The Lycan's Broken Moon

Scary Wolf

Seraphina POV

The abandoned cottage appeared like a gift from the moon goddess herself. half-collapsed, overgrown with ivy, smelling of rot and safety. I dove for the door, hoping to hide in the shadows. to wait until the search passed, to catch my breath and find another path.

Strong hands grabbed me before I crossed the threshold.

I fought, kicked, screamed and bit. But there were three of them, guards I recognized from patrol duty. Wolves who had once nodded at me in the pack house hallways. They dragged me inside the cottage. I was thrown into a wooden chair that creaked ominously under the impact.

"Well, well," Alvin said, the senior guard, a scar running from his eye to his chin. "The Alpha's little runaway. Thought you could just leave, didn't you?"

"Please," I panted, blood dripping from my hand onto the floor. "I can't… I won't go to the Lycan King. Please, just let me go. I won't come back. You'll never see me again."

The guards exchanged glances. One of them young, new, with pity in his eyes looked away.

"Not our call," Alvin said, but he didn't sound happy about it. He pulled rope from his belt. "Hold her."

They tied my wrists to the chair arms, my ankles to the legs. The ropes bit into my skin, rough and unforgiving. I tested the bonds, but they were too tight, too practiced. These were wolves who knew how to restrain other wolves.

"She's not even going to fight," one of them laughed, a burly man with yellow teeth. "Look at her. Wolfless and weak. Probably why the King wants her. She is easy to break."

I closed my eyes. Aurora, I begged. Please, if you're real, if you're there-

Nothing.

The cottage door slammed open.

Lilith swept in like a storm dressed in silk. Her blonde hair gleaming in the torchlight. Her scar stark white against her flushed cheek.

Behind her came three shapes that made my blood freeze. Rogues, wolves without packs, mercenaries who would do anything for a coin. Their eyes were feral, hungry, fixed on me with a predatory intensity that had nothing to do with loyalty.

"Hello, sister," Lilith purred, circling the chair like a shark. "Did you really think you could escape? That I wouldn't find you?"

"You planned this," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "The rogues. You were going to kill me no matter what."

Lilith's smile widened. "Smart girl. Finally, Yes, I was never going to let Father give you to the Lycan King. Do you know why?" She leaned close, her breath hot against my ear.

"Because Logan still loves you. I can smell it on him, the regret, the longing. He took me to bed, but he dreamed of you. The only way I get his whole heart is if you're dead."

She straightened, her expression shifting from coy to vicious. "But first, I want to enjoy this. Five years of watching Mother dote on you. Five years of being told to protect the fragile little wolfless wonder. And then that scar-" she touched her cheek, her eyes flashing with old rage. " you ruined my face, and she still loved you more."

"It was an accident," I whispered. "The swing, when we were children-"

"Accident," Lilith spat. "Everything with you is an accident. Your existence. Your weakness. Your pathetic love for a man who you do not deserve." She raised her hand, and I saw the blow coming, saw the years of jealousy condensed into one violent arc.

The slap cracked across my face like thunder. My head snapped sideways, my lip splitting, copper flooding my mouth.

"One," Lilith counted, her eyes bright with pleasure. "For taking Logan."

She hit me again, harder, on the other side. My vision swam.

"Two. For trying to run."

The third blow came with enough force to rock the chair. I tasted blood, felt it drip down my chin.

"Three. For our mother, who left me everything in her will because she felt guilty about loving you more. Everything, Sera. The money, the jewels, the property. She knew. She knew even then that you were worthless."

I blinked through the pain, trying to focus. The rogues were shifting, restless, their wolves close to the surface. The guards looked uncomfortable but didn't intervene. This was a family business, a pack business. No one crossed the Alpha's favored daughter.

"Finish it," one of the rogues growled, his voice thick with anticipation. "Or we will."

Lilith raised her hand for a fourth blow, but she paused, her nose wrinkling. She leaned in, inhaling deeply, and her eyes widened.

"You shifted," she hissed, her fingers digging into my jaw. "You lying little b***h. I can smell her on you. your wolf. You hid her. All this time, you had a wolf, and you hid her."

Panic spiked in my chest. "I don't know what you're talking about-"

"Liar!" Lilith's hand closed around my throat, squeezing. "It doesn't matter. The Lycan King will break you either way. He will tear that pretty white wolf out of you and make you beg for death. And I will watch. I will dance on your grave, Sera. I will finally be the only daughter that matters."

Her grip tightened. I gasped, struggling for air, the world narrowing to the mad light in my sister's eyes.

Then the cottage exploded.

Not fire but something worse. The door shattered inward, wood splinters flying like shrapnel. The rogues screamed. The guards scrambled back, reaching for weapons that wouldn't help them.

A wolf filled the doorway.

Not just a wolf. the largest wolf I had ever seen, black as midnight, with eyes that burned like amber flames. It stood taller than a horse. its shoulders brushing the doorframe. Its teeth bared in a snarl that vibrated through the floorboards. Power rolled off it in waves, ancient and terrible. the kind of power that made Alphas kneel and armies retreat.

The rogues ran. They didn't hesitate, didn't fight. They saw that black wolf and they fled into the night, whining like pups.

Lilith stumbled back, her hand falling from my throat, her face draining of color. "No," she breathed. "No, this isn't- he can't be-"

The wolf stepped into the cottage. Its gaze found me, tied and bleeding, and something in those burning eyes shifted. Rage, yes, but something else too. Recognition. Possession.

It moved toward me, each step shaking the floor. I should have been afraid. I was afraid but I couldn't look away from those eyes. I couldn't stop the strange warmth spreading through my chest. Same place where Aurora had stirred to life. And she was now screaming a single word through our bond:

Mate.

The air shimmered. The wolf blurred, melting and reforming, fur becoming skin, muscle becoming bone. Where the beast had stood, a man now towered. naked from the shift, but unconcerned. His body was corded with muscle and marked with scars that told stories of battles I couldn't imagine.

He crossed to me in two strides and snapped the ropes like they were thread. His hands were warm on my wrists, checking my injuries. his touch impossibly gentle for someone who had just shattered a door.

"Who-" I started, my voice cracking.

The man looked at me, and I saw the wolf still there in his eyes, ancient and waiting. He reached out, his thumb brushing the blood from my split lip. and When he spoke, his voice was rough velvet and absolute command.

"My name is Cassian. And you, little wolf, are coming with me.”