Chapter One

“Please...,” Scarlett choked out between sobs. “Please don’t kill me. I’ll leave you alone, I swear. I’ll run away as far as possible and never come back.”

But it was too late for apologies. For years, I’d suffered at Scarlett’s hands. I was beaten, starved and abused by that entire pack growing up for no good reason other than for their amusement. Now, after I’d finally broken free and found my magic, she expected me to show her mercy. A mercy she never showed me.

How many times had she bruised my skin? How many times had she framed me for offences I never committed? I’d lost count many years ago, back when I was still a child.

But there was no longer anyone left for her to hide behind, that despicable excuse of a first mate, Alpha Liam, now dead. She’d wanted so badly to have him, doing whatever she could so that he would never give me a chance. To never let him see the potential I had inside me. They thought I was ugly... useless... cursed... but, really, it was them all along. They couldn’t possibly compare to the person I was now.

I was something so much more powerful.

“Aurora,” Victor whispered in my ear. “You don’t have to do this yourself. Allow me.”

His hands were wrapped around my body possessively as he spoke, the aura of his Alpha King status radiating off him. A warning of his strength to anyone who dared to defy him or get too close.

He was the most powerful man in these lands, the most feared and revered... and he was mine. My mate. My second chance that had saved me from the depths of hell. A hell which Scarlett had contributed to.

I blinked back the tears as I stared at the last piece of my revenge, watching her now knelt grovelling at my feet pathetically, and knew what needed to be done.

I had to do this. Alone.

“No... I can do this.”

Victor’s reply came only in the form of a kiss to my cheek, the sparks erupting where his lips touched my skin, and he stood back to let me proceed. It gave me the strength I needed to finally end this.

“Goodbye Scarlett,” I said over the sound of her continued pleas for mercy.

And before I could change my mind, I honed my energy and conjured a ball of white flame in my palm.

A flame that quickly consumed her entire body, the crackling almost as loud as her screams in agony. But it was a sound that marked the end of her terror, allowing for the scars she’d left on my soul to start healing.

I was finally free. I’d gotten my revenge.

There was no one left to interfere with my matebond with Victor. We could finally start a family, just as we’d always wanted. I coul—

——— ‘What a predictable ending,’ I thought to myself, dropping my phone onto the bed next to me.

And to think I’d thought this werewolf novel would be different. They really had me excited in the first half, believing maybe the storyline would be unique, but it turned out to be just the same as the others. How many of these had I read? Fifty? A hundred? Did I even care anymore?

With a yawn, I pulled my tired body out of bed and started moving towards the kitchen. It was late, probably well into the AM hours, and the entire house was as silent as a mouse. I knew my roommate was probably well and truly asleep by now. Unlike me, she actually tried to get a good night's rest before work in the morning. I highly doubted she ever got up at ungodly hours to rummage the fridge for a snack.

Aaaaaaand... no luck.

I stared at the contents of the fridge with tired dismay, eyeing the choices unenthusiastically.

Milk... juice... some old looking grapes. There weren’t a lot of options that didn’t require cooking.

But as my stomach rumbled, reminding me why I came here in the first place, I started to think that perhaps the grapes I bought two weeks ago didn’t look so bad after all.

With a sigh of resignation, I popped one into my mouth and pulled the packet out of the fridge to continue eating the rest on the bench.

Only, as I turned around, the light from the fridge now illuminating the entire kitchen... I realised I was not alone.

He stood at the doorway to the living room, dressed all in black with his face covered by a mask and hoodie. In one hand was my car keys, the ones I’d left on the rack near the door, and in his other hand... a gun.

My mouth opened slowly in shocked silence as we stared at each other, and the grape I’d just tried to eat fell to the ground, rolling a short distance between us.

“You’re not my roommate,” I managed to mumble out numbly.

And those were the only words spoken. Without any time to react, his hand moved up quickly, milliseconds before a loud bang rung out that almost blinded me in the dimly lit room. A bang that was accompanied by a red spray that hit every surface in the area.

Was that... from me? Did I do that?

My body shaking, I looked down towards my chest and confirmed my worst fears. There it was. The thing I had only ever seen before on TV or in movies. So vivid and real... and...

Painful.

With a scream, I fell to the ground, my lungs quickly filling faster than I could get the air out. How could this happen? Why me?

“Natalie?!”

I could vaguely hear my roommate scream out my name, but I wasn’t sure what was happening anymore. Was the man still here? Did he flee once he fired his gun? She needed to run... to get to safety... she...

My head was becoming foggier, each thought harder than the last to form or concentrate on. Was this really it? Was I actually going to die because of a goddamn snack craving?

The answer was yes. Yes, I was.

And with one final choking breath, everything went dark.