Selene’s POV
The wind had gone still.
Not a single leaf stirred and not a single whisper moved. Dust hung in the air like the whole world was holding its breath, and I knelt in the center of it all...chained, bruised, and surrounded. The cold stone beneath my knees was soaked with my own blood, and my wrists throbbed inside the iron cuffs. Every shallow breath I took tasted like ash and iron.
But none of it hurt as much as the weight of their eyes.
Hundreds of wolves. Lining the towers. Filling the ledges. Blocking the gates. The entire Silver Dawn Pack had gathered to watch me fall. I could feel their hatred pressing down on me, hot and suffocating. There was no escape and no place to hide.
Then I saw him step forward.
Aeron Duskdraven.
he was tall and...cold. His presence hit like steel drawn from a scabbard. And when he spoke, his voice sliced through the square like a blade.
"The war is over."
A roar answered him. Wolves howled and fists lifted in triumph.
"The Crimson Fang Pack has fallen. The tyranny of Alpha Eirik Moonveil is no more."
My father’s name echoed like a curse through the square.
I clenched my jaw, but the ache in my chest spread like rot. I had stopped crying day ago. Now there was only numbness and the hollow kind of pain that went deeper than bruises ever could.
"We have slaughtered their warriors. Broken their walls. And today, those who remain will kneel beneath us."
His eyes swept across the other captured noble girls behind me. I didn’t turn to look. I didn’t need to. I could feel them shaking. I knew they were afraid. And I hated that I still felt something for them...some pitiful sense of guilt.
"By decree of the Silver Dawn Pack," Aeron continued, "you will all be stripped of your ranks and merged into our society as the lowest rank of omega. You will live among the filth you once stepped over. You will serve the wolves your kind once oppressed."
The crowd went wild.
And then... I looked up.
That was my mistake.
Because what I saw tore something inside me I didn’t know was still intact.
The omegas.
My omegas.
The ones who once bowed before me, smiled at me, fetched my meals...now they stood among the crowd with bright eyes and open smiles. Cheering, laughing and celebrating.
Like this was justice.
Like my father’s death was their salvation.
Like they had never been one of us at all.
They cheered louder than anyone else.
And just for a second, just for one heartbeat, something bitter and ugly twisted through me. My cracked lips curled into the smallest of sneers. My first expression since the war ended.
Crack.
The pain came instantly.
A sharp slap to my face knocked my head to the side, a hot agony exploding through my skull. My cheek burned. My lip split open again. I tasted more blood.
Silence fell like a blade. Even the crowd went quiet.
My knees wobbled, but I stayed upright—barely. My vision blurred. My body screamed. But I didn’t cry. I didn’t even gasp.
The hand that struck me belonged to a Gamma male, tall and cruel-eyed. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to.
The message was clear: I wasn’t allowed to show defiance. Not even on my face.
I lowered my head and breathed through the sting, blinking back the dizzy haze pressing in around the edges of my vision.
Then Aeron’s voice returned harder and colder.
"Now... the traitor among them. The one who did not just stand behind the tyrant... but bears his blood."
My stomach dropped.
"Selene Moonveil. Daughter of the monster. Branded murderer of our people. The last thread of the cursed Moonveil line."
My hands shook.
"You will be stripped not only of your title... but of your blood. From this day forward, you will no longer be considered Alpha-born. Your existence will be erased from our records. You will be given a new place in our hierarchy."
For one brief second, I looked up.
Some foolish part of me hoped for mercy. A second chance.
"You are not an omega," he said.
I held my breath.
"You are less than that."
My heart stopped.
"You are to be branded... as a slave."
Time shattered.
Gasps erupted all around. I couldn’t feel my hands. My skin went cold. My thoughts fractured like glass.
Slave?
No.
No.
I can be a omega, but I can’t be a slave. I still had Alpha blood. I was the daughter of an alpha line. We were leaders. We carried legacy. Branding was for rogues, for exiles, for filth and dirty races.
Even omegas had rights.
Slaves didn’t.
I shook my head slowly, disbelief turning to horror.
They wouldn’t... they wouldn’t dare...
My lips trembled as I raised my eyes to Aeron. "Please..." I whispered.
But they were all staring at me—Aeron, Luca, Kael, Lucian and I saw nothing in them but disgust, hate and something darker.
A guard approached.
In his hands, he carried something glowing—silver metal shaped like a collar of thorns. My breath caught. It was already being heated in the fire, the embers hissing.
The sound... it was like a living thing. A monster breathing.
"No..." I whispered, crawling backward on my knees. "Please don’t..."
The other noble girls didn’t move. No one stepped forward. No one cried out. Even the girls who had been chained beside me now leaned away—as if touching me would curse them too.
I screamed.
"PLEASE! NO! I’LL DO ANYTHING—PLEASE—!"
I looked to the crowd, to the women, to the omegas, even to the children—but all of them turned away.
No one saw me.
No one wanted to.
I didn’t want to be a slave.
I’d rather die.
Just kill me... please, just kill me...
I bit my tongue—hard. Blood flooded my mouth. I welcomed the taste. I hoped I’d choke on it. I tilted forward, desperate to pass out, desperate for the world to end.
But then—
A hand gripped my jaw.
Luca.
He crouched in front of me, his fingers like ice digging into my cheeks. His voice was quiet, but it hit harder than any slap.
"You don’t get to die yet."
I gagged on blood, but he didn’t let go.
"You’ll live through this," he murmured. "Because this... this is just the beginning."
And then I saw it—the brand.
Glowing, cruel and inescapable.
It came closer. I screamed. I kicked. I begged. I thrashed like an animal. But no one helped. Because in this pack... slaves don’t get voices. And I was no longer Selene Moonveil.
I was no one.
I was nothing.