Prologue

Xavier’s p.o.v

It had been raining since dawn.

By the time the funeral started, the clearing behind the pack house had turned into thick mud. Cold wind moved through the pines around the cemetery. The sky was a dull grey color that made everything look worse than it already was.

Perfect weather for a funeral, I guess.

I was glad for the rain, honestly. It gave me an excuse for the wetness on my face.

Not that anyone would dare mention it. I was the Alpha and Alphas didn't cry at funerals. We stood strong, held our packs together and showed no weakness even when everything inside us was screaming.

But my eyes burned anyway. My throat felt tight. And standing here staring at Emerald's coffin, I couldn't seem to make my chest stop aching.

I could not imagine burying my mate under bright sunshine. That would have felt wrong and disrespectful.

I stood at the front with my hands clasped behind my back because I didn't trust them not to shake if I let them hang loose.

My eyes stayed locked on that polished wooden coffin like if I stared hard enough, this would all turn out to be some terrible nightmare I could wake up from.

But I had already seen her body in that hospital. Had already watched them turn off the machines keeping her alive. Had already felt her skin go cold under my hands while I begged her to come back to me.

This was real.

How did that work? How could someone just stop existing?

Her laugh when I said something ridiculous. Her temper when I pushed the warriors too hard. The way she would touch my arm when she wanted my attention. The scent of her hair when she would rest her head on my shoulder at night.

Where did all of that disappear? Where did everything go?

I didn’t have an answer for that. All I knew was that my Emerald was gone and she was never coming back and I would have to figure out how to keep living in a world that didn't have her in it anymore.

Behind me, the pack was gathered.

Nearly everyone from Redmoon had shown up. Warriors standing at attention despite the rain soaking their clothes. Families huddled together. Some of the mothers had brought their children but they kept them turned away from the grave.

The only sound was the rain hitting the coffin.

I could feel their grief in the air around me. But none of it came close to the emptiness sitting in my chest like a stone.

My wolf had been going crazy for weeks now. Ever since Emerald's scent disappeared from the territory, it had been pacing inside my head like a caged animal that couldn't find a way out.

I had barely slept and barely eaten. Every second had been consumed by the need to find her, to bring her home and to fix whatever had gone wrong.

Now my wolf had finally gone quiet. I thought he would have disappeared forever. Because an Alpha without his Luna? No wolf would have been able to survive that. Luckily and bizarrely mine did.

I forced myself to take a slow breath, trying to steady myself before I fell apart in front of my entire pack.

We had searched for Emerald for weeks.

When she first went missing, I thought she would be back in a few hours. She went into the nearby towns all the time to handle pack business or meet with the council. And whenever we used to fight. But she knew our territory better than anyone and she was strong enough to defend herself if she ran into trouble.

But hours turned into a full day.

By the second day, the entire pack was out looking for her.

Warriors covered miles and miles of forest. Patrols went through neighboring territories. I personally followed up on every single lead that came my way, every rumor about a woman spotted alone somewhere.

But we found nothing.

It was like she had vanished into thin air with no scent trail and no tracks.

Until three days ago.

My jaw clenched just thinking about it.

A human hospital three hours away had contacted us. They had found a woman matching Emerald's description. She was brought into their emergency room unconscious and badly injured. They thought it might be a hit-and-run. Some human driver who had panicked and fled the scene. Those fucking humans. My blood boiled every time I thought of them.

I had driven there faster than I had ever driven in my life, hoping that she was alive but when I walked into that hospital room and saw her lying there.

My world had ended.

I had stood next to her bed for hours, holding her hand even though it was already cold. I waited for her eyes to open. Waited for her to squeeze my fingers back. Waited for some sign that the doctors were wrong, that Emerald was still in there somewhere fighting to come back to me.

But she never did.

And I? As an Alpha, I had failed to protect my mate.

A memory surfaced without warning.

Emerald standing at the edge of the training field with her arms crossed, squinting in the bright afternoon sun. Her dark hair had been catching the light.

"You're pushing them too hard again Xavier." She said without looking at me.

I barely glanced up from the fight in front of me "They're warriors. They need to be tough."

She let out that long sigh I knew so well.

"You say that every single time."

But there was warmth in her voice. Affection layered underneath the annoyance. That was Emerald's gift. She could be frustrated with me and still make me feel like I mattered. Like I was worth loving despite all my rough edges.

The memory made my chest tighten so hard I could barely breathe.

That warmth, that light she used to bring into my life was gone from the world now.

I heard someone crying softly behind me. Riley, probably. She and Emerald had been close. A lot of the women in the pack had looked up to Emerald. She handled all the Luna responsibilities with this quiet kind of strength that balanced out my harsher way of leading.

The wind picked up suddenly, scattering cold rain across my face.

That's when I caught a different scent cutting through the smell of grief and wet earth.

Marcus.

Emerald's father.

Something in my chest twisted. I wasn't ready to face him. I wasn't ready to see my own pain reflected back at me in another person's eyes.

Rain ran down his coat in rivers, dripping steadily from his hair. His face looked like it had aged ten years in the past two weeks.

We just stood there for a moment, looking at each other. Two men who had lost the same person in different ways.

Looking at him now though, something felt off.

His eyes were hard in a way I had never seen before. It wasn’t just grief-stricken. There was anger there too. Resentment, maybe. Something that made my wolf stir uneasily even through the fog of my grief.

