LUNA'S RECKONING

THE TRUTH UNLEASHED

Sera's POV

Elder Victoria's words ring in my head like thunder.

"Who do you think killed your parents?"

Time stops. The crowd goes away. All I can see is her happy face and the truth burning in her eyes.

She killed them. She killed my parents.

"You're lying," I whisper, but my voice shakes. My wolf is screaming for blood.

Victoria laughs, still holding my wrist with her ice-cold hand. "Am I? Your father was getting too close to discovering my plans. Your mother was too strong. They had to go."

White-hot rage bursts through my body. My Alpha Dominance bursts out like a tidal wave, and half the wolves in the room drop to their knees with shocked gasps. Even Kade, still on the stage, bows his head without meaning to.

But Victoria doesn't bow. She stands tall, and that's when I see it—the dark magic swirling around her like black smoke.

"You're a witch," I breathe.

"A witch and an Alpha," Victoria says. "The mix made me strong enough to kill your parents. And soon, I'll be strong enough to take your power too."

She raises her other hand, and black magic shoots toward my chest. I twist away just in time, her grip breaking on my wrist. The magic hits a stone pillar behind me, and it bursts into dust.

The crowd screams and runs in every direction. Chaos erupts.

"Guards!" Victoria shouts. "Seize the Nightshade traitor!"

Twenty pack fighters rush the platform, their eyes glowing with wolf magic. But they're not after Victoria—they're coming for me.

"You've been controlling them," I realize, backing away. "Using dark magic to control your own pack."

"For years," Victoria says. "How else do you think I kept you close? I needed to watch you, to make sure you never awakened your true power. I had Kade seduce you, keep you busy and weak."

I look at Kade, still kneeling on the platform. His face is white with shock. "Mother, what are you—"

"Shut up, you useless boy!" Victoria snaps. "You couldn't even keep her properly obedient. She was supposed to stay broken and hidden forever!"

So it was all a lie. Everything. Kade didn't fall in love with me—he was told to seduce me. Our whole relationship was Victoria's plan to keep me weak and close.

The guards circle me, and I can see the dark magic in their eyes. They're not in control of themselves.

"I don't want to hurt you," I tell them. "You're being controlled. Fight it!"

But they attack anyway, moving like puppets on ropes.

My father's training kicks in immediately. I dodge the first guard, using his speed to throw him into the second. I sweep the legs out from under the third and flip away from the fourth's grabbing hands.

But there are too many, and I've been hiding my skills for so long that my body feels slow. Rusty.

A guard's fist connects with my ribs, and pain bursts through my side. Another grabs my arm and twists it behind my back.

"Bring her to me," Victoria orders.

They drag me toward her, and I can see the dark magic gathering in her hands again. This time, she's going to kill me just like she killed my parents.

Suddenly, Lily screams.

Everyone freezes and turns to look. Lily is staring at her hands in horror. Black veins are spreading up her arms like poison, and her eyes are turning completely black.

"What—what's happening to me?" Lily cries.

Victoria's face goes pale. "No. Not yet. The transformation wasn't supposed to start until after—"

"After what?" Kade demands, finally getting to his feet. "Mother, what did you do to Lily?"

"I needed a vessel," Victoria says coldly. "A weak omega to carry my dark magic essence. When the baby is born, I'll move my consciousness into the child and be reborn with both witch and Alpha powers combined."

My stomach turns. "You're possessing Lily's baby?"

"I WAS going to," Victoria snarls. "But the stupid girl started the transformation too early. I must have miscalculated the moon phase."

Lily falls, screaming as black magic pours out of her body. The baby bump on her stomach starts glowing with a strange red light.

Kade runs to her. "Lily! Hang on!"

But when he touches her, black magic zaps him, and he flies backward off the stage. He hits the ground hard and doesn't move.

"Kade!" I shout, and I hate that I still care.

The guards holding me relax their grip, distracted by the chaos. I use the moment to break free, slamming my elbow into one guard's face and kicking another in the chest.

Victoria raises both hands, and huge dark magic circles appear around her. "Fine. If I can't use the vessel, I'll just take your power now, Nightshade!"

Black chains made of magic shoot from her hands straight at me. I dodge one, but the second wraps around my ankle and yanks me off my feet. I hit the platform hard, the breath knocked from my lungs.

More chains wrap around my arms, my other ankle, my waist. They burn like ice and fire at the same time.

"Your Alpha Dominance will make me unstoppable," Victoria says, walking toward me. "I'll finally have the power to rule all the packs, not just this pathetic one."

I fight against the chains, but they only get tighter. My power is being drained—I can feel it pouring out of me like water from a broken cup.

Black spots dance in my view. I'm going to pass out. I'm going to die just like my parents.

Then the window bursts.

Glass rains down as a massive wolf crashes through into the wedding hall. No—not just a cat. The biggest wolf I've ever seen, with silver-white fur and ice-blue eyes.

The wolf shifts mid-leap into a man who lands in a crouch between me and Victoria. He's huge, covered in scars, and oozing Alpha power so strong it makes the air vibrate.

"Step away from her," the guy growls in a voice like thunder. "Or I'll rip out your throat with my bare hands."

Victoria's eyes go wide. "Ryker Stone? The Northern Warlord? What are you doing here?"

"Keeping a promise," Ryker says. He looks back at me, and his ice-blue eyes soften for just a second. "I told you I'd guard Marcus's daughter. Did you really think I wouldn't be watching?"

He raises his hand, and the black chains around me break like glass.

I gasp as air fills my lungs again. My power stops disappearing and snaps back into my body.

Ryker pulls a huge silver sword from the sheath on his back. "You have three seconds to surrender, witch. One..."

Victoria's face twists with rage. "You think you can challenge me? I killed the greatest warriors alive!"

"Two..."

She throws both hands forward, and a wall of black magic crashes toward us like a wave.

Ryker's sword glows with bright blue light. "Three."

He swings the sword, and it cuts through Victoria's magic like it's made of paper. The magic bursts into harmless sparks.

Victoria screams in rage and disappears in a cloud of black smoke.

The magic controlling the guards breaks, and they all fall, gasping and confused.

Lily stops crying. The black veins on her skin fade, and she passes out, breathing but living.

Kade groans and sits up, holding his head.

The wedding hall is destroyed. Windows smashed. Pillars cracked. Bodies everywhere.

And I'm standing in the middle of it all with a stranger who just saved my life.

Ryker sheathes his sword and turns to face me fully. Up close, he's even more frightening. Tall, muscular, with a scar running from his eyebrow to his mouth. But his eyes are kind when they look at me.

"Sera Nightshade," he says. "Your father was my best friend. I made him a blood oath to protect you if anything happened to him."

"You knew my father?" My voice cracks.

"I fought beside him for ten years." Ryker holds out his hand. "Come with me. Victoria will be back with more dark magic, and you're not ready to face her yet. I'll train you properly. Teach you everything your father wanted you to know."

I stare at his hand. Behind me, Kade is helping Lily. The pack members are picking themselves up and looking at me with fear now, not respect.

Everything I built here—the cover, the life, the mission—is gone. Destroyed.

I have nothing left to lose.

I take Ryker's hand.

His grip is warm and strong. Safe.

"Thank you," I whisper. "For saving me."

"Don't thank me yet," Ryker says sadly. "When Victoria comes back, she won't be alone. She's working with someone. Someone powerful enough to help her kill your parents."

My blood runs cold. "Who?"

Ryker's ice-blue eyes meet mine, and I see the truth in them before he even talks.

"Your father's last words to me were, 'Protect Sera from the Council.' The Werewolf High Council wants you dead, Sera. And they've been hunting you for five years."