Celeste's POV
The crystal wine glass burst in my hand.
"What did you just say?" I asked the nervous omega who'd been arranging flowers for my engagement party.
"I... I just heard some of the other girls talking," Mira stammered, backing away from the glittering bits on the floor. "About how Alpha Darius left the event early last night. With someone."
Blood dripped from my hand where the broken glass had cut me, but I barely felt it. All my attention was focused on the pathetic little omega who'd just given the worst possible news.
"With whom, exactly?"
"I don't know her name. Just that she's young and... and her smell was different. Special somehow."
Special. The word hit me like a physical blow.
I'd spent three years working toward this commitment. Three years of careful planning, political maneuvering, and playing the perfect future Luna. Darius had never shown interest in any female long enough to learn her last name, which made him safe. Controllable.
Now some random girl had caught his attention enough to make him leave his own pack ceremony?
"Leave," I told Mira, my voice deadly quiet. "And if I hear you've been spreading gossip, you'll find yourself exiled before dawn."
The omega fled, leaving me alone in the engagement party planning room with my rushing thoughts and bleeding hand.
I pulled out my phone and dialed my most useful friend.
"Vivian? It's Celeste. I need information on every unmated girl between sixteen and twenty-five in Shadowpine Territory. Especially anyone who attended last night's event."
My spy network had taken years to build, but it was worth every favor I'd traded and every secret I'd gathered. Information was power, and power was everything.
"This is urgent," I continued. "I want names, addresses, family histories, and any unusual traits. Have it to me within the hour."
While I waited, I paced my hotel suite and tried to cool down. So what if Darius had noticed some girl? He'd noticed women before. The difference was that he'd never bothered to follow them home.
Never disappeared from important pack job.
Never looked distracted during important political discussions.
My phone buzzed with new files. Vivian worked fast – one of her better traits.
I looked through photos and profiles, looking for anything that might explain Darius's sudden change in behavior. Most of the girls were standard pack members – pretty enough, but nothing special.
Then I found her.
Sera Nightfall. Eighteen years old as of yesterday. Parents deceased, no live relatives, worked part-time at the pack clinic. Lived alone in a house on the territory's edge.
She was pretty in that fresh-faced, innocent way that some guys found appealing. But that wasn't what made me grip my phone so tight the screen nearly cracked.
It was the note at the bottom of her file: Possible late-blooming omega traits. Recent scent changes noticed by clinic staff. Bloodline unknown due to lost family records.
Missing family records. Scent changes. And she'd turned eighteen exactly when Darius started acting strange.
I made another call.
"Marcus? I need you to dig deeper into someone's past. Sera Nightfall. I want to know everything about her parents, her bloodline, and why her family records are missing."
Marcus was expensive, but he could find knowledge that didn't officially exist. If there were secrets in this girl's past, he'd discover them.
Twenty minutes later, he called back.
"This is interesting, Miss Ravencrest. The girl's parents died in a car accident when she was five, but that's not the strange part."
"What is?"
"Her mother's given name was Moonweaver. That family line vanished from official records about fifteen years ago, but I found some old references. They were... special."
My blood turned to ice. "Special how?"
"The Moonweaver line carried rare omega genetics. Very rare. The kind that only appeared once every few generations and could..." He paused. "This is going to sound crazy."
"Tell me."
"Could reportedly bond with multiple Alphas simultaneously. Create supernatural connections that went beyond regular mate bonds. The old books called them 'pack bridges' because they could link different bloodlines together."
I felt the world tilt around me. Multiple ties. Supernatural connections. "Are you saying this girl could potentially bond with more than one Alpha?"
"If the stories are true, yes. But there's more. Moonfire genetics don't just attract multiple mates – they make the omega incredibly strong. Enhanced healing skills, emotional manipulation, even limited magic use under extreme stress."
I hung up and stared at Sera's photo with new understanding. This wasn't just some girl who'd caught Darius's eye. She was a possible weapon that could reshape the entire supernatural order.
And if she could bond with multiple Alphas, then my proposal meant nothing.
My phone rang again. Darius.
"Celeste? Where are you? We have an emergency situation."
"What kind of emergency?" I kept my voice perfectly calm.
"Someone attacked one of our pack members last night. Cursed dogs, by the look of it. I need all allied Alphas to meet at dawn for a security meeting."
