1. STRANGER TIDES

BIANCA'S POV

"Why would a lovely damsel like you be heading to a hellhole like Dartmoor Island?"

The captain's voice pulled me from my trance. I stood at the edge of the railing, watching the dark waves crash against the hull.

The sharp wind struck my ankles. I shivered.

"I simply have no other way to go," I whispered. "I don't have options."

I tried to keep my voice steady, but the dread was overwhelming. Tears threatened to spill, hot and stinging against the cold sea spray.

The captain, an old-school human with a thick white beard, studied me.

His eyes dropped lower. He wasn't looking at my curves. He was staring at the jagged scar that ran from my neck down to my chin.

I pulled my coat tighter.

"You seem like the sort that is running from something," he said, his voice rough but not unkind. 

"Everything about you screams fear."

"Fear is all I have left," I replied.

He turned his gaze toward the horizon, where a dark landmass was rising from the mist.

"Dartmoor Island is pure heaven if you like chaos," he muttered. "It's been a long time since I docked there. Not since the uprising."

"What happened?" I asked.

I needed to know. This was going to be my new home.

"It used to be where Calabria sent their worst. Dangerous criminals. Shifters. Vampires. The superintendents held them down for fifteen years."

He paused, spitting into the ocean.

"But the detainees coordinated. They went after Port Louis. Now? The inmates run the asylum. It is a dangerous place to live, girl. I advise you to turn back. Come back with us."

I shook my head slowly.

"There is no life for me in Calabria. Not anymore."

"You could choose a different island," he pressed. 

"Anywhere but Dartmoor."

"I am a shifter," I said, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. "I don't expect you to understand."

A rogue without a pack was nothing. Worse than garbage. At least on Dartmoor, no one would ask why I wasn't protected by my family.

Dartmoor was the last resort for people who had nothing left to lose.

"Alright," the captain sighed, scratching his beard. 

"Best advice? Travel west. Find the Centro Villa. They are the only reasonable people left."

"I'll see to that."

A sailor called out to him, and the captain walked away, leaving me alone with my ghosts.

I looked back at the water, and suddenly, I wasn't on the ship anymore.

My mind dragged me back to the moment that broke me.

THREE WEEK'S AGO........

It was my twenty-fifth birthday. It was supposed to be the start of my life.

I remembered the morning clearly. My human mother and my wolf-shifter dad smiling at me. 

The birthday cake. The target practice with Clara.

I was happy.

Sure, my dad didn't have high status because he mated with a human. The pack rumoured that he had "weakened" the bloodline. They called me a mutt.

But I had shifted. It took me until my twenties, much later than the pure-bloods, but I was still part of this clan, part of the pack.

Or so I thought.

We arrived at the Mating Ball just before the rise of the full moon.

The air was filled with anticipation. Every unbonded wolf was waiting for that snap.

And then I saw him.

Jack Gilmore. The Beta's son.

He walked in with three of his friends, looking like a god among mortals. Olive skin. Long brown hair.

Our eyes locked.

I felt something for a second...it was an awkward encounter.

It struck me so hard I nearly stumbled. My wolf howled in my head.

He was mine. The most attractive man I had ever been with.

I walked toward him, a blissful smile stretching across my face. I waited for him to close the distance. I waited for him to pull me into his arms.

Instead, his lip curled.

Disgust. Pure, unadulterated disgust.

I froze.

"The mate bond?" Jack laughed, a cruel, barking sound. "You? You're not even a purebred."

He waved his hand in the air as if wafting away a bad smell.

"I don't see this happening," he sneered.

Behind him, his friends started to snicker. The sound grated on my ears.

"Jack?" I whispered. "I... I'm your mate."

"I won't get myself into this! Never!" he yelled, his voice booming over the music.

The room went silent. Everyone was watching.

"Jack, please," I tried to defend myself, but my wolf was already whimpering. She knew. She felt the rejection coming before the words left his mouth.

He stepped closer, towering over me. His eyes, which should have been filled with love, were cold and dead.

"I can't risk producing another mutt in my bloodline," he spat. "I would rather not mate with you."

He took a deep breath, raising his voice so the Alpha on the balcony could hear.

"I, Jack Gilmore, reject you, Bianca."

The words hit me like a physical blow.

I didn't just fall. I crumbled.

My knees hit the marble floor with a sickening crack. 

I clutched my chest, gasping for air. It felt like someone had reached inside my ribs, torn out my heart, and crushed it in front of me.

"Pathetic," Jack muttered.

Tears poured down my eyes like dew drops. I opened my mouth to scream, but all that came out was a broken sob.

Jack just looked down at me, made a sickened face, and turned his back.