foolish enough to think their pairing would be one of love or devotion. She was smart. And just like Damian, she had rejected her true mate.
She gave him a slow smile over the rim of her glass.
They both knew what this was. A deal. A necessity.
But their wolves would never forgive them.
Just then from the center of the hall, a silver light shone pulsing. A figure stepped forth, draped in celestial light, her form both ethereal and commanding. The Moon Goddess had arrived.
A wave of unease rippled through the wolves. Their instincts screamed reverence and fear. Even Alpha Castor, a man who feared nothing, felt his breath hitch. It was unusual. The moon goddess hardly or never appears.
Damian stood rigid, a strange pressure settling in his chest, an emptiness that hadn't been there before.
The Goddess' voice was soft, yet it rang through the hall like the toll of an ancient bell.
"Thebondforsaken, thepathunwoven, thehandthatcastawayitstethershallfinditselfboundinchains of sorrow. Thebeastthatdefiesthecallofthemoonshallknow no peace not warmth."
A stillness settled over the hall. Damian's wolf whimpered and trashed in agony.
The Goddess' silver eyes bore into him.
"Damian Castor, you who have torn the thread spun by fate, you shall walk among the living as one already dead. You will feel lust but no love. Power but no peace. You would rule without the happiness that comes with rulership. Your beast shall rise as a thing untamed, and each time you wear its skin, the agony of ur defiance would tear through your flesh and soul alike. To return, you will crawl broken and begging, a man warring against his own bones. "
Damian let out a low guttural roar as he felt his bones twist and twitch. He was changing in the most agonizing way possible. He tried to sense his wolf but was met with a cold, violent abyss. It wasn't there.
Then, the Goddess turned to Lyra.
"Lyra Kade, your have turned your face from the mate chosen by the moon. Thus, the womb that should have carried your legacy shall remain barren. Distant shall ur heart lie and only in the arms of your fatd shall you feel the echo of what was meant to be"
A sharp crack shattered the silence. Lyra's grip on her wine glass had tightened too hard. The pieces fell to the floor, with blood staining her fingers. She said nothing, but her green eyes burned.
Yet, the Goddess was not done.
She stepped forward, and the air seemed to tremble. Her gaze resting in everyone and yet no one as she spoke once more.
"The flower plucked before its bloom shall not rest. It would rise again, its petals covered in the blood of ur kin. Death shall take her but the river shall not. Another shall walk in her flesh, another shall rise in her name. Not the same personbut yet not another."
Damian's breath caught. A sick feeling twisted in his gut.
"The moon weeps yet her hands are bound . The hunted shall not know the hunter but the hunter shall never forget. The beast shall bleed beneath the hands of the one he once thought soft"
Damian's chest grew tighter. Selene? Another? Who? What?
Then the Moon Goddess as though reading his thoughts answered. Not so much an answer though.
"But curses are chains and chains can be unshackled . The fire extinguished can be kindled anew. When the sun and moon stand as one, the key shall turn and the undone shall be made whole. Until then, walk the path of the cursed, Damian Castor . But when the past returns, pray it doesn't come to end you. "
The hall was silent. Everybody deciphering the meaning of the prophecies and riddles in their own way.
Alpha Castor was in deep thought.
A ruler without the happiness that comes with rulership? Was Damian the next Alpha?
Blood of their kin? The future of Shadowfang pack seemed blurry.
As for Damian, he was changing.
His chest ached. His wolf whimpered. Something inside him was already unraveling.
Then the light faded. The Goddess was gone
Damian exhaled, feeling the emptiness creep into him, hollow and cold. The emotions that once churned within him dulled...no, vanished. He stood among his pack, among his kind, but felt utterly alone.
His once-blue eyes darkened replaced by fiery gold flickering like a dying flame. Not warmth, but something primal. Feral. Dangerous and Animalistic.