Chapter 5 The better version
Sera’s Pov.
The first week felt like a test I already had the answers to.
Track? I beat Caden’s sprint record by two full seconds.
Gym trials? Passed strength benchmarks they said only “elite wolves” could hit.
Academics? I answered every advanced question without thinking.
And every single time, the room went dead quiet. It felt like I was reborn, well technically I was but I have never felt this alive.
By Friday, people weren’t whispering if something was wrong with me, they were whispering about how out of the ordinary I was.
In the cafeteria line, a girl stared like I’d grown a second head.
“Where… did you transfer from?” she finally asked.
“Nowhere special.” I stacked fruit onto my tray. “Just moved.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” She looked me up and down. “People don’t just… show up and break every school record.”
I smiled. “I guess I do.”
Behind her, her friend muttered, “She’s lying. She has to be.”
Yeah, well she wasn't totally wrong.
I found my seat, and before I could take a bite, someone dropped their tray across from me. Brielle.
Arms crossed. Eyes sharp like she wanted to peel my skin off.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
She leaned forward. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, new girl, but I’ll end it.”
I blinked. “Is that so?”
“You’re not normal.” She kept her voice low. “People don’t outperform top wolves in a week. People don’t ace tests they haven’t taken. People don’t have…” Her eyes narrowed. “…grey eyes .”
I shrugged. “Maybe you’re just insecure.”
Her jaw flexed. “I’m warning you.”
“Noted.”
She stood and flicked her hair. “Enjoy your lunch while you still can.”
I watched her stalk off. Cute.
Later, in the hallway, her little posse tried surrounding me. Five girls with their arms folded, it was a clear Intimidation attempt.
One stepped forward. “Back off Brielle. She’s the pack elder’s daughter. You don’t want—”
I looked at her. I didn't speak, didn’t move…I just stared.
Her throat bobbed. “W-why are her eyes like that?”
They all backed up on instinct.
Wolves knew the threat when they saw it.
“Tell Brielle,” I said calmly, “I’m not going anywhere.”
They scrambled.
By the second week, rumors exploded.
“Sera’s a spy.”
“She’s from an elite pack.”
“She’s a rogue plant.”
“She’s a failed experiment, look at her eyes.”
I ignored it. I’d dealt with worse in my first life.
But Caden…
Caden was the problem.
He watched me everywhere.
In class.
In the gym.
During training.
That wolf of his was restless. I felt it across the room like static. He tracked my scent more than once—I could hear him breathing too close behind me in the halls.
And he snapped whenever a guy talked to me.
Literally snapped.
In chemistry, a boy asked what page we were on.
Caden slammed his book shut and glared at him like he’d committed a crime.
The boy squeaked and looked away.
I kept my face blank. Inside, I was screaming.
Because the mate bond, the one the Moon Goddess told me was dead, kept flickering like a broken light whenever Caden was near.
That night, I overheard Brielle arguing with someone on the phone outside the school.
“She’s hiding something! Dad, listen qshe beats elite training scores, she answers elder-level questions, she stares down wolves twice her size. She is not normal!”
“No, Dad, I’m not being dramatic. She could be a spy. Check her background. Please.”
I slipped away before she saw me.
A spy? Funny, maybe even laughable. If only she knew.
Monday was chaotic.
Scouts came to watch Caden.
I got added last minute. Coach said we needed speed.
The game started fast, too fast. Wolves moved in blurs, bodies slammed, sticks cracked. I dodged two defenders and scored twice.
The crowd gasped both times.
But Caden kept watching me instead of the damn ball.
At halftime, he finally approached.
“Moon—Sera.” He corrected himself too late. His voice was rough. “Where’d you learn to play like that?”
I shrugged, wiping sweat. “Picked it up.”
“No one picks up elite level skills.”
He took a step closer. “Who trained you?”
“No one.”
He stared at me like he was trying to read my soul.
His eyes flicked to my grey eyes.
His wolf pushed against him hard enough I felt it.
“Sera…” he breathed. “Why do I feel—”
“Don’t.” I stepped back. “Whatever you think you feel, you’re wrong.”
His jaw clenched. “You don’t get it. I see you everywhere. I smell you everywhere. My wolf—”
“Needs a leash,” I cut in.
He exhaled sharply, chest rising like he was close to shifting. “Tell me the truth.”
“Not happening.”
The whistle blew. Saved by the referee.
The second half started.
And then the collision.
He sprinted toward me, I turned too fast and our bodies slammed together.
His wolf howled inside him, loud enough I felt it vibrate through my bones.
My vision flashed grey.
The bond, the dead bond, surged like someone shocked it back to life.
I staggered back, breath gone.
Caden’s eyes went pitch-black.
“Sera…” he rasped. “What… what are you?”
I backed away.
“You need to stay away from me.”
“I can’t,” he said, raw and desperate. “My wolf thinks—”
The coach yelled at us to move. The moment broke.
After the game, Caden disappeared.
That night, I overheard pieces of a conversation behind the gym, Caden and his beta, Jax.
“I think I killed her,” Caden slurred. He was drunk. Really drunk.
“Dude what?”
“My mate.” His voice cracked. “I rejected Selene. I watched her die. But now…now I keep dreaming of her with grey eyes , like Sera’s. And my wolf, he’s losing his mind.”
My breath hitched.
Jax muttered, “Caden… Selene’s dead.”
“No.” Caden’s voice was shaking. “Something’s wrong. Something’s coming. And Sera, she’s tied to it. I know she is.”
Jax sighed. “You’re drunk.”
“I know what I feel,” Caden snapped, then whispered, “I feel her.”
My heart was hammered.
No. He couldn’t feel me, not if the Goddess was right.
I turned to leave, quiet, careful but then I heard a snap.
A twig broke under my foot.
Caden’s head shot up at my direction.
His eyes locked on mine through the darkness.
“Sera?” he called, voice low and dangerous.
I froze.
He took a step toward the trees.
“Sera… are you there?”
Another step. Moving even closer, his wolf snarled inside him.
And then, he said the one thing I wasn’t prepared for, “Selene?”
My breath stopped. He moved faster.
“Sera, stop running!”
But I was already gone.