Cursed wolves. Attacking the same night this Sera girl's scent awakened. That couldn't be a mistake.
"Of course, darling. I'll be right there." I paused, then added carefully, "Was anyone hurt in the attack?"
"No one was seriously injured." But there was something in his voice. Something watchful and fierce that I'd never heard before.
He was lying. Or at least not telling me everything.
After hanging up, I sat in my room and planned my next moves. If Sera Nightfall was truly a moonfire omega, then she posed a threat to everything I'd worked for. But she also offered an opportunity.
Moonfire genetics were important to more than just lovesick Alphas. There were old supernatural councils who'd pay fortunes for access to that kind of power. Organizations that collected rare bloodlines for reasons that most werewolves didn't want to think about.
But first, I needed to see this girl for myself. Needed to understand exactly what kind of threat she posed.
I drove to Shadowpine Territory as the sun rose, timing my arrival for maximum effect. The pack house was buzzing with activity – fighters posting extra guards, messengers running between buildings, and an undercurrent of fear that even the strongest wolves couldn't hide.
"Celeste!" Darius came from his office looking like he hadn't slept. His usually perfect look was rumpled, his jaw shadowed with stubble. "Thank you for coming so quickly."
I kissed his cheek, noticing how he barely responded to my touch. "Anything for my future pack, darling. Tell me what happened."
As he talked about the attack – carefully leaving out whose cottage had been targeted – I watched his body language. The way his hands clenched when he mentioned "civilians being threatened." The defensive edge in his voice when he talked about "making sure it doesn't happen again."
This wasn't just about pack security. This was personal.
"Do we know why these cursed ones chose our territory?" I asked innocently.
"They were hunting something specific. Someone with rare genetics." He met my eyes. "We're still investigating what they were after."
Liar. He knew exactly what they were after.
"How scary. I hope whoever they were targeting is safe."
Something flickered in his face. "She is. I made sure of it." She. Not 'they' or 'the goal.' She.
"Well," I said brightly, "at least this excitement won't interfere with our engagement party plans. I've been so looking forward to it."
Darius went very still. "About that, Celeste. Given the current security situation, maybe we should postpone—"
"Postpone?" The word came out sharper than I meant. "Darius, we've been planning this for months. All the big families are coming. We can't just—"
"We can and we will if it keeps people safe."
People. Or one specific person he was suddenly desperate to protect.
I forced my best smile. "Of course. Your pack's safety comes first. I'll make the calls."
But as I watched him disappear back into his office, already pulling out his phone to check on someone, I was making very different plans.
By afternoon, I had an address.
Sera Nightfall's cottage was smaller than my walk-in closet, but it sat on a piece of property that nearly hummed with natural magic. No wonder she'd been able to draw that much power during the attack.
I parked down the road and walked through the forest, using shadow magic to hide my scent and presence. It was a skill my grandma had taught me in secret – abilities that the Ravencrest pack officially didn't possess.
Through her kitchen window, I could see the girl clearly for the first time.
She was nothing like what I'd expected.
Pretty, yes, but in that easy, natural way that didn't require effort or enhancement. Her dark hair fell in soft waves past her shoulders, and her big brown eyes held an innocence that made my teeth clench.
But it was her smell that confirmed my worst fears.
Even through the glass and the shadow magic hiding me, I could smell the moonfire genetics. Pure, strong, and completely untrained. She had no idea what she was carrying in her blood.
As I watched, she moved around her tiny kitchen making tea, humming softly to herself. She looked happy. Content. Like a girl who had no idea that the most dangerous Alpha in three regions was falling for her.
Like a girl who thought she might actually get a happy ending.
I smiled as I headed back to my car. Sera Nightfall had no idea what she was up against. She thought her biggest problem was wondering if Darius might really care about her.
She was about to learn that some fairy tales finished very differently than others.
My phone buzzed with a message from an encrypted number: The girl's power is growing faster than planned. Move quickly or lose your chance to control this situation.
I looked at the message, then deleted it. Whoever was sending these communications knew far too much about what was happening.
But they were right about one thing. I needed to move quickly.
I typed an answer to my spy network: I need a team of cursed ones. Well-trained, secretive, and hungry. Money is no problem.
Some problems needed permanent solutions.
And Sera Nightfall was about to become a very serious problem.