POV: Sophia
The breakfast tray slipped from Maya's hands, sending hot coffee flying across the dining room floor. I watched from my seat at the high table as the clumsy omega rushed to clean up the mess, her face bright red with shame.
"Sorry! I'm so sorry!" Maya kept saying as she grabbed towels from the kitchen.
But something was off. Maya might be quiet and unnoticeable, but she wasn't clumsy. In three years of watching her serve meals, I'd never seen her drop anything. She moved through the kitchen like a dancer, always careful and exact.
So why was she suddenly acting like a worried wreck?
"Poor thing looks sick," Ethan said, standing up to help her. His green eyes were full of worry as he knelt beside Maya with paper towels.
"She's fine," I said quickly, not wanting him to pay attention to her. "Just clumsy omegas being clumsy."
But Kai was watching Maya too, his golden eyes sharp and curious. "Are you feeling alright, Maya?"
"I'm fine," Maya mumbled, not looking at any of us. She kept her left hand pressed against her body like she was hiding something.
That's when I noticed it. Maya was holding her hand weird, like it hurt. And she kept pulling her sleeve down over it, even though the dining room was warm.
"Let me look at that," Ethan said, reaching for her arm with his healer reflexes.
"No!" Maya jerked away so fast she nearly fell over. "I mean, it's nothing. Just a small burn from cooking."
Logan raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't look like nothing to me."
Maya's face went even redder. She gathered the broken dishes and ran toward the kitchen like something was chasing her.
I stared after her, my mind racing. Maya was hiding something. Something about her wrist. Something that made her worry when anyone tried to look at it.
"Weird," Logan said, going back to his eggs.
"She's probably just embarrassed," Kai said, but he kept looking toward the kitchen door.
I forced myself to smile and nod, but inside I felt sick. Today was going to be perfect. In exactly one month, I would turn eighteen and get my mate mark. Everyone knew it would point to one of the triplets. I'd spent years preparing to be Luna, learning pack politics and making ties with important families.
But Maya's strange behavior made fear twist in my stomach like a poisonous snake.
After breakfast, I followed Maya at a distance as she went about her morning chores. She kept her left arm pressed against her side and flinched whenever someone came near her. When she brought laundry to the river, I hid behind trees and watched.
Maya sat on the rocks by the water, looking around to make sure no one was watching. Then she slowly rolled up her sleeve.
Even from far away, I could see something silver shining on her wrist. Something that pulsed with its own light.
My blood turned to ice.
A mate mark. Maya had a mate mark.
But that was impossible. Maya was eighteen today—I'd overheard Mrs. Peterson say it this morning. Which meant she'd just gotten her mark. And the only unmated wolves her age in our pack were...
"No," I whispered, my hands shaking. "No, no, no."
I watched Maya wrap her wrist again and hurry back toward the pack house. My perfect future collapsed around me like broken glass.
If Maya had a mate mark pointing to one of the triplets, everything I'd worked for would be destroyed. I'd lose my chance to be Luna. My family would lose their status. Worst of all, everyone would see that the moon had picked a lowly omega over me.
I couldn't let that happen.
I spent the rest of the day watching Maya like a hawk. Every time she got near one of the triplets, I looked for signs. Did her mark react? Did she act different?
At lunch, Maya served soup to Ethan. Her hand shook as she set the bowl in front of him, and she kept her wrapped wrist close to her body. But I noticed how her eyes stayed on his face, and how Ethan smiled at her with extra warmth.
During the afternoon, Logan came through the kitchen looking for snacks. Maya gave him an apple, and their fingers touched for just a second. I swore I saw her jerk her hand back like she'd been shocked.
But it was dinner that confirmed my worst fears.
Kai walked through the dining room while Maya was setting tables. He didn't even speak to her, just nodded politely as he passed. But Maya froze like she'd been hit by lightning. Her wrapped wrist pressed against her chest, and she watched him walk away with a look I'd never seen before.
Wonder. Hope. Love.
That's when I knew for certain. Maya's mate mark pointed to one of the Alpha's kids. Maybe all of them—I'd heard stories about special marks that showed when someone was meant for triplets.
My entire world turned sideways. How could the moon choose her over me? I was pretty, smart, well-connected. Maya was nobody. A helper. An omega who spent her days cooking and cleaning.
But mate marks didn't lie.
After dinner, I cornered Jamie, Maya's friend, near the servants' rooms.
"Maya's been acting strange today," I said, trying to sound worried instead of furious. "Is she sick?"
Jamie looked nervous. "I don't know. She won't talk to me. Keeps saying she's fine, but she's definitely not."
"Has she mentioned anything about her birthday? Any... changes?"
Jamie's eyes widened. "You think she got a mate mark?"
"I'm just worried about her," I lied easily. "If she's having health problems, we should tell the Alpha."
"Maya would hate that," Jamie said. "She hates being the center of attention."
Well, she was about to get a lot of attention whether she wanted it or not.
I walked home that night with my mind spinning with plans. If Maya revealed her mark openly, my future was over. But if something happened to Maya before she could tell it...
No. I couldn't think like that. But I also couldn't let her ruin everything I'd worked for.
I was so lost in dark thoughts that I almost missed the figure slipping through the shadows near the pack lines. Someone was moving through the woods like they didn't want to be seen.
My heart pounded as I followed at a distance. Was it an intruder? A wild wolf?
The figure stopped in a clearing where the moonlight made everything visible. It was Maya, still in her work clothes, looking around uncomfortably. What was she doing out here alone at night?
Then I heard voices. Low, rough voices speaking from the darkness beyond the clearing.
"You're sure she has it?" a man's voice growled.
"I saw it myself," Maya said quietly. "The Triple Star Mark."
My breath caught in my throat. The Triple Star Mark was a fantasy. A mark that appeared once every few generations when someone was bound for multiple mates.
"Good," another voice said. "Then the plan can move forward. The full moon is in three days. We'll be ready."
"What about the others?" Maya asked. "The pack members who might get hurt?"
"That's not your concern," the first voice snapped. "You just worry about playing your part. Lead the triplets away from the pack house during the service. We'll handle the rest."
I pressed my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming. Maya wasn't just hiding a mate mark. She was working with rogues to attack our pack during the full moon ceremony.
She was a rogue.
"I don't want anyone to die," Maya said, her voice shaking.
"Then make sure you do exactly what we told you," the second voice warned. "Fail us, and your little secret about the mark won't matter because you'll be dead."
The voices faded as the rogues melted back into the forest. Maya stood alone in the clearing for a moment, then rushed back toward the pack house.
I waited until she was gone before creeping out of my hidden spot. My mind raced with this new information. Maya had the Triple Star Mark, which meant she was intended for the triplets. But she was also working with rogues who planned to attack during the full moon ceremony.
Why would she betray the pack? What did the rogues have on her?
Then it hit me like a punch to the stomach. Maya wasn't working with the rogues by choice. They were forcing her. Threatening her. And in three days, during the celebration that would reveal her as the triplets' mate, the rogues would attack.
I should warn someone. Tell the Alpha what I'd seen. Save the pack from Maya's betrayal.
But if I did that, Maya would be exposed as a traitor and possibly exiled or killed. Her mate mark would be useless. And I would still have my chance to be Luna.
All I had to do was keep quiet for three more days.
As I walked back to my room, one terrible thought kept repeating in my mind: I could save the pack from the rogue attack... or I could save my own future.
But I couldn't do both.
And I only had three days to decide which one mattered more.