SEREN POV
Three days after the shooting incident, I make a huge mistake.
I go to the bathroom alone.
The brothers have been watching me like hawks since someone tried to kill me. They walk me to every class. Sit with me at lunch. Even wait outside the bathroom.
But today, Daxion got called to the principal's office. Korrin had to handle a pack emergency. Thayer, Jove, and Lysander are in different classes.
For the first time in three days, I'm alone.
I should've waited. Should've held it. Should've done ANYTHING except walk into that bathroom.
But I didn't think. And now I'm paying for it.
The door slams open behind me, and Elowen walks in with four of her friends.
My heart drops.
"Well, well," Elowen says with a cruel smile. "Look who's all alone. Where are your bodyguards, freak?"
I back toward the sinks. "Leave me alone, Elowen."
"Why should I? You got me expelled, remember? Ruined my family's business. Turned the Voss brothers against me." She steps closer. "All because you waltzed into their lives with your pathetic sob story."
"I didn't DO anything to you!" My voice shakes. "You attacked ME first!"
"Because you DON'T BELONG HERE!" Elowen screams. "The Voss brothers don't actually CARE about you! They pity you! That's all this is—pity for the sad little wolfless orphan!"
The words hit harder than any punch could.
Because part of me believes her. Part of me thinks the same thing late at night when I'm alone.
"They marked you out of obligation," Elowen continues, seeing my doubt. "Not love. Not desire. Just guilt. And when they get tired of pretending—"
"You're wrong," I whisper. But I don't sound convinced.
Elowen lunges.
Her hand tangles in my hair and SLAMS my head into the sink.
Pain explodes through my skull. Stars burst in my vision. Blood runs hot down my face.
"Wrong?" Elowen slams my head again. "I'm NOT WRONG! You're NOTHING! You've ALWAYS been nothing!"
Her friends circle me like vultures. One kicks my ribs—I hear something crack. Another pulls my hair so hard I scream. A third tears my shirt at the shoulder.
"Know your PLACE, wolfless!" Elowen shoves me to the ground.
I hit the tile hard. Blood pools under my face. My ribs scream. Everything hurts.
My wolf is RAGING inside. SHIFT! FIGHT! KILL THEM!
But I can't. I've only shifted once, and barely. If I try now and fail, they'll just hurt me worse.
So I do what I've always done—I survive.
I curl into a ball. Protect my head. Let them kick and hit until they get bored.
"Pathetic," Elowen spits on me. "You'll never be worth their time. And when they realize it? You'll be alone again. Just like you deserve."
They leave, their laughter echoing off the bathroom walls.
I lie there on the cold floor, counting my breaths. Trying not to cry.
WHY? my wolf sobs. WHY DIDN'T WE FIGHT?
"Because fighting makes it worse," I whisper through bloody lips. "It always does."
I don't know how long I stay there. Long enough for the blood to stop flowing. Long enough for the pain to become familiar.
Finally, I force myself up. My legs shake. My ribs protest every movement.
The mirror shows a nightmare. Blood matted in my silver hair. Bruises blooming purple on my face. Split lip. Torn shirt revealing more bruises underneath.
I look exactly like I feel—broken.
The paper towels are rough against my wounds, but I clean up the blood. Hide the worst injuries under my baggy hoodie. Pull my hair forward to cover the bruise on my temple.
If I'm careful, maybe no one will notice.
I slip out of the bathroom and into the crowded hallway. Students rush past, laughing, talking, living normal lives.
No one looks at me. No one asks if I'm okay.
I'm invisible again. Just like before the brothers entered my life.
Maybe that's better. Safer. Less complicated.
I make it through two classes before the marks on my skin start burning.
The mate bonds. They're reacting to my pain, my fear, my injuries.
The brothers will know something's wrong.
I need to get home. Lock myself in my room. Hide until the evidence fades.
When the bell finally rings, I grab my backpack and limp toward the parking lot.
Each step is agony. My cracked ribs make breathing painful. My head pounds with every heartbeat.
But I'm almost there. Almost safe.
Then I feel hands grab my arms.
I try to scream, but a cloth covers my mouth. Chemical smell. Sweet and wrong.
My vision blurs. The parking lot spins.
Strong arms catch me as my legs give out.
Through the haze, I see a face. Male. Unfamiliar. Cold eyes.
"Subject acquired," he says into a phone. "Taking her to the facility now."
Subject? Facility? What's happening?
I try to fight, but the drug is too strong. My limbs won't work. My wolf can't help—she's drowning in chemicals too.
MATES, she whimpers desperately. CALL MATES. HELP.
I reach for the bonds, trying to send a message through them. But everything's so fuzzy. So distant.
The man carrying me opens a van door. Throws me inside like garbage.
Another person is there—a woman in a white coat. She smiles when she sees me.
"Hello, Seren," she says. "I've been waiting twenty years for this moment."
"Who..." I can barely form words.
"Dr. Helena Vex. Though you won't remember that name for long." She pulls out a syringe filled with green liquid. "This will suppress your wolf permanently. Make you docile. Obedient. Perfect."
No. NO.
I try to move, to fight, to do ANYTHING.
But I'm paralyzed.
Dr. Vex leans close. "Did you really think your awakening was natural? That finding FIVE perfect mates was coincidence?" She laughs. "I've been controlling your life since before you were born. And now I'm taking back what's MINE."
The needle pierces my skin.
Cold liquid enters my bloodstream.
My wolf SCREAMS—then goes silent.
The bonds to my mates flicker. Fade. Like candles going out one by one.
"No," I sob. "Please. Don't take them away. Don't—"
"Shh." Dr. Vex strokes my hair almost gently. "It'll all be over soon. You won't remember them. Won't remember love or hope or anything human. You'll just be what you were meant to be—my perfect weapon."
The van starts moving.
I'm being taken somewhere. Away from my mates. Away from safety.
And they don't know where I am.
Through the fading bonds, I feel their panic. Their terror. Their desperate search.
But I can't tell them where I'm going. Can barely think through the drugs.
My wolf is disappearing. The bonds are breaking.
I'm losing everything.
Dr. Vex watches my tears with scientific interest. "Fascinating. Even drugged, you fight. That's the spirit I cultivated in you." She checks her watch. "In approximately six hours, the transformation will be complete. You'll forget the Voss brothers. Forget your past. Forget yourself."
"Why?" I manage to whisper.
"Because a Lunar Omega with five Alpha bonds is the most powerful weapon in existence. And I created you to be MINE." Her smile turns cruel. "Your mother sold you to me for fifty thousand dollars before you were born. I've been pulling your strings ever since. Every beating. Every betrayal. Every moment of suffering—all designed to make you STRONG."
She planned my pain. Made me suffer ON PURPOSE.
"The Voss brothers were never supposed to find you," she continues. "That was an unexpected variable. But it worked out perfectly—they awakened your wolf for me. Saved me years of work."
My eyes are closing. Can't fight the drugs anymore.
"Sleep now, weapon," Dr. Vex whispers. "When you wake, you'll serve only me."
The last thing I feel is the mate bonds shattering completely.
And five screams of agony that aren't my own.
My mates can feel it too. Feel me disappearing from their lives.
I'm sorry, I try to send through the breaking bonds. I love you. I'm so sorry.
Then darkness swallows me whole.
And somewhere far away, five brothers roar with rage as they feel their mate die.