Chapter 2

Maya bit down hard on her lower lip, tasting blood as the sound of her pack cursing rippled through the clearing. One by one, the enemy wolves turned toward her, their gazes sharp and hostile, their attention suddenly focused on a single, foolish voice that had dared to speak out of turn.

Hers.

The attack had come too fast. Too sudden. There had been no warning howl, no chance to strip down and run before the moon took hold. The invaders had crashed into their territory like a storm, tearing through the trees and into the heart of the pack’s land before anyone could react.

Some of the pack hadn’t even made it behind cover.

They stood naked now exposed, vulnerable, humiliated as much by circumstance as by the chains of silver binding them. Maya forced herself not to look too closely. Even after eighteen months of this life, she still hadn’t grown accustomed to seeing naked men so casually displayed. The first few months had been mortifying. Now it was just exhausting.

She had seen more cocks, breasts, scars, and muscle than she ever wanted to remember.

The Alpha’s gaze pinned her where she stood.

“You speak out for this piece of sniveling trash?” the man demanded.

His voice rolled through the clearing like thunder, deep and commanding. The moment he spoke, something inside Maya responded instinctively.

Her wolf stirred.

It was subtle but undeniable a sudden tightening beneath her skin, a restless pressure in her bones. The wolf inside her kicked and clawed as if it recognized him, as if it knew his voice long before her mind could catch up.

The sensation terrified her.

She didn’t know who this man was. She had never seen him before, but she knew deep in her gut that she would have remembered him if she had. He was impossible to overlook.

He stood well over six feet tall, his body carved with brutal strength. One arm was covered in a black tattoo that started at his wrist and wound its way up his forearm, over his shoulder, and disappeared beneath the strong line of his neck. The markings looked ancient, almost tribal, as though they carried meaning beyond mere decoration.

He wore no shirt.

Only a pair of tight, dark jeans clung to his hips, outlining thick thighs and powerful legs built for violence and endurance. He didn’t look like a man who would go down easily in a fight. Everything about him radiated dominance raw, dangerous, undeniable.

Maya swallowed.

She had never encountered a man like him. Not in the human world. Not among wolves. His presence alone overwhelmed her, pressing down on her senses until it was hard to breathe. And it wasn’t just the silver chains holding her in place.

Across the distance, she could make out little else beyond the sheer magnitude of him.

He’s killing your pack, her mind screamed.

“She’s a girl,” Maya said, forcing the words out past her fear. Her heart hammered violently in her chest, but she didn’t look away. “She hasn’t done anything wrong.”

If no one else would stand up for Juniper, then Maya would.

Even if it killed her.

There’s no way out of this alive.

The Alpha’s mouth curved into a slow, dangerous smile as he reached out and grabbed Juniper around the waist, hauling her closer. The girl whimpered, her small body trembling.

“You want to bargain for her life?” he asked calmly.

Maya nodded, the movement stiff and jerky. Any scrap of confidence she’d had evaporated as he gestured sharply to the man standing beside him.

“Take her.”

The rest of Maya’s pack immediately shuffled away, distancing themselves from her as though fear itself were contagious. No one met her eyes. No one spoke up.

Figures.

Why hadn’t she stayed home? Why hadn’t she remained in the city, taken refuge in the small, guarded stretch of woods near her apartment? It wasn’t the same as the endless forests out here, but she could have turned. She could have run. She could have lived.

Instead, she’d returned to a pack that despised her and now she was staring death in the face.

She loved the open air too much. The unbroken forests, the roar of the distant waterfall, the way the earth smelled alive beneath her feet. One day, she’d hoped to leave the city for good.

Now that dream felt laughably distant.

“Milo,” the Alpha said, his voice sharp. “I want her in one piece. I want to see who’s stupid enough to bargain for this sniveling little pack.”

Juniper whimpered from the stage, tears streaking down her cheeks.

Maya barely registered it.

She stared at the man called Milo as he strode toward her. He was lethal-looking, with cold eyes and a jagged scar running down one side of his face. She recognized him instantly.

He was the one who had grabbed her from behind the trees.

She’d been in the middle of undressing when his hand had clamped over her mouth. She’d tried to fight. I tried to run. There hadn’t been time. He’d cut the links binding her to the others with ruthless efficiency.

There had only been around thirty wolves in her pack to begin with.

Now there were far fewer.

Milo seized her arm and dragged her toward the stage. Maya stumbled but kept her feet, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her fall.

“You will bow,” Milo growled.

He forced her down, shoving her to her knees.

Pain tore through her wrists as the silver chains tightened, burning deep into her skin. She cried out despite herself, the sound sharp and raw.

The Alpha watched with interest.

“Well,” he said slowly, “you’ve got my attention. Now tell me what do you want?”

****

Zion stared down at the woman kneeling before him.

The girl she had tried to save Juniper was whimpering off to the side, guarded but unharmed for the moment. Zion felt nothing for her. Nothing for any of them. He had come here to wipe this pack from existence, and he intended to finish the job.

Their land was tainted.

Their bloodlines were worse.

He wouldn’t be satisfied until every last one of them was dead and their bodies reduced to ash.

And yet…

This woman.

Her scent reached him even over the stink of blood and fear. Clean. Untainted. She carried no rot in her soul, none of the corruption that clung to the rest of the pack like a disease.

It intrigued him.

“Am I supposed to speak while staring at the ground?” she asked quietly.

Her voice trembled, but there was steel beneath it.

Zion’s lips twitched.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

Milo tightened his grip on her hair, forcing her face back toward the dirt. Zion allowed it. The display of dominance pleased him. His men were doing exactly as they should.

Glancing back, Zion studied the blonde girl behind him. She couldn’t be more than fourteen. Her scent was different clean, untouched. Innocent.

Zion grabbed a handful of her hair and inhaled deeply.

Innocent or not, she still belonged to this pack.

“I’m Juniper,” the girl whispered.

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

He turned away from her and returned to the woman kneeling on the ground. Sliding his fingers into her hair, he dismissed Milo with a flick of his hand.

“What’s your name?” he repeated.

“Maya.”

The name suited her.

Her dark brown hair was soft beneath his fingers, silky despite the dirt and blood around them. Even with rage coiled tight in his chest, Zion noticed the intoxicating pull of her scent.

The pack watched them with open hostility. No one liked this woman. No one would stand beside her.

Except she had stood anyway.

Zion tilted her head back, forcing her to meet his gaze. Her eyes were almost black, wide with fear she tried and failed to hide.

“You’re not full-blood,” he said, inhaling again.

“No,” she admitted. “I was bitten coming out of work.”

Her hands trembled where they braced against the ground, and she bit her lip, clearly uncomfortable speaking to him.

Zion smiled slowly.

This woman was far more interesting than the rest of them combined.

And for the first time since the slaughter began, he reconsidered how the night might end.