2

The order was short, absolute. The pendant on my chest emitted a violent flash before going dark, allowing the hidden power to flow through my limbs like molten lava.

My eyes ignited with a silver light, and reality dissolved into a blur of motion.

It wasn't just a blur; it was a dance of death. The first rogue lunged, but my body reacted with supernatural speed.

My claws, though hidden beneath a human facade, tunnelling into his throat with the ease of a hot knife through butter.

The heat of his blood splattered across my face, and for a fleeting second, the agony of Caleb’s betrayal was replaced by a feral hunger for justice.

The second wolf tried to flee as he saw his companion collapse, but I didn't allow it. I reached him in a heartbeat and snapped his trachea with one swift motion.

The crunch of his bones was music to my wounded wolf.

When my vision cleared, the silence had returned. The two rogues lay at my feet, mangled in a way that turned my stomach. Their necks were shredded—not by teeth, but by something far more precise and lethal.

I fell to my knees, drained. The adrenaline evaporated, leaving me hollow. The world began to spin, and the snow felt like a bed of feathers beneath my exhausted body. My sight blurred, but just before the darkness claimed me, I saw a towering shadow.

A massive man appeared between the trees. He was a Beta, yet his presence was more powerful than any Alpha I had ever known. He had shoulders like granite and eyes of cold steel that observed me with a clinical, emotionless disdain.

Beside him, two other warriors armed with heavy silver chains stared at the rogues' corpses in bewilderment.

He stared at me, his expression unchanging.

He couldn't scent my wolf; the pendant, though damaged, had resealed my essence just in time. To him, I was no threat, no shifter. I was just a wounded, pathetic human.

“What a waste of skin,” the man grunted, his voice vibrating through the ground. “But she’ll do. Alpha James always needs new hands for servitude.”

I felt his rough hands seizing me. He hoisted me from the ground effortlessly, slinging me over his shoulder like a sack of grain—an object with no value of its own. His skin smelled of ancient forest and implacable military discipline.

“Sir, who killed these rogues?” one of the guards asked, inspecting the bodies. “This looks like the work of a superior predator.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the Beta replied coldly. “What matters is that we’ve filled our quota of slaves for tonight’s transport. Move out.”

He spoke without a shred of compassion.

“Alpha James will know what to do with another mouth to feed. They say one of his maids died under the lash yesterday. Perhaps this human will last a little longer.”

The world turned black. My final thought was one of sheer terror: I had been rescued from the rogues only to become a slave to a new pack.

***

James’s Pov

The silence in the Alpha Wing was never absolute; there was always the echo of my own blood pulsing with arrogance.

I threw back the black silk sheets with a sharp movement, ignoring the warmth of the bodies I left behind.

My muscles, tense and sculpted by years of war, protested the lack of rest, but my mind was elsewhere.

“James… don’t go yet,” whispered the redhead to my left, stretching like a cat to trace the tattoos on my back with her long nails. “The night is still young, and my sister and I have so much more to offer you.”

Her sister, another flame-haired beauty, sat up and rested her chin on my shoulder, letting her warm breath graze my neck.

“Stay a little longer, my Alpha,” the second one purred. “You still haven't told me if the position of Captain of the Guard will be mine. I’ve proven my worth... in every sense.”

I turned slowly, fixing them with a glare that would have frozen the breath of a seasoned veteran. They were beautiful, yes.

They held the lineage of elite warriors, but their eyes only shimmered with the greed for status. To me, they were nothing more than vessels to drain the tension of command.

“Do you think a rank in my guard is earned beneath these sheets?” My voice was a low growl that made them flinch back. “Power is won with blood on the battlefield, not with moans in my bedroom.”

“Enough of this!” Fenris, my wolf, roared in my mind. His mental claws raked the walls of my skull with a desperation that was beginning to drive me mad. “These females smell of nothing! They smell of treachery and weakness! I want our LUNA!”

I ignored the chaos in my head and stood up, letting the cold air of the room hit my bare torso.

“Alpha, you can’t blame us for wanting to be by your side,” the first one insisted, sliding off the bed with calculated grace, letting the silk slip from her body. “You know our bloodline is the purest in the Blackwood Pack. Either of us would give you strong pups. Worthy heirs.”

