Chapter 1

Liora's POV

The mating ceremony was meant to be the happiest day of my life.

The air outside the hall was thick with incense and tree musk, with whispers of blessings from elders who seemed like they didn’t mean them. Their words slid off me like water on stone, the polite masks barely hiding the obvious disgust they held for the daughter of a rogue Alpha. My grandmother, Mami, stood at my side like a fortress, her wrinkled hand squeezing mine. Without her, I would’ve been crushed by the whisper and scorn years ago.

But tonight—tonight was supposed to change everything for the better. I would get my mate, the one who would love me more than anything. 

Alex, son of the Silvercrest Alpha, was my fated mate. The Moon Goddess herself had chosen him for me. For once, I thought the world might finally give me something instead of taking.

I stepped into the hall, heart pounding, as Alex’s eyes caught mine across the room. Blue eyes, sharp as ice, he had the kind of gaze girls melted under. My knees trembled, but not only with awe, but with a fragile, desperate hope.

He smiled, but it wasn’t one with warmth. It was mockery with a hint of disgust.

“So it’s true what they say,” he said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “The Goddess really does have a twisted sense of humor. And at times she does make mistakes.”

The laughter that followed hit me in the chest. My chest burned, my breath hitched out of panic and a sense of impending doom. “Alex… please. We’re mates. This is—”

“—a mistake,” he cut in, his tone cold steel. “Do you think I would ever claim you? A rogue’s daughter? As my Luna? You’ll taint my bloodline and curse my pack. I reject you, Liora. I reject you and the shame that comes with you.”

The words ripped through me, sacred bonds snapping in an explosion of pain that sent me to my knees. My wolf howled inside me, clawing, begging for the bond not to end.

“Please,” I gasped, clutching my chest, reaching toward him. “Don’t do this. The bond, it’s killing me,”

He crouched, eyes glittering with cruelty. “Good. Let it kill you. At least then I won’t have to worry about you sniffing around me like a desperate dog. And once you are dead, the moon may grant me another mate. A worthy one."

Tears blurred my vision, but I caught the smirks around us, the pack, my so-called people, feasting on my humiliation. That night should have ended there. But it didn’t.

Hours later, I was still reeling, half-delirious from the severed bond and the fire of my first heat triggered too soon. I staggered into the woods to hide, to suffer in silence.

I didn’t know Alex followed me with malicious intentions.

“You think you can run from this?” His voice slithered through the trees. “The Goddess bound us once. Even without the bond, I can take what’s mine.”

Fear froze me as he pressed me against a tree, his breath hot and sour against my skin. My wolf screamed for me to fight, but my body was weak, shaking from the cruel rejection and the fever of heat.

“Alex, don’t—” My voice cracked. “Please. Don’t do this to me.”

His hand clamped on my jaw. “You’ll thank me later. This is all you’re good for.”

Terror choked me. Tears slid down my cheeks. I wanted to vanish, to claw my skin off, anything to escape. And then—

A crash came behind us.

Alex spun, cursing. A man stumbled into the clearing, He smelled of the world away from these woods—strange and wrong. His expensive suit was wrinkled, his tie askew, his eyes looking around in confusion, like he was lost. A stranger. Human one at that. How did he get here?

“What the hell—” Alex growled ready to pounce on him.

The man blinked, steadying himself. “Where… am I?” His accent was clipped, polished, definitely not from here. His gaze landed on me—wide, startled, burning with something that jolted heat through my veins.

Alex snarled. “Leave. Now.”

The man rubbed his temples, his eyes taking in the woods around him. “I… can’t. My car was on the road and now—now I’m here. None of this makes sense.” His eyes locked on Alex with surprising clarity. “What are you doing? Back away from her.”

Alex scoffed." And if I don't what will happen."

I opened my mouth to tell the human to leave but then out from his jacket he brought out a gun, not just any gun, one with sliver coating and a hint of wolfsbane. Alex and I froze in shock at the sight. Was he a hunter?

For a moment, the world hung suspended.

Alex sneered, shoving me forward out of obvious fear. “She’s nothing. Just a whore in heat. Take her if you want. She’s already broken.”

Shame and fury burned through me. “Alex, stop!”

But the man moved with the speed of light. One swift punch sent Alex sprawling across the floor with scotched skin from where it met with the sliver gun. I gasped, torn between relief and horror. Alex got up holding his cheek and took off leaving me at the hands of a stranger.

Jasper staggered again, seemingly disoriented. “What’s going on?” He pressed a hand to his chest. He looked around disoriented but his gaze was sharp, still assessing the scene before him, his breathing slow but strained. 

And then his gaze returned to me. To my flushed skin, trembling body, the heat I couldn’t hide. His jaw clenched, and I felt it—the same fire consuming me sparking in his eyes.

“No,” I whispered, backing away. “You’re human. You don’t understand.”

But my wolf whined, pulling me closer, desperate for touch, for release, for anything but the suffocating rejection that had ripped me apart. Heat coursed through my body, surprisingly filling me with a sense of urgency. I wanted him more than anything. It was like the harsh effects of the mate bond had disappeared and all I saw was this human stranger who had ignited a fire within me.

“I don't understand what is going on,” Jasper rasped, voice breaking. “God, please. Tell me to stop—”

My lips parted. The word hovered over my tongue. Stop. It should have been easy. But I didn't want to say it. I knew it was reckless, but I wanted this. I wanted him.

So when his hand brushed my cheek, gentle where Alex had been cruel, the dam inside me cracked. I was drowning—in horror, in grief, in hunger. And in him.

I kissed him first.

It was a kiss born of desperation, of need, of a girl clawing for something to replace the gaping wound in her soul. His mouth was hot and insistent, his body tense as he warred with himself.

“This is wrong, I don't know you—I shouldn’t want this.” he whispered against my lips.

“I know,” I breathed, clutching his shirt, dragging him closer. “But I want this.”

He groaned, the sound torn between agony and surrender. His hands framed my face, and then he was lost too, devouring me with a hunger that matched my own.

Every touch burned. Every gasp was tangled with horror and lust, with the knowledge that this man wasn’t my mate—he wasn’t even a wolf. He was a stranger. A mere human at that. And yet, in that broken, fragile moment, he felt more like salvation than anyone ever had.

When it was over, I lay trembling in the grass, his arm draped over me, both of us silent in the aftermath of something we couldn’t name. My shame was a living thing, wrapping around my throat.

I pulled away at dawn, tears blurring the rising sun.

He stirred, reaching for me. “Wait—”

But I was already gone, running before he could learn my name,

before I could learn his.

I ran with a secret burning inside me—one that would change everything.