Varianth’s POV
“I don’t know why I keep thinking about her.”
The words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them. I stood on the palace balcony, overlooking the training grounds below, my arms braced against the railing.
Athena.
Every time I saw her, something inside me pulled tight. It wasn’t just attraction. It wasn’t just curiosity. It was deeper—like a whisper under my skin.
And every time she walked by, head held high despite the stares, despite the rumors, that whisper screamed:
Protect her.
But from what?
Or worse… from whom?
Emily should’ve been the answer to all my problems. She was the perfect Luna. Well-spoken, politically powerful, poised. The Elders adored her. My council praised her.
But something didn’t sit right. I couldn’t explain it, but there were times I would glance at Emily and feel… nothing. Just a blank space where something important should be.
But when Athena walked into a room—my body responded. Not just desire. Instinct. And that scared me. Because I didn’t understand it.
I needed answers.
There was only one person in my kingdom I trusted for truth above all else.
Elder Myra. She had served five Alphas before me. A seer. A guide. And a brutal truth-teller.
When I entered her sanctuary in the forest, she was already waiting by the fire, stirring a pot of tea like she’d been expecting me for days.
“You’re late,” she said without looking up.
I smirked. “I didn’t say I was coming.”
“You didn’t have to.”
I sat across from her as the room filled with the soft scent of herbs and pine.
“You’re troubled,” she said.
I nodded slowly. “More than usual.”
She handed me a steaming cup. “Speak.”
“It’s about Athena.”
Her eyes flicked up. Sharper now.
“And Emily,” I added.
She said nothing for a long moment, just watched me over the rim of her own cup. Finally, she leaned forward.
“Your heart is at war with itself,” she said. “You feel the bond to one… but your instincts scream for another.”
I nodded. “I don’t understand it. Emily is supposed to be my mate. I have mated with her. The bond is there, but… weak. Faint. But with Athena, there’s something I can’t explain.”
Elder Myra stood and walked to her chest of bones and herbs, her fingers moving swiftly as she drew out a cloth and scattered it on the ground.
I watched her, my heart tightening.
She dropped something into the fire. Smoke curled, thick and silver.
Then she whispered, “Show me truth.”
The flames jumped. The smoke thickened.
Shapes began to form. A woman. A wolf. A child. A crown.
And then—a knife. She gasped and stepped back.
“What do you see?” I asked, standing quickly.
Her voice shook as she turned to me.
“Someone is lying to you.”
I stared at her. “Who?”
She didn’t blink. “The one who smiles when you look away.”
“There is another truth,” Myra whispered. “Only one of them is carrying your real heir.”
I turned to her slowly, speechless.
Myra’s voice was quiet. “Your child is already here. And you don’t know it.”