I paused as I adjusted my trousers, casting a look of pure disdain over my shoulder.

“I am not looking for a broodmare; I am looking for a Luna,” I declared, and the air in the room grew heavy with my Alpha command, making it thick and difficult to breathe. “And neither of you has the essence to occupy that throne.”

“But James…” the other started, covering her breasts with a modesty that tasted like a lie.

“I said get out,” my voice cracked like thunder. “Clean yourselves up and clear this mess. I don’t want to see a single trace of your scent when I return. You are not important. You never will be.”

I pulled on my shirt as I heard them scurry away, whispering to each other in a blend of fear and resentment. I didn't care. I was Alpha James of the Blackwood Pack, a man who owed explanations to no one.

I walked toward my office, trying to ignore the void in my chest that only power could partially fill. But then, just before my hand reached the mahogany door handle, the world stopped.

It was like lightning striking my spine. A metallic click, an ancestral connection I had never felt before, slammed into me with the force of a hurricane.

My wolf stopped howling and began to whimper with pure, unadulterated need. The air shifted. The scent of sandalwood and leather in my office was suddenly invaded by something subtle: a blend of wild vanilla, fresh rain, and… blood.

I stepped into the office, my amber eyes locking onto the figure my Beta held under guard.

She was small. Covered in mud, her clothes were nothing but rags that barely clung to her bruised body, and her hair was a tangled nest of dark knots. I should have been repulsed. Instead, my blood began to boil.

“HER! SHE IS OURS!” Fenris roared in my mind, dropping to his knees as he recognized his Queen in that battered creature.

I tried to scent her wolf. I searched for a trail of power, the defiant spark of an Alpha mate, but I found nothing.

Only the scent of humanity. A filthy, fragile human. My pride crumbled with a deafening violence.

Was my mate a toothless creature? A mere mortal who would wither and die in a few decades while I remained forever young? Fate was mocking me.

“What the hell is this?” I demanded, my voice dripping with a disdain meant to hide the fact that my hands were trembling with the urge to touch her.

“We found her in the woods, Alpha,” the Beta explained. “She killed two rogues on her own. She looks human, but she has unusual resilience. I thought she’d be a good harvest for the mines or the cleaning crew.”

I stepped toward her, invading her personal space until I could feel the heat radiating from her wounded skin. I forced her chin up with a rough finger. I expected to see plea in her eyes, but what I found was a cold fire that dared me to strike.

“She looks like a starving rat,” I spat, though inside I wanted to tear her clothes off to find the birthmark that would confirm the bond. “Take her to the Omega Wing. Let her learn her place as a slave.”

***

Madeline’s Pov

The presence of that man was like a physical gravity crushing me into the floor. He was massive, with musculature that seemed carved from living rock and amber eyes that radiated a dangerous heat.

The scent of ancient forest and raw power emanating from him produced a paralyzing terror in me—but also a forbidden attraction I couldn't explain.

I felt a sharp tug in my chest, right where my hidden amulet rested. My wolf, who should have been deep in slumber, let out a howl of recognition that made me stumble.

Could this monster be...? No. It was impossible. An Alpha like him would never accept a human like me.

The sting of his rejection—though I didn't understand why it hurt so much—added to my exhaustion. They dragged me away, deep into the bowels of the mansion where the air grew stale and frigid. The Omega Wing was a tomb for the living. They threw me into a cramped cell, where the stone floor bit into my bones.

The night fell like a slab of iron. Hours passed until, in the dead of the night, the iron door creaked open.

James entered. His towering silhouette filled the space, casting a shadow that devoured the meager moonlight. He was barefoot, his shirt unbuttoned, and his eyes shimmered with a predatory, savage lust.

“My wolf won't stop clawing at my insides for you,” he whispered, closing the distance with the speed of a hunter. “He wants to claim a filthy human. What a goddamn waste of fate.”

“I’m not… what you think,” my voice trembled, but my eyes refused to waver.

“You have no wolf, Madeline,” he mocked, pinning me against the cold bars. “You are nothing. You’re just a biological error that my body craves out of pure instinct.”

The sexual tension between us became a living entity. He trapped me, burying his nose in the crook of my neck. His hands seized my wrists above my head, immobilizing me. I felt his heart thudding like a war drum against my chest