Chapter 1

He woke drenched in sweat.

The room was dark except for the faint silver wash of moonlight slipping through the blinds. His heart pounded as if he’d just run miles through the forest and his hand shot to his forearm on instinct.

A mark glowed there.

A crescent shaped brand, faint but pulsing beneath the skin.

No way.

“What is it?” the woman laying beside him murmured, her voice thick with sleep. “You’re shaking.”

He forced his breathing to steady. “Nothing. Go back to sleep.”

She settled again with a small sigh and within seconds her breathing evened out. He lay back, shutting his eyes as he went back to sleep.

Somewhere across the city of Manhattan, in a narrow apartment above a noisy street, a human man jolted awake in the same sweat. His jaw throbbed as if he had clenched it too hard in his sleep. His chest ached and the sheets were twisted around his legs.

He sat up, confused.

He had dreamed of a man.

A big man with eyes like molten gold in the shadow.

———————-

Xander’s pov

“What is this meeting about? I shouldn’t be called away from my pack at just any whim.”

My voice carried across the stone chamber. We met beneath the city, far below the human noise and lights. The council chamber was carved from old bedrock, reinforced and hidden long before Manhattan became Manhattan. Electricity hummed faintly through concealed wiring, but the room still smelled of earth and iron.

To my right sat the Alpha of the Bloodborn, Idris. Broad shoulders, lazy grin, black hair tied at his nape. Cocky and always amused.

To my left, the Alpha of the Wolfgang territories, Markus. Blond, rigid and disciplined. His pack guarded the northern lines.

Across from us sat the Council.

Seven of them.

Ageless in appearance. One of them leaned forward, his hair and beard were unnaturally white, as if drained of all color, yet his face bore no wrinkles. His silver eyes fixed on me. “It concerns your uncle, Alpha Xander.”

I clenched my teeth. “He is no longer a concern. We dealt with that.”

The white haired councilman folded his hands. “He is back and causing problems.”

Markus shifted slightly and Idris stopped smiling.

“What has he done now?” I asked.

“He has abducted several human females.”

Idris let out a low chuckle. “Thalric comes out of banishment and the first thing he does is snatch human women?”

“Guess urges fester in isolation,” Markus added dryly.

I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms. “Abducting humans is not a crime. We have all taken what we required from them. They are livestock and they exist beneath us.”

That was not arrogance. It was truth.

Werewolves had walked this earth long before humans built cities. We learned to hide among them because their numbers grew inconvenient. With their governments, their weapons, their technology, it was easier to remain myth.

Humans served purposes.

They were food, when necessary. They were labor in discreet operations. Some packs used them for pleasure and they live unaware that predators lived in their shadows.

We don’t see them as equals.

The councilman’s silver eyes glows a bit. “The message we intercepted suggests he has returned to his previous work, his barbaric experiments and he intends to breed the females until he can recreate the Vealorion hybrid.”

Idris’s lips parted in disbelief. “Impossible. That bloodline doesn’t exist anymore and even if it ever does, the last time it was mentioned was at most ten thousand years ago.”

“Not exactly,” one of the councilman said quietly.

All seven pairs of silver eyes shifted to me and my pulse thudded once in my ears.

“One was born nearly two decades ago,” he continued. “And we took care of it.”

I didn’t react on the surface but Inside, a memory of a child and a mother crying burned.

“We can’t allow your uncle to do this,” the councilman went on. “Breeding with humans is beneath us and it’s a crime against our kind. We are superior predators…….Gods compared to them. With rogues already out of control, Vampires fighting for territory, dead bodies are appearing in public places and humans are whispering about animal attacks. This is not the time for reckless experimentation with the livestocks.”

It was almost ironic. Wait till they find out that the moon goddess made one of those livestocks my mate.

“We require humans oblivious,” the councilman continued. “They are our means of feeding, our camouflage. If they unite against a confirmed species of predators, our advantage dissolves.”

I nodded. “So what do you want from me?”

“Speak to him. Convince him to release the females and abandon the experiments.”

A muscle ticked in my jaw. “You know my uncle doesn’t listen to me.”

“Find a way,” the councilman replied. “Alpha Marcus’s Shadow Assassins will be prepared and waiting for our command. This courtesy exists only because he is your blood.”

I rose slowly from my chair. “I will handle it.”

“If you can’t handle your family,” Markus says, leaning back on his chair, “my assassins will take care of him for you.”

I turn my head towards him. “If they so much as touch a hair on his head before I talk him, I will make sure your dead body won’t be found.”

Back within my territory, beneath a converted warehouse along the Hudson, my pack trained in the lower chambers. It’s how we adapted to the modern world while keeping our instincts sharp.

Lana, one of our deadliest warriors/assassin and also my sister, intercepted me before I reached the inner hall. “Have you done it yet?”

She isn’t one to waste words.

I shook my head once. “Not yet.”

“It has been a month, brother. What the hell are you still waiting for?”

A month of watching and shadowing the human the Moon Goddess had mocked me with. Not only human but also a male.

I almost laughed when I first saw the mark and scented him. The goddess must have been amused because I wasn’t.

“You have to finish this before the council catches even a hint,” she came closer. “If they discover you are mated to livestock—” Her lip curled slightly at the word. “—our pack will be challenged. You will be deemed weak and removed. We can’t let that happen, not after everything we have built.”

Her concern was not emotional, it was strategic.

A mated Alpha could not sever the bond without killing his mate. If my mate were human, male, and alive, it would be seen as contamination.

“I will take care of it, Lana,” I said evenly. “This week. I have been occupied.”

Her eyebrow lifted, skeptical. Before she could press further, one of my lieutenants called her name from across the hall. She glanced back at me once more before turning away.

I continued to my private quarters, entering my secret room.

Screens lined the walls, Live feeds, Data streams, Maps of Manhattan. We have adapted to survive, yet some of our ancient packs still relied on scent and scouts but I relied on technology too.

I had placed cameras carefully. Humans are stupid and almost never look up.

One would call it stalking, but I’m not a stalker. Stalkers were careless…….Predators on the other hand were not.

I approached the central console, sat at my chair and tapped the screen. There he was. Sitting at his desk in a fluorescent lit office, his tie loosened and his sleeves rolled up. Head bent as he typed.

I had intended to study him to eliminate him but I had become fascinated with him. Why would the moon goddess mate me to a human male…..surely it must mean something. I watched him rub his jaw absentmindedly and the mark on my forearm tingled. I ignored it.

The clock on the screen read 2:30 AM.

Why was he still there? His work ended hours ago and this is the time rogues are usually found roaming the city.

I switched to the street camera. His building entrance was empty. An alert blinked red at the top of my monitor.

Motion detection……..Rear alley of his office.

My gaze sharpened as I see two figures leaning against the wall, smoking.

Rogues.

Their scent registered even through grainy footage. Unaffiliated, desperate and reckless wolves.

Why the fuck was he alone this late?

I leaned closer to the screen as he shut down his computer and stood, stretching slightly. He checked his phone and sighed. Then dropped something in an office, grabbed his bag and headed downstairs unaware of what was waiting for him.

I leaned back on my chair. I should just let them take care of this for me, it will be easier.

Fuck.

I stand, heading for the door at full speed.