Chapter 2

Ethan tossed a leather pouch onto the table in front of me. Moonstone fragments spilled out, and I recognized them immediately as the currency wolves used for trades. That dangerously handsome face wore an easy smile. "Your stuff from that day. Thanks for the help, good girl."

The second he left, I became Silver Moon Pack's hottest gossip topic.

My friend grabbed my arm and practically screamed at me. "Elowen, are you insane? That guy's a rogue! I heard he fights in underground rings at the black market. His claws have drawn blood, and you need to stay far away from him!"

Some nosy Omega sidled up to me with stars in her eyes. "Wait, you actually know Ethan? Could you get me his number? God, when he shifts, he's absolutely gorgeous!"

I stood there completely stunned.

After school, a massive black wolf blocked my path and let out a low growl. Ethan shifted back right in front of me, shirtless and shameless, and whistled. "Come run the border with me."

A group of rogues behind him started catcalling and laughing.

"Boss, she looks too innocent. Where's the fun in that?"

"Yeah, that Omega from Crimson Claw was way hotter. That body, that scent!"

My face went white. I bolted like a startled rabbit with my head down.

Their wild laughter followed me all the way home.

Back then, I genuinely hated him. He was a wild wolf, and we lived in entirely different worlds.

But Ethan had the thickest skin I'd ever seen. He showed up every single day and wouldn't take no for an answer.

Everything changed the day I was patrolling near the border. A drunk rogue cornered me and started getting aggressive.

Just when I thought I was finished, Ethan exploded out of nowhere like a feral wolf. He kicked the rogue so hard that the guy went flying.

He positioned himself between us and wrapped his arms around me. His voice came out softer than I'd ever heard it. "Don't be scared. I've got you."

That day, he followed me all the way home, his wolf's golden eyes glowing in the darkness until he watched me step through my front door.

In that moment, my seventeen-year-old heart shattered every wall I'd built.

That feeling when you're young hits you like a wolf going feral, raw and unstoppable.

Ethan and I started dating and even talked about becoming mates, but then my parents found out I was seeing a rogue wolf.

They lost their minds and locked me in the house, demanding I cut all contact. They said rogue wolves were dangerous and I was destroying my future.

But all I could think about was Ethan.

For seventeen years, I'd been the perfect daughter, obedient and compliant.

Ethan was like a hammer that smashed through all those pack rules and dragged me into a world that was dangerous but real.

He'd sneak me past our territory line into the wild lands, and we'd shift and run under the moonlight. During my first heat, he stayed by my side, clumsy but determined to protect me.

For what felt like destiny, I jumped out of my second-floor window and ran away with him.

In the border woods, he held me so tight I could feel his heart pounding like a war drum.

He asked me, "Aria, if you're with me, there's no pack protection. We'll have to survive by hunting. Are you scared?"

I looked up at him with stars in my eyes. "I'm not scared."

"Good. I swear, Ethan Hayes, if I ever betray you as my mate, I deserve to die a miserable death."

His vow was real back then.

And the days that followed were brutal.

We lived in an abandoned rundown shack and survived by hunting. Winter nights were so cold that we had to huddle together in our wolf forms just to stay warm.

Ethan would give me the only rabbit he'd caught and use his body heat to warm my freezing feet.

We fought like hell to build something better.

Ethan was smart and fearless, so he started recruiting other rogue wolves and slowly built his own pack.

I went from being helpless to standing beside him as his Luna.

We moved out of that rundown shack into a pack house and eventually claimed our own territory.

The day of our mating ceremony, he bit down on my neck in front of my entire pack and declared me his Luna, and the whole pack howled with joy for us.

I thought that was our happy ending, that we'd be together forever.

Until that young Omega showed up, barely of age. She was so young, and the way she looked at him with those adoring eyes reminded me exactly of myself back then.

Ethan fell for her.

We fought and threw things, and eventually it turned into us tearing at each other with claws and teeth.

We went from fated mates to enemies who wanted each other dead.

The door suddenly burst open, and eighteen-year-old Ethan walked in, but when he looked at me, there was no trace of that young love in his eyes. Instead, I saw something that made my heart sink, something complicated and dark. It was exhaustion and resentment, the kind that came from living through everything we'd been through.

One look was all it took for me to understand.

He'd been reborn, too.

And he knew I had been as well.