Clara.
The terror from my encounter with Boran clung to me like a shroud. I spent the rest of the day trying to make myself invisible, scrubbing pots in the kitchen until my knuckles were raw.
*He’s thinking about you,* Selene’s voice murmured in my head. *He’s sitting on his throne, sipping wine, and wondering what’s under your eyepatch. The curiosity is eating him alive.*
“Stop,” I thought back, my hands submerged in greasy water. “You’re not helping.”
*Just giving you the facts, little one. Forewarned is forearmed.*
“What am I supposed to do? Challenge him to a duel?”
*Now that’s an idea I could get behind. Though you’d probably trip and accidentally freeze time again. We need to work on your coordination.*
A commotion from the courtyard interrupted our silent argument. Shouts, the thunder of hooves, then the main doors of the pack house burst open.
A rider, cloaked in the dark grey of the High Council’s messengers, strode into the Great Hall. He was flanked by two of Boran’s warriors, his expression like stone.
Greta, the head cook, rushed out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. I peeked around the doorframe, my heart beginning a slow, heavy drumbeat.
“What is the meaning of this?” Boran’s voice boomed from his throne.
The messenger didn’t flinch. He unrolled a scroll with a sharp snap.
“By order of the High Council,” the messenger’s voice was devoid of emotion, “an inspection will be conducted of the Silver Moon Pack. The Council elders, along with their appointed enforcer, Alpha Lucas of the Obsidian Pack, will arrive in three days’ time.”
A collective gasp went through the hall. Whispers erupted like wildfire.
“Alpha Lucas?” I heard a warrior mutter near me. “Here?”
“The Wolf Executioner,” another breathed, his voice laced with pure terror.
Boran was silent for a long moment. Even from this distance, I could feel the rage rolling off him.
“You will inform the Council that we are prepared to receive them,” Boran said finally, his voice tight. “My pack has nothing to hide.”
The messenger bowed his head once, a curt, almost disrespectful gesture. Then he turned and strode out of the hall as quickly as he had entered.
For a second, there was dead silence. Then, chaos erupted.
“Three days!” Greta shrieked, her face pale. “This entire place is a sty! The floors need to be bleached! The silver needs polishing! All of it!”
She stormed back into the kitchen, her eyes wild. “You! Clara! Get more lye soap from the stores. Now! And you, Maya, start scouring every cauldron until you can see your face in it!”
Maya looked at me, her eyes wide with fear. “The Wolf Executioner,” she whispered. “They say he tears the throats out of weak wolves just for looking at him wrong.”
“He’s the Council’s dog,” another Omega added, her hands trembling. “He does their dirty work. If they find anything out of place here…”
She didn’t need to finish. We all knew the stories. Packs that were deemed ‘unfit’ were dissolved. Their members scattered, or worse, executed as examples.
Boran’s roar cut through the rising panic. “Get to work! Every one of you! This pack house will shine like the moon itself by the time they arrive. Anyone found slacking will answer to me. Personally.”
The threat was clear. The next three days would be hell.
But as I hurried towards the storerooms, a different feeling began to bloom in my chest. Amidst the terror, there was a spark of wild, desperate hope.
This was it. This was my chance.
*Oh, look at you,* Selene said, her tone amused. *Your little hamster wheel of a brain is actually turning.*
“They’ll all be distracted,” I thought, my steps quickening. “Boran, the warriors, everyone. They’ll be so focused on the inspection, on cleaning and preparing. No one will notice a single Omega slipping away.”
*Slipping away to where? The woods? You’d last a day before a rogue pack found you.*
“It’s better than staying here. I’ll take my chances. You said I had to leave. This is the perfect opportunity.”
I reached the dim, cool storeroom and began grabbing bars of soap, my mind racing. I could pack a small bag. Some dried meat, a waterskin. I could be gone by nightfall.
*No.*
The word was so sharp, so absolute in my mind, that I dropped a bar of soap. It hit the stone floor with a dull thud.
“What do you mean, no?” I shot back, my frustration boiling over. “You’re the one who said this place was a cesspool! You’re the one who told me to get ready to leave!”
*I told you to be prepared. Running away is not preparation. It’s cowardice.*
“I am not a coward! I’m being smart. If I stay, one of two things will happen. Boran will eventually discover my secret and kill me, or this Wolf Executioner will decide I’m too weak to live and he’ll kill me. Leaving is my only option.”
*Your options are what I say they are,* Selene replied, her voice losing all its warmth. It was as cold and distant as the moon itself. *You will stay.*
“Why? Give me one good reason why I should stay here and wait for my own execution!”
*Because your destiny is not out there in the woods, hiding under a log. Your destiny is walking right through that front door in three days.*
I laughed, a bitter, soundless laugh in my own mind. “My destiny? My destiny is to scrub floors until I die. You said it yourself, I’m supposed to be some kind of goddess now. Why would I stay and serve these pigs?”
*Because the board is set, Clara. The pieces are moving. The storm I warned you about is not the Council. It’s him. He is the catalyst. Everything you are meant to become starts with him.*
“The man they call the Wolf Executioner? The one who murders the weak? You want me to meet him? He will kill me, Selene. He will look at my eyepatch, smell the Omega on me, and snap my neck without a second thought.”
*He could try. But I think you’ll find he has a very different reaction to you.*
“No. I won’t do it. I’m leaving tonight.”
I gathered the soap, my hands shaking with anger and fear. I would not be a pawn for some celestial voice in my head. My life was my own, and what was left of it, I would fight for.
*Listen to me, vessel,* Selene’s voice was a low, dangerous command. It vibrated through my very bones, making the shelves of the storeroom seem to hum. *I have existed for millennia. I have watched empires rise and fall like the tides. I chose you for a reason. You will not throw away that choice by acting like a frightened rabbit.*
Her power washed over me, immense and terrifying. It pinned me in place, stealing the air from my lungs.
*You are bound to a fate far greater than you can imagine. It is a dangerous path, and it begins with the arrival of the Obsidian Alpha.*
She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in.
*You will not run. You will not hide. You will stand your ground and you will face him. That is not a suggestion. It is a command.*
