CHAPTER ONE

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“From Sister to Sacrifice”

Today was supposed to be a good day.

In fact, around this time every year, I usually loved this solemn place where the croaking of frogs and crickets filled the night air, and the Confluence River of Nivea flowed endlessly, humming secrets to anyone who cared to listen.

But it wasn’t just water. It was a boundary. A warning. A sacred mystery. Some say the Moon Goddess touched it. Others whisper about unseen forces guarding it, watching and waiting. If the waters are disturbed, the entire city knows.

No one dares linger here. No one… except me.

For some reason, I always found peace in this forbidden place. Like the river silenced the noise in my head. But tonight was different.

My wolf—Light—won’t rest because of the shit my brother has done, by linking me up with that maggot. She growled low in my chest, pacing, clawing. I’ve tried reaching her, calming her, but she won’t respond. When I try to leave, she lets out a sound that makes my vision blur and my knees go weak. She’s restless.

She wants out. Now.

I lay back in the grass, staring up at the moon bright and full, a reminder of everything I’ve lost, how my brother and his people had treated me like an outcast.

Memories flood in like the river beside me. Of my mother, the guilt that I was the one that caused her madness, and my father who.was brutally murdered. That moment alone shattered my joy, left me hollow. Everything was taken from me.

You’d think I’d have learned to survive. To keep going. But the truth is, I couldn’t. Even though our father led the great Hollerith Pack, none of that power saved me from Liam.

A song slipped past my lips as tears welled in my eyes. “Only if I had a choice, I’d have been anything but this, Mother.”

Then I felt it. A shift in the air.

Light snarled inside me.

My senses sharpened, my nostrils flaring as a strange scent filled the air. It grew stronger with every second. I sat up quickly, eyes scanning the darkness. A branch snapped.

Someone was coming.

Before I could react, a figure stepped into view.

“I found her!” the man shouted, pointing a spear at me. Others emerged behind him, circling me.

“By the power vested in me by Alpha Liam Stark, Arya Stark, you are under arrest. Anything you say may be used against you.”

The guard sneered as he approached, handcuffs ready. His eyes said what his words didn’t: if Liam hadn’t ordered me alive, I’d already be dead. Hatred bled from every face around me.

But my eyes were already searching for a way out.

There. Behind the bend of the river—dense trees.

If I could make it there, I could lose them.

“Don’t even think about it,” one growled. “Cooperate, or you won’t leave here whole.”

But I didn’t listen. I lunged.

I ran, heart pounding, Light howling in my ears. For a moment, just one moment, I thought I could make it.

Then—

Pain.

Hands gripped me. A fist slammed into my side, and I crashed to the ground.

They had me.

I swallowed hard and lifted my wrists. It was over.

Light growled. Her rage roared through my mind.

“You’re just going to let them take us?” she snarled.

My knees buckled as they grabbed me. My head swam.

They walked me forward, one guard on each side, another behind.

I was thinking frantically. how could I escape? What could I do? My thoughts were jumbled. But Light was not.

She was pushing.

Fighting.

And for a second, she almost took control.

I clenched my fists. Not now. Not yet.

But we were almost at the gates of the Hollerith Pack when I saw them.

Two figures. My heart stopped. Liam. And standing beside him... Alpha Roman.

My breath caught. Rage surged inside me like wildfire. Without thinking, I jerked myself free from the guards.

Panic clawed at my chest. My body grew restless, feverish. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. Everything around me blurry my thoughts, my senses, the world.

Then—Agony.

A burning pain tore through me like lightning.

I screamed. Growled. My body shook violently as something ancient and primal rose inside me.

My skin split. My bones cracked.

And then—I was gone. Or maybe, for the first time in my life... I was finally me.

Light had taken over.

But this time—we didn’t just shift.

Something else happened.

My eyes... burned gold. Not just the normal amber glow of wolves. Golden white. Radiant. Moon-blessed.

I could feel it in my bones. My blood. A different kind of energy coursing through me.

The guards gasped.

“Moon Goddess,” one whispered, trembling. “She’s... blessed.”

