Teya's POV
For three long years, I prayed to the Moon Goddess to free me from the hell that was Dana.
Every night, I knelt on the cold stone floor of the basement where she kept me locked, whispering desperate pleas for hours until my throat burned and my tears tasted of salt and defeat.
But my prayers fell on deaf ears—my fate was cruel, and my tormentor a sadist.
"The Moon Goddess won't listen to someone as pathetic as you!" Dana snarled one night as she burst into the basement, her sharp claws tangling viciously in my hair.
"Do you think she helps wolfless bastards like you? Well, how about we find out?"
With a cold, wicked laugh, she dragged me out by my hair, cackling like a madwoman. She pulled and pulled, her claws digging deeper into my scalp with every step, hot blood trickling down my face as the world tilted sickeningly around me.
When she finally slammed me onto the freezing ground, a fleeting breath of relief washed over me—but it was only a cruel pause before the real horror began.
I was surrounded again—wolves circling me, their muzzles wrinkled with hunger, their breath hot and eager as they scented my fear.
"The Moon Goddess hasn't been kind to you so far, but I'll show you a bit of mercy," Dana announced, driving her foot into my stomach. "I'm giving you a head start—one minute. Run as fast as you can, Teya, because if the Moon Goddess finally listens tonight, maybe she'll spare your pathetic soul and my wolves won't catch you."
"What…?" My voice trembled in disbelief. Her cruelty still knew no limits.
"You run on the count of three," Dana smirked, signaling to the wolves. "You get one minute."
I didn't even know how I started running—my legs simply moved on their own, driven by a desperate, primal instinct. I sprinted through the forest as fast as my broken body allowed, crashing into tree trunks, stumbling over roots and stumps.
My heart pounded against my throat, my lungs burning as if set ablaze. I tripped again and again, slamming into the dirt, but each time I forced myself back onto my feet and kept running—still praying, still hoping the wolves wouldn't catch me.
Then I saw it—a faint blue glow shimmering through the darkness, marking the edge of the pack's border.
And suddenly, I had two choices:
Stop and let Dana's wolves tear me apart,
or cross into another pack's territory and risk being shot on sight.
Either way, death was waiting.
And if I had to die, I refused to let Dana be the one to end me.
So I ran.
I ran toward that flickering blue light, prepared to take my last burning breath at any second.
But then a sharp, excruciating pain clamped around my left ankle, yanking me off my feet and sending me crashing to the ground.
I screamed, reaching instinctively for the source of the agony—only to freeze in horror.
I had fallen into a hunting trap.
A broken laugh slipped from my lips as I lay sprawled beside the border.
In the end, she would get me.
In the end, it could only ever be Dana.
But the next day, I opened my eyes in a place I had never seen before—and panic surged through me in an instant.
A tall, handsome stranger soothed my panic and explained that he'd found me unconscious while patrolling the borders with his pack. I had crossed into his territory.
He told me I was safe.
He told me I could stay.
He told me his name was Jason Dunn.
He told me he was going to become the Alpha of the Silver Claw Pack.
And from that moment on, he became my entire world.
He protected me from Dana, from the Willows, from the Blackstone pack—shielding me from every shadow of my painful past. And in return, I devoted myself to him in every way I could.
Jason didn't care that I was wolfless—he treated me with a gentleness I had never known, a tenderness that made it impossible not to fall hopelessly, irrevocably in love with him.
And when Jason was attacked by rogues and brought home in critical condition, that was when I finally found a way to truly repay him.
He hovered on the brink of death, but I spared no effort in hunting down a healer capable of saving him. When I finally succeeded—and learned the price required to bring him back—I didn't even hesitate.
After all, Jason was my everything.
Without him, I had nothing.
I was willing to give up anything to save him.
Strangely, right after Jason's surgery, I learned that Dana had fallen into a coma—though the news was kept tightly hidden and no details about her condition were ever disclosed.
To the outside world, she had simply gone abroad to study. Only her pack and a handful of select Alphas knew the truth.
While Jason recovered from that complicated surgery, I worked tirelessly day and night—managing his pack, overseeing his work at the company, and ensuring his family never lost hope.
I saved his life.
I helped him rise as Alpha of the Silver Claw and as president of his family's corporation.
And yet… in the end, he still chose her.
In the end, it was always going to be Dana.
My phone buzzed with a new message, snapping me harshly back to reality. I tapped the screen without thinking—then froze as my eyes widened.
It was from Dana.
She had sent a picture from her hospital room. Jason was kneeling beside her bed, a stunning diamond ring in his hands.
The same ring I had found in his room by accident.
And just like everything else, it had never been meant for me.
"Happy birthday, sister!" Dana's message dripped with her familiar cruelty. "What a wonderful surprise to wake up from a coma!"
My grip tightened around the phone, my hands trembling with a mix of shock and heartbreak.
How could he do that? Jason had always talked about marking me—about making me his Luna—and for what? Was it all just another cruel joke the two of them were playing on me? Otherwise, there was no explanation for why Dana had to wake from her coma tonight of all nights.
I'm being crazy, I told myself, pinching the skin between my eyebrows.
If the Moon Goddess refused to hear my pleas, then surely the Moon Devil existed—and I had been living in his hell from the very beginning.
There had never been a moment when I doubted Jason. Never a moment when I considered leaving his side.
Until now.
My fingers dialed the number on their own, my heartbeat steadying as the dial tone echoed through the silence.
A moment later, a woman's voice answered. "Ms. Willow? What an unexpected call at this hour. Have you… perhaps changed your mind?"
"Yes," I said firmly, without the slightest hesitation. "I'd like to enroll in the gifted wolves' program. How soon can I leave?"
"Goddess above, I'm thrilled to hear that! Let me check… We'll need to process your application again and arrange your relocation. One week. Will one week be enough time for you to prepare?"
Somehow, I found myself smiling. "It's more than enough."