Seraphina’s POV
The shift finished.
I stood on four legs. Massive. Powerful. My silver-white fur caught the dawn light.
Everything felt different. Sharper. Like the world had been blurry before and suddenly ca into focus.
My senses exploded. I could sll everything. The blood. The fear. The poison still lingering in the air.
And beneath it all—Damien. His scent. Fading. Dying.
I needed to protect him. Had to protect him.
But first, I had to deal with them.
Voss and Valerie stood frozen. Staring at like I’d materialized from thin air.
"That’s impossible." Valerie’s voice shook. Still human. Eyes huge. "You don’t have a wolf anymore. You can’t—"
I roared.
Not a growl. Not a snarl. A full Alpha roar that made the trees shake. That sent birds scattering from branches. That announced exactly what I was.
The sound vibrated through my chest. Through the ground. Through everything.
Both of them dropped to their knees. Their bodies responding to Alpha command before their brains could catch up. Submission instinct kicking in hard.
"No." Voss fought it. Struggled to stand. "No, she’s oga. She’s nothing. She can’t—"
I snarled. Bared my teeth. So many sharp teeth.
Wrong. They’d been wrong about from the start.
Valerie scrambled backward. "How is she so big? Ogas don’t shift like this!"
I was bigger than her wolf. Bigger than most wolves I’d ever seen. Maybe not quite as large as Damien’s Alex, but close. So close.
Because I wasn’t oga. Never had been.
The realization crystallized. Sharp. Clear. Undeniable.
My parents. My real parents who died when I was eight. They’d been Alphas. Both of them. Pure Alpha bloodlines.
And I’d inherited everything.
The adoptive family who raised —they’d lied. Called oga because that’s what they wanted to be. Weak. Controllable. Beneath them.
But my blood knew the truth.
I moved. Fast. Faster than I’d ever moved with Ayla.
My jaws closed around Voss’s shoulder. Teeth sinking deep. Tearing through muscle and tissue.
He scread. Shifted. His massive gray-brown wolf erupting. Throwing off with raw strength.
I landed on all fours. Barely felt the impact. Circled him. Watching. Waiting.
Valerie shifted too. Her gray wolf joining him. Both snarling. Both trying to look threatening.
Didn’t work. I could sll their fear underneath the aggression.
They attacked together. Coordinated. Voss from the left, Valerie from the right.
I spun. Caught Voss’s throat in my jaws. Lifted. Threw.
His body flew through the air. Slamd into a tree trunk. The impact echoed. He slid down. Dazed.
Valerie’s teeth closed on my hind leg. Trying to drag down. Trying to use her weight.
I twisted. My claws raked across her face. Four deep gouges. Blood sprayed.
She yelped. Released . Stumbled backward.
But she recovered fast. Lunged again. Going for my throat.
I t her head-on. Our bodies collided. We went down. Rolling. Snapping. Clawing.
She was experienced. Knew how to fight. Knew all the dirty tricks.
Didn’t matter.
I was stronger. Faster. Angrier.
My teeth found her shoulder. Bit down hard. She howled. Tried to shake off.
I held on. Shook my head. Tearing. Ripping.
Then released. Threw her aside. She hit the ground hard. Didn’t get up imdiately.
Voss was back on his feet. Limping. The wounds from his fight with Damien slowing him down. Fresh blood streaming from where I’d torn his shoulder.
Good. He was already weakened. Already dying slowly.
I’d just make it faster.
He charged. Desperate. All his remaining strength in one attack.
I waited. Tid it perfectly. Then sidestepped.
He passed. Off balance. Unable to stop.
I spun. Extended my claws. All five on my front paw.
Struck.
My claws raked across his exposed stomach. Deep. Vicious. Opening him up.
The sound was horrible. Flesh tearing. Bones scraping.
Voss collapsed. His front legs gave out. Blood poured from the wound. So much blood.
He tried to get up. Couldn’t. Just lay there. Gasping. Dying.
"No!" Valerie’s human voice. She’d shifted back. Standing on shaky legs. Her face a destroyed ss of claw marks. "No, you can’t—"
She reached into her jacket. Pulled out a vial. And an arrow.
The poison. The sa poison they’d used on Damien.
"You want to kill us?" She fumbled with the vial. Hands shaking. Trying to coat the arrow tip. "Fine! But I’m taking you down with !"
