Chapter 1

Ophelia

Pain raced up the side of my face as Lucille’s hand made contact with my cheek.

“You petulant girl, are you even listening to me?”

I wasn’t.

“Yes, Lucille.”

Two of the movers entered in through the front door, sparing me from hearing her retort. A slimy smile wormed its way across her nude painted lips. She clasped her hands together and cooed at the men tasked with carrying the furniture out to the truck. The dirty look she shot me over her shoulder was a warning that this conversation wouldn’t be forgotten.

It was hard to care when the shredded bond in my chest writhed in agony, leaving me in near-constant pain.

Astrid flounced down the stairs, turning her slender nose up at me as she passed. The wheels of her designer suitcase whirled softly against the hardwood floor. Inside was all the clothes, shoes, and make-up she’d need for the week it would take the movers to transport all their stuff.

With my lonesome duffle bag tucked neatly in the trunk of the Bentley, there was nothing left for me to do. I could once again drown in the darkness that had swallowed me since Hunter’s rejection.

Every wolf doctor on the internet claimed that a rejected mate-bond was akin to major depressive disorder, and I was beginning to agree with them.

Just when I felt a speck of hope—of something other than the debilitating pain and emptiness—the darkness came and swallowed it whole.

The mark on the inside of my wrist only made things worse.

Running my thumb over the raised wound, wincing at the jagged edges left by Hunter’s teeth, I was thrust head-first into the memory that played at the forefront of all my nightmares.

After the Mating Ceremony -

Lucille’s nails dug into my arm as she dragged me back to the house.

I couldn’t feel the biting pain of them cutting into my flesh, not when the agony encasing my soul was so—so deafening. It claimed every breath with teeth and claws, tearing it from my chest before I could blink.

Hunter had rejected me.

The shards of the broken mate bond rattled in my lungs. My ears were ringing with the sounds of my screams, though my lips were sealed shut.

How had things gone so terribly wrong?

During the drive back to the manor, I prayed again and again to the Moon Goddess, begging her for just one more chance. One more chance and I’d make sure I did things right. I’d make sure I controlled my disobedient wolf.

She did not answer my prayers.

Lucille dragged me into the house, past a pale-faced Astrid who hid behind one of the French style doors.

The snarl of an engine wasn’t what had my head turning, rather the pain ratcheting even higher in my chest.

Hunter and his father appeared at the end of the driveway, emerging from a blacked-out SUV. My heart skipped a beat, and despite how hard I tried not to, a small inkling of hope coasted over the rough edges of my soul.

Please, all I needed was one more chance.

A sharp pull from Lucille had me spinning back around. She dragged me through the foyer, into the lounge with its colorless tones and lime washed fireplace.

The heat did nothing to chase away the chill that had seeped into my very pores.

Everything came to a standstill when Hunter entered the room, followed by his father. Neither wore the soft, kind-hearted expressions they had back on the Goddesses hill.

“The room is sound proofed, Alpha. You will have all the privacy you need to deal with my disgraceful daughter.” As her eyes cut over to my own, I was floored by the sheer hatred burning within them.

Hunter’s father nodded sharply, “Thank you, Lucille.”

The sound of the doors falling shut, sealing me in the room with them, sounded an awful lot like the closing of a casket.

My legs began to tremble, showing just how weak I truly was. I lowered myself onto the leather sofa, smoothing my fingers along the pale, colorless material.

Hunter approached in long strides, his broad shoulders pushed back, and lip curled in distaste.

“I’ll admit, this isn’t how I intended for things to go, but on the drive over here I realized it’s better this way.”

My head snapped up at his words.

“Better this way?” My voice was hollow, lifeless. Utterly unrecognizable.

Resting his hands on the back of the sofa opposite to me, Hunter craned his head, jostling his thick, golden curls.

“Tell me what you know about Lunar Isle.”

He ignored my question. It shouldn’t have hurt, not after everything that happened, and yet it did.

“Lunar Isle,” I licked my dry lips, “It’s where I was born, the birthplace of magic. After my father died, mother—I mean, Lucille—moved us here.”

Part of me, a shard buried in the very back of my head, craved the place I’d once called home. The whispers of memories I had, barely formed since I’d been so young, felt more real than the very couch I sat on.

“Very good,” Hunter hummed, and I flinched as my heart clenched at his praise. “You’re aware of the spell placed over the entirety of the island, yes?”

I frowned, the leather cold beneath my trembling fingertips. “I’ve never heard anything about a spell.”

“All those who enter Lunar Isle may never leave. Should they try to flee the island, they’ll just end up right back where they began.”

“But Lucille was able to leave with Astrid, Kimberly, and I?”

“Exactly,” His lips curled at the corners, morphing into a smile that felt as hollow as my heart. “Either your family is exempt from the rule, or you left before the spell took effect. I have a theory, Opal. One I would like confirmed.”

