(Mari POV)
I don't realize my mother followed me until the door clicks shut behind us.
The small training chamber smells of sweat and steel. Moonlight spills through the narrow windows, cutting pale lines across the stone floor. I'm still in my combat leathers, still wound too tight from the war council.
From Luke.
From everything.
"Why do you care?" Selene asks quietly.
I freeze.
"What?" I snap, turning to face her. "I don't—"
"You do," she interrupts. "About Luke Vrenatta."
My jaw tightens. "He's the enemy."
"That isn't what I asked."
I clench my fists. "I don't care about him."
Selene steps closer, her gaze piercing. "You think I can't feel it through the bond? You think I don't know my own daughter's heart?"
I look away.
That's answer enough.
Her expression hardens—not angry, but… sad. And something darker underneath.
"You remind me of myself," she says softly. "Before I learned what the Vrenattas really are."
I swallow. "What does that mean?"
She takes a breath. A steadying one. Like she's about to rip open a wound she's kept closed for years.
"Do you know why our packs truly hate each other?" she asks.
"Territory. Power. Old wars."
"Lies," Selene says coldly. "That's what the elders let you believe."
My heart starts to pound.
"Then tell me," I say. "What's the truth?"
Selene's eyes shine with something like grief.
"Ronan Vrenatta murdered my brother."
The words hit me like a blow to the chest.
"What?"
"My brother," she repeats. "Your uncle. The previous Alpha of Nightblade. He was my blood. My family. My protector."
My throat goes dry.
"He was young," she continues. "Strong. Fair. He wanted peace between Nightblade and Midnight. He believed cooperation would make us both stronger."
I already don't like where this is going.
"He met with Ronan Vrenatta in secret. Alone. To negotiate an alliance."
My hands shake. "And?"
"And Ronan killed him."
My wolf snarls inside me.
"Why?" I whisper.
"Because an alliance would have made Nightblade stronger than Midnight," Selene says. "Because Ronan wanted control. Because he was afraid."
I feel sick.
"They blamed Shadowfang," she goes on. "They buried the truth. And when Darius—your father—found out, he swore a blood oath."
My chest tightens.
"That no Vrenatta would ever be trusted again," she says. "That Nightblade would one day make them pay."
I think of Luke. His grin. His stupid charm. His stupid eyes.
"Luke didn't do it," I say weakly.
Selene's gaze is sharp. "No. But he carries Ronan's blood. And blood remembers."
Anger rises inside me, hot and violent.
"So they're all monsters?" I snap. "Every single one of them?"
"They were raised by one," Selene replies. "That poison doesn't disappear. It spreads."
I shake, rage burning through my veins. "He pretends to be different. He pretends to be careless and charming and harmless—"
"That's how his father was too," Selene cuts in. "Before he put a blade through my brother's heart."
Something inside me cracks.
All the confusion. All the hesitation. All the stupid flickers of attraction.
Gone.
Replaced by fire.
By hate.
"So Midnight didn't just steal land," I say, voice shaking. "They stole blood."
Selene nods. "They took my brother. They took a future where our packs could have stood together."
I think of Luke again.
This time I don't see his smile.
I see red.
"Then I won't hesitate," I whisper. "Not when I face him. Not when I take his land. Not when I destroy his pack."
Selene cups my face, her touch gentle and deadly. "Good. Because the war you're about to fight… isn't just for territory."
"It's for revenge," I say.
"And for justice," she replies.
My wolf howls in my blood, hungry and furious.
Luke Vrenatta was never just my enemy.
He was the son of my family's murderer.
And I will make him bleed for it.