She raised the bow. Drew back the string. The poisoned arrow aid at my chest.
I lunged.
Not away. Toward her.
She fired. Too panicked. Too rushed.
The arrow whistled past my ear. Missed by inches.
Before she could reload, I was on her.
My jaws closed around her wrist. Bones crunched. Shattered. She scread. Dropped the bow.
The vial fell. Rolled across the ground. The cork loose. Poison spilling out.
I shifted. Fast. The change easier now. More natural.
Human again. Naked. Covered in blood—mine, theirs, Damien’s. Standing over my sister.
"Open your mouth," I said. My voice calm. Cold. Dead.
"What? No! I—" She cradled her broken wrist. Eyes huge.
I grabbed her jaw. Squeezed hard. Forced it open.
"This is for Damien." The words ca out flat. Empty. "For everything you did. Everything you took from ."
I grabbed the vial. There was still poison inside. Enough.
I poured.
The liquid flowed into her mouth. Down her throat. She gagged. Tried to spit. Tried to turn her head.
I held her jaw closed. Pinched her nose. Forced her to swallow.
All of it. Every drop.
When I was sure it was down, I released her.
Stepped back. Watched.
It happened fast.
Her eyes bulged. Went wide with terror. With realization.
Her body started convulsing. Violent jerking. Uncontrolled spasms.
"Help—" The word choked off. Beca a gurgle. Then a wet gasping sound.
Foam appeared at her mouth. Pink. Bloody. Mixed with poison.
She clawed at her throat. At her chest. Trying to breathe. Failing.
Her body hit the ground. Twitching. Jerking. Fighting sothing it couldn’t win against.
I watched it all. Every second. Felt nothing except cold satisfaction.
This was justice.
The convulsions slowed. Weakened. Her chest heaved once. Twice.
Then stopped.
Valerie’s eyes stared at nothing. Empty. Dead.
A sound ca from behind . Movent. Scraping.
I turned.
Voss was crawling. Dragging himself across the ground. Leaving a thick trail of blood from his ruined stomach.
Trying to escape.
For a second, I considered chasing him. Finishing it. Making sure he died.
But then I looked at the wound. At the amount of blood he was losing. At the way his body shook with each movent.
He wouldn’t make it far. An hour maybe. Two at most.
The forest would finish what I’d started. The blood loss. The pain. The cold.
He’d die alone. Suffering. Exactly what he deserved.
And I had sothing more important to do.
I turned away from him. Let him crawl. Let him run. Didn’t matter anymore.
Because Damien was still lying there. Still dying. Still minutes or seconds from gone forever.
I shifted back to human. Stumbled. My legs shaking. Everything hurting.
But I forced myself to move. To cross the clearing. To reach him.
"Damien." I dropped to my knees beside him. My hands reaching for him. "Damien, please."
His skin was gray. Cold. Like all the warmth had drained out of him.
His chest barely moved. Shallow. Irregular. Each breath weaker than the last.
I pressed my ear against his heart.
Thud.
Long silence. Too long.
Thud.
Another endless pause.
The beats were too far apart. Too weak. Fading.
"No." I grabbed his shoulders. Shook him gently. "No, you don’t get to die. Not now. Not after everything."
He didn’t respond. Didn’t move. Just lay there. Dying in my arms.
"I know the truth!" The words poured out. Desperate. Broken. "About Gabriel. About Emma. About the setup. I watched the videos. I know you didn’t betray !"
Nothing. No flicker of awareness. No sign he could hear .
"I’m sorry." Tears stread down my face. Hot. Unstoppable. "I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you. I’m sorry I left. I’m sorry I made you think I hated you."
His heart beat once. Faint. Stuttering.
Then stopped.
Completely stopped.
"No!" I started compressions. Hard. Fast. The way I’d been trained. "Co back! You have to co back!"
Thirty compressions. Two rescue breaths. Thirty more compressions.
His chest didn’t rise on its own.
"Damien!" I scread his na.
I kept going. Compressions. Breaths. Over and over. My arms burning. My shoulders screaming.
But he wasn’t responding. His heart wouldn’t restart. His lungs wouldn’t work.
He was dying. Right here in my arms. And I couldn’t stop it.
"Please." The word broke. "Please don’t leave . I need you. The kids need you. We can’t do this without you."
I pressed my forehead to his. My tears falling on his cold face.
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