The silver wolf stood beyond the Valemont gates like a creature born from moonlight and fury. He was massive, beautiful, and terrifying.
Its glowing blue eyes locked directly onto the estate, filled with a rage so intense that even the guards could barely remain standing beneath the Alpha pressure radiating from its body.
The servants were in complete panic.
"Seal the inner gates!"
"Protect Lady Seraphina!"
"The barriers are failing!"
Selene stood near the window silently, crimson eyes fixed on the beast outside.
So this was Lucien Everhart's wolf form.
In the original novel, Lucien was described as a rare silver Alpha descended from an ancient bloodline long believed extinct. That bloodline was one of the reasons Lunaris Academy protected him so fiercely despite his ordinary noble origins.
But reading about it in a novel and witnessing it in person were entirely different things.
The pressure alone was monstrous.
Even Selene could feel her pulse reacting strangely beneath her skin, as though this body instinctively recognized a stronger predator nearby.
Kael stepped forward.
And the atmosphere changed instantly.
Darkness seemed to gather around the Crown Prince as his golden eyes sharpened dangerously.
Unlike Lucien's wild fury, Kael's power felt controlled or contained. Which somehow made it more frightening. Kael, who would you protect me?
The servants immediately lowered themselves further to the floor. An instinctive submission response. Two dominant Alphas confronting one another was enough to suffocate everyone nearby.
Kael's voice was ice-cold. "What is he doing here?"
Before anyone could answer, the silver wolf suddenly lunged toward the gates.
*CRASH!*
The reinforced iron barriers shook violently. Several guards stumbled backward in terror. Lila screamed. Selene remained still.
This was not the composed scholar from Lunaris Academy.
This was a man losing control.
Kael glanced toward her briefly. "Stay inside."
Selene arched a brow. "You say that as if he came to attack me."
Kael's gaze darkened slightly. "He might."
"Would he?"
The Crown Prince fell silent.
Outside, the silver wolf snarled again, pacing aggressively before the gates. Its claws tore into stone with frightening ease while servants hurried desperately to strengthen the estate barriers.
Then, the wolf shifted.
Silver light exploded outward. The transformation happened in seconds. Massive paws became human hands. Fur disappeared beneath pale skin. Bones reshaped violently beneath moonlit mist until Lucien Everhart stood outside the gates in human form.
Half-dressed, breathing heavily, and rain-drenched, his silver hair, while his blue eyes burned unnaturally bright.
Several maids immediately turned red and looked away in embarrassment.
Selene simply stared.
So dramatic...
Lucien looked nothing like the composed academy genius she remembered from the novel. His expression was tense, unstable, almost furious. And the moment his gaze found her through the window, everything else disappeared from his attention.
Kael noticed immediately. His aura darkened further.
Lucien's voice echoed through the courtyard. "I need to speak with Seraphina."
The guards looked terrified.
No one moved.
Kael answered first. "No."
The single word carried overwhelming authority.
Lucien's jaw tightened. "This does not concern the Crown Prince."
"It concerns me now."
Dangerous silence followed.
The air between the two men became suffocating.
Even Selene could sense it clearly now, the instinctive hostility between dominant wolves. Not merely political, but deeply primal.
Kael descended the staircase without another word.
The servants scattered instantly to clear his path.
Selene watched calmly from above.
Lila clutched her sleeve anxiously. "My lady… this is dangerous."
"Yes," Selene replied softly.
But her eyes gleamed with interest instead of fear.
Because for the first time since transmigrating, she finally understood something important.
Seraphina's tragedy had never been simple romance. It was power, bloodlines, possession, and male pride disguised as affection.
Below, the estate gates slowly opened.
The moment Kael stepped outside, the guards visibly relaxed in relief, as though his mere presence stabilized the chaos.
Lucien straightened immediately.
Rain poured heavily between them.
Two powerful Alphas facing each other beneath moonlight.
It looked less like a conversation and more like the beginning of a war.
Kael spoke first. "You've caused enough disturbance."
Lucien ignored him entirely. His gaze remained fixed on the mansion windows.
"Seraphina," he called coldly, "come outside."
The servants gasped quietly.
