Chapter 3 The Wolf King's Gaze

 Deep in the forest, moonlight was my only shelter. I sat on a thick tree root, my wedding dress torn and muddy, but I didn’t care. The new power in me felt like a young beast—excited, but unsteady.

 I held up my hand, focusing. A faint silver light flickered at my fingertips. It wasn’t like Carter’s aggressive Alpha power—this was softer, older, cool like moonlight, but it felt like it could command respect.

 “The bloodline awakening…” The elder’s words replayed in my head. I wasn’t defective. Never was.

 I could still hear the banquet hall’s chaos. I imagined Carter’s face—arrogant one minute, weak the next. Dana’s plan to climb the ranks? Crushed in an instant. Her expression must’ve been priceless.

 A cold satisfaction settled in my chest, mixed with pain. This wasn’t over. Not even close.

 Then something brushed my mind—like a powerful, careful presence checking on me. It felt like a dragon opening one eye to glance at me. Not hostile, just curious.

 Who was that?

 A thousand miles away, in a stone fortress carved into a cliff…

 Kayden Wolfgang, the Northern Wolf King, stood at a floor-to-ceiling window. His silver-gray hair was tied back, his face sharp as stone, his brown eyes like a predator’s in the dark.

 He’d been patrolling mentally when he felt it—a pure, ancient power, like a beacon. It carried the Moon Goddess’s mark, something only in old wolf clan legends.

 A scout in black knelt behind him. “Sir, trouble at the Carter wedding in the South.”

 “Speak,” Kayden said, his voice heavy with authority.

 “The bride, Emily—she’s always called defective—had an ancient bloodline awakening. Alpha Carter betrayed her, and his power collapsed. The elders say it’s fated mate backlash.”

 Interest flickered in Kayden’s eyes. “Fated mate backlash… Moon Goddess bloodline… a royal descendant called defective?” He smiled coldly. “Carter’s an idiot. He threw a pearl in the mud.”

 He turned, staring south. “Where is Emily now?”

 “Missing. Last seen at the forest edge.”

 “Find her,” Kayden ordered. “Before the Carters hurt her, or someone else finds her. Invite her, don’t capture her. She might be the hope we’ve waited centuries for.”

 “Yes, sir!” The scout vanished.

 Back in the forest, that watchful feeling was gone—but I wasn’t calm. The Carters would find me soon. They’d want to know why I suddenly had power.

 I tore off the wedding dress’s heavy skirt, freeing my legs. I followed the moonlight deeper into the forest, away from the pack.

 With every step, the power in me felt more like mine. My senses sharpened—I heard crickets, smelled damp soil, tracked a deer’s scent miles away. I wasn’t that weak, dismissed Omega anymore.

 Carter, Dana, everyone who laughed at me—

 I’ll make you pay.