Chapter 1 Fated Mates

Elena's POV

The clock struck midnight at the mating ball.

My blood caught fire all at once. In that instant — the moment I turned eighteen — the wolf inside me finally woke. Through the crush of bodies on the ballroom floor, my eyes found the man on the dais.

Damian Hale. The future Alpha of Frostridge Pack. My stepbrother. And the man I'd loved in secret for ten years.

Something fierce and impossible pulled at me. My newly woken wolf howled with joy in my head, chanting one word over and over. Mate.

"Damian!" I ran to him, so happy the tears spilled over. "We're fated mates! The contract our parents signed — once we're fated, we marry right away. I'm finally going to—"

But Damian wasn't smiling.

He looked down at me, and those eyes I'd known my whole life held nothing but cold, open disgust. He stepped back, dodging my hand, and pulled the girl in the white gown beside him tight against his chest.

Vera Cross. The current Beta's daughter. My best friend.

After my parents died, every child in the pack turned on me. She was the only one who wanted to be my friend. I told her every secret I had. I gave her everything.

Watching them hold each other, my heart skipped a beat.

"Shut up, Elena." Damian's voice was flat, empty. He looked at me like I was trash. "Stop bringing up that damn contract. It was a joke my parents forced on me. Whether or not we’re fated mates, I will never marry you. Vera and I have been together a long time."

Been together a long time.

My mind went blank.

When did they — when—

"You—" My voice cracked. I stared at her hand on his arm, at his arm around her waist. "How could you do this? She's my best friend. You've been going behind my back—with her?"

"Elena…" Vera's eyes went wide and glassy, brimming with tears. Her voice dropped to a trembling whisper. "I'm so sorry. I never meant—I swear I didn't want to hurt you. Please, you have to believe me—"

She broke off mid-sentence. Her hand flew to her chest, fingers clawing at the fabric over her heart, and a strangled gasp tore out of her. Her knees buckled.

Damian caught her before she hit the ground, both arms locking around her.

"I'm okay—" Vera choked out between coughs, pushing weakly at Damian's chest. "Don't—don't blame her. It's my fault. I shouldn't have come. I knew seeing me would upset her—I'll go. I'll leave right now—"

Damian's face went white. He scooped Vera tighter against him and turned on me. The fury in his eyes was raw. "Happy now? You want to stand here and watch her die?"

"I didn’t—"

"Then break the contract." He cut me off. His voice wasn't loud, but everyone around us heard it. "Don't make me say it twice."

A few girls behind Vera started whispering. One let out a shrill laugh. "She didn't actually think she was good enough for Damian, did she? An orphan — wanting to be Luna?"

"Right. She should look in a mirror. Damian and Vera are the perfect match."

"What gives her the right to stand between them?"

Every word was a needle in my skin.

I wanted to fire back. But what could I even say?

I'd been the pride of a Beta's house once. If that car crash hadn't taken my parents, I'd never have been an orphan at all. But none of them cared about that. No one did.

And that damn mating contract — Damian had signed it himself, the year he turned ten.

He was the one who used to stand in front of me, who beat down every child that dared bully me, who announced I was his betrothed and that touching me meant disrespecting the future Alpha.

He swore he'd marry me. That he'd protect me for the rest of my life. That he'd give me a home. He would marry me.

And I believed him. Even five years ago, when he suddenly went cold on me for no reason I could understand, when he told me he hated me, I still trailed after him like a fool, trying to win him back.

I told myself it was just that he'd grown up, that an Alpha heir had to be composed, that he only sounded harsh.

I told myself he would definitely marry me.

But now he only stared at me, cold. And in front of the entire hall, he said the cruelest thing of all.

"I, Damian Hale, reject you, Elena Winters, as my mate."

A pain I have no words for tore through me. The backlash of the rejection ripped me open from the inside, and my wolf let out one despairing, agonized howl.

I gasped for air, cold sweat soaking my back. Through the blur, I saw Damian's face go white too, as if he were fighting the same tearing pain.

But after that one scream, my wolf went strange. Not quiet — wrong. A thick numbness spread through my body, heavy and unnatural, like something inside me was misfiring. I couldn’t feel her the way I should. She was there, but distant, smothered, as if she’d been wrapped in something I couldn’t name.

I looked at Damian, holding Vera close. The man I'd loved for ten years.

"Fine." I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and said it, numb.

Damian froze. Something like shock flickered through his eyes.

I looked him dead in the eye. "I accept your rejection. I'll go home and tell father to end our contract for good."

The hall broke into startled murmurs. No one had expected the Elena who always cowered, who followed Damian around like a shadow, to agree so easily.

I turned and walked toward the doors. I dragged my strange, deadened wolf with me. The numbness was spreading — my limbs felt heavy, sluggish, like I was wading through water. By the time I reached the doors, I could barely lift my feet.

A revolting voice slid out of the corner.

"Hey, Elena."

Kyle, Frostridge Pack’s most shameless playboy. He was good-looking enough to get away with it, and he knew it. He’d charmed his way through half the she-wolves in the pack and never looked back.

He stepped out of the shadows, looking me up and down, his eyes bright with open lust.

"Since Damian doesn't want you, why not come to me?" Kyle seized my wrist and yanked me toward him. A wave of cheap, cloying cologne hit me full in the face. "Don't answer and I'll take it as a yes. And to show you I'm serious, how about a kiss? Your first kiss isn't a bad deal for me. I'll take your first night too, while I'm at it."

He puckered his lips, and that smirking face dipped straight toward mine.

My body locked up completely. I couldn’t understand what was happening. My wolf was doing something wrong, something I’d never felt before. I wanted to scream, but my throat wouldn’t make a sound. I wanted to run, but I couldn’t so much as twitch a finger.

A second before his lips touched mine, a tall figure came out of nowhere.

There was a dull, heavy crack, and Kyle went flying, slamming into the ground.

Damian.