ManyWriters

I was born different.
My soul held two "Soul-Sparks," a gift from the Moon Goddess.
It was the only thing that made the pack elders, and my Alpha, Damien, look at me twice.
Because his childhood friend, Seraphina, an important she-wolf in our pack, was fading. An old shadow curse was weakening her wolf spirit.
The elders decided that I, as Damien's fated mate, with my rare twin Soul-Sparks, could give one up to keep Seraphina alive.
Later, Damien and I mated. The moonlight saw our vows.
He used to be my only star, the one who saved me from the loneliness of being an outsider in my own birth pack.
I thought he'd be different from those elders who only cared about my gift.
But when Seraphina's curse got worse, he got obsessed. In that hard Alpha voice no one questions, he demanded I give up one of my Soul-Sparks.
But he didn't know I’d already given up a Soul-Spark once.
The other half of its bond was already in his own burning chest.

Luna’s Last Gift

Seraphina looked at the bracelet in Damien's hand, and the devouring darkness in his eyes, and alarm bells screamed in her head.


In Damien's other hand, a memory crystal appeared, flickering with broken images and sounds—he’d just forced them out of a junior priest Seraphina had bribed. It recorded Seraphina's true, ugly self.


"You think the Alpha will truly love you just because you're back in the pack?"


"Dream on. A wild mutt from some backwater pack. Even if you become Luna, you'll still stink of low birth."


"You'll spend your whole life struggling in that barren land with your pathetic kin."


"You think you're worthy of mating Alpha Damien? The Moon Goddess must be blind."


"The elders have already said, once I'm well, they'll officially announce me as the Alpha's one true mate. You, this so-called Luna, you're just a placeholder."


"See? You're just useless trash in this pack."


"You think I can't make Damien force you to give up your Soul-Spark? You'll give it up, alright."


Chapter 9