Chapter One

Blake

I could not believe the guy I once had a huge crush on back in high school was now my stepbrother. Honestly I could not believe I would have any brothers at all after spending twenty-one years as my mom's only child.

And now my life was about to change entirely. Mom had married Cody Evans a week ago, a cold and ruthless Alpha who ruled the BloodMoon Pack, and I hated every part of it.

She had moved in with him a week ago, but I had refused to so much as step foot in that pack house. Not necessarily because of him, but because his late mate had given him four sons.

Four boys running around the same house, and me being the only girl did not sit well with me at all. But after a week of resisting, I finally moved in with my mom. And right now I was standing at the dining table, completely frozen, because Gaige was right there in front of me, and something in my chest pulled toward him before I even understood why.

Gaige had always been my crush. Tall, blue eyes, messy black hair that he dyed blue at the tips and that always fell across his eyes in the most attractive way. We had never spoken in high school. I did not think he even knew who I was. But I had known exactly who he was, always hoping he would notice me. Even from across the room, something about him felt familiar in a way I could not place, like my body recognized him before my mind did.

It had been four years since we graduated and he was still just as striking as he had been back then. And now he was my stepbrother.

He sat at the counter, buttering some toast, while I just stood there frozen. If he turned and caught me staring at him like a statue, I would never recover from the embarrassment. Blake, just go over and say hi, my mind suggested. But my body treated it like a much bigger deal than it needed to be.

I swallowed down my shyness and walked toward him to drop the dirty dish I was holding and try to start a conversation with my new stepbrother.

"Hi. I am Blake," I said in an awkward tone, stretching my hand out for a handshake. He glanced at it and walked past. It stung. I already felt unwelcome in my new home, and that feeling was coming from the very person I had spent years wanting to notice me.

Then I noticed a mint fall from the pocket of his jeans. I picked it up and tapped his broad back to return it. He spun around instantly, grabbed my wrist with force and pinned me against the wall.

His grip was tight enough that I could barely feel the blood moving through my hand. He stood over me, his scent hitting me before everything else, a warm, woodsy smell that made it harder to breathe than it should have been.

His eyes were both beautiful and furious, flickering for a second with something almost gold.

"Did you just touch me?" he asked, his voice low and rough, almost a growl.

"I just wanted to give you your mint," I stuttered, feeling the full weight of his presence pressing into my space.

"Let me make this clear, whatever your name is. Just because we are step-siblings does not mean you get to speak to me. Do not breathe the same air as me. Your mother and you have ruined this pack, so stay away from me."

I did not understand why he hated me so much. I had not wanted to come here either. I nodded frantically until he released my wrist and walked out.

I shook my hand trying to bring the feeling back into it.

This was already a disaster. And it was not entirely my fault, but it had still managed to upend both of our lives.

My mom had been the personal attendant to Cody's mate, who had passed away a month ago. She had been the only one present when it happened and had seen everything. Before the incident I had warned my mom repeatedly to leave the Blood Moon Pack because of how dangerous they were, but she had grown too close to Luna Stacy and refused to go.

When Luna Stacy died, my mom was framed. Word spread through the pack within hours. Cody and his sons believed my mom was responsible for the death of their Luna. And because Cody wanted someone to punish, he bound my mom to him as his new mate, not out of love but out of cruelty.

The pack saw a mating bond. What was happening inside these walls was something else entirely. That was why I had resisted coming here for as long as I had. But eventually I had decided I needed a plan, and the only way to carry it out was to be close to my mom. I was going to get us both out of this.

I walked through the pack house taking it all in when I bumped into another one of my stepbrothers.

This time the shock was different entirely. Because it was Shawn. My best friend from high school. The last time we had seen each other was five years ago and we had been inseparable back then. I had never known he was Cody's son, let alone part of the BloodMoon Pack. And the most staggering part was that he was the eldest of the four brothers, and one day the pack's next Alpha.

"Shawn. No way," I said, my voice climbing.

He had completely transformed. Broader, taller, and his eyes had gone darker somehow, with a faint flicker of amber when the light caught them just right. His hair had grown longer and thicker, making him look far more mature and striking than the boy I remembered.

"Blake. What a surprise," he said, almost flatly, turning to face me and leaning against the wall. His eyes moved over me slowly, taking in the skirt that sat at my waist and stopped well above my knees. He took in every curve in a way that I felt across my skin, and beneath it all came that same strange pull I had felt with Gaige, faint but unmistakable. I was not the girl he used to know anymore.

"No one told me I would have a hot stepsister," he said, looking at me in the most deliberate way. I knew he was joking but it made my cheeks flush regardless.

"Oh, stop it. It has been years, Shawn. I cannot believe we are..." It felt strange to say it. "Step-siblings." He smiled, glancing at me again in that way that had already changed from the easy look of an old friend into something else.

"A quick warning, mamacita," he said to me. "Out of all my brothers, I am the only one who is decent company. I would strongly advise you to avoid the rest of them while you are here." He said it casually but it landed with weight. I swallowed hard.

"I will be seeing you around, mamacita." He walked off, leaving me more unsettled than I wanted to admit.

His warning stayed with me, but I pushed it aside. I did not plan on being here long enough for it to matter. I had a plan to get my mom out and once that was done, we would be gone and none of this would be our problem anymore.

By noon I finally found my mom after nearly an hour of searching through the house. I had been looking everywhere just to tell her I had arrived, and when I eventually found her she was lying in bed, quietly nursing wounds that told their own terrible story.

I walked over and saw the tears she was already trying to swallow back before I could fully see them. That was exactly like her.

"Mom." I crossed the room and pulled her into a hug as tightly as I could manage, and she finally let it out completely. I had known things were bad. I had known Cody was cruel. But I had not known it was this bad.

There was blood and tears across her face.

"Mom. Was it him again?" I asked, fighting to keep my own voice from breaking. She nodded. Cody had beaten her badly and left her to tend to herself alone.

"Mom. We need to leave. You are innocent. You do not deserve any of this." But her response was the same quiet devastation it always was.

"I cannot. I cannot. I am scared." She leaned into my arms and kept crying, and it broke something open in me. My mom had served this pack for years. She had genuinely loved Luna Stacy. And this same pack had turned on her, blamed her, and trapped her here. I needed to end it.

"Look at me, Mom," I said, tilting her face gently toward mine.

"I will get you out of here. I promise." I said it with a heavy heart, the full weight of it already sitting on my chest.