Chapter 1

After talking with the prisoner, Harper entered the kitchen to find her father by the table. He lifted his coffee cup in a greeting and smiled at his beautiful daughter.

"Good morning."

Harper smiled back. "Good morning."

"I have good news," her father told her. "I've arranged for a ball to happen on your birthday, and the Moon pack's alpha will send his three sons for you to pick and choose from."

Still smiling, Harper sat down by the table. Her father had already prepared her coffee, knowing she woke around this time. 

"And they all have alpha potential?" Not that Harper cared. She didn't want to marry a man who wasn't her mate. It was what her father wanted, but her heart yearned for true love.

Her father arched an eyebrow. "Why do you sound so sad? I thought you wanted to give up your future alpha position."

"I do, and I don't," Harper admitted. "I want to finish studying at the university in the human world, but I also care about my pack. If my future husband is a bad person, it would be terrible for the future of our pack."

Harper had always been good-hearted. Her mother had praised her for it, while her father deemed that quality worthless.

"Good thing you have three men to choose from then," her father gave her a brief smile before it suddenly faltered. "The Comet pack has threatened to attack us yet again. Liam, their alpha, is very interested in the portal."

Harper slurped on her coffee. "Does Liam have more men than us?"

"Not yet."

"Good," Harper smiled even though her stomach felt like it had been filled with lead. She knew Liam's pack was growing. "I better hurry and find myself a husband so I'm on equal grounds with Liam. Or at the very least, so we are protected by another alpha."

"Agreed," Her father raised a cup to her words. "A mated werewolf is stronger than a lone wolf. I know you want to find your mate, but sadly, we don't have time for that if we wish to save our kingdom."

"I understand."

"I know you do because you're an intelligent girl."

Harper smiled but frowned when images of that handsome man from her dreams clouded her mind. This time he was sulking and seemed to openly judge her. It made her heart shatter because she knew what the moon goddess wanted.

Harper's true mate was out there somewhere, and the moon goddess was trying to make her find him. But even if Harper had the option to listen to the moon goddess's request, she didn't know where to look.

Her mate could be anywhere. Harper didn't even know what species her mate belonged to. She hoped for the man to be another werewolf, but the face in her dreams was far too beautiful.

Werewolves were usually rugged and heavy. Harper's kind bred strong men, and even though her mate seemed incredibly muscular, he was more lean than swollen. And his facial features were too delicate and prominent for a werewolf.

Could her mate be a vampire?

Harper continued sipping on her coffee. Her thoughts were all over the place, and so was her heart. She wanted to make her father proud by marrying a man from the Moon pack, but at the same time, her heart yearned for true love.

"Could we wait with the ball?"

Harper's father nearly choked on his coffee. "What do you mean wait?"

There was a heavy sigh. "After I've turned eighteen, I want to be given a little time to search for my mate. A week would be fine."

"Are you crazy?" Her father scoffed, rolling his eyes at his daughter's selfish request. "You know that Liam is dangerous, and you have to be mated to stand up to him!"

"But—"

"THERE WILL BE NO BUTS!" Crazed eyes met hers. "You've been spoiled rotten enough. I've never heard of another alpha's daughter being as soft as you, and now you wish to find true love? You have duties, Harper!"

Her lips quivered, yet her father continued.

"From early on, you've taken home injured animals, dogs, cats, and fucking birds—that is not the way of an alpha!"

Frustration built up within Harper. "Well, maybe I don't want to be the next alpha!"

Silence fell, but it was the scary kind. The calm before the storm, and Harper knew she was in trouble. Darkness was moving over her father's features, and his lips quirked into a cruel smile.

"Did you just say you don't want to be the next alpha?" Her father scrutinized her, disgust in his gaze. He didn't tolerate weakness. "You're exactly like your useless mother!" 

Tears prickled behind Harper's eyes. "My mother wasn't useless!"

"Oh, yes, she was!" Her father smirked. "Not only was your mother a fucking whore, but she was also too soft for this world, and guess what? That's why she is no longer breathing!"

A mix of sadness and anger churned inside Haper, and she gritted out her following sentence. "My mother was not a whore."

"She was," her father drank more coffee. "And there is nothing that can change my mind about that."

Harper's blood was boiling. Her mother, Marta, had been a person the entire pack had cherished. During Marta's time as the luna, Harper had looked forward to the future. But when Marta died, everything changed for the worse.

Now her father, alpha Jensen wished for Harper to marry a stranger. But marrying someone who wasn't her mate went against everything Harper believed in. The mate-bond was sacred, was it not?

Harper could still remember how her mother used to tell her, "Never give up on finding true love, my dear," which made Harper miss her mother now more than ever. 

Harper believed in true love as well.

"I can't believe you brought my mother into this conversation... You're such a cruel father..."

Harper's father narrowed his gaze, growling. "Because using your mother as an example of failure might make you understand that you need to change. No longer can you look away from your duties as the future alpha! You have to grow the fuck up!"

"No! I told you that I don't want to become the alpha!"

Her father slammed the table. "Even if you get married and give up your alpha position, you still have responsibilities as a luna! You have to stop being spoiled and take some responsibility!"

With angry tears in her eyes, Harper left the table in haste. 

Her father stood up to yell at her to come back, but Harper ignored him. Anger was seething under her skin. How could her own father trash-talk her mother like that?

Harper clenched her fists and decided it was time for a rebellion. She would find her mate.