CHAPTER 1 : THE NIGHT I DIED

The first time I died, I finally learned the truth.

My mate never loved me.

My father had been murdered.

And the people I trusted most had been waiting for years to destroy me.

I was on my knees in the center of the Alpha Council chamber when I understood all of it.

Cold marble pressed against my palms. My wrists were bound behind my back, and the silver restraints around them burned against my skin every time I moved.

Hundreds of eyes watched me from the surrounding seats.

Alphas.

Lunas.

Council elders.

People who had once bowed when my family entered a room.

Now they looked at me as though I were a monster.

At the highest point of the chamber sat Elder Magnus, the oldest member of the Alpha Council. His silver hair fell past his shoulders, and his expression was completely emotionless.

“Aurelia Vale,” he announced, his voice echoing through the enormous chamber. “You stand accused of betraying your pack, stealing classified Council information, and conspiring against the Alpha Council.”

A murmur spread through the room.

I lifted my head.

“That is a lie.”

Magnus didn't react.

“You have been given the opportunity to defend yourself.”

“Then let me speak.”

“You will.”

I looked around the chamber.

My eyes searched desperately for one familiar face.

One person who would remember who I had been before all of this.

My gaze stopped on him.

Darian.

My mate.

The man I had loved for years.

He stood only a few steps away from Seraphine Voss.

His dark suit was perfectly pressed. His expression was calm.

Too calm.

Seraphine stood beside him with one hand resting lightly on his arm.

My heart tightened.

Even after everything that had happened, some foolish part of me still believed Darian would help me.

He had to.

He knew me.

He knew I would never betray my pack.

“Darian,” I whispered.

His eyes met mine.

For one second, I saw something there.

Regret.

Then it disappeared.

“Tell them,” I said. “Tell them my father was investigating the Council before he died.”

The chamber went silent.

Darian's jaw tightened.

“My father didn't die in an accident,” I continued. “He was murdered.”

Several Council members exchanged uneasy glances.

I noticed.

That was the reaction I had been looking for.

Fear.

Not disbelief.

Fear.

I had spent months investigating my father's death after everyone told me to accept it.

They had called it an accident.

A hunting accident.

A tragic mistake.

But my father had been careful. He never went anywhere without guards. He knew the forest around our territory better than anyone.

And two days before his death, he had discovered something.

A symbol.

A strange silver crescent surrounded by three claw marks.

I had found the same symbol in his private documents.

And now, standing in the Council chamber, I had finally realized where I had seen it before.

I slowly turned my head.

The symbol was carved into the wooden armrest of Elder Magnus's chair.

My breath caught.

There it was.

The exact same crescent.

The exact same three claws.

My father's symbol.

No.

Not his.

The symbol he had been investigating.

“You know,” I whispered.

Magnus's eyes narrowed.

“You know what happened to my father.”

A sharp silence followed.

Then Seraphine laughed softly.

I looked at her.

She didn't look frightened.

She looked amused.

“You were always too curious, Aurelia.”

My stomach dropped.

“What did you say?”

She stepped away from Darian.

“You should have stopped searching after your father's death.”

My blood went cold.

“Why?”

She smiled.

“Because some truths are dangerous.”

“You killed him.”

The words left my mouth before I could stop them.

Seraphine's smile faded.

“You killed my father.”

Several people gasped.

Darian stepped forward.

“Aurelia, stop.”

I stared at him.

“You knew.”

He said nothing.

“You knew what they did to him.”

“Aurelia—”

“You knew!”

My voice cracked across the chamber.

I struggled against the restraints.

“You were my mate. You were supposed to protect me!”

Darian looked away.

That hurt more than anything else.

I had spent years believing that whatever happened, he would choose me.

I was wrong.

Seraphine walked toward me.

Her heels clicked against the marble floor.

Slow.

Calm.

Deliberate.

She stopped directly in front of me.

“You were never supposed to find the documents.”

My heart stopped.

“The documents?”

She tilted her head.

“So you did find them.”

I stared at her.

She had just confirmed everything.

My father's documents.

The investigation.

The symbol.

The Council.

They were connected.

“You murdered him because he discovered what you were doing.”

Seraphine leaned closer.

“You still don't understand.”

“Then explain it.”

“You think your father's death was the beginning?”

