Chapter One

"Come, Odessa. I have prepared a gift for you and Locke." My heart thrummed at the sound of my husband's voice. It had been three days since he had been home, and to say I missed him was an understatement. 

"Theron," I was breathless at the sound of his name on my tongue. Three days had felt like a lifetime, like I had been without him for eternities.

He placed a black envelope delicately on my desk; even from here, I could make out the wax seal, which was the one from my desk, but before I could ask about the envelope, he pulled me to my feet with a breathtaking smile crossing his face. 

Again, I was breathless; butterflies raged in my stomach at the sight of that smile. His smile had been everything I had ever wanted to see for the last three years, ever since the day I chose him to be my mate during the mating union. 

"Come," he said again, pulling our son and me toward the door. 

Locke and I hadn't left the royal suite since I gave birth; I hadn't felt ready to share him with the world, despite the elders insisting on meeting him only hours after he was born. 

It was Theron's excitement that moved me to cross that threshold, to leave the comfort of our rooms and face the world outside the little bubble I had created. 

The moment the cool night air kissed my cheeks, I realized I was relieved that it was dark, that maybe, just maybe, everyone in the clan was sleeping, and I could keep my precious boy to myself before this place and these people changed him. 

Cradling Locke, I followed Theron into the woods, climbing toward the cliffs the teenage boys like to jump from in their spare time. Only, we bypassed those entirely, heading for the cliff that no one dared to jump from. 

"Where are we going, Theron?" I asked, pulling Locke closer. Despite him being half fae, I feared the chilled air would cause him to come down with a cold. 

"Not much further," He smiled at me again, the giddiness in his voice, the grin on his boyish face-, it was all enough to rid me of any fear, any thought of where he was taking us, leaving me with only those damned butterflies. 

We topped the mountain just as the sun was rising. The sky was caught in that wonderful in-between sleep and awake, where the orange began to kiss the skies, birthing streaks of purples and pinks across the cheeks of the sky. 

I stood on the cliff's edge, peering down into the deep, endless depths of the sea, watching as it crashed into rock and sand.

"Turn around, I have your gift," my husband said softly.

My stomach sank the moment I heard his voice. I had heard him use that tone before, just never to me. 

Something about it felt off, felt terribly wrong. 

I didn't want to turn around. This moment was supposed to be perfect, and I knew if I stayed just like this it would stay perfect. 

"Turn, Odessa!" He commanded, his fae king aura roaring across my skin and bones, causing the hair on my arms to twitch and stand. I turned, looking into the amber eyes of the man I had been married to for the last three years, the man I had given myself to both in heart and soul, as my half-sister tangled herself into his arms with a sultry expression. 

I clutched our son, Locke, in my arms as tears began pin pricking in my eyes. 

"What's going on, Theron?" I asked the man who I had thought answered all of my dreams about finding love, life, and a true family during our short three years together. A man who was now looking into my eyes with nothing but rage and contempt as I pulled our fussing newborn closer to my chest. 

"Come now, Odessa. Let's not make this harder than it has to be. If it weren't for that God's damned mating union, I would have never agreed to mate with you. You have come between Calista and me for years… Now… it needs to end." A shiver ran through my spine as he pulled her closer, his words cleaving my heart into pieces as realization dawned on me. 

"No," I growled, looking at Locke, my beautiful boy who had fallen into a restful sleep in my arms. 

Calista, my father's illegitimate child with his mistress, his favored child, looked at me with hot, raging tears streaming down her porcelain face. 

"Odessa, we didn't intend for this to happen; it just… did. We are in love, sister. Please try to understand." I rolled my eyes, ignoring her, looking instead at Theron again. 

"We have a child! We are mated! Calista is mated to the Vampire Lord!" I hissed at him, my mind piecing those nights together that he was late coming home, or not coming home at all. I had been blind, content to be home with our child, the child he had tortured me to conceive. A child that I almost died birthing for this clan. 

"I have never loved you, Odessa," Theron said coldly, looking at me, then Locke. 

"I should have never let you have my heir; I should have never marked you," the words he spoke so freely barely registered at all. 

"Then divorce me, give me Locke, and leave us!" I growled.

He scoffed at me, then said, "You know that isn't how mating works, Odessa." He spoke to me as if I were a foolish child that he was scolding for stealing a cookie from the jar before dinner. He was right about one thing, though; I did know how mating with a fae male worked despite being a human. I knew that he couldn't reject me now, that for our union to be broken one of us would have to die. 

"Please, Odessa!" My sister begged, feigning innocence. "Lucien has never loved me, never cared for me. He beats me, Odessa!" She screamed, coming closer to Locke and me. I stepped back just enough to keep the distance between us. 

"That isn't my problem, Calista." I snarled, hating her more now than ever before. 

For years, I have been the only one who could see that evil look in her eyes, that coldness that seemed to radiate through her pores. Even now, she was playing innocent while MY husband planned to murder our child and me. 

"Watch how you speak to her, Odessa! She is innocent in all of this. It will be my hands that are tarnished here, not hers." Theron stepped forward, knowing I was out of room, out of time. 

"Besides, Calista is carrying my child, and because of our love, it will be stronger than that runt in your arms, the true ruler of the clans." he gave a look of disgust at our son, my beautiful, powerful boy.

"How will you explain this to the clan, to my father?" I asked, hoping the question would grant me enough time to escape with Locke.

"It's taken care of. They will think in a postpartum craze you ended yourself, taking little Locke with you," Theron said coldly. 

All I could think about was the letter on the desk with my stamp… it was a suicide note… wasn't it? 

Then I thought of the years I spent helping him become ruler of the clans. How I had put my life on the line so many times to ensure he had the success he craved so badly, how I had given him a child who the clan's elders had already named as the next ruler because of the promise he showed so clearly already. I had given him everything he had ever wanted, and still it wasn't enough, and as he pushed me over the cliff's ledge, I clung to our sleeping son and prayed that the moon Goddess would be with us in whatever was left of this life, and in the next. 

I looked everywhere, trying to think of a way to save my son from this free fall as we were consumed by raging winds and the heat of the now blistering sun, but I knew there was no use. Even if I did save him, he would be killed by his father anyway. So, I kissed his soft little forehead, breathing him in one last time. 

"I'm sorry I chose him for you. I love you, my sweet," I whispered, crying out just as the ocean waves got close enough to spray my burning skin, and before I felt the sharp pang of the rocks beneath, I sat up in bed, breathing hard, every muscle in my body tight with the fall off the cliff. 

I was in my room… in my old room… in my old home… my father's house.

I looked down at my hands, which were just clutching my son, and noticed the dress I was wearing. This was the dress I wore the day I ruined my life by choosing Theron as my mate.

Again, I gasped, unable to hold it back the moment I realized why I was here, why I was wearing this dress again. But could it be possible, had the moon goddess given me another chance?

I stood, rushing to the floor-length mirror I had spent hours in front of for this mating union, and I scanned my neck feverishly, fearful that when I moved my hand, Theron's mating mark would be there. But when I moved my hand, the skin beneath was smooth, unmarked.

My hands fisted the tulle and lace flowing over my skin, and I knew, without so much as a doubt, the moon goddess had answered me, and I had been reborn.