MIRA'S POV
I couldn't remember what day it was anymore.
The basement had no windows. No clock. Just darkness and pain and the constant burning of silver on my wrists.
Three days, maybe? Four? Time felt like water slipping through my fingers.
My stomach hurt from hunger. My throat was so dry I could barely swallow. The cut on my neck had stopped bleeding, but it still throbbed.
And the worst part? I could feel them.
Not see them. Not hear them. But feel them.
Three presences somewhere above me in the packhouse. Three wolves that pulled at something deep in my chest.
Darius. Cain. Ryker.
My mates who would never know I existed.
The bond was like a rope tied around my heart, stretching toward them. Every time one of them laughed or felt happy, I felt it too. A tiny spark of warmth in all this cold.
It made everything hurt worse.
I was so tired. So, so tired.
Maybe if I just closed my eyes and didn't open them again—
The basement door slammed open.
I jerked my head up. Alpha Magnus stood at the top of the stairs. And behind him was a woman I'd never seen before.
She was old but beautiful. Silver hair. Dark eyes that seemed to see everything. She wore a long black coat and carried a leather bag.
"Wake up, Mira," Magnus said cheerfully. Like we were friends. Like he wasn't the monster who killed my parents. "I brought someone to meet you."
They came down the stairs. The woman moved slowly, studying me with those too-knowing eyes.
"This is Vera," Magnus said. "She's a witch. And she's going to tell me exactly what you are."
A witch. The same witch who cursed my bonds? The one who hid my wolf?
Vera knelt in front of me. Up close, she looked sad. Tired. Like she carried a weight too heavy to hold.
"Hello, child," she said softly.
"Don't talk to her like she's a person," Magnus snapped. "Just examine her and tell me what I need to know."
Vera's jaw tightened, but she nodded. She reached out and touched my forehead.
The moment her skin met mine, everything changed.
Power rushed through me. Not mine—hers. Magic that felt old and deep and dangerous. It poured into me, searching, digging, looking for something.
I gasped and tried to pull away, but the chains held me.
"Shh," Vera whispered. "I'm not hurting you. I'm just looking."
Her magic pushed deeper. Into my chest. Into my bones. Into the place where my wolf was supposed to be.
And then I felt it.
My wolf. Buried deep inside me. Sleeping. Waiting.
But she wasn't sleeping peacefully anymore. She was stirring. Pushing. Trying to wake up.
"Interesting," Vera murmured. She pulled her hand back and stood. "Very interesting indeed."
"Well?" Magnus demanded. "Is she what I think she is?"
Vera looked at him for a long moment. Then she smiled. "Yes. She's a White Wolf. The first born in three centuries."
My heart stopped.
It was true. Everything Magnus said was true.
I really was this thing. This powerful, dangerous thing that everyone wanted to use.
"I knew it!" Magnus grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him. "Do you understand now, Mira? You're mine. Your power is mine. And when you shift—"
"Her wolf is coming early," Vera interrupted.
Magnus froze. "What?"
"The stress. The danger. The silver." Vera gestured at my chains. "Her wolf is trying to emerge to protect her. She won't make it to her eighteenth birthday."
"How early?" Magnus asked.
"Days. Maybe hours. The shift is already starting."
As if her words made it real, heat suddenly flooded my body. Not the burning from the silver. This was different. Deeper. Like fire in my blood.
I gasped. My skin felt too tight. My bones ached.
"No," I whispered. "Not yet. Please, not yet."
If I shifted down here in silver chains, my wolf would be trapped. Weak. Magnus would control me from the very beginning.
"Get more silver," Magnus ordered. "Reinforce the chains. I want her completely contained when she shifts."
"Magnus—" Vera started.
"Now!"
Vera's shoulders slumped. She reached into her bag and pulled out more silver chains. But as she moved toward me, she leaned close.
"I'm sorry," she breathed, so quiet I almost didn't hear it. "I'm so sorry for what I did to you."
Then she pressed something into my palm. Small. Cold. Glass.
A vial of water.
I closed my fist around it quickly, before Magnus could see.
Vera wrapped more silver around my ankles. Each touch burned, but she was gentle. Not cruel like the guards.
When she stood up, our eyes met. Hers were full of regret and pain.
She really was sorry.
But sorry didn't fix anything.
"It's done," Vera told Magnus. "She can't escape now. But you need to be careful. When a White Wolf shifts for the first time, the power surge can—"
"I know what it can do," Magnus cut her off. "That's why we're having the full moon ceremony in three days. When she shifts in front of the entire pack, everyone will see her bow to me."
Three days. The full moon ceremony.
That's when unmated wolves gathered to meet their fated mates. The most important night in any pack.
Magnus wanted to make a show of me. Prove his power by controlling a White Wolf in front of everyone.
"Now leave," Magnus told Vera. "And remember—if you tell anyone about this, our contract says I own your life."
Vera nodded stiffly. She gathered her bag and walked toward the stairs. But at the door, she glanced back at me one more time.
Then she was gone.
Magnus crouched in front of me again. "Three days, Mira. Three days until you become exactly what you were always meant to be. Mine."
He left, locking the door behind him.
I was alone in the dark again.
My body felt hotter. Shakier. My bones ached worse with every breath.
Three days until the full moon. But Vera said my wolf was coming in hours.
I uncurled my fist and looked at the tiny vial Vera gave me. Water. Just water.
But right now, it was everything.
I managed to pull out the cork with my teeth and drank. The water was cool and sweet and tasted like hope.
"Thank you," I whispered into the darkness.
The heat in my body got worse. I could feel my wolf now. Really feel her. She was angry and scared and desperate to get out.
Hold on, I told her. Just hold on a little longer.
But she wasn't listening anymore.
My back arched. Pain exploded through me—different from the silver, different from everything. This was the pain of change. Of transformation.
"No!" I gasped. "Not now, not here, please—"
My bones started to crack.
The shift was starting whether I was ready or not.
And somewhere above me, I felt it—three separate jolts of shock rippling through the mate bonds.
They felt it too.
Something was happening to me, and somehow, they knew.