Chapter 2 Blood Awakening

Freezing rain lashed my skin like a whip, soaking through my thin dress and stealing the last bit of warmth from my body. I stumbled through the muddy forest, putting as much distance as I could between me and the place I used to call "home." Marcus Bloodclaw didn''t even bother giving me a coat to stay warm—that jerk.

The raw wound around my neck stung like hell when rainwater seeped in. But you know what felt colder? The empty spot in my chest. Ten years of my life—giving him everything I had—and he called me "worthless" in the end. Betrayed by the so-called Wolf King himself.

My vision blurred, and I couldn’t tell if it was rain or tears anymore. My strength was draining away with my body heat. I slid down against a cold tree trunk and curled up. Leah thought, ''Maybe dying out here wouldn’t be so bad? Just a tossed-aside Luna—no, a tossed-aside Beta—fading away quiet, like I never existed...''

No.

Marcus Bloodclaw’s cold face, the mocking eyes of all those guests—they stuck in my mind like poison thorns.

I refused to accept this.

Why should I?

Anger flickered like a tiny flame in my chest, fighting back against the bone-deep cold and hopelessness. I squeezed the broken half of my collar tight—its rough leather a harsh reminder of what just happened.

That’s when something weird went down.

The moon—hidden behind clouds all night—suddenly broke through, sending a single beam right onto the wound around my neck.

"Hssss—" A sharp, burning pain—nothing to do with the cold—shot through me, followed by this weird tingly feeling. It was like something was waking up deep inside the wound, from my very bones, fighting to get out!

My blood felt like it was boiling as this strange but overwhelming power surged through me—like a dam breaking, rushing wild through every part of my body. So hot… so painful! My bones felt like they were being crushed and reshaped, my muscles screaming in protest.

"Nnngh..." I couldn’t hold back a groan of agony as I collapsed into the mud, my body twitching out of control.

Broken images flashed in front of my eyes an ancient altar, a huge silver wolf howling at the moon, and… a brutal hunt. A soft woman’s voice echoed deep in my mind "...hide yourself, my child… until the ‘shackles’ break and the ‘Silver Moon’ returns..."

Shackles? The collar?

The pain hit its worst, and I felt like my soul was gonna get torn apart by this power. Then, everything suddenly calmed down.

The rain had stopped, and I didn’t even notice. The clouds cleared, and a full moon hung high in the sky—its cold light pouring down like liquid silver, lighting up the forest as bright as day.

I struggled to push myself up. I looked down at myself, and froze.

My once light brown hair had turned bright silver—like flowing quicksilver! My skin got fairer, almost see-through with a soft glow. But the craziest thing? The feeling of power. Unreal power coursed through me, warm and strong.

I checked my reflection in a nearby puddle without thinking.

The face staring back wasn’t the plain one I knew. The features were still mine, but they looked perfect—like they’d been carved—and there was this untouchable majesty about me. The biggest change? My eyes—pupils turned pure silver, like two tiny moons.

Was this… a blood awakening?

I held up my hand, focusing my thoughts, and my fingertips started to glow with soft silver light. With just a gentle wave, I turned a nearby boulder to dust—no sound at all.

A strong aura spread out from me, totally out of my control. The forest went dead quiet—all the night animals shut up right away. In the distance, I could hear wolf packs howling—scared, submissive, like they were bowing down.

I stood tall, tilting my face up to let the moonlight cover me. The cold rain didn’t bother me anymore; instead, I felt weirdly connected to it.

So cold and hopeless were the keys to waking me up all along.

And I was never a Beta. Not once.

Marcus Bloodclaw, what you tore off was my seal.

Just you wait.