Her eyes glittered.

“It was the beginning of your family's end.”

A chill moved through me.

I looked at Darian again.

“Is that why you left me?”

His expression hardened.

“I was wrong.”

The words were quiet.

But they destroyed something inside me.

“What?”

“I was wrong to believe you were the person I needed.”

My throat tightened.

“You chose her.”

“I chose the future.”

Seraphine smiled.

I finally understood.

This wasn't love.

It was an ambition.

Darian had chosen Seraphine because her family had power.

Because my family was already falling.

Because standing beside me would have meant standing beside a dying name.

I laughed bitterly.

“So that's it?”

Nobody answered.

I looked around the chamber.

People I had known since childhood.

People who had eaten at my family's table.

People who had called my father Alpha.

They were all watching silently.

And suddenly, I noticed something else.

The Council members weren't surprised by Seraphine's words.

They weren't surprised by my accusations.

They were waiting.

Waiting for something.

A verdict.

A death.

My death.

I looked back at the symbol carved into Magnus's chair.

My father's documents had contained one final sentence.

I remembered it now.

A sentence I hadn't understood when I first found it.

Three heirs.

One bloodline.

One door.

I had thought it was nonsense.

Now I know better.

“What is Silvercrest Academy hiding?” I asked.

The room went completely silent.

Magnus's expression changed.

Just for a second.

But I saw it.

Fear.

“You will not speak of Silvercrest,” he said.

“Why?”

“Enough.”

“My father was investigating Silvercrest before he died!”

“Take her away.”

Two guards moved toward me.

I fought against the restraints.

“No!”

My voice echoed through the chamber.

“You can't do this!”

Nobody stopped them.

Not Darian.

Not the Council.

Not even the people who had once called me family.

As the guards dragged me toward the doors, I caught sight of an old Council member sitting in the shadows.

He wasn't watching the guards.

He was watching me.

More specifically, he was staring at my collarbone.

At the small silver crescent birthmark I had carried since birth.

His face suddenly went pale.

“She has it,” he whispered.

Magnus turned sharply.

“What?”

The old man stood.

His hands trembled.

“The mark.”

His eyes widened with terror.

“She should have died before it awakened.”

My heart stopped.

“What are you talking about?”

Magnus's expression turned cold.

“Remove her.”

The guards pulled me from the chamber.

The great doors slammed shut behind me.

And that was the last time I saw the Alpha Council alive.

Or at least, that was what I thought.

They took me somewhere beneath the Council building.

The corridor was dark and silent.

I could hear my own breathing.

My mind raced.

The symbol.

Silvercrest.

My father's death.

The mark.

Three heirs.

What had my father discovered?

What was inside my blood?

The guards pushed me into a small stone room.

The door closed.

I was alone.

For several minutes, I simply sat there.

Then I heard a voice.

Not outside the room.

Inside my head.

“You were never supposed to remember.”

I froze.

“Who are you?”

Silence.

Then a burning sensation spread across my collarbone.

I looked down.

The silver crescent birthmark was glowing.

Bright enough to illuminate the darkness.

My breath caught.

“No…”

Something moved inside me.

Something ancient.

Something I had never felt before.

Then my wolf spoke.

Her voice was unlike anything I had ever heard.

Weak.

Frightened.

But certain.

“They found us again.”

My heart pounded.

“Who?”

She didn't answer.

The room seemed to disappear around me.

For one impossible moment, I saw a silver door.

Three enormous wolves stood before it.

A black wolf.

A golden wolf.

And a silver wolf.

Then the vision vanished.

The door opened.

A figure stood on the other side.

I couldn't see its face.

But I heard the same voice.

“You were never supposed to come back.”

The burning in my chest became unbearable.

I closed my eyes.

And then everything went dark.

I didn't know how long I remained unconscious.

I only remember one final thought.

I had spent my entire life believing I was the victim.

I was wrong.

I wasn't killed because I was weak.

I was killed because someone was afraid of what I might become.

And as the darkness swallowed me, I made myself one promise.

If I ever got another chance at life, I would find every person responsible.

I would uncover the truth about my father.

I would discover what my bloodline meant.

And I would make sure they never had the chance to destroy me again.

Then my heart stopped.

But death wasn't the end.

It was the beginning.