Sera's POV
The slap comes without warning.
My head snaps to the side, and I taste blood. My father's hand is still raised, his face twisted with disgust.
You will marry the Alpha King in three days, he says. And you will not embarrass me again with your pathetic whining.
I touch my stinging cheek, blinking back tears I refuse to let fall. Father, please
You're worth more as his whore than as my daughter. He turns away like I'm already gone. At least this way, you're finally useful.
That was three days ago.
Now I stand in my childhood bedroom for the last time, wearing a wedding dress I never chose. It's white and heavy, like chains disguised as silk. My half-sister Vivienne lounges on my bed, watching servants pack my few belongings into a single trunk.
Try not to mess this up, Sera, Vivienne says, examining her perfect nails. Father finally found someone desperate enough to take you. Don't make the Alpha King regret it on your wedding night.
I want to scream at her. I want to tell her that I hate her, that I've always hated her, that she's made my life a living nightmare since we were children. But what's the point? In an hour, I'll be gone forever.
The carriage is waiting, my father's voice calls from downstairs. He doesn't even come up to say goodbye.
I walk down the stairs of the house I grew up in, each step taking me closer to a future I never wanted. My father stands in the doorway, not looking at me.
Don't embarrass the Ashwood name, he says. That's it. No hug. No good luck. No I'll miss you.
Not that I expected any of those things. He's made it clear my whole life that I'm a disappointment. I couldn't shift into my wolf form like other children. I couldn't be strong like Vivienne. I couldn't be anything but broken.
The carriage door slams shut, trapping me inside.
Through the window, I watch my childhood home disappear. The pack house gets smaller and smaller until it's just a dot, then nothing. Gone. Everything I've ever known gone.
I won't cry. I promised myself I wouldn't cry.
The journey takes six hours. Six hours of sitting alone, thinking about the monster I'm being delivered to like a package. Everyone knows about Alpha King Kael Nightfang. They say he killed a hundred wolves with his bare hands to take back his throne. They say he's cold and brutal and never smiles. They say he crushes anyone who crosses him.
And I'm supposed to marry him.
When the black stone fortress finally comes into view, my heart drops into my stomach. Night haven Keep rises from the ground like a nightmare made solid. Dark towers claw at the sky. Walls so thick they could keep out an army or keep me in forever.
This is where monsters live.
This is my new prison.
Guards surround the carriage the moment it stops. They're huge, armed, and they look at me like I'm livestock being delivered. One of them opens the door.
The Queen's quarters are prepared, he says without emotion. Come.
Queen. The word sounds wrong. Queens are powerful and beautiful and strong. I'm none of those things.
They march me through corridors of cold black stone. The Keep is dark and freezing, even in summer. Every shadow feels like it's watching me. Every corner could hide danger.
They take me to a preparation room where a dozen servants wait. They descend on me immediately, stripping off my travel clothes, pulling at my hair, scrubbing my skin until it's raw.
Gentle, one older woman says to the others. She has kind eyes, the first kind eyes I've seen all day.
Is he really as terrible as they say? I ask her quietly while the others work.
She pauses, meeting my gaze. For a moment, I think she might lie to make me feel better.
Instead, she says, worse, child. Much worse.
My stomach drops.
The servants dress me in a new wedding gown this one even heavier, covered in jewels that feel like ice against my skin. They paint my face with cosmetics, making me look like a beautiful doll. Empty and perfect.
It's time, someone announces.
My hands start shaking. I can't stop them.
Two guards appear to escort me. We walk through more endless corridors until we reach massive doors carved with wolves and moons. The Great Hall.
I can hear voices on the other side. Hundreds of them. All waiting to watch me marry a monster.
The doors start to open.
My heart pounds so hard I think it might break through my ribs. This is it. This is the moment my life ends and something else begins. Something I can't escape.
The doors swing wide.
I see the crowd first hundreds of wolves from different packs, all dressed in their finest, all turning to stare at me. Then I see the long aisle I'll have to walk alone.
And at the very end, I see him.
The Alpha King.
Even from this distance, I can tell he's huge. Powerful. Dangerous. He stands perfectly still, watching me with eyes I can't read from here.
I take one step forward. Then another.
But then I hear it.
A whisper from the crowd, clear as a bell:
She won't survive the night.
My foot freezes mid-step.
The whisper continues, reaching my ears like poison: I heard she's cursed. Born wrong. That's why they're throwing her away.
Another voice joins in: The King will reject her the moment he sees what she really is.
My vision blurs. The room spins.
I look down the aisle at the Alpha King, and I see him tilt his head slightly, like he heard them too.
Like he's wondering if they're right.
The doors slam shut behind me with a boom that echoes like thunder.
There's no going back now.
I'm trapped.
And somewhere deep in my chest, something I didn't know existed begins to burn.
Not survival, it whispers. Revenge.