Seraphina POV
I woke to screaming.
Not real screaming—mental screaming. Every wolf in both packs was having nightmares simultaneously, their terror flooding through the pack bonds like poison.
Corvus jolted awake beside me. "What's happening?"
"The second trial," I gasped, clutching my head as the screams intensified. "It's starting early again!"
Through the windows, dawn light was just breaking. We'd barely slept three hours.
The second mark on my arm—the broken chain—blazed with heat so intense I cried out. Corvus's mark did the same.
Then, as suddenly as it started, the screaming stopped.
Silence.
Too much silence.
Corvus and I stumbled outside the cabin. Our four guards were on the ground, unconscious but breathing.
"What did the Goddess do to them?" I whispered.
A voice answered from everywhere and nowhere: They sleep. This trial is for you alone.
The voice was ancient, feminine, powerful. The Moon Goddess herself.
Seraphina Crane. Corvus Nightshade. Your second trial begins now.
The forest around us shimmered and changed. Suddenly we weren't at the cabin anymore. We stood in a massive arena made of white stone that glowed like moonlight.
On one side of the arena stood my entire pack—Silvercrest. My father, Rowan, every wolf I'd grown up with. They were awake but frozen, unable to move or speak. Terror filled their eyes.
On the other side stood Corvus's pack—Shadowfang. Kael, the warriors, everyone. Also frozen. Also terrified.
Between the two groups stood a stone altar with two daggers.
The trial is simple, the Goddess's voice echoed. Choose which pack survives. Pick up a dagger and drive it into the heart of your Alpha—Magnus or Corvus. Whichever Alpha dies, their pack lives. Whichever survives, their pack dies. You have until the sun fully rises. If you refuse to choose, both packs perish.
My blood turned to ice.
"NO!" I screamed. "You can't make us choose between our families!"
This is the price of a forbidden bond. Love requires sacrifice. Prove your love is worth the cost.
Corvus grabbed my hand. "There has to be another way. Some loophole—"
There is no loophole. One pack lives. One pack dies. Choose.
I looked at my father, frozen in place, his eyes begging me to save our pack. Then at Corvus, the male I loved more than breathing.
"I can't kill you," I whispered to Corvus.
"I can't kill you either." His voice broke. "But Seraphina, we can't let both packs die."
"So what do we do?" Tears streamed down my face. "Choose our own packs? You kill me, I kill you, and we both save our people by destroying each other?"
The thought was unbearable. But looking at the hundreds of frozen wolves—innocent people who'd done nothing wrong—how could we let them all die for our love?
Time is passing, the Goddess reminded us. Decide.
Corvus pulled me close, his forehead against mine. "Listen to me. If we have to choose, you take your pack. Kill me. Save your father and Rowan and everyone you love."
"Are you insane? I won't—"
"You have to! Seraphina, Shadowfang has me as Alpha. If I die, Kael can lead them. But Silvercrest needs you. Your father is getting older. You're his heir. They need you more than Shadowfang needs me."
"That's not true!" I sobbed. "Your pack needs you just as much!"
"Then we're at an impasse." He kissed me desperately. "Because I won't kill you. I'd rather die than hurt you."
"Same," I whispered against his lips.
We stood there, holding each other while the sun climbed higher. Minutes ticking away. Both packs watching helplessly as we failed to make the impossible choice.
Then I noticed something.
The altar with the daggers had writing on it. Ancient symbols I couldn't read.
"Corvus, look." I pointed. "There's writing."
We approached the altar. The symbols began to glow, rearranging themselves into words we could understand:
True love sacrifices self, not others. The blade turns inward, not outward. Only in death of ego does the bond transcend.
"Death of ego?" Corvus read aloud. "What does that mean?"
I stared at the daggers, my mind racing. Then it clicked.
"It's not asking us to kill each other or choose our packs," I breathed. "It's asking us to give up who we are. Our identities. Our positions."
"I don't understand."
"You're Alpha of Shadowfang. I'm the Beta's daughter of Silvercrest. Those identities—those positions—are what make this bond forbidden. What if..." I met his eyes. "What if we give them up? Renounce our packs entirely. Become no one."
Corvus's eyes widened. "If we're not part of either pack, we're not enemy wolves anymore. We're just... mates."
The girl understands, the Goddess's voice purred with approval. But understand the cost. Renounce your packs, and you lose everything. Your families. Your homes. Your purposes. You become outcasts—rogues with no pack bonds, no protection, no place in wolf society. Is your love worth that price?
I looked at my father. At Rowan. At everyone I'd ever known.
Then at Corvus.
"Yes," I said firmly. "He's worth it."
Corvus grabbed my hand. "She's worth it. We both are."
Then speak the words. Sever your pack bonds. Choose each other over everything else.
This was it. The real test. Not choosing which pack died, but whether we were willing to die to ourselves—give up every comfort, every connection, every piece of our old lives—for love.
"I, Seraphina Crane," I said, my voice shaking, "renounce my bond to Silvercrest Pack. I claim no family, no position, no home. I choose my mate above all else."
The words burned coming out. I felt the pack bond to Silvercrest—the connection I'd had since birth—snap like a broken string. The pain was excruciating.
My father's frozen eyes filled with tears.
Corvus spoke next: "I, Corvus Nightshade, renounce my position as Alpha of Shadowfang Pack. I claim no pack, no authority, no home. I choose my mate above all else."
His Alpha bond severed. I felt his agony through our mate connection—like losing a limb.
Kael's frozen face showed betrayal and heartbreak.
The moment we both finished speaking, the daggers on the altar melted away.
You have chosen correctly, the Goddess said. By sacrificing your egos—your identities as pack wolves—you prove your love transcends all boundaries. The trial is complete.
The frozen wolves began to move again, gasping and confused.
My father rushed to me. "Seraphina, what did you do? I can't feel you in the pack bond anymore!"
"I renounced my connection to save everyone," I said quietly.
"You WHAT?" His face went purple with rage. "Do you understand what you've done? You're rogue now! You have no pack protection, no—"
"She has me," Corvus said, wrapping his arm around me. "And I have her. That's all we need."
Kael approached, his expression devastated. "Alpha—I mean, Corvus. You gave up leadership for her?"
"I gave up a title. I gained everything that matters."
The two packs stared at us—the former Alpha and the former Beta's daughter who'd abandoned everything for each other.
Some faces showed understanding. Most showed anger or confusion.
Then the arena began to dissolve. We were back at the cabin, our guards waking up groggily.
The second mark on our arms faded completely.
But a new problem emerged.
Without pack bonds, Corvus and I were vulnerable. Rogues. Any wolf could challenge us, hurt us, even kill us without consequences.
And judging by some of the hostile looks from both packs, several wolves were considering exactly that.
"We need to leave," Corvus said quietly. "Now. Before someone decides to test whether we're still worth protecting."
"Where will we go?" I asked. "We have no pack, no home, no—"
A howl split the air. Not from Silvercrest or Shadowfang.
From the deep forest.
More howls joined it. Dozens of them.
"Rogues," Kael breathed. "There's a rogue pack in the territory. They must have felt the power from the trials."
My father's eyes went wide with horror. "They're coming here. And they'll target Seraphina and Corvus first—former pack wolves are prizes to rogues. They'll want to break them, claim them, or kill them to prove their strength."
The howls grew closer.
Corvus and I had survived two trials.
But now, packless and vulnerable, we faced something worse than any test from the Goddess.
A rogue army that wanted our blood.
And we had minutes before they arrived.