CHAPTER 1: MATE

MAKENA

Reaching the edge of the park, the car came to a halt, and my bodyguard stepped out before I could even reach for the door handle, scanning the area like the seasoned soldier he was.

I followed him, adjusting my waistband's leggings and brushing a few stray curls away from my face before looking at him and telling him I'd see him in a moment.

But I paused, seeing him take off his jacket, realizing he was getting ready to jog along. “Where do you think you’re going?” I asked in a teasing tone, and he turned toward me, his mouth forming that familiar, knowing smile.

He had just returned to work after a knee injury. There was no way I was going to let him run with me, and I made that clear to him. I motioned toward one of the nearby benches. "Sit down... doctor's orders," I added, and he opened his mouth to argue, his entire body exuding the stubborn protectiveness I'd grown up with.

Lukas had been my bodyguard for as long as I could remember; he was human, but he was tough as nails and fiercely loyal. He was the only human my father trusted enough to know our secret, the secret of being wolves and all.

I ducked back into the car before he could respond, grabbed a water bottle, and shoved it into his hands. “Hydrate,” I teased with a wink. “And sit your stubborn butt down. I’m an alpha wolf, remember? I can handle a few laps around a public park by myself.” He sighed, but the corners of his mouth raised in a reluctant smile as he accepted the bottle.

“Fine,” he muttered. “But take your phone with you, and I’m timing you.”

I laughed and tightened my shoelaces before jogging backward along the path. “Good! I plan on breaking my own record.” He watched me go, arms crossed, the ever-vigilant guardian. I adored him, and he had no reason to worry. I had been running in this park for years, and no one ever bothered me. They knew my father; they wouldn’t dare.

The evening breeze swept across my skin, putting a spring in my step as I prepared to accelerate, and I looked back at Lukas for one last look before rounding the bend and disappearing from his view.

But I froze as soon as my eyes lifted. Three men emerged from the tree line behind him, moving low and fast like predators stalking their prey, and my heart stopped. "Hey!" I yelled, coming to a complete stop. "What are you doing?!" Lukas tensed up at the sound of my scream, but he had not noticed them yet. "Behind you!" I yelled again, panicked as I began sprinting back toward him.

Lukas reacted quickly, meeting them halfway with a roar of defiance. “Leave him alone!” I growled, running as fast as I could, but the sound of screeching tires echoed through the air before I could reach him.

A dark car accelerated toward me from the shadows and skidded to a stop right next to the trail. Three men jumped out, moving toward me, and my wolf let out a growl as we began to shift. But everything happened too fast; the men had already closed in, and before we could finish the transformation, something cold and sharp pierced the skin on my neck. My legs buckled as the poison rushed through my veins, and I immediately felt my strength ebbing away.

Hands grabbed me from every side, and I thrashed and kicked, my wolf snarling inside me, my mind frantically reaching out in a mind link to my father. 'Father!' I screamed in my head. ‘The park... I’m at the park.’

But something cold clamped around my neck before I could finish the thought. I knew what it meant... silver, and I fought it, every instinct screaming at me to shift, to tear them apart, but my limbs wouldn't move, and my wolf could only whimper inside me, strangled and trapped.

I barely heard Lukas' grunts and shouts as rough hands shoved me backward, and I tumbled helplessly into the trunk of the car. Plunged into complete darkness, I tried to scream, to claw my way out, but it was useless.

My lights went out.

----

Rough hands slapping my face startled me awake. "Wake up!" A voice barked, and I blinked, disoriented, as the surrounding shadows swirled and shifted until they gradually sharpened into shapes.

I had no idea what was going on or where I was as my head lolled forward. And I couldn’t move. Thick ropes bound my wrists and ankles, pinning me to a chair, while a man shoved a camera in my face.

"Smile for your father," he sneered, then turned and laughed with the others. “I want to be home by dinner. She’s awake; let’s do this and get the hell out of here.” His voice remained distant, but I snapped out of the haze when rough hands untied me, only to drag me forward.

My body remained weak, and I couldn't feel my wolf as they continued to drag me, but then recognition struck. I knew this place. I'd been here numerous times before. I was in my family's morgue, specifically the cremation room.

Just then, we rounded the corner, and I saw it: the heavy iron pit in the center, glowing with pulsing embers, while the thick stench of burnt flesh clung to the air. A scream ripped through my throat, and I thrashed, but the men only laughed, the one with the camera egging me on.

“That’s right,” he chuckled. “Scream. Let Daddy hear you.”

I tried to break free with all of my strength, but my body betrayed me, still weakened by whatever they had drugged me with and the collar around my neck. One of them yanked open the heavy metal door to the fire pit, and the searing wave of heat hit me immediately, forcing another guttural cry from my lips.

"No! Please!” My feet skidded against the grimy floor as they dragged me closer, the flames licking the edges of my clothes with unbearable heat. "Father!" My tears obscured my vision. "Please help me, Father!" But my attackers weren't moved; they laughed harder instead.

“Throw her inside," the man with the camera commanded, but a deafening crash shattered the air from the other side of the wall before the others could obey. They froze, including me. The wall to our right separated the room from the cold storage area, where bodies were stored in steel drawers. The men exchanged panicked glances while I let out a weak scream.

"I thought you made sure no one would be here," the leader growled. “No one was supposed to be,” another stammered. But his words died mid-sentence as an icy chill swept through the room, so cold it made my breath fog in front of me.

My gaze followed theirs to the doorway leading to the freezer. And there, half-hidden in the shadows, stood someone... a man stark naked, skin pale in the flickering light with steam rising from his heaving chest like mist.

His eyes glowed a deep red in the darkness. And my breath caught the moment my gaze locked on the burning crimson of his... not with fear, but heat that shot through my bones like wildfire.

My body stood rigid as I struggled to breathe and think, while my wolf, whom I couldn’t feel just moments before, stirred with a heat wave that sent a gasp through my mind. Everything fell silent before a single word I never imagined I'd hear in this lifetime shook the foundation of my soul, ripping the very fabric of my being.

"MATE!"