CHAPTER 1.

Ravenna’s POV.

“Where’s Lucas?” I asked with a hopeful smile, looking around the room filled with pack members. The girl I asked gave a quick shrug and walked away, uninterested, but I didn’t let it bother me. It was a big day, after all. The man I loved, Lucas—my fiancé—had proposed to me the night before, and my heart still felt like it hadn’t quite settled back into my chest.

I finally spotted him in a corner, chatting with a group of his friends. I was about to go over when he stepped away from them and climbed up to the stage, tapping a wine glass with silverware.

“Everyone, can I have your attention, please?”

The chatter in the hall stopped immediately, every head turning toward him. Being the Alpha’s son, people always listened when he spoke.

“I have an announcement to make,” he said, his voice steady. “I’m getting married.”

A soft warmth spread through me before I could stop it. I felt eyes shift in my direction, but I didn’t mind. I was happy to be his.

“I proposed last night,” he continued. “And tonight, at the mating ceremony, I will mark the most beautiful woman I know.”

His eyes met mine, and he smiled. I smiled back, my fingers brushing the ring on my hand as if I needed to feel it there, something solid to hold onto. This was it. The moment I had imagined over and over again.

“I’ll now invite her to come join me on the stage,” he said, pausing just long enough to stretch the anticipation. “And I expect her to come forward as soon as I do.”

I was ready. My breath caught slightly as I straightened, already taking a step forward.

He looked at me.

Just for a second.

And then he turned away.

“And she is none other than… Sandy.”

For a moment, I didn’t understand what I had heard. The name didn’t fit. It didn’t land anywhere it was supposed to.

Sandy?

The room erupted into applause, but the sound felt distant, like it was happening somewhere far away from me. I watched as Sandy walked up to the stage, smiling easily, confidently, like she had always belonged there.

This didn’t make sense.

Lucas leaned down and kissed her, right there in front of everyone, and something inside me went completely still.

“What’s going on?” I whispered, but my voice felt too small, swallowed by the noise around me.

The applause grew louder. People were smiling, celebrating, as if nothing had shifted, as if I wasn’t standing there trying to understand how everything had just changed without warning.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Lucas said, turning back to the crowd, “this is my future mate. My Luna. The woman I will be marking and marrying tonight—Sandy.”

My gaze dropped to the ring on my finger before lifting back to him. My vision blurred, but I forced myself to keep looking, searching his face for something—anything—that would make sense of it.

He had proposed to me last night.

He had said—

My body moved before I could think. I walked toward the stage, my voice trembling as it broke through the silence that followed.

“What is going on, Lucas?”

The laughter faded, and all eyes turned to me, but I didn’t care.

“Why are you saying you’re marrying Sandy?” I asked, tears slipping down despite myself. “You just proposed to me. You said you loved me.”

Lucas turned to me, his expression shifting into something distant, almost bored.

“Oh. You,” he said, like I had interrupted something unimportant. “Sorry, Ravenna. Plans have changed. I’m marrying Sandy now. I hope you find happiness elsewhere.”

The words didn’t settle. They didn’t land in any way that made sense.

I lifted my hand, the ring catching the light. “You gave me this. You asked me to be your Luna. You said you loved me. How can you stand there and act like none of that was real?”

He let out a low, amused chuckle. “Did you really think that meant anything?” he said. “You? Marry me?”

The room felt tighter, like the air had thinned.

“I’m the Alpha’s son,” he continued. “I’m meant to lead. I need someone worthy by my side. Sandy is a Beta’s daughter. She’s powerful, respected. You…” His gaze moved over me briefly. “You’re an omega. A girl with no wolf. Why would I choose you?”

Each word landed heavier than the last, pressing down until it was hard to breathe.

“You lied,” I said, my voice breaking despite the effort to hold it steady. “You told me you were my mate.”

He scoffed lightly. “And you believed it. You don’t even have a wolf, Ravenna. You couldn’t feel the bond. That made it easy.”

Sandy laughed beside him, sharp and cruel. “Pathetic.”

Something in me snapped before I could stop it. I raised my hand, but Sandy caught my wrist mid-air and slapped me hard enough to send me stumbling back. I hit the ground, the impact dull compared to the sharp sting spreading across my cheek.

Before I could react, she grabbed a wine glass from a passing servant and poured it over my head, the cold liquid soaking into my hair and dress.

“You really thought you could compete with me?” she sneered.

Laughter spread through the room, louder this time, filling every corner.

I sat there, drenched and shaking, my hands pressing against the floor as I tried to steady myself, but the sound of it—of them—pressed in from every side.

Sandy crouched in front of me, her nails digging into my cheeks as she leaned closer. “I told Lucas to toy with you,” she whispered. “It was all my idea. You were nothing more than a joke.”

She let go and stood, walking away as if none of it mattered.

I pushed myself up slowly, trying to hold onto what little dignity I had left, but someone shoved me from behind and I fell again, the laughter rising even higher.

I didn’t stay.

I ran.

As fast as my legs would carry me, out of the hall, through the grounds, and into the night. My vision blurred with tears, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t know where I was going, and I didn’t care. I just needed to get away from all of it.

But fate wasn’t done with me.

I heard footsteps behind me and turned at the sound of a man’s voice. “Now where are you going, beauty?”

I froze.

A man stepped out from the shadows like he had been waiting. He wasn’t from the pack. I could feel it immediately. He was a rogue.

I tried to back away, but another appeared behind me, cutting off my path.

Panic surged through me, fast and suffocating.

“Relax,” one of them said. “We just want to play.”

“No, stay away from me,” I said, turning and running again without waiting.

I ran barefoot, my breath tearing out of me as the night air hit too hard against my lungs. The ground was uneven beneath my feet, but I didn’t slow. I had no wolf, no strength, nothing but fear pushing me forward.

Branches scratched at my arms as I pushed through the woods, the darkness swallowing the path ahead. My dress snagged and tore, but I didn’t stop to fix it. Behind me, they laughed, not hurried, not worried, like they already knew how this would end.

My legs burned, my chest tightened, every step heavier than the last, but I kept going.

The trees suddenly thinned, and I stumbled onto the open road.

A blinding light hit me, followed by the sharp blast of a horn. I froze, my body reacting before my mind could catch up, my arms lifting instinctively as I braced for impact.

Tires screeched.

But nothing came.

I stood there, gasping, the headlights washing everything in harsh white.

Then I heard it.

“Nowhere left to run, huh?”

The voice slid down my spine. I turned slowly, already knowing.

They were still there.

Their figures stood at the edge of the light, one stepping forward with an easy grin, like this had always been a game.

Something inside me gave way.

I turned and ran again.

But I didn’t get far.

A sharp blow struck the side of my neck, and the world tilted instantly, my vision spinning as my knees gave out beneath me.

Then everything went dark.