Chapter 1

Aiden’s POV

"I… I Like you, Jake." I stuttered, staring at the floor. "I mean…" I stuttered again.

"What? Aiden?" Jake asked, brushing my head like a puppy.

“Stop Jake, Listen to me.” I replied shyly.

“I like you. Like... actually. I love you, Jake.” I finally confessed.

It felt good to let it off my chest after years of obsessing over him but Jake didn't say anything.

“Jake,” I called out, just to be sure he heard me and then I continued talking before he said anything. “I do like you and not in a weird way—well, I mean—I like like you. I want to be near you. I want more than just…Friends.”

I wanted him to say something. Anything, but he didn’t even look up.

“Your mate reading is in three days, Aiden,” he said coolly. “You should focus on that.”

He walked off like I hadn’t just laid my heart out in pieces.

And yeah, I laughed it off. Told myself he was being mature, responsible. Pack and alpha responsibilities, prolly other stuff too. But it gutted me. Deep down, I kept waiting for him to come back and say, “Me too.”

He never did. I just watched him walk away.

Growing up in the BlackMoon Pack, I practically lived in the Alpha’s house. Brute was my best friend and the Alpha's son—chaotic, funny, everything a guy needed to survive teenage years in a pack ruled by ancient traditions.

But Brute wasn’t the one who made my throat go dry or my hands sweat. It was his father—Alpha Jake.

He was the kind of man people lowered their eyes around. A hot, tall, cold man that wasn’t just physical—it was magnetic. He had a voice that could mesmerize anyone or reduce you to nothing with a single word.

And me? I was a seventeen-year-old idiot nursing a hopeless crush on the most untouchable man in the pack. Yeah, Emphasis on “Idiot.”

I spent the rest of the day pretending I hadn’t just humiliated myself in front of Alpha Jake.

Pretending I hadn’t leaned in, heart pounding, desperately ready to kiss him like a fool—and he’d shut me down with that cold sentence about my upcoming mate reading.

“Focus on your mate reading,” his words echoed in my head.

Like I was some naive little boy. Like he didn’t feel it too. He felt it, I could swear there were instances that I could feel his intense gaze on me.

I didn’t tell Sapphire. Goddess, no. My best friend would die laughing. Or worse—pity me. I couldn’t stomach either.

So I grabbed my boots, skipped lunch, and I headed to the lake.

The trail to the water was quiet, the kind of silence that felt personal. Like nature knows you're spiraling and gives you a little grace.

I sat on the old dock, toes dipped into the freezing water, trying to forget the way Jake’s lips had twitched when I leaned in. Not quite a smile. Not quite rejection.

But definitely not what I needed. I threw a rock. Then another, and another.

Maybe if I threw enough, I’d hurl the shame out of my chest too. But I couldn't, I haven't felt my wolf yet.

Damn! I'm just a dumb she wolf. I'm so stupid.

I got up and with every courage in me, I made my way to the pack house. By the time I got back to the pack house, the halls were mostly dark.

Soft chatter and laughter drifted from the common room. Someone was baking. It smelled like burnt cookies but that was the least of my problem.

It was comforting but not to me at the moment.

Still, I found myself smiling, just a little. Maybe I’d go talk to Taylor. He always knew what to say when I was spiraling. Even if he was overprotective and annoying sometimes. Though, I wasn't sure if I would tell him what I did.

He had that big-brother wisdom thing going for him. I padded barefoot down the hallway, heart a little lighter.

His door was slightly open. I pushed it open.

Before I could say anything, everything stopped. I couldn't believe my eyes. There they were.

Alpha Jake, my Alpha, my crush. His hands were buried in Taylor’s hair.

His lips sealed over my brother's tongue so deep I heard it. A moan. Jake’s. Low and possessive.

My heart broke into pieces, I felt my knees buckled. I didn’t speak. I didn’t cry.

I just stood there, frozen. Like I’d been skinned open and I could feel the wind was whistling through my bones.

They didn’t even see me. Or maybe they did. Maybe they just didn’t care. Nothing made any sense.

Something inside me snapped, it didn't break, it snapped

A hot pressure exploded in my chest, radiating down my arms and legs, crawling under my skin like fire and ice battling for dominance. It was a strange feeling that I had never felt before.

I winced in pain. My bones popped. I felt my teeth elongate.

Fur spilled over my skin. And then, my wolf had taken dominance.

For the first time in seventeen years, he rose. Violent, untamed, feral and scary.

“Mine,” he growled, not through my lips—but through every vein in my body.

I don’t remember shifting. I remember the window shattering as I leapt out, fur rippled and my claws scraped the frame.

I remembered trees flashing past me, ground digging beneath my paws.

I remembered rage. I remembered betrayal. I remember the hate. Not for food. For answers to why I was so blind and I didn't see that coming.

I didn’t even realize I was near the ravine until my foot slipped, skidded on the edge, and I crashed to my knees in the dirt.

I was panting, naked, knees bleeding. I was in my human form again.

But I wasn't the same. I doubt I'll ever be the same. Something had been unlocked inside me.

My wolf had awakened. And I didn't want him to go back to sleep. I screamed out loud.

From my gut, from my soul, from the part of me that had been shattered in that one cruel, disgusting moment.