Chapter 1

Julian's lungs rattled with the Silver Rot, each breath a death rattle echoing through the packhouse.

Seraphina heard whispers that a Lupine Heart could cure anything, even the blood-blight eating him alive.

She didn't hesitate. She ordered her guards to slaughter the Silver Soul-Wolf that had been bound to me for a millennium.

Carve out its heart while it still beat.

A millennium of Primal Guardian Essence turned to ash in seconds.

I threw myself over the dying wolf. Every slash of the silver blade tore through my own chest like they were cutting into my ribs.

"You know what I am!" I gasped, blood soaking through my shirt. "When the Soul-Wolf dies, I die with it!"

Seraphina sneered. She peeled back the silver fur with her own hands, blood coating her fingers like war paint.

"Only the Matriarch believes your lies about being some ancient guardian," she hissed. "You think I'll fall for this pathetic act?"

Her eyes were cold, merciless. "It's just a wolf. I'll buy you another one if it means Julian gets to breathe."

My Primal Guardian Essence drained out in waves. My vision blurred as the bond shattered, and my eyes bled from silver to ash-gray.

I stumbled toward the Matriarch's chambers, clutching the jar that held what remained of my Soul-Wolf.

"I've shielded your pack from disaster a hundred times." My voice came out hollow, broken. "I've repaid the debt. My power is destroyed."

"Let me go."

---

White smoke rose from the Soul-Wolf's severed body like a departing spirit.

The Pack Healer shook his head, his expression grave.

"They struck the heart and spine in one blow. Whoever killed this wolf knew exactly what they were doing." He met my eyes. "There's no bringing it back."

I placed the bloody remnants into the jar. My hands wouldn't stop shaking.

The Soul-Wolf was linked to me through ancient magic. I felt phantom pain slice through my lower back where the blade had severed its spine.

My face burned like the skin was being flayed off in strips.

The Matriarch steadied me as I swayed. "I warned her a thousand times that the wolf was your life force!"

Fury made her voice shake. "And she dared to carve out its heart with her own hands, watching you collapse!"

My legs went numb. I forced myself to walk.

Seraphina knew about the Soul-Link. Of course she did.

But she still brought down that blade, her eyes locked on mine as I screamed. She grabbed my neck and hissed in my ear, her breath hot against my skin.

"You're a good actor. This is how you fooled the Matriarch, isn't it?"

Her smile was cruel. "You really thought I'd fall for your Guardian bullshit?"

She ordered her men to cut out the heart. I fell to my knees, screaming until my throat bled.

She threw the wolf's corpse at my feet like roadkill.

"If you really had a millennium of power in that thing, it must be potent medicine." Her eyes gleamed. "If it cures Julian's blood-blight, I'll get you a new wolf to keep up your charade."

The butler rushed in while I was drowning in pain. He shoved a cardboard box into my hands.

Seraphina's orders. Bring it immediately.

I forced my shaking hands to open it. A hawk burst out, yellow eyes locked on the jar.

The hawk dove. I threw myself over the jar as talons tore into my spine.

I tried to summon my power, fingers forming the ancient signs. Nothing happened.

My Primal Guardian Essence was gone. I could only curl my body around the jar, protecting what little remained.

Everyone knows wolves fear hawks the way prey fears predators. Even in human form, the terror was bone-deep.

Primal.

The hawk pecked holes into my back until the Matriarch's guards beat it to death with iron rods.

I lay motionless on the clinic floor. Then I heard a heavy thud beside me.

The Matriarch knelt before me, her head bowed in shame.

"Ethan, I never imagined my granddaughter could commit such an atrocity against her own fated mate."

Her voice cracked. "You are this pack's Sacred Guardian, blessed by the Moon Goddess herself."

"I will find you a sacred place to restore your bloodline. Please, for the sake of your debt to my grandmother, forgive Seraphina this once."

I didn't know how to respond. My mind was too fractured.

A hundred years ago, the Matriarch's grandmother found me dying in the mountains from a hawk attack. She brought me home, bandaged my wounds, nursed me back to health over long months.

Out of gratitude, when I achieved my full ancestral power, I sought her out. I vowed to protect her bloodline for generations.

Later, to save Seraphina from a death curse, I broke the Sacred Moon Vow. I took human form, trapping all my power inside the Soul-Wolf.

But now Seraphina had destroyed the wolf herself. My power was gone.

I looked at the Matriarch kneeling before me. My voice came out cold, hard.

"I promised your grandmother I would shield her descendants from calamity. I've kept that vow for a century."

"But I've lost my Guardian powers. I've turned back a hundred disasters and sacrificed my immortality to save Seraphina when the Moon Goddess herself marked her for death."

"Consider your grandmother's debt repaid in full. Let me leave this territory before what remains of me dies here."