Chapter 01

Adeline's POV

“Oh my god….” My moan tangled with the sound of skin slapping against skin, breathless and wild. My nails scraped down Vincent’s back as his mouth latched onto my breast, biting just enough to make me cry out.

“Faster,” I begged, my legs wrapped tight around him.

He looked up, his hazel eyes dark with lustful hunger. “Yeah?”

I nodded, desperate. He smirked and drove deeper, harder, until I shattered beneath him with a scream, pleasure clawing through me.

Then there was a sudden silence and immediately warm sunlight kissed my eyelids, and I gasped awake alone, it was just a dream.

I looked through the window, the world outside hummed with the familiar symphony of our tribe – distant laughter, the soft thud of footsteps, the rustle of leaves in the breeze. A new day, a new dawn and yet my body felt heavy, each movement was a conscious effort. I pushed myself up, my hands instinctively going to the gentle swell of my belly.

"Morning, Adeline! How are you feeling today?" Gina's voice, warm and laced with her usual comforting concern, drifted from the doorway. My friend, one of the tribe's most skilled healers, her gaze lingered on my rounded silhouette, a silent question in her eyes.

I offered her a soft smile, stroking my belly. "I'm fine, Gina. Really." The words felt a little hollow even to my own ears.

She stepped closer, her expression softening. "Still waiting for him, aren't you?" It wasn't a question, more like a quiet acknowledgment.

My smile faltered. Vincent. His name, even just a thought, brought a bittersweet ache to my chest. Six months. Six long months since he'd left, promising to return, promising a future as Luna of his tribe, with our child as the heir. He'd been so earnest, so full of conviction.

Back then, I hadn't even known about the tiny life blossoming within me. Sometimes, a chilling fear would grip me – what if he never came back? What if he'd left me, truly left me, with this precious secret?

Just then, a hurried knock on my door startled me from my reverie. Our mail delivery man. My heart leaped with a sudden, foolish hope. "Do you have good news for me?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper, my gaze fixed on his face.

He shook his head slowly, his eyes filled with a profound sympathy that instantly extinguished the flicker of joy in my heart. "Adeline," he began, his voice low, "Vincent... he's become the Alpha. And he's about to marry his cousin. To be his Luna."

The words hit me like a physical blow, stealing the air from my lungs. Marry his cousin? His Luna? The world tilted on its axis. No. It couldn't be. Not after everything. Not after his promises.

A numb despair settled over me. I stumbled out of the house, seeking solace, seeking escape. I could hear Gina's distant voice calling me but I kept walking the river. The river had always been my refuge. I walked, my feet moving automatically, the world around me a blurry watercolor of pain.

The cool embrace of the river offered little comfort but the familiar whisper of its currents brought back memories, stark and vivid. A year ago. The day I found him. A lone, injured wolf, bleeding and broken. His fur was matted with blood, ribs visible beneath the torn muscle. But his eyes—hazel, burning even through pain—locked with mine, and I moved without thinking. I'd brought him back, tended to his wounds and slowly, painstakingly, nursed him back to health.

 We fell in love, a whirlwind romance born of shared vulnerability and undeniable connection. He was my partner, my soul mate. Or so I'd believed.

I stared at my reflection in the water for hours, a stranger staring back. Heartbreak was a dull, constant throb but a cold determination began to solidify within me. I had to go back. I had to face this new reality.

But as I approached the familiar clearing where our tribe had thrived just hours before, a chilling silence fell over the air. The vibrant sounds of life had been replaced by an eerie stillness. My stomach clenched with a premonition of dread. Then I saw it. Smoke, thick and black, billowing from where the elder's house once stood. A shriek caught in my throat.

I ran, my legs burning, my heart pounding against my ribs. What I found was a nightmare rendered in flesh and blood. Bodies. Everywhere. My people. My family. The scent of fear and death hung heavy in the air.

Suddenly, a searing pain ripped through my lower back. Premature labor. Here? Now? My body, already heavy with grief, rebelled. I forced myself to hide, to seek refuge amidst the carnage but the contractions, sharp and relentless, stole my breath. This couldn't be happening. Not here. Not now.

I couldn't breathe and when I thought I would surely lose everything, a primal force surged through me. A raw, untamed power that resonated deep within my very core. The Alpha wolf spirit. It possessed me, empowering me, guiding me through the agony. I pushed, gritted my teeth and with a final, guttural cry, brought two sons and a daughter into this horrific world.

I held them, my precious babies, their tiny forms as a beacon of hope in the darkness. Tears streamed down my face – tears of sorrow for what I had lost, and tears of overwhelming joy for what I had gained. But the reprieve was short-lived. A raw growl, the scent of unwashed fur, the glint of malevolent eyes – rogue wolves. They were here to plunder, to desecrate what little remained.

My body screamed in protest but I dragged myself up, cradling my newborns, fleeing into the dense forest. Each step was an agonizing battle against exhaustion and pain as I kept moving to the top of the waterfall. Then, a sudden slip, a loss of footing and I tumbled. Breath knocked out of my lungs, the word closed in on me and before processing everything, I hit a hard surface. Darkness enveloped me.

When I woke, the world was a hazy blur. The cold, damp earth against my cheek. I scrambled up, my heart seizing with panic. Where were they? My children. I forced myself up, my body screaming in protest as I desperately looked around.

Two small forms whimpered beside me. My sons. But where was my daughter? A frantic search, my hands tearing at the undergrowth but nothing. Just an empty space where she should have been.

And then, a voice, deep and resonant, echoed within my mind. Not my own, it was the wolf spirit. It was Vincent. His wolf. He had lost control. He had done this. All of this.

Grief, a tidal wave of it, crashed over me, drowning me in its suffocating embrace. My daughter. Lost. My tribe. Massacred. By him. The man I loved. I sank to the ground, holding my two remaining children, my body wracked with bitter sobs. The world had truly ended.

****

Six years later.

Six years of masquerading as Elara, the herbalist, the healer and the quiet woman who specialized in treating werewolves. My small shop, nestled discreetly within Vincent's tribe, was my sanctuary and my cover. Each day, I dispensed remedies, offered comfort, all while my true purpose simmered beneath the surface: to uncover the truth, to understand the senseless massacre that had stolen everything from me.

Today, a trembling elder, wracked with silver sickness, left my shop with a potent concoction in hand. I watched him go, then turned to the quiet solitude of my back room, the familiar weight of my satchel a comfort against my hip. When the day's work was done, I sought my favorite spot – a rocky outcrop high above the sprawling landscape of the tribe.

From here, I could see it all. The bustling market, the training grounds, the Alpha's towering lodge – the heart of Vincent's domain. He was the Alpha now, powerful, respected. Engaged to his cousin and he reportedly had a daughter. The words were like daggers, twisting in an old, unhealed wound.

The heartache was still vivid, a ghost that lingered in the corners of my mind. But the raw, agonizing pain had hardened into something else, something colder and sharper. Vengeance. I looked out at the tribe, at the lives that thrived here, a stark contrast to the devastation of my own.

My eyes narrowed as a fierce resolve burned within them. This time, I wouldn't run. This time, I wouldn't hide. This time, I would avenge every innocent soul lost that day. And I would start with him.