Chapter 1 CHAPTER 1

Amara's POV

I should have known that hope was a dangerous thing to carry.

I stood in front of the cracked mirror in my small room at the edge of the coven lands, smoothing down the silver dress I had saved for this night. My hands trembled as I traced the delicate embroidery along the neckline. This dress was supposed to be for my Luna ceremony. Tonight, I believed it would finally happen. Tonight, Michael would stand before his pack as Alpha, and he would choose me.

My reflection stared back at me with eyes too bright, too full of foolish dreams. I did not see the shadows beneath them, the hollowness in my cheeks. I did not see what the forbidden magic had cost me. I only saw a woman in love, a woman who had given everything for the man she believed was her future.

The moon hung heavy in the sky as I made my way toward the Dark Crest territory. My heart pounded with each step. I had spent three years pouring my power into Michael, strengthening him when he was weak, healing him when he was broken, shielding him from challenges that would have destroyed him. Every spell had taken something from me. My energy. My memories. Pieces of my soul that I would never get back.

But I told myself it was worth it. Love demanded sacrifice. The elders of my coven had warned me. They said I was abandoning my sacred path, that I was using magic for selfish reasons. But what did they know about love? I believed him when he said I was his everything. I believed him when he said we would rule together.

The ceremony grounds blazed with firelight when I arrived. Wolves from every corner of the territory gathered to witness their new Alpha. The air hummed with energy, with power, and anticipation. I stayed at the edge of the crowd, my heart racing. Michael had told me to wait, to let him claim his title first. Then he would announce me as his chosen mate, his Luna.

I watched him step onto the stone platform, watched the moonlight catch in his dark hair. He looked like a king already. Strong and confident. Everything I had helped him become. Pride swelled in my chest. I had done this. My magic had made this possible.

The pack elder raised his hands, and the crowd fell silent.

"Tonight, we witness the rise of our new Alpha," the elder's voice rang out. "Michael of the Dark Crest Pack, do you accept this honor and all the responsibility it carries?"

"I do," Michael said, his voice steady and sure.

"And do you choose a mate to stand beside you, to strengthen your rule and carry your legacy?"

My breath caught. This was it, the moment I had been waiting for.

"I do," Michael said again.

I stepped forward, ready to walk toward him and take my place at his side.

But then he turned. And he reached out his hand.

To someone else.

A beautiful wolf with golden hair and perfect skin stepped onto the platform. She wore a dress of deep red, the color of power, of belonging. The crowd erupted in cheers. Michael pulled her close, his arm around her waist like she had always belonged there.

"I choose Lydia of the Silver Moon Pack," he announced. "She will be my Luna."

The world stopped.Everything inside me shattered like glass hitting stone.

I could not breathe nor think. Could not even move.

He did not even look at me nor acknowledge that I existed. The woman I had been in his arms, in his bed, the woman who had given him everything I was nothing. I was invisible.

Lydia smiled up at him, and he kissed her in front of everyone.

The cheers grew louder. No one noticed me standing at the edge of the light, my silver dress suddenly feeling like a costume, like a joke.

I stumbled backward, my vision blurring. My chest felt like it was caving in. How could he do this? After everything? After I had sacrificed my future, my magic, my very soul for him?

I ran.

I did not know where I was going. I just needed to get away, needed to escape the sound of their celebration, the sight of his betrayal. My feet carried me back toward the coven lands, back toward the only home I had ever known.

But when I reached the edge of the sacred forest, I smelled it.

Smoke.

My heart dropped into my stomach. I ran faster, branches tearing at my dress, at my skin. The trees opened up, and I saw it.

The Oris Coven was burning.

Flames consumed the homes where I had grown up. Bodies lay scattered across the ground, my sisters, my family, slaughtered like animals. The sacred altar where we had worshipped the Moon Goddess was destroyed, the stones cracked and stained with blood.

"No," I whispered. "No, no, no."

I fell to my knees beside the first body I recognized. Elder Miriam, who had taught me my first spell. Her eyes stared up at nothing.

"Amara..."

The voice was weak, barely more than a breath. I turned and saw my cousin Elara dragging herself toward me. Blood poured from a wound in her side.

"Elara!" I crawled to her, pressing my hands against the wound, trying to heal her. But my magic was too weak. I had given too much away.

"They came... for you," she gasped. "They said... your power was too dangerous. Michael... he told them where to find us."

The words hit me like a blade.

Michael had done this. He had not just betrayed me. He had destroyed everything I loved.

"Take this," Elara pressed something into my hand. The coven amulet, the one that held our ancestors' final protection spell. "Avenge us."

Her eyes closed. Her chest stopped moving.

I knelt there in the ashes and blood, holding the amulet, surrounded by death. Grief and rage twisted inside me until I could not tell them apart.

I buried my people with my bare hands. I spoke the prayers. I said goodbye to everything I had been.

Then I walked back to the Dark Crest Pack.

I had nothing left to lose.

They were waiting for me. Michael stood at the center, his new Luna by his side. He looked at me with cold eyes.

"You should have stayed away, witch."

They dragged me to the cells. They tortured me for answers I did not have. They carved silver into my skin and laughed when I screamed.

And when they were done, Michael himself delivered the final blow.

"You were useful," he said, driving the blade between my ribs. "But you were never going to be enough."

I died with his face above me, with hatred in my heart, with the bitter taste of betrayal on my lips.

My last thought was simple.

Love destroyed me.

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Then I opened my eyes. But the face staring back at me in the reflection was not mine.