CHAPTER 2
The Silvermoon territory was rotting from the inside.
Marina walked the outer paths of the central den two days after the ritual, her body still aching from the bond-breaking. Every step sent fresh pain through her raw wrists and the fresh scar on her shoulder where the bond mark had been burned away. Between her thighs, a dull, phantom soreness lingered,a mocking reminder of the years she had opened herself for an Alpha who never wanted her.
The plague had worsened in her absence. Black veins of corruption crawled through the once-pristine streams. Trees that had stood for centuries now drooped, their leaves curling into ash. Wolves moved like ghosts through the territory, coughing up blood and shadow-tinged bile. The air itself tasted metallic.
She was not allowed near the healing ceremonies.
As a hybrid shadow wolf blood mixed with something older and wrong,she contaminated the sacred moon circles. The pure-blooded healers turned their backs when she passed, clutching their ritual herbs tighter. Marina had grown used to it. The exclusion had carved itself into her bones long before Ragnar ever touched her.
Seven years old.
Her mother had knelt in their small den that final night, pressing a cold obsidian pendant into Marina’s tiny hands. “The shadow is yours now,” Sable whispered, eyes wild with fear and love. “Never let them take it from you.” Then she was gone,vanished into the night like smoke. No body. No explanation. Only the shadow magic that had bloomed violently in Marina afterward, dark and hungry and impossible to hide.
The Council had watched her closely ever since.
Now, at twenty-four, that same shadow magic made her valuable in the worst possible way.
“Marina.”
Elder Moonseer’s voice cut through the sickly air. Two enforcers flanked the old woman, their faces grim.
“The full Council summons you. Now.”
They led her to the Grand Hollow, the heart of Silvermoon. The massive circular chamber was filled with the most powerful wolves in the territory. Torches flickered weakly, struggling against the creeping darkness of the plague. At the center stood a stone table stained with old blood.
Moonseer took her place at the head. The other elders—twelve in total—stared at Marina with a mixture of calculation and disgust.
Moonseer didn’t waste time.
“We have seen a vision,” she announced, her voice echoing. “A red wolf standing over poisoned waters. The source of the plague lies beyond our borders. In Bloodfang territory.”
Murmurs rippled through the chamber.
“We need someone to confirm the truth. Someone to get close to Alpha Silvain.” Moonseer’s eyes locked onto Marina. “Someone with shadow magic strong enough to slip through their wards and poisons. Someone… expendable.”
The word struck Marina harder than the bond-breaking had.
Expendable.
She felt it land in her chest like a second snap—cleaner, colder, more final. Three years as Ragnar’s mate (his whore, his shadow, his convenient release) and now this. Her body, used until it was no longer convenient. Her life, offered up like a pawn.
She kept her face blank, but inside, her shadow magic coiled tight, tasting the air like a predator.
Moonseer continued, voice clinical. “You will seduce Alpha Silvain during the Blood Moon Hunt. Determine if Bloodfang created this plague. If they did, you will poison him. If they did not…” The elder shrugged. “You will poison him anyway. Bloodfang must be weakened. Our pack needs their resources to survive.”
Marina’s hands curled into fists at her sides. The cuts from the ritual reopened, blood trickling down her forearms.
“And if I succeed?” she asked, voice low.
“You will have served your pack. Cian will be… looked after.”
Her younger brother. The only person left who still felt like family. The one Ragnar had never been able to fully control.
Marina swallowed the bile rising in her throat. The shadow magic inside her whispered darker possibilities, but she pushed it down.
She lifted her chin and met Moonseer’s cold gaze.
“What happens if I refuse?”
For a moment, silence gripped the chamber.
Then Moonseer smiled—a thin, terrible smile that did not reach her eyes.
She raised her hand. A shadow courier flickered into existence beside her, projecting a live image into the center of the hollow.
There, bound in silver chains inside a deep cell, was Cian—beaten, unconscious, but alive.
Moonseer’s voice was soft, almost gentle.
“Then your brother dies screaming before the next full moon. And you… you will wish the bond-breaking had killed you.”
The projected image shifted. Cian stirred, coughing blood, his eyes fluttering open in pain.
He looked directly at the projection as if he could see her.
“Marina…?”