SERA'S POV
Silver light poured from my skin like liquid moonlight, and I couldn't make it stop.
I stared at my glowing hands in the hospital bed, panic rising in my throat. Something ancient moved inside me—something that whispered in a language I shouldn't understand but somehow did.
Power. Hunger. Hunt.
"Make it stop," I begged the doctors crowding around me. "Please, make it stop!"
But they backed away, fear in their eyes.
Through the silver haze, I saw Kael standing by the door. His face showed an emotion I'd never seen before—terror. Of me.
The ancient voice in my head laughed.
He should fear us. They all should. We are LUNA. We are POWER.
"No," I whispered. "I'm Sera. I'm just Sera."
Foolish girl. Sera was the cage. We are what was always meant to BE.
The silver light flared brighter, and everyone in the room flinched. I felt my body rising off the bed, floating, power coursing through my veins like fire.
And I was so, so hungry.
My eyes landed on Kael, and the hunger sharpened. His wolf. His Alpha energy. I wanted to consume it, to—
"No!" I screamed, fighting the instinct. "I won't hurt him!"
Why not? He hurt you. Used you. Threw you away like trash.
Images flooded my mind—not memories, but something else. The voice was showing me things. The breeding contract. Kael's cold dismissal. His clinical touch. Three months of being invisible.
Wait. The contract?
"The contract," I gasped, the silver light flickering. "I never... I didn't find..."
But I was about to.
The ancient voice purred. Yes. See what he planned for you. See the TRUTH.
The silver energy around me pulsed, and suddenly I wasn't in the hospital anymore.
I was standing in Kael's study, three months ago, pregnant and hopeful and so stupidly naive. I watched myself like a ghost, seeing a memory that hadn't happened yet—or was happening now—time felt strange and twisted.
Ghost-Sera moved through Kael's study, looking for candles. She was planning a special dinner to announce the pregnancy. Her face glowed with hope that made my heart ache.
She didn't know. Didn't know what was coming.
"Don't," I whispered to my past self. "Don't open that drawer."
But she did.
Her hand landed on a file marked "CONFIDENTIAL - BREEDING CONTRACT."
I wanted to look away, but the ancient voice held me frozen, forcing me to watch my own destruction.
Ghost-Sera opened the file with shaking hands. I watched her face change as she read—hope crumbling into confusion, confusion into horror, horror into devastation.
"BREEDING CONTRACT," she read aloud, her voice breaking. "Subject Elena Russo agrees to conceive and bear one male heir for the Stormridge family..."
Wait. Elena Russo? That wasn't me. That was—
Another victim, the voice supplied. He's done this before. You're not special. You're not even his first breeding vessel.
No. That couldn't be right.
But Ghost-Sera kept reading, and the words destroyed her: "Upon successful delivery and six-month nursing period, marriage will be annulled. Subject receives ten million dollars and signs NDA. Child remains with Stormridge family. No custody rights retained."
She dropped the papers like they burned.
"No custody rights," Ghost-Sera whispered. "He's going to take my baby."
The file showed a date—two days before his proposal. Before the flowers. Before the romantic words. Everything had been calculated.
She was never his mate. Never his wife.
Just a womb for hire.
Ghost-Sera ran from the study, sobbing. I watched her stumble through the penthouse, barely making it to the elevator before collapsing against the wall.
"He doesn't want me," she cried. "He never wanted me. Just the baby. Just the heir."
The scene shifted. I saw her running through the streets, bleeding, broken. Saw her collapse in an alley, morning sickness and heartbreak making her vomit. Saw a woman in doctor's scrubs find her—
I snapped back to the hospital room, gasping.
The silver light around me had turned dark. Angry. The ancient voice growled with rage.
He USED you. Planned to steal your child. Throw you away like garbage after you served your purpose.
"That wasn't me," I said desperately. "That was someone else. Elena—"
The contract was rewritten with YOUR name after she escaped. He learned from his mistakes. Made sure YOU couldn't run. Made sure YOU were too broken to fight back.
The doctors' monitoring equipment started sparking. The silver energy was feeding off my emotions, growing stronger.
"Sera!" Kael's voice cut through the chaos. "Sera, please. You need to calm down. The power is—"
"You wrote a contract," I said, my voice echoing with the ancient presence. "Before you even proposed. You planned to take my baby and throw me away."
His face went white. "How do you—"
"HOW DO I KNOW?" The power exploded outward, shattering windows. "Because I can see EVERYTHING now! I can see the truth you've been hiding!"
Marcus appeared beside Kael, trying to pull him back. "Kael, get out of here! She's too unstable—"
"I won't leave her." Kael stepped forward instead, hands raised. "Sera, listen to me. That contract—yes, I wrote it. But I never filed it. After the wedding, after the attack, I destroyed it. I swear."
LIAR, the voice roared through me.
"Am I?" Kael pulled out his phone with shaking hands, brought up a video. "Look. This is from two weeks ago."
He hit play. The video showed him in his office, feeding papers into a shredder. Papers labeled "BREEDING CONTRACT - SERA BLACKWOOD."
"I couldn't do it," he said, his voice raw. "I couldn't take your baby away. Couldn't throw you away. So I destroyed it."
The ancient voice hesitated. He's manipulating us. He'll say anything to—
"Then why didn't you tell me?" I demanded. "Why keep treating me like property if you destroyed the contract?"
"Because I'm a coward." Tears streamed down Kael's face. "Because I was so afraid of caring about you that I kept hurting you instead. Because I'm a broken, damaged man who didn't deserve you from the start."
The silver light flickered, uncertain.
"Sera, please," Kael begged. "Come back to me. Fight whatever's taking you over. I know I don't deserve it, but please. Don't let this thing destroy you."
He fears us, the voice purred. Good. Let him BEG.
"Sera!" A new voice. A woman I'd never seen before appeared in the doorway—ancient, powerful, radiating authority. "Listen to me carefully. I'm Theron Ashwood's mother. I know what you're becoming. And you need to RUN. Now."
"What?" I gasped.
"The transformation isn't complete. You're caught between human and Silver Wolf. If you stay here, near your mate, his Alpha energy will trigger the final change." Her eyes were urgent. "And when that happens, you'll destroy everything you love. Including him. Including your baby."
"No," I whispered.
"The only way to save them is to leave. Now. Before it's too late."
Kael roared, "She's not going anywhere—"
The ancient voice made the choice for me.
Silver light exploded, blinding everyone. When it cleared, I stood at the broken window, wind whipping my hair.
"I'm sorry," I said, looking back at Kael one last time.
Then I jumped.
Three stories down, I should have died.
Instead, massive silver wings erupted from my back.
And I flew away into the night, leaving Kael screaming my name behind me.