Chapter 1

Elara

A beautiful sunset illuminated the Sacred Mountains of the North, whose peaks were covered with thick snow, an unmistakable sign of the particular snowfalls of the area. As we drove along the road, the orange color of the sky embellished a landscape worthy of a postcard.

Everything seemed beautiful and idyllic until I was aware of the cold seeping hard through the car window. I pulled my coat tightly around me to warm my body. The guards up ahead paid no attention to me; they were just laughing at an anecdote about a rookie who had failed the guard exam.

The fact that they were distracted was an advantage for me.

I didn't need them to decide to study me.

Anyone with a little expertise could understand that I was cold and that would never be common for the daughter of a Beta. I smiled wryly at that fact, but the reality was that I was freezing to death because I, unlike a common wolf who could withstand the coldest temperatures in nature, could not summon my beast for warmth.

I still couldn't figure out if my beast had died or if it was just sleeping. The reality was that since my she-wolf had disappeared, I was nothing more than a half-breed without a she-wolf. In short, in the food chain I was just a heap of weaknesses.

Before, when I hadn't even thought about the first shift, I could feel my beast under my skin. That made me the ideal candidate to go on missions where I could withstand extreme temperatures.

Now, I was reduced to a complete mess.

“Are you okay, Elara?” asked Max, the leader of the guardian group that had come to pick me up at home. “Do you need to go to the bathroom? We're almost there.”

“I'm fine, I just want the trip to be over,” I said sincerely.

I lived deep in the heartland, better known as The Nothingness, a place on the continent where there was nothing but rogues and half-breeds that we had somehow or other been isolated by the system. From the time we left that place until that moment, three whole days had passed, so I could only imagine that the Black Ice Pack couldn't be too far from the periphery.

It would take a whole week to go from the center to White Claws, the last Pack in the North.

“We're only fifteen minutes from Arcadia,” Max said, and I nodded.

I knew many things about the Black Ice Pack from the time I was assigned the mission to infiltrate, such as, for example, that Arcadia was the town that was considered the capital of the pack. However, I was completely unaware of the time it took to get there, as well as the layout of the place and its security.

For all of us who lived outside the North, the Black Ice Pack was something of a myth.

“Beta David is on a mission on the Eastern Border right now,” Max said, and that didn't surprise me. “Your family is going to receive you.”

I almost laughed out loud when he said that, but I kept my composure.

The reality was that they were not my family.

If it hadn't been for Tracy, the she-wolf who had been raised as the daughter of the family, having a nasty car accident in which she almost bled to death, it would never have been discovered that she didn't have the same blood type as her parents. That prompted doctors to run more tests and finally the guardians to conduct a thorough investigation that yielded a terrible truth: Tracy and I were switched as children.

“The DNA sample the orphanage took from you had a match to Beta David's blood; we need to take you to the pack to verify the veracity of the test,” Max said when he explained the situation to me at my house.

I could not believe anything at all.

Regardless, I was ready to meet a family I wasn't expecting.

Part of me was curious to meet them all.

Did we have the same hair color? Did we have similar smiles? Did we share the same moles? Would we have the same sarcastic sense of humor?

These were silly questions that arose from the need to quench my curiosity.

The car drove through a mountain, and I could see the impressive town that sat in a magnificent valley. The guards greeted everyone, and I could see how clean and orderly Arcadia was. The most fascinating thing was the sudden change in temperature.

I can live without freezing to my bones, I thought with amusement.

Suddenly, the guardian who was driving sped up the car, and we drove up a small hill until he parked outside a rock fence with a large black gate. We waited a few seconds, and the gate opened to let us through.

We drove through the fence, and a beautiful grove of trees welcomed us to show us a dirt road that led us toward an imposing mansion. My eyes widened in surprise.

“We've arrived,” Max said.

The guardian who was driving pulled the small suitcase I had from the trunk and handed it to me as I got out of the car. Max led me to the gate, and I could see at least three luxury cars parked around a fountain surrounded by small rose bushes with a sculpture of the Goddess right in the center.

I looked at the sculpture, marveling at such an impressive work of art.

“Beta David's property is one of the nicest in the pack,” Max said, and I nodded.

What I didn't expect was that, as I approached the entrance, a tall, middle-aged, blonde woman was standing outside. She looked stunning in an elegant dress. Next to her was a tall, muscular young man with light brown hair. He was wearing the training uniform of the famous Royal Lycan Academy.

They had the same features, the same shape of brown eyes, and the same cupid's bow on their lips. They were undeniably mother and son, and they were completely different from me.

From the expressions on their faces, they were not happy to see me.

“Lauren, this is Elara Doe,” the guardian said, and the woman looked me over from head to toe. “This is Elara and Theo Mikaelson.”

I was about to reach out to shake their hands when Theo spoke in a dismissive manner.

“She's the half-breed?” he asked with annoyance, as if I wasn't present.

That made me raise my eyebrows in surprise.

Lauren approached me with disdain and then sniffed loudly, then put on a disgusted expression that froze me in place.

“Aside from being a half-breed, you smell terrible—what a waste!” the Beta's wife exclaimed and clicked her tongue in irritation. “Denisse!”

Out of the mansion came a young woman much older than me, with red hair and freckles on her face. She was wearing a hideous green maid's uniform and looked at me with annoyance.

“Denisse, get rid of her suitcase,” Lauren said and walked into the house.

Theo gave me a disgusted look but followed in his mother's footsteps.

“We must go,” the guards said and hurried away.

I had a staring duel with Denisse, and she rudely snatched the suitcase out of my hands.

“Give me the stupid suitcase, you impostor,” the Omega said sharply.

I watched her take my belongings away, unable to believe what she just witnessed.

“What the hell is going on here?” I whispered in confusion.

At that moment I shook my head and watched the guards' car drive off.

I approached the fountain and concentrated on the statue of the Goddess.

I had to control the erratic breathing that my anger was causing me, so I took several deep breaths before stepping back a bit. Then I focused on the lush rose bushes that looked splendorous and tried to pick a rose, but someone stopped me.

“The thorns on those rose bushes are terrible,” said a male voice that made my skin crawl.

I turned to look at the man, and my mouth went dry.

He was a young man, at least eight inches taller than me and with one of the most beautiful faces I had ever seen in my life. His fair skin was tanned, his green eyes looked like vivid emeralds, and his stoic expression highlighted his masculine features. He was dressed in Royal Lycan Academy training clothes, and I could see the tribal tattoo of those training as a future Alpha.

He looked at me earnestly, and I brushed the petals of a rose unconsciously.

“I—”

"Beautiful things can be harmful.... The roses are bewitched to poison whoever dares to steal the offering from the Goddess," I said, and carefully moved my hand away from the roses.

His touch caused a strong current to jolt our bodies, and we pulled away in surprise. I looked at him stunned. It was the first time in my life I had ever felt anything like this. It wasn't a simple triboelectric effect; it was something more.

He opened his eyes in surprise, and then his nostrils flared sharply.

“What's wrong?” I asked, and he turned away from me.

God took three steps back, and then he turned and ran through the grove.

Running away from me.

What was that? I thought as a shiver shook my body.