Chapter 1

Maya stood frozen as another scream ripped through the clearing, sharp and brief before it was cut short. Blood sprayed across the dirt floor of the den, staining the packed earth and the roots that jutted out like skeletal fingers. She could do nothing but watch.

Silver chains bit cruelly into her wrists, ankles, and throat, burning her skin with every shallow breath she took. The metal hummed faintly, a constant reminder of her helplessness. Even if she wanted to fight, to shift, to run she couldn’t. Silver stripped her of every advantage she had ever gained from the curse that ran through her blood.

Her alpha lay dead.

Rowan’s body was crumpled near the far wall, his lifeless eyes staring at nothing. Beside him lay Dax, his mate and queen, her auburn hair matted with blood. Maya’s chest tightened painfully as she forced herself not to look for too long. The grief threatened to choke her, and she couldn’t afford to lose what little control she had left.

The pack had been invaded slaughtered by an alpha she didn’t recognize. A stranger with cold eyes and a cruel smile, standing tall on the raised stone platform like a king surveying conquered land. His wolves flanked him, disciplined and silent, their gazes sharp and predatory.

Maya didn’t truly belong here. She never had.

She lived in the city most of the time, surrounded by concrete and traffic, fluorescent lights and noise. She worked as a receptionist at an advertising agency an ordinary job for an ordinary woman. But every month, when the full moon loomed heavy and unavoidable, she traveled out to the countryside to run with this pack. To answer the pull she could never ignore.

The others tolerated her presence only because Rowan and Dax had insisted. Without them, Maya knew the truth: she was an outsider. A burden. Something the pack endured rather than accepted.

Still, the city could never compare to the forest. Nothing matched the rich scent of damp earth, the whisper of wind through leaves, or the wild freedom of running beneath moonlight even if the wolves at her side avoided her gaze or kept their distance. Loneliness hurts less when surrounded by trees.

She had never searched for another pack. Rejection once was enough; she had no desire to endure it over and over again. Better the devil you know, she’d told herself. Better cold tolerance than open hostility.

Now even that fragile arrangement had been ripped away.

Maya swallowed hard as another body fell. The intruder alpha moved with brutal efficiency, tearing through her pack as if they were nothing more than obstacles in his path. She didn’t know his name, didn’t know his grievance, and didn’t know why he had chosen them.

She was a half-breed wolf a term spoken with barely concealed contempt. Not born into the world of wolves, but dragged into it by chance.

Eighteen months ago, she had been human.

Working late one night, exhausted and irritated, Maya had stepped out of the advertising office into the dimly lit parking lot. She remembered the pain the sudden bite, the flash of teeth, the hot sting of blood. She had thought it was a stray dog. Just bad luck.

She’d been wrong.

Some packs believed turning humans was a crime. Others built their future on it, biting humans to find mates or strengthen their numbers. Maya never learned why she had been chosen only that she had been abandoned afterward, bleeding and alone.

If Rowan hadn’t found her, she would have died.

He and Dax had guided her through the terrifying transition, teaching her control, hiding her from those who would have killed her outright. They helped her return to human society, to pass as normal once more.

Normal. The word felt hollow now.

Her old life had been simple. Forgettable, perhaps but safe. She hadn’t known how precious it was until it was gone. Dogs no longer barked at her. Her cat had hissed and fled from her touch, forcing her to give it away. That loss had hurt more than she cared to admit.

Each month, she returned to the pack to embrace the destiny she hadn’t chosen. The wolves never let her forget what she was not full-blooded, not worthy. She couldn’t shift at will. The moon controlled her, bound her. And her body so different from theirs made her stand out even more.

Where the other females were lean and graceful, Maya was larger, fuller. Running hasn't changed that. No matter how much she ate or how hard she worked, her body remained the same. She had learned to accept it, even if others didn’t.

Her life had already changed once beyond recognition. Now, watching death unfold around her, she knew it was about to change again.

Rowan. Dax. Four others.

Their bodies had been dragged to the side like discarded trophies. The stranger alpha smiled at the remaining pack, savoring their fear. His wolves shifted restlessly behind him, eager for more bloodshed.

Fear curled deep in Maya’s stomach, sharp and cold. She had never been confrontational. Never strong in the ways that mattered here. But the man on the platform seemed to enjoy the killing. There was no necessity in his actions only pleasure.

Are they really your pack?

The question echoed in her mind. She had asked herself the same thing countless times. They had never claimed her, never protected her. Yet Rowan and Dax had. And that was enough.

A wet crack echoed through the clearing as another man’s head was torn free.

Maya gagged.

She leaned forward as bile surged up her throat, spilling onto the dirt at her feet. The wolves nearest her cursed and moved away in disgust.

Someone kicked her hard in the thigh, knocking her to the ground. Pain flared, but she barely noticed it. At least she hadn’t fallen into her own vomit.

When her stomach finally settled, she forced herself back up. The silver chains burned worse now, rubbing raw against her skin. She glanced down and saw blood seeping where the metal touched her flesh.

There had to be something she could do.

A high-pitched scream cut through the air.

Maya’s heart lurched as she turned her head.

Juniper.

The young girl barely fourteen was being dragged toward the platform. She was the only one who had ever been kind to Maya, chatting endlessly about her schoolwork, her dreams, her fears. Juniper never looked at her with judgment.

Maya had always thought the girl smelled different. Wrong, somehow. Familiar. But no one ever mentioned it.

As the man hauled Juniper up, Maya squeezed her eyes shut. The child was innocent untainted by pack politics and cruelty. She saw wolves as people, not bloodlines.

Maya understood that kind of loneliness.

She herself had been invisible most of her life. Twenty-five years old and untouched, unchosen. Men either mocked her or looked at her with thinly veiled cruelty. She had learned to keep her distance, to protect herself by never hoping for more.

“No, please,” Juniper sobbed. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

The words pierced Maya straight to the bone.

She looked up just as someone yanked hard on the chain around Juniper’s neck. The girl cried out, choking.

That was it.

Something inside Maya snapped.

“Leave her alone!” she shouted, her voice ringing across the clearing. “She’s just a child. She’s done nothing wrong.”

Silence fell.

Every eye turned to her.

And for the first time since the invasion began, the intruder alpha looked genuinely interested.