Chapter 1

Liora's POV

I pushed open the door to Calyx, my boyfriend's bedroom. My blood froze in my veins. I couldn't believe my eyes!

Veyra, my step-sister…on his bed?

“How dare you, Veyra?” An ear-splitting scream escaped my mouth.

My hidden wolf, the forbidden beast I had buried deep to survive in this pack, made a wild surge. My claws scraped at my veins. It demanded release. I clenched my fists, and my nails drew blood.

Verya’s presence made my fur ripple over my skin.

She jumped out of the bed. “You’re taking this too far, Liora.”

My bones cracked into power. But the betrayal sapped my strength. My body trembled like a leaf. The transformation fizzled out like a dying flame. I was too weak, and shattered to fully emerge.

A chuckle escaped Carlyx mouth. “Shameful!”

A pathetic growl jumped out of my lips. It was more of a whimper than roar. Heck, I felt naked.

"You..." My lips trembled and cut my words short.

He was on the bed with the sheets pulled over his naked body.

My boyfriend was in bed with my step-sister. What the fuck?!

I always saw the way Veyra acted around Calyx, but I didn't think there was anything to it.

Veyra’s eyes sparked with cruelty. “Look at you, trying to play wolf. How adorable and utterly useless.” She lunged forward.

Calyx propped himself up on one elbow. His smirk cut deeper into my veins than any claw. “You were a wager, darling. I had a bet with my friends to get you and I did.”

His laughter felt like a knife stab. Why me?

“You’re such weakling. Did you really think you were enough for me?” Calyx went on.

Veyra walked forward. Her fingers tangled viciously in my dark hair. She yanked my head back with a sharp tug that sent pain through my scalp. “Time to go, little nothing,”

She dragged me toward the door like discarded trash. Her grip was unyielding as she propelled me into the hallway.

"She's nothing but a charity case," Veyra added.

Some pack members were around the hall and they heard everything. Their whispers and snickers sliced through me like shards of glass. What did I ever do to deserve this cruelty?

My vision blurred. Hot tears spilled down my cheeks as I ran. Calyx’s mocking chuckle and Veyra’s taunts echoed in my skull.

I didn’t stop until I left Calyx's quarters behind and for to mine. The cold night air bit at my skin. My hands shook.

My wolf howled inside me, desperate to break free. But I shoved her down. I couldn’t stay here. Not after this. Not with their laughter still ringing in my ears. Goodness. It branded me as the fool I’d let myself become.

I slammed the door to my bedroom. The flimsy wood shuddered in its frame. The cramped room in the Hollowshade Pack’s lower quarters felt like a cage.

My legs buckled. I collapsed onto the narrow bed. Hot tears spilled fast on my cheeks. It soaked the thin pillow.Veyra’s venomous words sliced through me:

No wolf, no worth. Run home, little charity case.

My chest heaved with sobs. I could barely breath.

I pressed my face into the pillow. "I loved with my whole heart, Calyx. We had something beautiful going on."

I tried to smother the pain. But Calyx’s smirk flashed in my mind. Those green eyes I’d once thought held warmth were cold with mockery.

I was a wager. A weakling. A charity case. Veyra’s sneering face framed a malice I hadn’t seen coming.

"My so-called friend, who’d once braided my hair and laughed with me...had wielded her status like a blade. She'd cut me down in front of the pack."

Hot tears rolled down my cheeks.

Their laughter, and the whispers of pack members in the hall flowed through my mind. Cursed. Wolfless. Weak. It all coiled around me. They were suffocating.

My gaze caught on the cracked mirror across the room. I forced myself to look.

Jeez! My reflection was a wreck. What drained my glow? My pale skin streaked with tears. My dark hair plastered to my cheeks.

My eyes were red and swollen. Then they flickered, silver, sharp, and fleeting. That was the glimpse of the forbidden werewolf bloodline I’d hidden since childhood.

My breath caught, and my heart pounded. My wolf surged within me. An ache clawed at my control. My fists clenched.

I couldn’t let her out. Not here, where the pack would cast me out as a pariah or worse hunt me for sport.

But the weight of their scorn and betrayal was too much.

"You're such a fool, Liora," I cussed.

I had trusted Calyx, believed his late-night promises of a future where I wasn’t the outcast. I had let Veyra’s false kindness lure me into vulnerability.

I couldn’t stay here in this suffocating room. In this pack that saw me as nothing. “I’m done being their prey,” I whispered. The words sliced through the silence, sharp and defiant.

I stood. My legs trembled but resolve hardened too. It was so hard like steel. The packhouse had a bar on its outskirts. It was a grimy dive bar where shadows hid secrets and no one asked questions.

I grabbed my cloak. Its weight grounded me as I slung it over my shoulders. My wolf growled low. Her strength pulsed through me as a spark of defiance I’d ignored too long. I had go to that bar, let cheap liquor burn away the ache. At least for only tonight.

Whatever came next, I would face it on my own term.

The moon hung low when I stepped outside. Its pale light filtered through the dense trees of the forest path that made a way from Hollowshade.

I slipped through the shadows. My heart hammered. But I skirted the pack’s perimeter. Dodging the guards’ flickering torches made me feel like I was a rogue. But was this truly my home? I was always mocked, always seen as a nobody.

The guard's low voices carried on the wind, but I laid low and watched them. My cloak blended with the underbrush. When I saw they weren't looking, I sneaked to wall and scrambled up. I dropped to the other side.

Thorns snagged my sleeves. Freedom came with pain.

My boots crunched on the forest floor as I ran. My bag was heavy with clothes. I wasn't sure when I would return or if I would ever return to this pack. How could I face all these wolves who knew what had happened? How could I share the same space with Calyx and Veyra?

I sighed and continued to walk deeper into the woods.

The pack’s distant howls faded, but my pulse thundered. It was as if they were right behind me. I stumbled over a stump. I glanced back, half-expecting to see a guard following me.

Nothing. I was alone, for now.

The air carried a faint musk. Was that another werewolf? My wolf stirred. I clamped her down. This wasn't the time for her to rear her head.

The forest thinned as I went further. I kept going until a neon sign glowed ahead. Finally, I had gotten to that seedy bar on the edge of pack territory.

Great! The idea of drinking and drowning my sorrows pulled me forward. My legs ached, my lungs burned, but I pushed on.

The burden of my boyfriend's betrayal was still fresh on my mind. He really chose to betray me with my stepsister. What a bastard?!

I reached the bar’s weathered door and the scent of stale beer and smoke spilled out. Exhausted, I shoved it open and stepped inside. The dim light welcomed me.

Then I froze.

“Hello, little wolf.”

A pair of storm-gray eyes locked onto mine as I entered. They were intense and unyielding, pinning me in place. My wolf surged.

It responded to something I couldn’t name. A spark of recognition I didn’t understand. Was that what they called mate bond? I hadn’t experienced it before?

My pulse raced as I stepped forward. Who the hell was this guy?

As he stepped into the light. A scar twisted across his jaw. It revealed his alpha power.

It was raw, and forbidden. It called to my blood like a mate's bond. But before I could speak, the door burst open behind me.

A furious growl echoed, "She's mine."

I knew that voice too well. It was Calyx.