*****
The power that erupted from the southern border was unlike anything Seraphine had ever felt.
It wasn't dominance like an Alpha's aura.
It wasn't raw energy like her own awakening power.
This was divine.
Ancient.
Absolute.
The air itself seemed to bow.
Every wolf on the battlefield Alpha Kings, warriors, rogues, even Fenrir himself dropped to their knees involuntarily.
Not from submission.
From reverence.
From instinct older than memory itself.
The Moon Goddess had come.
She emerged from the tree line as light given form a woman of impossible beauty, appearing both young and ageless. Her hair flowed like liquid silver, moving in a wind that didn't exist. Her eyes were the color of moonlight on water, shifting between silver and white and pale blue.
She wore a gown that seemed woven from starlight itself, and with each step she took, flowers bloomed beneath her feet only to fade away the moment she passed.
Her presence was overwhelming.
Crushing.
Merciful and terrifying in equal measure.
Seraphine felt tears streaming down her face without understanding why. Something deep in her soul recognized this being worshipped this being.
Fenrir's hand had gone slack around hers, his expression shocked.
"Impossible," he breathed. "You never intervene directly. You haven't manifested physically in over three thousand years."
The Moon Goddess stopped twenty feet away, her gaze sweeping across the battlefield.
When she spoke, her voice resonated in every chest, every mind, as if she spoke directly to each soul present.
"You are correct, Fenrir. I do not often walk among my children."
Her expression hardened.
"But when four Alpha Kings, a Rogue King, and over two thousand wolves gather to fight over one of my daughters like animals squabbling over meat"
Her power pulsed outward, forcing even the kneeling wolves to press their foreheads to the ground.
"I make exceptions."
She turned her gaze to Kael, and her expression softened slightly.
"Rise, Kael Dreadmore. You have done nothing to earn my anger."
Kael struggled to his feet, his legs shaking from the divine pressure. But he met the Goddess's eyes with something like defiance.
"Then help her," he said, his voice rough. "Please. Don't let him take her."
The Goddess's smile was sad.
"You love her."
It wasn't a question.
"More than my own life," Kael said without hesitation.
"And you, child?"
The Goddess turned to Seraphine, her expression gentle now.
"Do you love him?"
Seraphine's throat closed with emotion. "Yes. With everything I am."
"Even knowing the prophecy? Even knowing what it demands?"
"I don't care about the prophecy," Seraphine whispered. "I only care about keeping him safe."
The Goddess studied her for a long moment.
Then she sighed a sound like wind through ancient trees.
"Oh, my dear child. You understand so little of what you truly are."
She raised her hand, and Fenrir's grip on Seraphine's hand shattered like glass. He stumbled backward, released from whatever hold the Goddess had on him.
Seraphine rushed to Kael immediately, and his arms closed around her like iron bands.
The Goddess watched them with something like fondness.
"You were right to fear the prophecy," she said. "But you were wrong about what it means."
She gestured, and the air between them shimmered.
Words appeared, glowing with silver light the full prophecy that Morrigan had read, but with additions none of them had seen:
When the Hidden Omega rises under the blood moon,
She will crown the Ruthless King or cast him to ruin.
Three trials she must face, three sacrifices make,
Before the old world shatters and the new one wakes.
The first trial: Blood of the innocent, freely given.
The second trial: Power of the bond, willingly broken.
The third trial: Life of the beloved, surrendered unchosen.
But know this truth, hidden from sight:
The trials are not of darkness, but of light.
Blood given freely is protection, not death.
Bond broken willingly is trust, not theft.
Life surrendered is transformation, not end.
The Hidden Omega must choose three times to love,
Even when fear demands she choose hate.
Only then will her true power wake,
And the world of wolves will reshape its fate
Silence fell over the battlefield as the words hung in the air.
"I don't understand," Seraphine whispered.
The Goddess stepped closer, her expression compassionate.
"The prophecy was deliberately obscured, child. Hidden in riddles to protect you from those who would try to force its completion."
She gestured to the glowing words.
"The trials are not tests of cruelty. They are tests of love."
"Explain," Kael demanded, his arms still wrapped protectively around Seraphine.
The Goddess turned her moonlit gaze on him.
"The first trial blood of the innocent, freely given. This has already been completed."
She gestured to the battlefield behind them.
