POV: Sophia
SLAP!
My mother's hand cracked across my face so hard that I stumbled backward into my bedroom wall. The taste of blood filled my mouth, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the fear clawing at my chest.
"You stupid, worthless girl!" Mother screamed, her beautiful face twisted with rage. "How could you let this happen?"
I touched my hot cheek with shaking fingers. "I don't understand. The witch promised—"
"The witch promised you'd be Luna if you followed her instructions perfectly!" Mother grabbed my shoulders and shook me until my teeth rattled. "Did you kill the omega girl like she told you?"
"I tried! But she's already eighteen, and the mark appeared before I could—"
Another slap sent me falling across my bed. Stars danced in front of my eyes as Mother's voice turned deadly quiet.
"Eighteen years, Sophia. Eighteen years I've planned and sacrificed and paid for your future. Do you have any idea what I've done to make you Luna?"
I did know, and it scared me. The talks in dark places. The strange brews. The way small animals around our house kept disappearing. Mother had been making deals with the witch since before I was born.
"I can fix this," I whispered desperately. "The witch said there's still a way—"
"Yes, there is." Mother's smile was colder than winter ice. "But it requires you to be much braver than you've been so far."
She walked to my closet and pulled out a secret box I'd never seen before. Inside were things that made my stomach turn: strange bottles filled with dark liquid, dried plants that smelled like death, and something that looked like tiny bones.
"What is all this?" I asked, even though I was afraid to know.
"Insurance," Mother said, mixing ingredients with skilled hands. "The witch gave me these years ago, just in case the original plan failed."
"What do they do?"
"They make sure Maya Chen never lives to claim her mate bond." Mother's eyes glowed with an evil light. "But you have to be the one to use them, Sophia. The magic only works if the rejected mate does the killing herself."
My hands started shaking. "You want me to murder Maya?"
"I want you to take back what belongs to you!" Mother grabbed my face, pushing me to look at her. "That omega girl stole your fate. She stole your future. She stole the life you were promised since birth!"
Tears burned my eyes, but they weren't tears of sadness. They were tears of pure rage. Mother was right. Maya had taken everything that should have been mine.
"The triplets were supposed to love me," I whispered.
"They will love you," Mother promised. "Once Maya is gone and the dark magic passes her bond to you. But we have to act tonight, before the tie gets stronger."
She pressed a small vial into my hand. The liquid inside was so black it seemed to swallow light.
"What is it?"
"Liquid shadow," Mother explained. "One drop in her food or drink, and Maya Chen will be dead within minutes. But it has to look like a mistake, or the pack will suspect dark magic."
I stared at the vial, my heart racing. Could I really do this? Could I actually kill someone?
But then I thought about Maya's smug face when she showed her Triple Mark. The way all three brothers had stared at her like she was some kind of goddess. The way my entire life had fallen in a single moment.
"She deserves this," I said, surprised by how steady my voice sounded.
"That's my girl." Mother smiled and kissed my forehead like she used to when I was little. "Now listen carefully. There's a pack meeting tonight to discuss Maya's mark. You need to get close to her and put the poison in her drink."
"What if someone sees me?"
"They won't. I've already spread rumors that Maya used dark magic to make a fake mark. Half the pack thinks she's a lie and a cheat. When she dies suddenly, they'll think the fake magic backfired. "
The plan was great. Almost too perfect.
"What about the witch?" I asked. "Won't she be angry if we use her backup plan?"
Mother's face went pale. "The witch doesn't know about this. She thinks her original plan is still working. And we need to keep it that way, Sophia. If she finds out we went behind her back..."
"What would happen?"
"She'd kill us both," Mother whispered. "But she won't find out, because Maya will be dead by midnight, and the bond will transfer to you just like it was supposed to."
I hid the poison bottle in my dress pocket and followed Mother downstairs. The pack meeting was already starting in the great hall, and I could hear Alpha James calling for order.
My heart hammered as we walked in and took our places. Maya sat near the front with that old omega woman, Gamma Rose. The Triple Mark on her wrist glowed softly even through the bandage she'd tied around it.
The three Blackwood boys sat beside their father, all of them stealing glances at Maya like she was the most beautiful thing they'd ever seen. It made me sick.
"Tonight, we discuss the appearance of the Triple Mark," Alpha James stated. "A sign that hasn't been seen in our pack for over a century."
Whispers filled the hall. Some people sounded excited, others worried. I heard my mother's stories spreading through the crowd: "Fake mark." "Dark magic." "Omega trickery." Perfect.
Alpha James raised his hand for quiet. "Maya Chen will now demonstrate the authenticity of her mark through the sacred flame test."
My blood turned to ice. The sacred flame test would show Maya's mark was real. Once everyone saw that, they'd stop believing Mother's stories.
I had to act now.
While everyone focused on the ceremony starting, I slipped out of my seat and moved toward the refreshment table where Maya's water cup sat unguarded. My hand shook as I pulled out the poison vial.
One drop. That's all it would take.
I was about to open the bottle when a hand grabbed my wrist. I spun around to find Logan Blackwood looking at me with suspicious eyes.
"What are you doing, Sophia?" he asked quietly.
"Nothing," I lied, trying to pull my hand free. "Just getting some water."
But Logan's grip tightened, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at the vial in my hand. "What's in the bottle?"
Before I could answer, the great hall exploded in gasps and screams. I turned to see Maya holding her hand over the holy flame, her Triple Mark blazing like a star. But that wasn't what made everyone scream.
It was the army of shadow creatures coming through the windows, led by a figure in a black hooded cloak.
The witch had arrived.
And she was angry.
"SOPHIA TORRES!" her voice boomed across the hall like thunder. "YOU DARE BETRAY ME?"
I dropped the poison vial, which broke on the floor. But it was too late. The witch had seen everything.
"I gave you one job," the witch snarled, floating toward me with death in her glowing red eyes. "Kill the omega before her eighteenth birthday. Instead, you let her live, and now you try to use stolen magic behind my back?"
"Please," I begged, falling to my knees. "I can still fix this!"
"No," the witch smiled, showing teeth like broken glass. "You can't. But you can still be useful."
She raised her hand, and dark power wrapped around me like chains. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't scream as the magic turned me into something else.
Something terrible.
"Kill them all," the witch ordered as my body twisted and grew. "Starting with the Trinity Omega."
The last thing I saw before the darkness took my mind was Maya's scared face as I lunged toward her with claws that used to be my hands.