Chapter 1

Our pack has a sacred rule. Every werewolf must bring their future mate to the Shrine of the Moon for testing before bonding. If they emerge unharmed, it proves they're fated mates and destined for a lifetime together.

My two younger sisters completed the ritual at twenty and successfully claimed their Alphas. But I'm thirty now, and I'm still single.

Because every boyfriend I've taken into the Shrine of the Moon comes out wanting to break up with me. Or worse—wanting to kill me.

My new boyfriend, Lucian Nightshade, didn't believe the warnings and insisted on entering the Shrine of the Moon. My father, Damian Grimwood, the pack's Alpha, personally escorted him inside.

When they came out, he slammed me to the ground and tried to strangle me.

I couldn't understand what was inside that shrine that turned every man who entered it against me so violently. Even worse, I couldn't understand why Damian kept bringing them in when he knew exactly what would happen.

"You're keeping this disgusting excuse for a woman around?" Lucian lunged at me and wrapped his hands around my throat. "If she were mine, I'd have gotten rid of her ages ago!"

"Your parents have been so good to me, so I'll help them out." His grip tightened. "I'm going to kill her right now!"

He'd trained in martial arts. I didn't stand a chance.

"Lucian, murder is illegal!"

"Killing you would be doing society a favor!" His knee slammed into my ribs. The pain obliterated any ability to fight back.

My breathing grew shallow, and death crept through my body.

He finally released me, but not before kicking me twice more. "Trash. I'll finish you off sooner or later!"

The moment he left, Damian kicked me across the room.

I didn't resist. There was no point. He was the Alpha, and no one dared intervene when he decided to punish someone.

He pinned me down and beat me for half an hour. Three ribs broken. Two fingers snapped.

This was the tenth time.

Since I turned twenty, every boyfriend who entered the Shrine of the Moon came out wanting to break up with me or kill me.

Damian told the pack I was cursed and had angered the Moon Goddess. He said the only way to appease her wrath was through punishment.

I didn't want to believe the shrine had that kind of power, but ten years and ten boyfriends had all ended the same way. I had no choice but to believe it.

I grew more curious about what was really inside the Shrine of the Moon, so I asked friends from other packs.

"No way, anyone in our pack can go into the Shrine of the Moon."

"We hold ceremonies there all the time. Never heard of anyone's personality changing after going in."

"Maybe your dad rigged something inside? He's never liked you since you were a kid. Why don't you just go in and see for yourself?"

I wanted to. But no matter how much I begged, Damian said the shrine was only for testing Alphas, and I wasn't qualified to enter.

If I asked too many times, he'd beat me.

But he never treated his two younger daughters like that.

I started to wonder if I wasn't actually his biological child, so I secretly got a DNA test done. The results showed I was his.

I even wondered if he hated me because he hated my mom. But my mom had been dead for years, and he stayed single, rejecting every woman people tried to set him up with.

"She was the love of my life. I'll never marry anyone but her."

Everyone knew Damian was the most devoted mate and the most doting father.

No one believed what I told them. And they definitely didn't believe he wanted to kill me.