"When Seraphine used her power to heal you after the Feral's attack. She gave her blood her energy, her life force freely to save you. An innocent act of love, not violence."
Seraphine's eyes widened. "That was the first trial?"
"Yes. You passed without even knowing."
The Goddess smiled.
"The second trial power of the bond, willingly broken. This is not about severing a mate bond, as many fear. It's about breaking the chains of expectation."
She looked at Seraphine intently.
"You must willingly release the bonds of fear, of submission, of believing yourself weak. You must break the power others hold over you through their judgment."
"And the third trial?" Kael's voice was tight with tension.
The Goddess's expression grew solemn.
"Life of the beloved, surrendered unchosen. Not death, but transformation."
She stepped even closer to Seraphine.
"You must surrender your old life the life of the weak omega, the servant, the invisible girl. You must let that version of yourself die, even though you didn't choose this path."
Her hand came up to cup Seraphine's face gently.
"And you must do it willingly. Embrace what you're becoming, even knowing it will change everything you've ever known."
Tears streamed down Seraphine's face.
"That's all?" she whispered. "I don't have to kill anyone? I don't have to destroy Kael?"
"No, child." The Goddess's smile was warm. "The prophecy was never about destruction. It was about transformation through love."
She pulled back slightly.
"But there is a cost. There is always a cost."
Seraphine's stomach dropped. "What cost?"
The Goddess turned to face the assembled armies.
"When Seraphine completes the third trial when she fully awakens as the Hidden Omega her power will reshape the werewolf world."
She raised her voice so all could hear.
"The old hierarchies will crumble. The rigid structure of Alpha dominance over omega submission will break. True mates will be honored above rank. Power will flow to those who protect rather than dominate."
Murmurs rippled through the armies.
Some hopeful.
Some terrified.
"Many will resist this change," the Goddess continued. "Some will fight to preserve the old ways. Blood will be spilled. Packs will fracture. The world you know will end."
She looked at Seraphine.
"Are you prepared to be responsible for that? To be the catalyst for a war that will span generations?"
Seraphine's breath caught.
"But I don't want war. I don't want wolves to die because of me."
"They will die regardless," the Goddess said gently. "The old world is already dying. You are simply the spark that will ignite the transformation. Whether that transformation is violent or peaceful depends on the choices others make."
She gestured to the four Alpha Kings surrounding them.
"These males, for instance. They can choose to accept the new order. Or they can fight it and be swept away."
Fenrir laughed a bitter, hollow sound.
"So the prophecy offers me nothing," he said. "No death. No release from my curse."
The Goddess turned to him, and her expression was deeply sad.
"No, old friend. The prophecy offers you something far more valuable than death."
"What?"
"Redemption."
Fenrir's face twisted. "I don't want redemption. I want to stop existing."
"I know." The Goddess's voice was infinitely gentle. "But your curse was never mine to lift. You placed it upon yourself when you rejected your true mate a thousand years ago."
She stepped toward him.
"You wanted power more than love. Dominance more than partnership. And when your mate a Hidden Omega like Seraphine tried to show you another way, you killed her."
Fenrir flinched as if struck.
"That act cursed you to immortality. To wander forever, unable to die, unable to find peace. The only way to break it "
"Is to undo what I did," Fenrir whispered, his voice cracking. "To choose love over power."
"Yes."
The Goddess reached out, her hand hovering near his scarred face.
"You can be free, Fenrir. But not through Seraphine's death or her power. Only through your own choice."
For a moment, the ancient Rogue King looked almost vulnerable.
Then his expression hardened.
"I can't. I've done too much. Killed too many. I'm a monster."
"Then remain a monster," the Goddess said simply. "And remain cursed."
She turned away from him.
"But know this: if you harm Seraphine or any wolf here today, I will ensure your curse extends another thousand years. And I will make certain those years are filled with far more suffering than you've known thus far."
Her power pulsed a promise and a threat.
Fenrir's jaw clenched. His hands shook with rage and despair.
Finally, he bowed his head.
"I will leave. I will take my rogues and go."
"A wise choice."
Fenrir looked at Seraphine one last time, his red eyes full of something that might have been regret.
"I hope you succeed where my mate failed, little omega. I hope you change this world."
He shifted to his massive wolf form and howled once a sound of mourning and loss.
His rogue army melted back into the forest, disappearing as quickly as they'd come.