The sun had barely begun to crest the horizon over the Silver Claws Pack, but for Alice, the day was already half over. Sweat trickled down her forehead, soaking the strands of light brown hair that kept escaping her tight bun. At twenty, she had a delicate beauty, but her brown eyes carried a depth that didn't belong to someone so young.
She was in the isolated training field behind her house, driving precise strikes into a straw-and-wood dummy.
Every movement was an attempt to silence the screams of the past.
Alice was born of the Beta bloodline — the blood of warriors and protectors ran through her veins. Her father, Luiz, now fifty, had been the right hand of the former Alpha Jonas. His wolf, Lord, was a legend of strength and discipline.
Her mother, Laura, forty-six, was the calm in the storm — a she-wolf named Cassy who kept the family balanced.
And then there was her brother, Alex, twenty-seven, Vitor's current Beta. Alex was the pride of the household — a wolf named Fred who'd inherited the responsibility of protecting the pack after the tragedy.
But for Alice, the tragedy had a name and a face: Kaue.
They'd grown up together. Kaue, with his blond hair and ocean-blue eyes, was two years older and Alice's childhood companion.
Even before they reached the age of transformation, Alice already felt the connection — a tug in her chest, a need to be close, a certainty that only the fated know. But fate was cruel. On the day of the great vampire attack two years ago, Kaue, as a young Beta on the rise, ran to the front lines.
Alice hadn't shifted yet at the time. She remembered hiding with the other females when a searing pain — as if her heart were being split in half without warning — struck her. At that exact moment, miles away, Kaue drew his last breath. The bond was severed before it had ever been sealed with a mark. Alice collapsed before she could scream.
It was during that collapse that her life changed forever. On a plane that wasn't physical, surrounded by a silvery, ethereal light, she found herself standing before the Goddess Selene.
The deity, with a gaze that mingled sorrow and power, confirmed what Alice's heart already knew: Kaue had been, truly, her fated mate.
"The thread was cut before its time, my child," the Goddess said, her voice like wind through the trees. "But I won't leave you forsaken. Because you lost your bond before you could bloom, I'll give you a consolation. A gift that no other wolf possesses."
Selene touched Alice's chest, and a volcanic heat spread through her veins.
"You will command the element of fire. It will be your weapon and your shield. But hear me well: keep this a secret. Use it only when necessary. And at the right moment, when the cycle closes, I will give you a second-chance mate."
When Alice woke in the infirmary two days later, everyone assumed she was in shock from Kaue's death. No one saw the small leather-bound book with an aged cover that appeared under her pillow, written in a language only she could read, teaching her to master the flames that now lived inside her.
Over the two years that followed, while the pack mourned its dead, Alice shifted for the first time into Lila — a gray she-wolf with quick movements. She became a shadow.
She avoided parties, avoided the central square, and above all, avoided pitying looks. She spent hours training with her father, Luiz, and her brother, Alex, becoming an exceptional warrior. Her strikes were stronger than many of the males; her speed was unmatched. They thought it was simply grief being channeled into physical strength. They had no idea that at night, she practiced summoning small spheres of fire between her fingers, feeling Selene's power vibrate against her skin.
"You're pushing it too far today, sis." Alex's voice pulled her from her thoughts.
He was leaning against the fence, accompanied by his wife, Celeste. Celeste was twenty-five, with brown hair and green eyes — the she-wolf Iara.
Beyond being Alice's sister-in-law, she was her best friend and the only person who could coax a smile from her now and then.
"I need to be ready, Alex," Alice replied, wiping the sweat with her arm.
"Ready for what?" Celeste asked, approaching with a bottle of water. "You heard Alpha Vitor's announcement this morning. The Elder Council made the competition official. Two months from now, there'll be a battle to choose the new Luna."
Alice drank the water in silence, her gaze fixed on the horizon.
"You should enter, Alice," Alex urged. "You're a Beta's daughter — you're stronger than any of those she-wolves showing off in the square. You'd be an incredible Luna for Vitor. He needs someone like you, someone who understands the pain of losing a partner."
"No," Alice said flatly.
"Why not?" Celeste pressed, touching her arm. "Are you going to stay hidden in this house forever? You're twenty years old! Kaue... he wouldn't want to see you like this, wilting like a flower without sun."
Alice felt the tightness in her chest, but it wasn't the Goddess's fire — it was the old ache of missing him. She met Celeste's eyes.
"I'm not going to compete for a man who isn't mine. And I don't want a position that requires me to put myself on display for the whole world. I'd rather just be Alice — the sister and daughter of Betas."
"But what about your future?" Alex challenged.
"My future is in the Goddess's hands," Alice answered, thinking of Selene's promise. "She promised me a second chance. A new mate, at the right time. I'll wait for him. I'm not going to throw myself into a tournament to become the convenience wife of a bitter Alpha."
Vitor and she were alike in their pain, but Alice didn't see that as a reason to unite — she saw it as a reason to keep her distance. Two broken people don't fix each other, she thought.
"Alpha Vitor has changed a lot, Alice," Alex tried to argue. "He's cold, yes, but he respects the bloodline. He values strength. If you win, you'll have everyone's respect."
"I don't need everyone's respect, Alex. I just need peace."
Alice turned her back on her brother and sister-in-law and walked toward the forest. She needed a place where she could be herself — a place where she could let the flames pour from her hands without anyone calling her a freak.
As she moved between the trees, she felt Lila stir inside her. Lila felt the Goddess's promise too. The competition was approaching, and though Alice insisted she wouldn't enter, fate had plans that fire couldn't extinguish. She was a Beta, a warrior, and the bearer of a divine secret. The peace she longed for was about to be consumed by the blaze that would soon engulf the Silver Claws Pack.
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