Hearing him knowingly call me the wrong name yet again drove another stake into my heart. I’d been blinded, peering at him with stars in my eyes. I hadn’t even seen the cruelty he hid so well.

Hunter circled around to the front of the sofa, but instead of sitting he chose to loom over me.

“You are going to return to Lunar Isle with your mother and sister, and you are going to dedicate yourself to uncovering the truth about the spell. You’ll do whatever—and whoever—it takes, understand?”

A wicked light, dark and foreboding, flickered across his face. Shadows took up residency in the grooves beneath his cheekbones and chiseled jaw.

“My sources tell me that six families, each one interwoven with wolf and witch blood, are responsible for the spell over Lunar Isle. Of those two families, are the Alpha brothers. Well, half-brothers, really.” He waved dismissively, “The point is, if anyone knows the truth, it’ll be them. I want the spell broken, Opal. I don’t care how you do it. I don’t care who you have to whore yourself out to, but you will break that spell for me.”

It was the pain alone that sent me staggering to my feet, shaking my head until the room blurred, and Hunter’s face became nothing more than a flesh-colored blob.

“No! N-No, I won’t do that. You can’t make me.”

Never before had I stood up for myself. Not to Lucille. Not to the kids at school that tormented me day after day. Not even to my sisters, who looked at me as though I were the scum of the earth and not their flesh and blood.

Hunter’s father stepped closer to the two of us, casting a glance at the door as though he were afraid I’d make a run for it.

Why would I need to run from them?

Faster than I could blink, Hunter lashed out and grabbed me by the wrist. Pain streaked up my bones as he yanked me roughly. My shins clipped the coffee table, knocking over the small flower vase until the water dribbled across the laminated surface.

Gone was the light in Hunter’s gaze. It was replaced by cold calm, black as storm clouds rolling across the horizon.

“I thought you might say something like that. I’m sorry, Opal. Truly, I am, but breaking the spell is more important than anything else.” He shook his head slowly, disappointed in me though I couldn’t understand why, “I have plans for Lunar Isle, big plans. Once you do your part, I’ll set you free.”

Set me free?

Free from what?

The very blood pumping to my frantic heart turned ice cold when his canines elongated. I tried to push him away, tried to kick at his knees until his hold slipped, but he was too strong.

His teeth sank into the tender part of my wrist, and with them came unfathomable pain.

Pain that whisked away my vision.

Pain that had my legs giving out.

My teeth chattered and lungs heaved. Sweat beaded across my brow, and tears fell from my eyes, scalding against my icy cheeks. There was screaming, so loud that I could hear nothing else.

I hadn’t realized it was coming from myself until Hunter released his hold on me, his teeth shrinking into that of normal canines. The pain remained, thrumming through my veins to a dark, enchanting tune.

As my vision cleared, I looked down at my wrist in horror.

He’d given me a dark bond.

I blinked and realized that I was no longer in the house but watching the forest pass by from the car window. Condensation clung to my cheek as I peeled it off the glass.

Astrid’s smooth, yet terribly sharp voice penetrated my ears.

“I don’t understand why I can’t just stay! All my friends are here. I literally have one more year until I graduate. I can’t believe this is happening to me. It’s not fair!”

Lucille smacked her lips together and snapped the passenger seat mirror back into place. Today’s shade of gloss was soulless beige. “I know, darling. We only have Ophelia to blame. Unfortunately, her banishment extends to us.”

“Kimberly is going to be furious once she realizes.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. There was no point in saying anything. Lucille would milk this until the day I turned twenty-one and blew the coop.

As if they were the ones suffering.

Neither one knew about the dark bond currently etched into my wrist, not that it would’ve mattered. Only death—Hunter’s or my own—could free me from the wretched thing.

What made it worse was the fact that Hunter had rejected me beforehand, shattering our mate-bond in two. That meant he could find his second-chance mate. He could mark her, take her soul into his and complete the bond.

There was one loophole on my end, but I’d long given up hope that my situation would change.

If I found my own second chance mate and they gifted me with a mark, it would shatter the dark-bond Hunter had placed me under.

Until then, I had no choice but to do everything he said. I’d follow his commands like a mindless little slave until the day he spoke the words that would set me free.

The plane ride from the Sun Pack to Lunar Isle was the most peaceful six hours of my life. With Lucille and Astrid preening away in first class, I reclined in my economy seat with a sigh.

Plugging my ears with the cheap gas station headphones I’d purchased last year, I cranked the volume up on my old-fashioned iPod and chose the loudest, most violent song.

Anything to distract me from the shards of glass piercing my very soul.

Anything to keep my mind from straying to the festering mark on my wrist.

Anything to make me forget.