The Moon chose my enemy

Nine without wolves

Marek

The day before the ceremony, Blackridge gathered all nine surviving Vales in the central courtyard. We were given brushes and ordered to clean the shifting circle. No one explained why, but they did not need to. Tomorrow, I would stand at its centre while Blackridge waited for nothing to happen.

The six Vales who worked outside the main estate had been brought in under guard. I had not seen some of them in years, and they looked thinner than I remembered. Liora knelt beside me, while Elian worked across the circle, favouring his injured leg.

No one spoke at first. The Blackridge guards remained close, and conversation between Vales was rarely treated as harmless, so I scrubbed the silver crescent carved into the stone.

Mira finally broke the silence.

“Have you felt a wolf?”

Her voice was quiet, but everyone heard. I shook my head, and the others continued working. Their disappointment was worse than mockery.

None of the surviving Vales could shift. Without an Alpha, their wolves had remained silent since our pack fell. I carried the last direct blood of the Vale ruling family, but I had never heard a second voice inside my mind. Blackridge expected me to be as wolfless as the rest, and that was why they wanted an audience.

Mira looked at my hands as though claws might appear if she stared long enough, but Aron told her to stop.

“He does not need your hope on top of everything else.”

Mira’s brush struck the stone harder.

“He is the heir.”

“He is afraid.”

The words settled between us. I was afraid, and there was no point pretending otherwise, so I kept scrubbing.

A guard crossed the courtyard when he noticed we had stopped working. Before he reached us, I lowered my head and moved the brush again, and the others followed.

Cassian stood near the training steps. He had been watching since we arrived, and whenever I looked up, his eyes were on me. He made no attempt to hide it until one of his friends noticed.

The man said something that made the others laugh, and Cassian’s face hardened. He shoved him hard enough to send him back a step, then looked at me again, but I turned away.

The guard stopped beside Mira and accused her of talking instead of working. She apologised, but he raised his hand anyway.

I stood before he could strike her.

“It was me.”

The guard looked at my face. He knew I was lying, but that did not matter. He hit me across the mouth, and I fell onto one knee.

The Vales remained still because if they moved, the punishment would spread. The guard reached for me again, but Cassian caught his arm.

The courtyard became quiet. For a moment, Cassian looked angrier than the situation deserved. His gaze moved from the guard to the blood on my lip, and then he smiled.

“My uncle wants him standing tomorrow.”

The guard released me, and Cassian crouched in front of me. His fingers touched my chin and lifted my face, and the contact was careful enough to confuse me.

His friends were still watching, so Cassian’s grip tightened.

“Try not to break before the pack sees you fail.”

He pushed me away and returned to the steps, while I wiped the blood from my mouth and went back to work.

By midday, the circle was clean. Alpha Garrick arrived with Lucan and Seraphine, and every servant lowered their eyes.

Lucan walked around the circle, inspecting the work, while Seraphine remained close beside him. When he reached me, he stopped.

“Has anything changed?”

The steward answered. No claws. No altered eyes. No sign of a wolf.

Lucan looked unsurprised and ordered me into the circle, so I stepped onto the silver crescent.

My body tightened when he approached. I had learned to fear Lucan’s calm more than Cassian’s temper, and Lucan studied me as though searching for something he already believed was missing.

“Tomorrow you will call your wolf before the pack.”

“I do not know how.”

“Then you will stand here until everyone understands there is nothing to call.”

Behind me, one of the Vales inhaled sharply, and Lucan looked past me at the others.

“They have waited thirteen years for an Alpha who does not exist.”

His gaze returned to mine.

“Tomorrow ends that hope.”

I wanted to lower my eyes, but I forced myself not to.

“And if I shift?”

The courtyard fell silent, and Lucan stepped closer.

“You will still belong to Blackridge.”

He left with Seraphine, while Cassian remained near the steps. His expression had changed while Lucan spoke, but it disappeared before I could understand it.

The guards separated us again after the work was finished. Mira caught my hand before they led her away and pressed a small wooden wolf into my palm.

“It was your father’s.”

That was all she said, and I hid it inside my shirt.

That night, I lay awake with the carving in my hand. The surviving Vales needed me to become something none of us had seen in thirteen years, while Blackridge needed me to remain nothing.

I pressed my other hand against my chest, but only one heartbeat answered.