Chapter 9
**Sera's POV**
*Two months later.*
I stood in the Blackwood war room, five months pregnant, flanked by my aunt Celeste and three pack generals.
The long table before me was covered in territorial maps, alliance documents, and trade agreements. Six lesser Alphas sat on the far side, their wolves instinctively lowered in submission.
Not because of my father — he wasn't here today.
Because of *me.*
"The eastern border terms are non-negotiable." My voice was calm. Unhurried. "You'll pull your patrols back twenty miles, or there won't be a treaty to discuss."
Alpha Varen of the Ashwood Pack shifted uncomfortably. "With respect, Princess, twenty miles is—"
"What I said." I didn't blink. "I don't repeat myself."
Nyx pressed forward, and I let a fraction of her presence leak through — just enough for the wolves across the table to feel it. Ancient. Immense. Wrong, in the way that deep ocean trenches are wrong — beautiful and unfathomably powerful.
Alpha Varen paled. "Twenty miles. Agreed."
I nodded and moved on.
Afterward, Celeste walked beside me through the compound's corridors. Guards flanked us at a respectful distance.
"You've grown into this faster than anyone expected," she said. "Your father is proud."
"I had three years of practice being someone's silent Luna." I smiled, thin and humorless. "It taught me everything I never want to be."
"And the pups?"
I touched my rounded stomach. "Growing fast. Helene says they're both in the ninety-ninth percentile."
Celeste smirked. "Shadow Wolf pups. They'd better be."
Back in my quarters, I stood before the floor-length mirror. My body had changed — rounder, fuller, unmistakably pregnant. My dark hair fell past my shoulders. My grey eyes held a sharpness that had been absent for years.
I looked powerful.
I *felt* powerful.
Nyx hummed contentedly. *"This is who we were always meant to be."*
My phone buzzed — a new, untraceable one. A message from my head of security.
*"He received the announcement. Northern Ridge Pack has made three inquiries through back channels asking for an audience with Alpha Blackwood. All denied."*
Kael.
I stared at the message, waiting for the ache. The longing. The weakness.
It didn't come.
I typed back: *"Continue denying. No contact."*
Then I set the phone down and returned to my work.
The woman Kael knew was dead. The she-wolf who whispered "please" and tugged on his sleeve — she no longer existed.
In her place stood Seraphina Blackwood. Heir to the most powerful bloodline in the werewolf world. Mother of twin Shadow Wolves. Untouchable.
And done being anyone's afterthought.
---
*Two months later.*
I stood in the Blackwood war room, five months pregnant, flanked by my aunt Celeste and three pack generals.
The long table before me was covered in territorial maps, alliance documents, and trade agreements. Six lesser Alphas sat on the far side, their wolves instinctively lowered in submission.
Not because of my father — he wasn't here today.
Because of *me.*
"The eastern border terms are non-negotiable." My voice was calm. Unhurried. "You'll pull your patrols back twenty miles, or there won't be a treaty to discuss."
Alpha Varen of the Ashwood Pack shifted uncomfortably. "With respect, Princess, twenty miles is—"
"What I said." I didn't blink. "I don't repeat myself."
Nyx pressed forward, and I let a fraction of her presence leak through — just enough for the wolves across the table to feel it. Ancient. Immense. Wrong, in the way that deep ocean trenches are wrong — beautiful and unfathomably powerful.
Alpha Varen paled. "Twenty miles. Agreed."
I nodded and moved on.
Afterward, Celeste walked beside me through the compound's corridors. Guards flanked us at a respectful distance.
"You've grown into this faster than anyone expected," she said. "Your father is proud."
"I had three years of practice being someone's silent Luna." I smiled, thin and humorless. "It taught me everything I never want to be."
"And the pups?"
I touched my rounded stomach. "Growing fast. Helene says they're both in the ninety-ninth percentile."
Celeste smirked. "Shadow Wolf pups. They'd better be."
Back in my quarters, I stood before the floor-length mirror. My body had changed — rounder, fuller, unmistakably pregnant. My dark hair fell past my shoulders. My grey eyes held a sharpness that had been absent for years.
I looked powerful.
I *felt* powerful.
Nyx hummed contentedly. *"This is who we were always meant to be."*
My phone buzzed — a new, untraceable one. A message from my head of security.
*"He received the announcement. Northern Ridge Pack has made three inquiries through back channels asking for an audience with Alpha Blackwood. All denied."*
Kael.
I stared at the message, waiting for the ache. The longing. The weakness.
It didn't come.
I typed back: *"Continue denying. No contact."*
Then I set the phone down and returned to my work.
The woman Kael knew was dead. The she-wolf who whispered "please" and tugged on his sleeve — she no longer existed.
In her place stood Seraphina Blackwood. Heir to the most powerful bloodline in the werewolf world. Mother of twin Shadow Wolves. Untouchable.
And done being anyone's afterthought.
---