That's when I noticed the woman standing just behind him.

She stepped forward without making much noise, wearing these long dark robes that brushed against the wet grass.

The second her scent hit me, every muscle in my body locked up.

Black magic.

My wolf reacted immediately, rising up inside me with a low growl building in my chest.

A witch. Marcus brought a witch here. To his daughter’s funeral?

I turned to look at him. "You brought a witch here?"My voice came out harsh and dangerous. "To my territory? Today?”

Marcus stared right back at me. "This is about my daughter."

"I don't give a damn what it's about." The words came out harder than I meant them to but I was too angry to care. "You know the rules. No witches on Redmoon land. Ever."

The witch moved closer to the coffin like she hadn't even heard me speak. Her pale eyes studied the polished wood with this detached interest that made me want to rip her throat out.

"There may still be something left." She said quietly.

That was it.

Whatever fragile control I had been maintaining snapped. "There's nothing left." My voice carried easily across the whole clearing, and I saw several pack members flinch and shift uncomfortably behind me.

"Emerald is dead! Her body is in that coffin! Whatever sick game you're playing ends right now!"

She stared for too long, studying my face like she could see something I couldn't. It made my skin crawl.

"Not entirely." she mummured.

The words sent a chill down my spine that had nothing to do with the rain.

Dangerous silence fell across the clearing. I could feel the pack's confusion and growing fear behind me.

My wolf was clawing to get out, desperate to eliminate this threat to our territory, to Emerald's memory and to everything we were trying to hold together.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

She turned her attention back to the coffin. "A precious part of your mate is no longer with her."

The words didn't make sense. They felt like riddles designed to confuse and manipulate.

My hands clenched into fists so tight my nails bit into my palms.

"Stop speaking in riddles." My voice dropped to something deadly quiet.

"Say what you mean and get off my land before I make you leave."

She looked at me again and I swear I saw pity flicker across her face. That made me even angrier.

"I speak only what I see, Alpha." She said calmly. "And I see absence where there should be presence. Something precious that should be here.." She gestured to the coffin. "...is not."

Rage burned through me like wildfire.

I took a step forward, letting my full Alpha presence crash down on everyone in the clearing. The sheer force of it made wolves drop to the ground, made the air feel heavy and thick.

But the witch didn't move. She didn't flinch and didn't show any sign my power affected her at all.

Which only made me angrier.

The witch's robes moved in the wind but she didn't back away.

"I don't tolerate witchcraft on my land." I continued. "Not today and not any other day.And I sure as hell don't tolerate witches showing up at my mate's funeral to spew nonsense."

Marcus moved forward a little. "You should at least hear her out."

My eyes snapped to him.

“No.” I cut him off with a gesture sharp enough to make him stop mid sentence.

"You of all people should know better, Marcus. You know what witches are capable of."

What they did to my mother, I didn't say. But the memory was there between us anyway.

Marcus's expression crumpled with grief and desperation. I could see doubt flicker across his face for just a second. But then he looked back at the coffin.

"I know. I know what they are. But this is my daughter, Xavier. My little girl. If there's even a chance…”

Something twisted painfully in my chest hearing the grief behind what he was saying.

"She's gone, Marcus. Bringing a witch here won't change that. It won't bring her back.”

"I just want answers!" His voice broke on the last word.

The sound hit me like a physical blow.

"Witches don't give answers." I said, forcing my voice back to something steadier even though everything inside me was screaming. "They deal in lies and manipulation and twisted games. That's all they know how to do."

The witch tilted her head, those pale eyes never leaving my face. "You seem very certain of that, young Alpha."

"I am certain." I said flatly. "My mother died because of a witch."

The words came out before I could stop them.

And suddenly I was eleven again, watching everything burn.

My mother screamed for help while the witch’s ritual was burning her to death. The pack had lost half of its people due to a rogue who was banned from our pack for joining hands with the vampires. He dared bring a witch and took our people.

I still got nightmares. I heard my mother die. I heard her screams cut off suddenly into nothing while I was trapped on the other side of the flames, unable to save her.

"So no." I continued, my voice rough with emotion I couldn't quite hide. "I won't let another witch anywhere near my pack. Near my people. Near anyone I'm supposed to protect.”

Not when I had already failed so catastrophically at protecting the people who mattered most.

The witch watched me for a long moment. Then she gave a small nod, like she had expected exactly this response.

"Very well, Alpha." She glanced one final time at Emerald's coffin and something flickered across her face that I couldn't quite read.

"But you should remember my words.”

That chill from before ran down my spine again, colder and more insistent this time.

"Get off my territory." I said, letting Alpha command ring through every word. "Now.”

The witch didn't argue. She simply turned and walked away, robes trailing through mud.

But stopped midway and looked at me with side eyes.

“The one who carries what belongs to her may not even know it. You must act accordingly when you know the truth, Alpha. Otherwise the consequences might be stronger than you think.”

She didn’t say anything else and left, leaving me in a state of confusion and anger. I wanted to stop her and asked her what she meant but again I remembered. They were manipulative, involved in black magic and lies.

The rain soaked completely through my clothes but I barely felt the cold. All my focus stayed locked on that coffin. On the wood that held what remained of the woman I had loved.

But who knew that the witch’s words would completely change everything in the near future.

Something that would save me but also destroy me.