Chapter 3

The Matriarch's banquet hall glittered with expensive chandeliers and decorated tables laden with prime cuts of venison and roasted game.

Pack members filled the space, celebrating Julian's miraculous recovery from the blood-blight that should have killed him.

Julian stood at the center of attention, soaking in the praise. Seraphina clung to his arm, her smile radiant.

The Matriarch had banned me from the celebration. So I sat outside in the cold, my back against the stone wall of the packhouse.

Listening to their laughter echo through the night.

At midnight, the sky turned black. Storm clouds gathered from nowhere, blocking out the moon completely.

The first bolt of silver lightning struck the packhouse roof.

Then another. And another.

The Silver Storm descended on the pack like divine judgment, each lightning bolt infused with lunar power that burned through flesh and stone alike.

Inside the banquet hall, screams replaced laughter. Pack members ran for cover as the roof collapsed in sections, silver fire consuming everything it touched.

The Matriarch rushed outside, her face pale with terror. She grabbed my shoulders.

"Ethan, please! Whatever anger you hold, whatever curse you've called down on us—stop this!"

"I'll make Seraphina apologize! I'll exile Julian myself if that's what it takes!"

I looked at her with hollow eyes. My hair had turned completely white in the hours since Seraphina destroyed my Soul-Wolf.

"This isn't my doing, Matriarch." My voice was empty. "This is the Moon Goddess withdrawing her protection."

"Your pack's ancestors desecrated the Sacred Hunt for profit a century ago. I was the only thing standing between your bloodline and divine retribution."

"Now that my power is gone, she's collecting what you owe."

Another bolt of silver lightning struck, this time hitting Julian directly. He screamed as lunar fire seared through his chest.

The Soul-Wolf's heart he'd consumed began to burn inside him, cooking him from within.

Seraphina ran to him, trying to shield him with her own body. The lightning threw her back, leaving scorch marks across her arms.

"Ethan!" she screamed, her voice raw with panic. "Ethan, please make it stop!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry for everything! Just make it stop!"

I didn't move. Didn't respond.

Julian collapsed to his knees, coughing up chunks of blackened flesh. The Silver Rot he thought he'd cured was returning with a vengeance, multiplied by the divine power now destroying him.

The Soul-Wolf's heart was rejecting his body, tearing him apart from the inside.

"Ethan saved you once before, at the cost of his own immortality." The Matriarch's voice shook. "He broke the Sacred Moon Vow to give you human life."

"And you repaid him by destroying his Soul-Wolf with your own hands."

She grabbed Seraphina by the throat, rage overtaking grief. "You've damned this entire pack for your selfish cruelty!"

Seraphina tore herself free, running toward me on her knees. Blood streamed down her face from cuts left by falling debris.

"Ethan, I was wrong! I was so wrong!" Tears mixed with blood on her cheeks. "Please, I'll do anything!"

"Just save Julian! Save the pack!"

I looked down at her without emotion.

"The Moon Goddess doesn't forgive those who betray their Sacred Guardians." My voice was cold as winter frost. "This is her judgment, not mine."

"Pray for mercy if you want. But I'm done protecting you."

I walked away from the burning packhouse. Away from the screams and the smell of silver fire consuming everything I'd once protected.

The Matriarch's pleas followed me into the darkness. But I didn't look back.

My debt was paid in full. Whatever happened to them now was between them and the Goddess.