Celeste POV
I threw the crystal vase against my bedroom wall and watched it burst into a million pieces. Just like my life.
"This is not happening!" I screamed at my image in the mirror. "I am going to be Luna! ME!"
My hands were shaking as I paced back and forth. Three days. Three days since that pathetic omega girl had somehow tricked the Alpha triplets into thinking she was their mate. Three days since my perfect future had been stolen by a lying helper.
There was no way this was real. No way the Moon Goddess would choose someone like Iris Moon over me. I was Beta Marcus Blackwood's daughter. I had been groomed for this role since birth. I was beautiful, educated, and strong.
Iris was nothing. A nobody with weird eyes who served food and cleaned floors.
"The bonds have to be fake," I muttered, pulling books off my shelf. "There has to be a way to prove it."
I found my grandmother's old spell book hidden behind my romance novels. Grandmother had been a witch before she mated into our pack. She'd taught me small magics when I was little, before Father made her stop.
"Dark magic leaves traces," I whispered, flipping through the yellowed pages. "If that little witch used spells to fake the mate bonds, I'll find proof."
The detection spell was complex, but I'd practiced magic in secret for years. I mixed the materials carefully - wolfsbane petals, silver dust, and three drops of my own blood. The liquid bubbled and turned black.
"Show me the truth about Iris Moon's bonds," I ordered.
The liquid swirled and showed me pictures that made my heart stop. But they weren't what I expected to see.
Instead of fake magic, I saw real mate bonds glowing like golden ropes between Iris and all three boys. The ties were stronger than anything I'd ever seen. They pulsed with real love and connection.
"No," I breathed, looking at the truth I didn't want to accept. "No, no, NO!"
I threw the bowl across the room, and it broke against my dresser. The spell had backfired totally. Not only were the ties real, but the potion had shown me something else.
Iris wasn't just an omega. There was power sleeping inside her. Ancient, dangerous force that made my skin crawl.
A knock on my door made me jump.
"Celeste?" It was my father's voice. "We need to talk."
I quickly hid the magic book and opened the door. Father looked tired and worried. His usually perfect Beta calm was cracked.
"What is it?" I asked, trying to sound normal.
"Pack meeting in an hour," he said softly. "Alpha Damon is making an announcement about the mating ceremony."
My stomach dropped. "What kind of announcement?"
"The kind that changes everything," Father said sadly. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I tried to convince him to wait, to find another answer, but..."
"But what?" I asked.
"The ceremony is tomorrow night. Full moon. He's declaring Iris the official Luna."
The world spun around me. Tomorrow night. Less than twenty-four hours before my entire life would be over forever.
"There has to be something we can do," I whispered desperately.
Father shook his head. "The mate ties are real, Celeste. I can smell them on all four of them. Fighting this will only hurt the pack."
After he left, I sat on my bed and felt something dark and cold growing in my chest. If I couldn't show the bonds were fake, and if I couldn't stop the ceremony, then maybe I needed to stop Iris herself.
I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I found the number I'd been saving for situations. Viktor Shadowmoon had contacted me months ago, saying he could help me become Luna if I ever needed assistance.
At the time, I'd thought he was crazy. Now, I was desperate enough to listen.
"Viktor?" I said when he answered on the first ring, as if he'd been waiting for my call.
"Ah, beautiful Celeste," his smooth voice purred through the phone. "I was wondering when you'd call. Having some Luna troubles?"
"How did you know?"
He laughed, and the sound made me shiver. "I know many things. For instance, I know that tomorrow night, during the mating process, the Blackthorne Pack's defenses will be focused inward instead of outward."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that mistakes happen during ceremonies. Especially when there are so many distractions. It would be terribly tragic if something happened to the future Luna before she could officially claim her place."
My heart was pounding. "You want to attack during the ceremony?"
"Not attack," Viktor amended. "Rescue. I want to rescue a beautiful, deserving young woman from watching her proper place be given to someone unworthy."
"And then what?"
"Then you become Luna of my pack instead. My son needs a mate, and you would be great for him."
I closed my eyes. Joining Viktor's pack meant leaving everything I'd ever known. But staying meant watching Iris live my life.
"What do you need from me?" I asked quietly.
"Just some information. Guard locations, ceremony timing, that sort of thing. Small things that will help me... visit... at the right moment."
I thought about Iris's smug face when the triplets had marked her as theirs. I thought about how she'd gone from servant to Luna in one day while I'd trained my whole life for nothing.
"I'll text you everything you need to know," I said.
"Excellent. Oh, and Celeste?"
"Yes?"
"Bring a bag tomorrow. You won't be coming back."
After he hung up, I sat in the darkness of my room and realized what I'd just done. I'd betrayed my own pack. I'd joined with their enemy.
But as I started packing my things, I told myself it didn't matter. By tomorrow night, Iris would be gone, the mating ceremony would be destroyed, and I would finally get the life I deserved.
I was folding my favorite dress when I heard footsteps in the hallway outside my room. They stopped right outside my door.
"Celeste?" Iris's voice was soft and unsure. "Can we talk?"
My blood turned to ice. How much had she heard? How long had she been standing there?
I grabbed a silver letter opener from my desk and slowly walked toward the door. If she'd heard my phone call with Viktor, I couldn't let her warn anyone.
"Of course," I called pleasantly, my hand tightening on the weapon. "Come in."
The door handle turned slowly, and Iris stepped into my room with an anxious smile. Her violet eyes were glowing slightly in the dim light, and I could see the fresh mate marks on her neck.
"I wanted to apologize," she said quietly. "I know this isn't how you planned for things to go, and I'm sorry you're hurt."
Sorry? She was SORRY?
I raised the letter opener behind my back and took a step toward her.
"Oh, Iris," I said with a fake smile. "You have no idea how sorry you're about to be."
But as I moved to strike, her eyes suddenly blazed with silver fire, and her hand shot out to grab my wrist with impossible strength.
"I can smell Viktor's magic on your phone," she said in a voice that didn't sound human anymore. "You called him, didn't you?"
My blood turned to ice as I realized the truth.
Iris wasn't just an omega with strange eyes.
She was something far more dangerous than I'd ever imagined.
And I had just made the biggest mistake of my life.