Prologue

His wolf, silent for years, whispered one word: mate.

Something was wrong tonight. He didn’t know how to explain the feeling, but there was a flutter, a hint of something… something that he had never felt before. It was certainly not due to this celebration—a merger deal that had gone through. He had done that thousands of times. Humans were a very strange group; it was so easy to please them. He didn’t even have to use a fraction of his intelligence to best them in their own fields. He scanned the crowds. Many of the wolves from his pack stood around, talking in the crowd.

The Beast, he was known as—the Beast of Black Rock. He was ruthless, cutting and killing anyone who dared to stand in his way. He never thought that he even had a mate considering he should have met her by now… 

But this flutter made him weak. He had felt it once before, many, many moons ago… but it couldn’t be.

That was when he smelled her. Her scent wafted through the room, faint yet unmistakable, and the wolf within him howled.

He alerted immediately, tossing his glass away as he looked around, a crazed look in his eyes and his heart beating faster than ever. It had been years, a decade, since his wolf had howled or even stirred. He had kept that part of him dormant to save himself in the human world. Yet now, something drew it out… pulled it.

She was here, somewhere. His mate was here.

“Sir?” A voice interrupted his spiraling thoughts, and he turned to find a valet standing with a polite yet confused expression.

“What?” he snapped, keeping his eyes peeled as if she would reveal herself.

“The investors are waiting. They want you to sign the final document,” he informed.

Just as soon as it came, the scent faded away, and Damian nearly lost his mind.

“Get out!” he roared. “I will be there when I come!”

Weaving through the crowd, Lucian made his way to his brother, who seemed to be crazed.

“What is happening? Why are you screaming?” he hissed.

“She… my wolf. It’s awake. She’s here. I don’t know who she is… now she’s gone.” He ran his fingers through his dark, wavy locks that reached down to his shoulders.

Lucian sighed. “Brother, I will handle the signing. You go to the room. We will get the security logs of who all was at the party, and I promise you we will find her.”

Damian nodded and walked out of the party room, his wolf silent but awake.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit…” Hissing to herself, Aria scuttled out of the building, quickly pulling her jacket over herself. The suppressant in her locket had nearly run out, and she was sure that someone would catch her if she was still in the same room.

The suppressant wasn't cheap. It took a day’s travel into the Cook County Forest Preserves, where her friend lived.

Limping as she walked, the girl looked around, trying to figure out why her chest was beating so fast. Was it because her wolf could sense danger with Damian and Lucian around? However, this was different. This felt like a pull… something pulled her wolf closer, and instead of allowing it to do so, she ran away.

“It’s just because she wants to be let out that she is so restless,” Aria told herself, trying to calm down.

Aria Hale, the so-called daughter of the Hale pack, limping her way through the streets of Chicago. She was considered the kin of royalty at one point in life, but if one looked at her now, they would think she was a defective nobody.

Dialing a number on her phone, she pressed it to her ear. “Hey, I need more. They almost found out.”

“Come home…”