The training grounds of the Midnight Eclipse were not designed for the faint of heart. Located in a sunken stone arena beneath the Obsidian Spire, the air was thick with the smell of sweat, iron, and the musk of shifting wolves. While the Silver Moon Pack trained under the warmth of the sun, Valerius's warriors honed their skills in the shadows, fueled by the cold and the unforgiving stone.
I stood in the center of the arena, my breath coming in ragged gasps. I was dressed in tight leather breeches and a tunic that was already soaked through with sweat. My muscles screamed in protest, every fiber of my being begging for rest.
Across from me stood Kael, a brutal lead trainer with scars crisscrossing his face, handpicked by Valerius to "break" me.
"Again," Kael barked, his voice echoing off the stone walls. "A wolf doesn't wait for her mate to save her, Skaya. A wolf bites until the bone snaps. You're fighting like a human girl afraid of a broken nail."
I wiped a smudge of dirt and blood from my cheek. "I am human, remember? That's why I was thrown out."
"Then find the part of you that isn't," a cold, smooth voice interrupted.
I looked up to the spectator's balcony. Alpha Valerius sat there, draped in black silk, a silver chalice in his hand. He looked less like a savior and more like a dark god watching a gladiator match. His violet eyes were unreadable, but the pressure of his gaze felt like a physical weight on my shoulders.
Kael didn't give me time to recover. He lunged, his movements a blur of superhuman speed. I barely managed to roll to the side, the stone floor scraping my palms raw. I scrambled to my feet, but Kael was already there. He kicked my legs out from under me and pinned me to the ground, his forearm pressing against my windpipe.
"Pathetic," Kael hissed. "If Kaelen Vancour saw you now, he wouldn't even bother rejecting you. He'd just laugh as he stepped over your corpse."
The mention of that name was like a spark dropped into a pool of gasoline. My vision blurred, tinted with a sudden, searing silver light. A low growl—not from Kael, but from inside me—vibrated through my chest.
How dare they. The agony of the rejection, the cold of the forest, and the humiliation of being called a 'Null' merged into a single point of white-hot rage. My blood felt like it was turning into liquid silver.
"Get. Off. Me," I whispered.
Kael chuckled. "Make me, stray."
Suddenly, a surge of power erupted from my core. It wasn't the warm, earthy energy of a normal werewolf shift. It was cold, sharp, and ancient. My fingernails elongated into obsidian-black claws, and my eyes flashed a color that made Kael freeze in terror.
I didn't just push him. I threw him.
The massive warrior, three times my weight, was launched across the arena, his body slamming into the stone wall with a sickening thud. He slumped to the ground, unconscious before he even hit the floor.
Silence fell over the arena. The other warriors who had been sparring stopped, their eyes wide as they looked at the girl in the center of the ring. Small cracks had formed in the stone floor where my hands had been.
I stood up slowly, my chest heaving. The silver glow in my veins was receding, leaving me feeling hollow and shaky. I looked down at my hands—my claws were retracting, leaving my fingertips bloodied and raw.
A slow, rhythmic clapping echoed from the balcony.
Valerius stood up, his gaze locked on me with an intensity that made my skin tingle. He leaped from the high balcony, landing silently on the arena floor like a shadow. He walked toward me, the warriors parting like the Red Sea before their king.
"There she is," Valerius murmured, stopping inches away from me. He reached out, grabbing my hand and lifting it to inspect the bloodied fingertips. "The Silver Fenrir. Sleeping for a thousand years, only to wake up because a boy broke her heart."
"What happened to me?" I asked, my voice trembling. "That wasn't a shift. I didn't become a wolf."
"You are more than a wolf, Skaya," Valerius said, his voice dropping to a low, possessive tone. "Your bloodline is a myth—a prehistoric strain of our kind that doesn't need to shift to exert its power. You are a weapon of the Moon Goddess herself. But you are undisciplined. Raw. Dangerous."
"I don't care if it's dangerous," I snapped, my anger returning. "I want to be able to do that again. I want to be able to do it when I stand in front of Kaelen."
Valerius smirked, his violet eyes glowing. He pulled me closer, his hand sliding to the small of my back, holding me firmly against him. "And you will. But power like that comes with a price. Your body isn't ready for the strain. You will burn yourself from the inside out if you don't learn to channel it."
He leaned down, his lips brushing against my ear. "From now on, Kael is finished with you. You will train with me. Personally. In the private chambers of the Spire."
The thought of being alone with Valerius, under his direct tutelage, sent a jolt of something that wasn't rage through my body. It was a dark, dangerous attraction that I knew I should fight, but my wolf—or whatever lived inside me—purred at his proximity.
"Is that part of the pact?" I challenged, looking up at him. "Or is the Shadow King just looking for a new toy?"
Valerius's grip tightened, his eyes darkening to a deep amethyst. He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he reached into his tunic and pulled out a necklace—a heavy silver coin hanging from a black cord. He draped it around my neck, the cold metal resting right against my heart.
"This is the mark of the Midnight Eclipse," Valerius said, his voice a dark vow. "By wearing this, you are no longer a guest. You are my Second. My blade. If anyone questions your presence, they question mine."
I looked down at the coin. It was etched with a wolf howling under a crescent moon. "The pack will hate me even more now. Morana will try to kill me."
Valerius leaned in, his nose grazing mine, his scent of storm and cedar overwhelming my senses.
"Let them try," he whispered, a predatory grin spreading across his face. "I've always wanted to see how a Goddess handles a massacre. Shall we begin your real education, Skaya?"