Chapter 2
Sera
Alfred—the old man who'd bought me as his eleventh bride—finally ran out of patience.
His face twisted with irritation, as if we were the ones ruining his party.
"Enough! I've had enough of this shit!" He shot to his feet, voice booming through the vaulted hall.
"You think watching this glow show is fun?
Like two damn fireflies in heat? Get out! All of you, out! Party's over!"
He didn't ask my opinion. Didn't even glance at Damon.
Just waved his hand like shooing flies. The nobles who'd been gloating seconds ago snapped their faces neutral like machines switching off.
Heads down, feet quick, they scrambled for the exit.
Nobody crossed Alpha King Alfred. Not even invited guests.
They just wanted out before the storm hit.
Crystal chandeliers still blazed overhead, but the light couldn't cut through the darkness closing in.
The space emptied fast, but the pressure doubled. Damon's wolf form nearly filled the hearth. He hadn't shifted back. Just lay there, massive head resting on his paws, slit pupils locked on Alfred. Pure violence simmered in those eyes, barely leashed.
Then the heavy double doors slammed open, crashing into the walls with a bang that made me flinch.
"Goddess! This... this can't be!"
A woman's voice sliced through the silence, sharp as broken glass. I looked up automatically.
A woman stood in the doorway. She wore a forest-green velvet gown that fit like a second skin, the whole effect like a carefully pruned poisonous vine.
Shock carved deep lines across her face.
Her pretty eyes went wide as saucers, fixed on me like I was a ghost that shouldn't exist. Her hand covered her mouth, fingers trembling.
I froze. Stared at her. Recognition tugged at something deep in my brain.
Who was she? I sifted through fragments from before New Moon Pack fell.
I'd had a mother once, I thought. She'd left the pack when I was small.
Never came back. Father wouldn't talk about it.
Just said she'd gone searching for greater power.
I'd figured she was dead years ago, killed in some war or absorbed into a strange pack.
Never thought I'd see her here. Not like this.
Not with that face I barely remembered from childhood suddenly real in front of me.
She rushed forward in a cloud of heavy perfume, drowning out the pine-and-ice scent from Damon that made my heart race.
"Sera? Is that my little Sera?"
Her voice shook, dripping with dramatic, theatrical grief as she crushed me into a hug.
"I heard everything! Alfred... he actually bought you back as his eleventh bride!" She gasped, voice loaded with outrage at Alfred's audacity, like he'd invaded her territory. "Thank God you're Damon's fated mate! This is a blessing from the Moon Goddess herself!"
My head spun. I still couldn't quite believe it. My mother, appearing out of nowhere, trying to rescue me from a bad deal.
Why was she here? How could she speak to Damon and Alfred like this?
Nothing made sense.
She whirled on Damon, still in wolf form. Her tone shifted from doting mother to absolute command. "Damon, did you hear me? She's your fated mate."
Damon finally moved. Bones cracked. Fabric tore. The gray wolf contracted and reformed. Damon stood there naked, muscles tight under the firelight like an angry sculpture. He yanked up someone's discarded cloak and wrapped it roughly around his waist.
"I told you," he rasped, voice like sandpaper grinding stone, "my mate will only be Lillian."
He didn't even look at me. But the offense radiating from him felt solid enough to touch.
Lillian seized the moment, wrapping herself around Damon's arm like a vine.
She tilted that flawless face up, voice dripping with false generosity.
"Damon, it's all right. I don't mind that she's your fated mate.
As long as you stay true to me, I'll never leave you.
Even if..." She flicked a contemptuous glance my way.
"Even if she's just a slave to stabilize the bond, I can accept that. "
Slave.
The word drove through my chest like a red-hot iron, twisting deep. My head snapped up. I met Damon's gray-blue gaze head-on. Nothing there but ice and pure disgust.
"Slave?" My voice came out like swallowed gravel.
"Yes." Damon's eyes finally landed on me, cold and cruel. "You're my fated mate. The bond can't break. But you're a defect who can't use Moonbane, can't even break a fucking ankle chain. You're not fit to be my Luna. You'll stay near me. Be a slave. Maintain this damned bond. That's all."
Shame and despair crashed over me like waves. I was a New Moon princess. His fated mate! Now I was his slave?
No. I wouldn't accept this. I squeezed my eyes shut hard and bit down on my tongue. Used the pain to force focus. I was Sera Connelly. I wasn't defective!
I reached desperately for my power.
But the magic inside felt like wet cement. Heavy. Stuck. Not even a spark. My wolf whimpered under my skin, hopeless.