“She’s bigger than Alpha Liam,” another muttered.

Fear. Real fear.

I didn’t wait.

I bolted. Through the trees, faster than I’d ever moved. My paws pounded the earth, the wind slicing through my fur.

It was strange, seeing myself this way.

I’d been able to hear Light since I was six. Something no other wolf I knew had ever experienced. I kept it secret. If they knew, they’d see me as a threat.

Now I was living the truth of it.

I looked back. The guards were chasing me.

I cursed. I wasn’t strong enough to control Light. My wolf seemed too powerful for me to handle, but I wasn’t ready.

Then I felt it. A sharp sting. A burning.

I hit the ground hard.

Pain exploded in my side. A silver bullet.

“You slut,” one of the guards sneered, flashing yellowed teeth. “Think you can escape?”

I couldn’t speak. Could barely breathe.

I wanted to beg them, to tell them please, but I kept moving back, as I stared back at them, and then at that very moment, I heard gunshots ringing out. Followed by screams.

And silence.

Shock, fear, with confusion I looked up. Bodies surrounded me. All three guards, dead.

And then, a figure stood among them.

He was tall and muscular, dressed in dark leather. A scar slashed across his right shoulder. His storm-gray eyes locked onto mine.

“Are you okay? What are you doing out here all alone?”

I couldn’t answer him. His face... he looked so handsome, easily the most handsome man I had ever laid eyes on. But at the same time, there was something different about him. Something I couldn’t quite figure out.

And then it dawned on me.

“You’re a human?” I asked, my voice trembling with disbelief.

Across the seven packs in the werewolf realm, we all knew the truthnhumans were our greatest enemies. And to them, we were the same.

Instantly, my eyes turned cold. Memories flooded in how they had killed our people, the pain, the destruction they had caused. I recoiled from him.

“Why did you save me?” I asked, curiosity getting the best of me.

“You’re not like the other wolves,” he said. His voice was calm, but there was something else in it. Something unreadable. He stepped forward, slowly.

I stepped back.

“Let me tend your wound, my lady. You're bleeding badly,” he said, his voice laced with both concern and frustration. Only then did I realize how badly I was bleeding.

I paused. If he had meant to kill me, he would’ve done it along with the guards. But he didn’t. He seemed... different. Still, that didn’t mean I was letting my guard down, especially not around a human.

But I let him.

He knelt beside me and pulled out a small pouch. Gently, he cleaned the wound with something soft and white, maybe wool. His hand brushed mine.

A jolt shot through me. I saw it in his eyes. He felt it too.

I felt a surge, not quite pain, but something close. Similar to the burning sensation I’d felt earlier when the guards were chasing me. But this was different. It burned through me, yes, but it felt... good. My wolf stirred, then growled, loud and ecstatic.

"MATE."

No. No, no, no.

I fought it. This had to be a mistake. He was human. He killed our kind. He couldn’t be my mate.

It was as if he heard my thoughts, the way his soft gaze lingered on me. He continued tending to my wound with a strange ointment. The pain slowly faded.

My knees buckled. My heart pounded.

“No,” I breathed. “No, this isn’t right.”

He looked confused. “What?”

The bond surged. The scent. The pull. The truth.

“You’re human,” I whispered. “You can’t be my mate.”

His expression shifted. First confusion, then something else. Before I could process it, he spoke:

“Let’s make this easier for you then. I, Elias Vermont, hereby reject you as my mate.”

I froze. How did he know? How did he know the words?

Before I could react, pain lanced through my chest like lightning. Those words should have freed me.

But they didn’t.

“I don’t need a weak human as my mate either,” I spat.

But inside... it was different. My heart screamed. My wolf, Light, whimpered.

I ignored her.

I turned and ran. Tears burned my cheeks. Each step grew heavier than the last. I tried to keep moving, tried to keep my head up, but by the tenth step, everything began to fade—my vision, my heartbeat, my world.

And I collapsed.

Light’s voice echoed in my mind:

“You just rejected fate.”

And my last thought was simple:

Then let fate suffer like I have.