Sloane.

My wrists are numb beneath the silver restraints.

I can barely feel my fingers anymore, but I can still feel Charlotte's nails digging into my cheek.

She is smiling. My best friend is smiling.

Not the smile she gives me when I tell her something ridiculous. Not the crooked grin she wears when we're sneaking out together. This smile is cruel, and I can't understand why.

“About time you were chained like the bloody parasite you are.”

My eyes widen as her words stun me into absolute silence.

I search her amber eyes desperately, trying to find even a speck of the care and adoration they once held for me.

My Charlotte would never look at me like that, not on my twenty second birthday.

And Silas wouldn't just stand there in the shadows, watching.

“Char... what’s... what are you doing?" I croak, my voice trembling. "What’s going on? You don’t seem like yourself. Are you alright?”

Yes. She cannot be herself. Maybe she is under a spell, or a compulsion, or—

“Oh my god, would you just drop the stupid, selfless act?" Charlotte hisses, throwing her head back with a harsh laugh.

"Would you stop pretending to be a good person? I know exactly what you are!”

“Char, I think we were kidnapped. They must have given you something. Have you taken anything si—”

“Shut up!” Her scream causes me to reel my head back and clamp my mouth shut. She heaves in front of me, her chest rising and falling.

“I’m not myself? Please, this is the most myself that I’ve been in two years. Can’t you see?” She says as a twisted look of satisfaction settles on her face.

“I’m happier right now than I have been in two years, and that’s because I’m finally about to be rid of you.”

I cannot find any words to answer. In the heavy silence, I hear him grind his teeth from the shadows—a habit he always has when he is losing his patience.

“Do you know what it was like watching everyone choose you?” Her fingers tighten around my jaw.

“Your parents adored you. Gareth followed you everywhere. The pack loved you. Even Silas looked at you like you were something precious.”

Her smile twists at the way my face contorts into pain when she mentions Gareth.

“And I was always the friend standing beside you. The one people noticed only after they noticed you.”

Charlotte's eyes water, her features contorting into deep pain. Even now, a foolish part of me just wants to reach out and hold her until she doesn't feel it anymore.

Why is she talking like this?

“Charlotte, that's not tr—”

“You even got married to the man I told you I had feelings for. The only person who’d made me feel loved after my mate’s death.”

I recoil, shocked by her words, but anger finally seeps into my voice.

“Are you serious, Charlotte? You told me you had feelings for him after I told you we were fated mates!”

“You lied! You guys aren’t mates!” she screams in frustration, it feels entirely unreal.

“Charlotte, what are you talki—”

“If you guys were mates," she interrupts, her voice dropping to a chilling whisper, "explain to me why he has you chained to a wall in a dungeon, ready to sacrifice you and make me his new Luna?”

Her pained expression vanishes, replaced by a devilish grin. Before my brain can process her horrific words, the heavy iron door bursts open.

Multiple guards march in with torches, filling the damp stone room with blinding light.

They seize me before I can react. Their heavy hands clamp around my arms, hauling me away from the wall as the silver shackles are unlocked.

The moment my feet touch the ground, my knees buckle. Every muscle in my body screams in protest. The silver has been draining my werewolf energy for god knows how long

“Move.”

A rough shove sends me stumbling forward. The dungeon stretches farther than I realize. The guards line the stone walls with torches leading to an enormous vault while hooded figures stand in a wide circle, silent and unmoving.

In the center of the chamber stands Dominic Theron—Silas’s father, the former Alpha. His expression is dangerously close to delight, a terrifying look on a man who has never shown me anything but quiet hatred.

An enormous stone altar dominates the center of the room. Ancient runes carved into its surface pulse with a sickening, crimson glow.

No… this isn't a prison. Charlotte’s words echo in my head as the horrific truth finally dawns on me.

It is an execution chamber.

The guards force me onto the cold stone slab, fastening fresh silver restraints around my wrists and ankles. The metal burns against my skin like liquid fire. Charlotte steps back, proudly taking her place beside the man stepping out of the shadows.

Silas.

My husband. My fated mate. The Alpha of our pack.

He has been watching this entire time. He looks exactly as he did this morning. Beautiful. Cruel.

He is the same man who softly stroked my cheek before I fell asleep. Now, he does not even spare me a glance.

“Silas...” My voice cracks.

Nothing. He continues walking until he stands opposite me, his hands folded neatly behind his back. I search his face desperately for some type of emotion—fear, regret, anger, anything. Instead, I find absolute emptiness.

“Why?” The word barely leaves my lips and his dark gaze finally settles on me.

“You served your purpose.”

The cold words steal the air from my lungs. “I don’t understand... we are fated mates...” Something almost like amusement passes through his eyes.

“And?” Something squeezes around my heart.

“You loved me.”

“Did I?”

The question destroys something inside me.

“I only ever needed you to believe that I did. You were chosen to die,” Silas says calmly, lifting his hand to touch the nape of my neck, right next to the unique birthmark he’d always told me he loved.

“I only married you for this, Sloane. The Mark of the Moon Goddess. Nothing else.”

A sound catches in my throat. I want to scream at him, to tell him he is lying, that the man I loved cannot possibly be standing over me like this.

But then a deafening crash tears through the dungeon and the iron doors fly inward.

Every head snaps toward the entrance.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!”

My heart stops when my sister's voice reaches my ears.

“Lena?”

She charges into the chamber with a dagger in hand, blood streaking her clothes and several guards already lying motionless behind her. Her blue eyes lock onto mine.

“Lena, no!” I scream, straining against the restraints.

“Run!”

She doesn't listen, she never listens.

She launches herself at the nearest guard, driving one dagger into his shoulder before spinning beneath another's blade. For one desperate second, I almost believe she might actually reach me.

Then someone catches her from behind and a blade strikes her. Lena's body jerks and her eyes widen.

“NO!”

She collapses onto the stone floor and everything inside me shatters.

I fight against the restraints until the silver burns through my skin. I don't care. I don't feel the pain anymore. All I can see is my little sister lying motionless on the floor, blood slowly spreading beneath her.

Charlotte watches with a smile.

I turn toward her, hatred finally burning through every ounce of love I ever had for her.

“You killed her.”

Charlotte's smile falters for the first time.

“She chose to come here.”

“She was my sister!”

My scream echoes through the chamber.

Lena's fingers twitch and my breath hitches.

“Sloane…”

Her voice is barely audible.

I strain toward her, tears flooding my vision.

“I'm here. I'm here, Lena. Please, please don't close your eyes.”

Her blue eyes find mine.

“Live, don't let them think you were only good for a sacrifice.”

The word leaves her lips like a final breath before her hand goes still and so does the world around me.

“No, no, no…”

Something inside my chest caves in.

I simply stare at her body, unable to understand how someone who was alive only moments ago could suddenly be gone.

I don't even look at Silas when he raises the dagger above me.

“Sloane.”My eyes finally lift but his expression is empty.

“You were always going to die.”

I close my eyes.

Not because I'm afraid of death, but because I can't bear to watch the last person I love disappear.

The blade drives into my chest and pain explodes through me.

I gasp, my entire body convulsing against the restraints as silver tears through my heart.

And then blinding, violent silver light erupts from the vault before us.

The entire dungeon disappears beneath it.

And the last thing I hear is Silas screaming.