MARKED BY THE ALPHA'S HATE

Darius's voice was raw, desperate cutting through the roar of fire like a whip. Flames devoured the trees around them, curling high into the night sky, feeding on smoke and shadow. Selene stumbled backward, eyes burning, her pulse thundering in her ears.

She didn't move fast enough.

A flaming branch cracked overhead. Darius lunged, grabbing her and yanking her to the ground just as it crashed beside them, spraying sparks and embers.

His body shielded hers.

Do you want to die? he growled into her ear.

I'm not leaving you, she snapped, coughing through the smoke. Not like this.

You don't have a choice.

The bond between them vibrated an invisible thread pulled tight. Selene could feel the pain in him. The fury. The guilt. The restraint.

I can help—....

You'll die,Darius bit out. And if you die, all of this everything we've burned, everything we've bled for will mean nothing."

Something shattered above them. He grabbed her wrist, dragging her to her feet. His claws were half-shifted, eyes flickering red.

She stared at him. You're hurt.

He smirked, bloody and bitter. It's not the first time.

The forest around them was collapsing. Wolves ran past in all directions some Syndicate, some loyal to Darius. None of them stopped.

Because they all knew: Victor hadn't come to take prisoners.

He'd come to end this.

Once and for all.

Darius shoved a talisman into her hand a small obsidian shard carved with runes. Give this to Neris. She'll know what to do.

Wait...what is it?

A seal,he said. Your mother left it behind the day she vanished. It's been hidden in my vault ever since. If Victor finds it—

A howl tore through the flames. Not a wolf's. Something older. Hungrier.

Go! Darius roared.

Selene hesitated for one heartbeat too long.

Then she turned and ran.

Through fire. Through screams. Through the world unraveling around her.

Victor Crane stepped through the inferno like it was nothing.

His coat didn't burn. His eyes didn't blink.

He watched Selene disappear into the smoke, then turned to the creature beside him.

Send the hounds.

The figure beside him shifted tall, thin, skin like bark. Not quite wolf. Not quite man.

"They'll chase her into the old woods," it said. That ground is sacred.

All the better, Victor said. Let the ghosts see what's coming.

Selene ran until the trees turned to ash and the ground sloped down into the old ravine.

Every breath tasted like charcoal. Every step felt like it would be her last.

But still she ran.

She didn't stop until she collapsed in a clearing ringed with black stones ancient, cracked, humming faintly with forgotten spells.

She fell to her knees, gasping. The obsidian shard Darius had given her was warm in her palm, pulsing like a second heartbeat.

Footsteps crunched behind her.

Not wolves.

She turned, claws ready.

But it was Neris.

Barefoot, bloodied, still breathing.

You survived, Selene whispered.

Neris raised an eyebrow. Barely.

She helped Selene to her feet. You shouldn't have come this far alone.

Darius gave me this. Selene held out the shard.

Neris stared at it and went still.

Then, softly: So he finally chose.

Selene frowned. What does that mean?

It means he gave you the key to ending this war, Neris said. But it comes at a price.

What kind of price?

Neris didn't answer.

Instead, she turned and drew a circle in the dirt with her finger. Blood followed the path like ink. Runes shimmered.

This is the last place the Red Moon rose, she said. Your mother carved protection into this ground with her final breath.

Selene stepped inside the circle, heart pounding.

And this? she held up the shard again.

Neris met her gaze. This opens the memory your mother sealed inside your blood.

Meanwhile…

Talon stood at the edge of the burning forest, watching the sky churn with smoke.

One of Victor's Blackfangs approached. We've lost her trail. She's vanished into the old woods.

Talon didn't respond.

Instead, he watched Victor speak to something that shouldn't have existed some long-buried horror dragged back into the world.

He clenched his fists.

Darius had broken orders.

Again.

But it wasn't just that. It wasn't just loyalty slipping through his fingers like ash.

It was fear.

Fear that Selene wouldn't die.

Fear that she'd survive and reveal everything.

Because if the truth came out… Talon's betrayal wouldn't just cost him power.

It would cost him his life

In the circle, Selene knelt as Neris whispered an incantation.

The obsidian shard dissolved into her palm.

Heat flared under her skin.

Her vision went white.

And then...

She saw her mother.

Not in a memory, not in a dream.

In a moment suspended in time.

Her mother stood at the center of a battlefield, cloak torn, silver eyes blazing. Wolves lay at her feet. Elders screamed her name as they fell.

And in her arms a baby.

Selene.

Her mother kissed her brow, then turned to a hooded figure.

She will finish what I could not.

The figure spoke. Then you must vanish. Die, if necessary. The prophecy cannot be fulfilled if you stay.

I understand.

A flash of silver.

Blood.

Darkness.

Selene came back to herself with a scream.

Neris held her down. Easy. Breathe.

Selene clawed at the ground, shaking. She didn't die. She disappeared.

Yes, Neris said. To protect you. To hide the truth from the men who feared what you'd become.

Selene looked up, eyes wet and blazing.

I'm done hiding.

Back in the forest, Darius stood over a broken body Victor's creature.

It had taken everything he had to kill it. His ribs were cracked. His claws soaked.

But he was still standing.

Barely.

Darius,someone whispered behind him.

He turned and saw Talon.

The Beta looked calm. Too calm.

You look like hell, Talon said.

Darius narrowed his eyes. What are you doing here?

Victor wants you to return. Now.

I'm not done.

Talon stepped closer. Don't make me drag you back.

Darius took one step forward.

I'd like to see you try.