They say the Moon Goddess watches over all her children. That she weaves every bond, every love, every life with purpose. Maybe once I believed that. Maybe once I thought I was chosen for something more than pain. But that was before everything burned. Before my mate looked into my eyes and saw nothing worth saving. Before my pack—my family—decided that I was easier to sacrifice than to keep. Now all I have left are ashes and the hollow ache where faith used to live. The night they tore my name from the Alpha’s hall, the stars were silent. Even the wind refused to touch me, as if the world itself couldn’t bear to remember what I had been. Daughter of an Alpha. Heir. Warrior. Promise of a future. All gone. Replaced by one simple truth: I was broken. So when the Alpha summoned me to his office and said I was to be sent to Crimson Moon as tribute, I didn’t fight. What was there left to lose? Better to be offered up to a monster than to rot in a pack that already saw me as dead. Still, the stories lingered. Crimson Moon was whispered about in every pack—the most powerful, the most ruthless, led by a man who ruled through fear and dominance. They said Alpha Damian Thorne could break a wolf’s will with a glance, that his lands reeked of old blood and older magic. Some said those who entered his territory never returned the same. Perhaps that’s what I wanted. To disappear into his darkness and never be found again. But my wolf didn’t agree. She still growled in the back of my mind, wild and defiant, refusing to kneel even as everything we loved slipped away. I envied her strength, her fire. She didn’t understand surrender the way I did. Now, as the car carries me through the forest toward his borders, I feel her stirring again. Restless. Angry. Alive. Maybe the Moon Goddess isn’t done with me after all. Maybe this isn’t an ending. Maybe it’s the beginning of something far more dangerous.

Tonight was the night she ran away from this nightmare. She knew doing it alone would be the hardest thing she ever had face. She hurried out the door at full pace. Her instincts were still blunted from not having shifted yet. Her mothers words lingered in her ear, "Run, my sweet daughter, run." She had one chance. One opportunity. Would she finally be able to free herself, or would this be her last moment. Either way, she thought, I will no longer be a captive.