Damon's mouth curved into a cruel smile. He looked at me like trash. "Don't bother. Think you're anything like your mother? Face reality. You're just a slave."
I couldn't believe it. He wanted me as his slave? Just moments ago, his wolf had licked me gently, comforted me. Even at first, he'd only rejected me to protect his fiancée. He hadn't degraded me. Now everything had changed.
Because of Isabella? He hated Isabella, who'd become his stepmother. Was he taking it out on me?
Alfred spoke up. "I bought her. You don't get to decide what happens to her." He moved to take me away.
My mother blocked his path, voice rising sharp. "Alfred, Sera is my long-lost daughter! What the hell is this? This isn't just incest. This is sacrilege! She's my child. That makes her your stepdaughter! You are humiliating me!"
"And she's Damon's fated mate. You going to fight your own son for his mate?"
"Isabella, enough." Alfred waved dismissively. "Damon's the heir. Breaking his engagement is serious. The whole pack has to weigh in. Don't worry. I'll take good care of your daughter. Just like I take care of you."
Alfred's hand touched my cheek. Nausea rolled through me.
Isabella lunged forward, slapping his hand away.
"Listen to me, Alfred. I'm your Luna. You take my daughter away today, I'll report you to the Temple!"
Isabella's threat carried weight. Alfred hesitated, mouth half-open.
But Damon stepped forward. He stared at Alfred with pure disgust. "I won't marry her, but she's my fated mate. I have absolute authority over her. You have no right to take her. On this, I'll back Isabella at the Temple."
I stared at Damon in shock. He stood in front of me like a hero again. Even though he only saw me as a slave.
Alfred seemed to shrink under the combined force of Damon and Isabella. If this reached the Temple, the pack would condemn him. His authority as Alpha King would crumble.
Finally, he waved them off and left. I got assigned to a small servant's room next to the main pack house.
The room was tiny. Sparse furniture: narrow bed, wardrobe, washstand. Window set too high, showing only a sliver of gray sky. Dust and bleach hung in the air. A different world from the drunk-gold luxury of the banquet hall.
I collapsed on the hard bed. The wolf mark on my neck still throbbed dully—aftermath of Damon's wolf licking me, then his brutal rejection.
Shame, rage, and that damned hurt I couldn't suppress gnawed at my insides like three poisonous snakes.
I buried my face in the moldy pillow and screamed silently.
I don't know how long I lay there. Eventually, footsteps approached, deliberately quiet.
The door opened. Isabella. She'd shed the theatrical performance.
Her face showed calculation mixed with impatience.
She walked in, pinched a corner of my wrinkled dress between her fingertips, and wrinkled her nose in distaste.
"Get up. Stop lying there like a fish." Her voice had lost all warmth. "I worked my ass off to pull you away from that old pervert and got you a chance to stay near Damon. This is how you repay me? Lying here like mud?"
I sat up slowly, looking at my mother. She'd defended me today. That should have comforted me. Instead, the injustice expanded until tears spilled down my face again.
"But I don't have Moonbane magic anymore. I'm not worthy of Damon."
Isabella laughed harshly, crossing her arms. "Put away your tears. Who says you need Moonbane magic? God, you're just like your coward father! Didn't inherit my magic. Not even my ambition."
She paused, leaving the thought unfinished. But the hunger in her eyes blazed clear. Nothing like this afternoon.
"Dad wasn't a coward!" I tried defending him. Defending myself.
"Ha! Not a coward? If he wasn't a coward, would you be captured and sold on an auction block?"
"Sera, listen to me. I don't help weaklings. I'm helping you because you have value. You need to make Damon dependent on you! Then we can both establish ourselves here permanently."
She'd shattered any fantasy about maternal love. I should have known. A woman who'd abandoned her family when I was small couldn't suddenly transform into a devoted mother. She was just a vulture in mother's clothing, drawn by the profit I might bring her.
"I won't cooperate." I forced down the nausea and spoke each word distinctly.
"Don't you dare!" Isabella's voice went shrill. She raised her hand like she'd strike me, but lowered it. She sucked in several breaths, pasting that fake, revolting concern back on her face.
"Sera, don't be stubborn. I'm doing this for your own good. Look, Damon is your fated mate. You need him too, don't you? If fated mates completely sever, it's you who'll suffer! The Moon Goddess gave you this chance. Just... perform well, and maybe he'll change his mind someday, hmm?"
She leaned close. Her rose-amber perfume nearly suffocated me. "Tonight is your opportunity."