Isla's POV
The bucket of freezing water hits my face before I even open my eyes.
"Get up, worthless omega!" Marta's shrill voice cuts through the darkness. "The Moon Blessing ceremony is tonight, and these floors won't scrub themselves!"
I gasp, choking on the dirty water. My thin blanket is soaked. Around me, the other servant girls pretend to sleep, grateful it's me and not them.
It's always me.
I drag myself off the hard floor where I sleep—I don't even have a bed—and grab my scrub brush. My hands are already raw and bleeding from yesterday, but complaining only makes things worse.
"Move faster!" Marta kicks my leg as I crawl toward the hallway. "Princess Seraphina wants the entire palace sparkling for when she becomes our queen tonight."
The other servants start whispering the moment Marta leaves.
"Can you believe it? The princess will finally be chosen by the moon!"
"Of course she will. She's perfect. Beautiful, strong, royal blood..."
"Not like some people." A girl named Clara looks right at me. "Isla can't even shift properly. What kind of wolf can't shift?"
My cheeks burn with shame. She's right. I'm twenty-three years old, and my wolf has never fully emerged. I feel her sometimes, like a shadow inside me, but she's weak. Trapped. Wrong.
Just like me.
I scrub the marble floors until my arms shake. Hours pass. The sun rises higher. My stomach growls—I haven't eaten since yesterday morning—but servants like me eat last. If there's anything left.
Usually, there isn't.
"Isla!" Marta appears again, and my heart sinks. "You're serving at the ceremony tonight."
My scrub brush clatters to the floor. "What? But I... I'm not trained for—"
"The wine bearers. You'll stand in the shadows and pour drinks. Don't mess it up, or you'll be thrown out of the palace entirely." Her eyes gleam with cruelty. "Then you'll really have nothing."
Fear claws at my throat. I have no family. No money. Nowhere to go. The palace is brutal, but it's all I have.
"Yes, ma'am," I whisper.
She leaves, and I sit back on my heels, staring at my reflection in the wet floor. A thin girl with tangled dark hair and hollow cheeks stares back. I don't remember my parents. They died when I was a baby—that's all I know. The palace took me in, but only because they needed free labor.
I've spent my whole life being invisible. Being nothing.
Why can't I shift? The question haunts me every day. Every other wolf can transform by age sixteen. But not me. People say I'm broken. Cursed. That the moon goddess herself must hate me.
Maybe they're right.
That evening, I'm given a simple black dress and told to report to the Sacred Moon Temple. My hands won't stop shaking as I carry a heavy tray of crystal wine glasses.
The temple is more beautiful than anything I've ever seen. Moonlight pours through the crystal dome ceiling. Hundreds of nobles in silk and jewels fill the space. I press myself against the cold stone wall, trying to disappear.
Then she enters.
Princess Seraphina glides down the aisle like she's already queen. Her silver gown sparkles. Her golden hair shines. Everyone bows. She smiles, confident and radiant.
I feel smaller than ever.
The High Priestess raises her arms. "Tonight, the moon goddess will choose the Wolf King's destined mate!"
My heart pounds. I've never even seen the Wolf King in person. They say he's terrifying. Deadly. That he killed a hundred enemies with his bare hands when he was only nineteen.
The moonlight grows brighter, flooding through the dome like liquid silver. It pools in the center of the temple, swirling with ancient magic.
The priestess chants in the old language. The beam of moonlight begins to descend, reaching toward the crowd like a living thing.
Everyone holds their breath.
The light moves toward Princess Seraphina. She steps forward, lifting her chin proudly.
Then the moonlight swerves.
It cuts across the temple like a silver arrow.
Straight toward me.
"No," I breathe. "No, no, no—"
The moonlight slams into my chest.
Pain explodes through my body. I drop the tray—glass shatters everywhere—and fall to my knees. Something burns into my skin, my neck, spreading like fire across my collarbone.
I scream.
When I finally look up, every single person in the temple is staring at me in horror.
The Moon's Kiss glows on my skin—the sacred mark of the chosen mate.
And then I see him.
The Wolf King rises from his throne. He's massive, powerful, with silver eyes that pierce straight through me. Those eyes widen in shock as they lock onto mine.
For one impossible moment, I feel everything—a pull so strong it steals my breath. Recognition. Destiny. Something I don't have words for.
Then Princess Seraphina's scream shatters the silence.
"IMPOSSIBLE! She's nobody! She's NOTHING!"
The doors explode inward.
Hooded figures pour into the temple, and the moonlight glints off their drawn blades.
They're all running straight toward me.