Selene's POV
The bucket of dirty water slipped from my hands, splashing across the marble floor I'd just scrubbed. My heart stopped.
Clumsy idiot! Head Servant Beatrice's voice cracked like a whip. Her meaty hand connected with the back of my head, sending me stumbling forward. Clean it up! The Alpha Kings arrive in two hours, and you're making more mess?
Sorry, I whispered, dropping to my knees. My hands shook as I soaked up the spill with my already filthy rag.
Twenty-two years old, and I was still apologizing for breathing.
Around me, the palace buzzed with frantic energy. Servants hung glittering banners. Warriors polished their ceremonial armor. Everyone prepared for tonight's Continental Summit, the one event where all seven Alpha Kings gathered under one roof.
And somewhere upstairs, my twin sister Lyra was being dressed like a princess. Because that's what she was.
I was just the mistake nobody talked about.
Move faster! Beatrice kicked my bucket over again, sending soapy water everywhere. You think Alpha Marcus tolerates laziness? You're lucky he even lets you sleep in the servants' quarters!
Lucky. Right. So lucky that my own father pretended I didn't exist. So lucky that I'd never shifted, never felt my wolf, never been anything but a disappointment wrapped in skin.
I scrubbed harder, keeping my head down. Invisible. That's how I survived—by being so quiet, so small, that nobody noticed me long enough to hurt me.
Two guards walked past, their boots nearly stepping on my fingers. I jerked my hand back just in time.
tonight, during the chaos of the announcement, one guard muttered to the other. His voice was low, but servants learned to hear everything. We were furniture. People talked around us like we couldn't understand words.
You sure Marcus wants it done tonight? the second guard asked. During the Summit?
He said if the girl causes any trouble, handle it permanently. Better she disappears when everyone's distracted.
My rag froze mid-scrub.
The girl.
They meant me. They had to mean me. Lyra was Princess Lyra, never just the girl.
What kind of trouble could she cause? the second guard laughed. She's wolfless. Weak. Can't even shift.
Marcus's orders are Marcus's orders. If she steps out of line tonight— The first guard made a slicing motion across his throat.
They turned the corner, their conversation fading.
I couldn't breathe.
My own father had ordered my death.
Not exile. Not punishment. Death.
The bucket tilted in my numb hands, spilling water everywhere again. This time I didn't care.
SELENE! Beatrice's screech echoed through the corridor. What is wrong with you tonight?
Everything. Everything was wrong.
But I ducked my head and whispered, Sorry, because that's what I always did. I cleaned the spill. I made myself small. I disappeared into the background like the ghost I'd always been.
Because if I didn't, tonight would be my last night alive.
By eight o'clock, the Grand Ballroom glittered like something from a dream. Crystal chandeliers blazed with light. The seven Alpha Kings stood in a half-circle near the throne, each one radiating power so thick it made my chest tight even from my hiding spot in the servants' corridor.
I pressed against the wall, peeking through the narrow gap in the doorway. I shouldn't be here. Beatrice had locked me in the kitchens with orders to scrub pots until dawn.
But I'd picked the lock with a bent spoon. Because if tonight was the night my father planned to kill me, I wanted to see Lyra one last time. My sister. My twin. The girl who got everything I should have had.
She stood on the dais beside our father, wearing a dress that sparkled like starlight. Her dark hair cascaded down her back in perfect waves. Her smile was confident, regal, right.
Everything I wasn't.
Alpha Marcus raised his hand, and the crowd fell silent. His voice boomed across the ballroom. Tonight, we unite two great territories! My daughter, Princess Lyra Ashford, will marry Alpha King Darius Blackthorn of the Eastern Territory!
The crowd erupted in cheers.
Lyra's smile never wavered. She was perfect. She was always perfect.
And I was the mistake hidden in the walls.
Something twisted in my chest, sharp and hot. Not jealousy. Something else. Something that had been building all evening, a pressure beneath my ribs like steam trapped in a kettle.
I pressed my hand against my sternum, trying to ease the sensation. Probably just anxiety. Fear. The knowledge that guards were looking for me, waiting for an excuse to make me disappear.
The heat grew stronger. Spreading. Burning.
What is happening to me?
I needed to leave. Needed to run back to the kitchens before someone spotted me. Before—
The heat exploded.
It ripped through my body like wildfire, like lightning, like something ancient and furious finally breaking free. My skin burned. My bones ached. And suddenly I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't do anything but feel.
Every nerve ending screamed.
I stumbled backward, gasping, my hand flying to the doorframe for support. The wood splintered beneath my fingers, impossible, I wasn't strong enough to break wood—but it cracked like kindling.
And then the scent hit.
It flooded the ballroom like a tidal wave. Sweet and wild and powerful—so powerful it made the chandeliers rattle. I didn't understand what it was. Didn't understand why everyone in the ballroom suddenly froze mid-celebration.
Why every head turned.
Why seven Alpha Kings inhaled sharply, their eyes flashing gold.
Why warriors started snarling at each other, pushing, fighting to move toward
Toward me.
Through my blurred vision, I saw my father's face. Saw the color drain from his skin. Saw his expression twist from confusion to horror to rage.
His lips moved, forming words I couldn't hear over the roaring in my ears.
But I could read them clearly enough.
No. Not her. It can't be her.
The ballroom erupted into chaos.
And then a massive figure cut through the crowd like a blade, moving with deadly purpose. Silver eyes locked onto mine, cold, calculating, furious.
Alpha King Kael Thornridge, the Wolf King of the North.
The most dangerous man in the Seven Territories.
He reached me in seconds, grabbed my arm in an iron grip, and growled one word that changed everything:
You.