Prologue

Reyna

My heartbeat refused to slow.

I paced across my bedroom, taking in short, quick breaths that did nothing to calm the pounding in my chest. It was ten in the evening, exactly three hours to my wedding and mating ceremony. In those three hours, I was going to be joined to Randolf, my mate, in front of the entire Blessed Crescent Pack and guests from neighboring packs.

It was everything I had dreamt of since we found out we were fated mates, and yet instead of excitement, a lingering heavy feeling crawled inside of me. With each passing second, my stomach tightened into a knot, one that had nothing to do with being nervous.

"For goodness sake, Reyna, sit down before you sweat and ruin your makeup," my younger sister Dyana chastised, seated cross-legged on my bed, scrolling lazily through her phone. The phone cover looked different yet familiar, a darker blue than her previous light blue, but now wasn't the time to be bothered about her phone. After my mother and other women had spent nearly two hours preparing me for the ceremony, Dyana had volunteered to keep me company until the alpha's envoy arrived to escort me to the pack's auditorium. Randolf being the Alpha's firstborn son and the next in line for the throne meant that the ceremony had to be perfect.

"I can't," I breathed.

Dyana looked up, narrowing her eyes. "You are not having second thoughts about the ceremony, are you?"

I stopped pacing and shook my head. "Goddess, no, it's just..." I trailed off.

"Then what's with all this?" She shifted on the bed, gesturing at me. "You've been pacing for minutes."

I opened my mouth to answer but closed it again. I didn't know how to explain it, because nothing was wrong, although it felt like something was amiss, and yet my chest tightened with every breath.

"Never mind," I finished, taking in a long breath. Just then, my phone screen on the dresser lit up. I picked it quick, my hand trembling for some reason.

"Meet me at our spot." The message from Randolf read, with a red heart at the end. I didn't think twice before gathering the hem of my shiny silver dress and headed for the door, the soft swishing sound of the dress as it brushed my legs filling the room.

"Where are you going?" Dyana asked sharply, just as I wrapped my hand around the door knob.

I cleared my throat and answered her without turning back. "Randolf wants to see me; I will be back before the envoy arrives."

"You can't be serious." She frowned. "You will come back with the dress in wrinkles, your hair ruined, or you'll probably trip on a root in those heels and break your neck," she added and then scoffed. "Besides, seeing your mate before the ceremony is bad luck."

"He wouldn't have asked me to meet him if it wasn't important," I responded, something from inside just pushing me to heed to his summons. "I swear I will be back soon."

"What will I tell mom if she comes here?"

"You'll figure something out." Before she could argue I walked out, and used the backdoor to sneak out before the guests in our house and my parents spotted me.

The walk to the clearing was one I could make with my eyes closed and my wolf senses dumpened. Randolf and I spent countless nights there, enjoying each other's company, so every bend in the narrow path leading to there, every root sticking out from the ground and every low branch was  imprinted in my mind. After a  few minutes of walking in the woods, the trees thinned and I came to our favorite clearing.

The place was dead silent, with the massive oak tree standing in the centre. "Randolf?" I called, looked around, but no answer came.

"Stop with the stupid game babe," I said, trying to sniff the air. His scent lingered, but it was fading, as if he had stopped by momentarily and left. The knot in my stomach tightened further, alongside a sudden piercing feeling on my chest. My wolf whined inside of me, then whimpered.

Then I heard it, a slow soft creak on the tree, the kind of sound tree branches made when they shifted against each other. Instinctively, I lifted my eyes, following the sound. The clouds shifted, allowing the moonlight to shine and that is when I saw a pair of polished shoes first and Randolf hanging from a horizontal tree branch.

"No!" The world left my mouth in a broken whisper.

For a moment, darkness flashed before my eyes, turning me momentarily blind. When my vision cleared up again, I saw the rope that went tightly around his neck, and the way his limp body was swaying against the wind.

Then as the reality slammed into me, hard, I ran towards him shouting his name. I grabbed his legs, wrapped my arms around them and tried to lift him, to take some of the pressure from his neck. 

"Randolf! Wake up please," I begged, shaking him, but he was heavy, so heavy that only his head lolled forward, and that is when I saw his bulged-out, empty eyes, drained of life, staring back at me. It was at that point that my mouth opened, a foreign voice filling my ears. I knew I was screaming, but my voice sounded even foreign to me. I couldn't tell how much time passed or how pack members got to the clearing until someone pried me off my Randolf and dragged me backwards.

"No! Let me go, I have to help him," I cried out, thrashing wildly.

"Hold her!" A familiar voice boomed in the clearing. It was Alpha Tristan, Randolf's father. I looked up through my blurry vision and found him staring at his son's body, his entire form rigid. His wife, Luna Rachel stood trembling beside him, her loud sobs almost silencing mine.

"What have you done to my son?" Alpha Tristan thundered, turning to face me. Then he stormed towards me and held me by my arms, his fingers digging into my skin as I shook in sobs.

I shook my head, my answer coming out in stutters. "No-thi-ng, I, I found hi-m thi-s way."

"Shut the fuck up you wretched liar!" the luna shrieked in a shaky voice. "Your scent is all over him."

"Wh-at?" My eyes widened, tears flowing freely. "No, I was trying to help him," I choked out. "I wou-ld ne-v-er hurt Randy."

"Guards!" The alpha called, his face contorting as he pushed me backwards, sending me crashing into the forest flow, ass first. "Sieze her," he ordered, his thundering voice echoing in the forest as whispers and murmurs spread among those who had arrived.

"No, please. It wasn't me," I begged, but my pleas fell on deaf ears. How could I have killed the man I wanted to spend my life with? I looked around through teary eyes, ignoring the weak cries from my wolf. Then, Kieran, Randolf's only sibling, arrived, shoving past the gathered pack members, his chest heaving, tears already falling from his eyes. It seemed the news of Randy's demise had traveled fast.

"No, no, no, no..." he whispered, dropping into his knees, his trembling hands reaching to his older brother's dead body. His mother let out a fresh sob at the sight of his broken form.

"Who did this?" he asked, turning to look at his father, whose face hardened. He followed his father's gaze, and when his eyes landed on me, he pulled his head back, confusion on his face.

"Reyna?" He asked, tilting his head.

"Yes, and she will pay for it!" Alpha Tristan roared, the wave of power emanating from his voice making me tremble.

"You have to believe me, please," I cried as my eyes swept through the crowd, falling on my sister, with my mother on her side. My father must have been still in the auditorium, helping out with the final touches. Dyana would tell the alpha the truth; she knew when I had left.

"Dyana," I called. "Please tell them I was with you a few minutes ago; tell them that Randy texted me." I tried crawling away from the guards and towards her, but they held me in a tight grip that wouldn't let me move an inch.

"I cannot lie for your sake, Reyna." My breath left me instantly. "I told you seeing your mate before the ceremony is bad luck." I blinked, my jaw dropping down.

"Alpha Tristan," she called as she turned to him. "Reyna left nearly two hours ago, which is enough time to kill Randolf and stage the murder as suicide."

My resolve broke instantly and as the guards dragged me away, my gaze didn't leave her blank face, my mind trying to understand how my sister could feed the fire that was meant to consume me.