Chapter 2

As Ylva glared at me, I noticed Andreas’s eyes briefly unfocusing, as they did when he heard messages via mindlink. Whatever Ylva had to say must be urgent, if she was speaking directly into his mind. But why was she excluding me?

It didn’t make sense. I was a member of the pack, and a daughter of the former Beta. My mother Marina once had Ylva’s role, but stepped down to raise me and Bria, the future Luna.

Most of all, I was Bria’s big sister. That had been my most important role since the day our parents adopted her.

How could Ylva keep information about the traitor responsible for Bria’s murder from me?

Desperate, I cried, “Please, tell me what’s happening!”

Andreas turned and met my eyes. There was still stony anger in his expression – and something deeper that I couldn’t read.

“You need to go,” he told me. “Right now.”

“What? Andreas, I don’t understand–”

“Michaela,” said Andreas, low and firm. I remembered the burr of his voice in my ear last night, and shivered. “Go.”

He was my Alpha, and I was loyal to our pack. Though my heart was pounding with nervousness, I obeyed.

As I left Andreas with Ylva and made my way home, a thrill of excitement underlay my worry.

I could ask my parents what they knew about the discovery of the traitor behind Bria’s death – and after I asked them, I could announce my new relationship with Andreas.

My fingers brushed the temporary mark he’d left on my neck.

My mother had always warned me not to get too close to Andreas. I don’t know if she suspected my secret feelings for my sister’s fated mate, or if it was because he was the Alpha’s heir. As a former Beta, my mother had an important role in the pack and believed firmly in hierarchy and strength.

I knew my parents would be shocked and confused by this sudden change. But the deed was done. Andreas had offered to take responsibility, and I bore his temporary mark.

Eventually, I was sure, my parents would understand.

But when I arrived home, my parents were nowhere to be found. I texted them, and even tried to reach out by mindlink. No response.

Could they be out dealing with the reports of the traitor? I didn’t know, but weariness from my late night was crashing over me. I smelled strongly: of alcohol, of Andreas, and of the things we’d done together.

I hurried to shower. Stripping off my clothes, I caught sight of a hickey Andreas had left on my shoulder near the temporary mark.

A hot red blush bloomed over my naked body. I remembered the feeling of his teeth on my neck, his fingers on my skin, his lips on mine…and more.

Afterwards, my parents were still gone, and I was exhausted. I’d be useless without sleep. I barely even remembered to take my supplements before bed.

My parents and I – though not Bria, due to her adoption – had a familial genetic disease. Since childhood, they’d insisted I take medication to counter it. The supplements were certainly effective – I’d never noticed any of the disease’s ill effects.

I fell flat onto my bed and sleep immediately began to drown me.

Barely a minute later, strong hands yanked me from my bed and pulled me out the door.

If I hadn’t recognised their familiar scents, I would’ve attacked immediately. But I could tell right away that the people hurriedly shoving me outside were my parents.

“Mom? Dad? What the hell’s going on?”

“Shh! There’s no time,” my father hissed, his voice tight with fear. Before I knew what was happening, they threw me into the backseat of our car.

Even in my confusion, I smelled terror coming off them both. The car doors slammed shut and my mother spoke quickly as she swerved the car onto the road.

“We have to go, now. It’s the old Alpha and Andreas. They’re coming to kill us.”

“What?!”

“We’re going to a safehouse – no more questions!”

The tires shrieked as the car tore away at top speed, leaving my home behind.

“You have to tell me what’s happening!” I shouted as my parents hustled me inside the unfamiliar safehouse. “You think Andreas is going to come kill us? Why do you even have this place? Ylva said they found the traitor, we should be back home – what is going on?!”

My parents exchanged a glance, and must have communicated something by mindlink. Dad came up to me and cupped my face in his hands.

“We can’t explain it all right now, Michaela,” he said gently. “You’re exhausted. You need to get some rest before we head to the next stronghold.”

He was right – I was half-delirious with exhaustion. But I’d had enough.

“No,” I growled. “I’m not moving another step. I don’t know what you think you’re doing, or why you want to run away from our pack. But it’s already too late.”

My mother’s breath caught. “What?”

Then Andreas burst through the front door.

My parents backed away from him, as if he was a threat. My mother bared her teeth.

“How could he find us so quickly?” Dad gasped.

I touched the temporary mark on my neck. They didn’t know it was there – they couldn’t have guessed Andreas could use it to vaguely sense my presence.

Andreas’s face was absolutely rigid, a mask.

I stepped forward, reaching for him instinctively.

“Andreas! I’m so glad you’re here. Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but we–”

“Stop acting,” he spat out.

I froze. I’d never heard him speak to me that way before – his voice dark with anger.

“Andreas, what are you–”

Suddenly I was drowning in memories sent by mindlink. As the Alpha heir, Andreas had the strongest ability to project thoughts, though he’d never pushed so much at me before.

But that didn’t matter, because now I knew what he knew.

Ylva had given him undeniable proof of the traitors. Proof of years spent spying, gathering information on the pack’s secrets and vulnerabilities, behaving loyally only to undermine us from within. Conspiring over decades to betray our pack – conspiring with the Lycans.

Our archenemies. Smaller in numbers but greater in strength, brutally violent and seeking to enslave humans – and kill werewolves.

Like they’d killed Bria.

The traitors who’d done all of this were my mother and father.

It felt like reality had been torn away and my heart was left screaming in its rubble.

“It can’t be,” I choked. “It’s impossible. Mom, Dad, please, please tell him it’s not true!”

But my parents, bracing as if to fight for their lives, were silent.

And for the first time since the day of Bria’s murder, I broke into sobs.

Andreas sneered coldly. “You really are an excellent actor, Michaela.”

The echoes of the memories he’d shoved at me still rang in my mind.

It was clear from the discovered messages my parents had exchanged with the Lycans that they’d chosen to adopt Bria only because of her status as the future Luna. Using her position would have allowed them to wreak even greater destruction on the pack.

My poor baby sister – she’d been their unknowing victim long before she was the Lycan’s victim. A leak caused by internal Lycan conflicts had led directly to her murder. Our own parents were spies for the monsters that killed her.

“I guess now I know why you were so dedicated to helping me, this past year,” Andreas jeered. “Having my trust made it so much easier to get information for the Lycans. And I thanked you for being there for me. I’m such a fool.”

My horror suddenly doubled. How could Andreas possibly think…

I’d always been sincere in helping and comforting him. Always. Even when it meant I had to love him secretly.

Suddenly I remembered the times my parents had given me questions – innocent ones, I’d thought – to ask Andreas. I’d passed his answers back to them, guiltlessly, thinking it was all part of their desire to support our Alpha’s heir.

“I didn’t know,” I whispered. “I didn’t know, Andreas, I would’ve never – please, you have to believe me–”

“SHUT UP!”

The scream of rage hung in the air. Andreas’s fangs were bared, his claws out. Fury contorted his face.

Just a few hours ago, he’d kissed me.

“Michaela, stop,” my father blurted out desperately. He pushed past my mother and stood between me and Andreas.

“Please,” he begged. “Michaela didn’t know. She had no part in this. Please, at least spare her life.”

There was a sudden blur of motion. At first I couldn’t tell what had happened, with my father’s body blocking my view.

But then I heard Dad’s choked gurgling. I saw blood coming from his torn-away throat.

My father fell dead in front of me, leaving nothing between me and the man I loved, who had blood on his claws.