Kael's expression became lethal. "You dare command someone under my protection?"
Lucien finally looked at him directly.
Blue eyes against gold.
Silver Alpha against Black Alpha.
"I did not ask for your interference."
Kael smiled faintly.
Wrong decision. How dare he fight the Crown Prince?
Even Selene recognized it instantly.
That smile was dangerous.
"You entered the territory of House Valemont in wolf form," Kael said softly. "Do you know what that looks like to the imperial court?"
Lucien's silence answered enough.
A challenge.
An Alpha intrusion.
Nearly a declaration of hostility.
The academy scholar had lost control badly enough to appear at a ducal estate transformed.
He was scandalous, reckless, emotionally driven, and very unlike him.
Selene leaned slightly against the window frame, observing carefully.
So why had he come?
Guilt? Possessiveness? Regret?
Perhaps all three.
Lucien suddenly spoke again. "I need to know if she's truly alive."
Kael's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You came all this way merely for confirmation?"
"No." Lucien's voice roughened slightly. "I came because something feels wrong."
That caught Selene's attention.
Interesting.
Kael crossed his arms. "Explain."
Lucien hesitated. For the first time since arriving, uncertainty flickered across his face. "She's different."
The rain intensified.
"She looked at me," Lucien said quietly, "as if she no longer knew me."
Selene almost laughed aloud.
Well.
He wasn't entirely wrong.
Kael remained expressionless, though his gaze briefly shifted upward toward the window where Selene stood partially hidden behind curtains.
Then Lucien said something unexpected.
"I thought she would beg me to stay."
Silence.
"She always did before."
There it was.
The truth.
Not love.
Expectation.
Lucien had grown accustomed to Seraphina chasing him endlessly. Even while rejecting her, part of him unconsciously relied on her devotion remaining unchanged. But the woman who woke in this body was no longer desperate enough to beg anyone. And that unsettled him.
Kael's voice became colder. "So you came because your pride is wounded."
Lucien's expression hardened instantly. "You misunderstand."
"Do I?"
The pressure between them exploded again.
Several guards nearly collapsed.
Selene sighed softly.
Men truly were exhausting creatures.
Lila looked close to fainting beside her. "My lady… should we stop them?"
"No."
"But what if they fight?!"
Selene's lips curved faintly. "They already are."
Not physically.
Yet.
But this conversation itself was a dominance battle.
A political one, an emotional one, and surprisingly, she held the center position without even stepping outside.
Down below, Lucien finally spoke again. "I want to see her."
Kael answered immediately. "She does not wish to see you."
Lucien's eyes flashed. "You cannot decide that for her."
"And you no longer have the right."
That struck harder than expected.
Lucien's expression darkened visibly. For several seconds, only rain filled the silence between them.
"To think," Lucien said quietly, "that the Crown Prince would involve himself over a woman he barely knows."
Kael's gaze turned sharp enough to cut.
"And to think," he replied calmly, "that a scholar who discarded a woman publicly would suddenly remember concern after she nearly died."
Lucien went still.
A direct hit.
Even from above, Selene could see it.
Because beneath everything else, Lucien carried guilt. Not enough to admit wrongdoing openly. But enough to lose control.
The irony almost amused her. The original Seraphina had spent years begging for his attention. Yet only after her death did he finally start looking at her properly.
Too late.
Kael suddenly looked upward, directly toward Selene's window.
Their eyes met instantly.
Golden eyes.
Crimson eyes.
And then, Kael extended his hand toward her.
Not possessively or arrogantly, an invitation with respect.
"Lady Seraphina," he called calmly, loud enough for everyone below to hear. "Would you like to speak with him?"
Every servant froze.
Lucien immediately looked up.
Selene could feel both men watching her now.
Waiting for her verdict.
The entire courtyard held its breath.
Slowly, Selene smiled. Then she spoke the words Lucien Everhart never expected to hear from her.
"No."
Silence crashed over the estate.
Lucien stared upward, stunned. Selene's crimson eyes met his without warmth, without longing, without pain. Nothing remained of the woman who once loved him desperately. And somehow, that absence terrified him more than hatred ever could.