CHAPTER 1.

RAVENNA’S POV.

Since morning, the ring on my finger had felt different.

It was the same silver band Lucas pressed into my palm last night. The same one that made my chest feel too full when he slipped it on behind the packhouse, his breath warm against my ear. But something had shifted. Something in the air between us that I couldn’t find no matter how hard I looked.

I pushed the feeling down. That was what I always did.

The pack hall was full tonight. Heat and noise and the smell of roast meat, pine, and too much perfume. String lights across the ceiling made everything look gold. Laughter bounced off the stone walls.

I moved through it looking for him. My dress brushed my knees with every step. I smiled at the people who nodded at me and kept my chin up the way my mother taught me. Straight back. Don’t look small. Don’t look like an omega with no wolf.

“Where’s Lucas?” I asked a girl near the door. She wore the same bright red lipstick Sandy always wore.

The girl shrugged and walked away, heels clicking on the tile.

I spotted him in the far corner with his friends. Bottle in one hand, head thrown back as he laughed. Relaxed. Like he owned the room. His dark hair was messy like he’d run his hands through it. For one stupid second, he still looked like mine.

He broke away, stepped onto the stage, and tapped a glass with a fork until the room settled.

“I have an announcement,” he said.

The hall went still. That was the effect of being the Alpha’s son.

My heart kicked.

“I’m getting married.”

Heat climbed up my neck. Eyes shifted toward me and I didn’t mind. My fingers found the ring and twisted it once.

“I proposed last night,” he continued. “And tonight, I’ll be marking the most beautiful woman I know.”

His eyes found mine across the room. Just for a second.

I straightened, already counting the steps to the stage.

Then he looked away. “I’d like to invite her to join me,” he said, pausing. “She is none other than Sandy.”

The name didn’t make sense. My brain tried to fit it somewhere and failed. Sandy. Sandy from training. Sandy who looked at Lucas like she planned to take him.

Applause broke out. Loud. I stood in the center of it with Lucas’s ring on my finger. My palm had gone cold.

I watched Sandy walk to the stage. Red dress. Curled hair. The confidence of someone who’d always known this was hers.

Lucas leaned down and kissed her. A real kiss. His hand on her waist like he’d done it a hundred times.

It felt like watching something behind glass. I could see it. I could hear it. But it didn’t feel real.

“What’s going on?” The words came out too small. Someone turned the music back up. It suddenly felt too loud.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Lucas said, smiling at the crowd. A smile he’d never given me. “My future mate. My Luna. The woman I’ll be marking tonight.”

The word marking hit me in the stomach.

I looked down at the ring. Silver. Plain. It looked cheap now.

Then I walked toward the stage. I don’t know if I decided to. My legs just moved, through the crowd that parted with confused looks. Someone’s elbow hit my shoulder and I didn’t feel it.

At the edge of the stage I said his name. “Lucas.”

He turned. No guilt. No panic. Just mild surprise. Like I was a stranger.

“What is going on?” My voice was steadier than I felt. My throat was dry. “You proposed to me last night. You said you loved me. You said I was yours.”

Quiet spread from where I stood. Phones came up.

Lucas tilted his head. “Oh,” he said. “You.” Like he’d remembered an errand. “I’m sorry, Ravenna. Plans changed. I hope you find happiness elsewhere.”

I lifted my hand. It was shaking. “You gave me this.”

“Did you really think it meant anything?” He sounded curious. “You’re an omega. A girl with no wolf. What did you think was going to happen?”

The hall went quiet. I could hear the lights hum.

“You told me I was your mate,” I said. My voice cracked.

“You don’t have a wolf.” He shrugged. “You couldn’t feel the bond. That made it simple.”

Sandy laughed. “Pathetic.”

Heat shot up my chest. My hand moved. Sandy caught my wrist and slapped me. The sound cracked through the hall. White flashed across my vision. I hit the floor, palm on cold tile, cheek burning.

My mouth tasted like copper.

She grabbed a wine glass and poured it over my head. Red wine. Cold and sticky. It ran down my hair and dress and into my eyes. I sat there soaked while laughter filled the hall.

Sandy crouched in front of me. Her nails dug into my chin. Her perfume was too sweet. “I told Lucas to toy with you,” she whispered. “The whole thing was my idea. You were a joke.”

She stood and walked back to Lucas like she’d just moved a chair.

Someone shoved me. I went down again, knee cracking on tile. More laughter.

I got up. My legs shook. Wine dripped from my hair. I walked out first. Head up. Because running would give them what they wanted.

But once the doors closed, I ran. The cold hit my wet dress and I started shaking. Past the grounds. Past the lights. Into the dark until there was nothing but my breathing and dirt under my bare feet.

My chest hurt. Not from crying. From not crying.

I didn’t know where I was going. I just knew I couldn’t stay.

Then I heard it. “Now where are you going, beauty?”

I froze. Blood went cold.

A man stepped out of the trees. Not pack. I knew it instantly. His scent was wrong. Sharp and metallic. No pack markers.

Rogue.

Another stepped out behind me, blocking the path.

“Relax,” the first one said, smiling. “We just want to talk.”

I ran. No plan. Just legs moving, branches tearing at my wet dress, dark swallowing the path. Their laughter followed. They weren’t hurrying. Like they already knew how it ended.

The trees thinned. I hit a road and froze at a horn and blinding headlights. Tires screamed. I braced.

Nothing hit me.

“Nowhere left to run, huh?” They were at the tree line, grinning.

I ran again.

Pain exploded at the back of my neck. Sharp. My knees gave out. Dirt filled my nose.

The world went dark.