Chapter 1

*Aria*

The smell of grass and rain filled my nostrils as I ran as fast as I could through the woods. The ground was a little moist from the heavy rain that had fallen earlier. I slowly drew to a complete stop when I ran out of breath and then began a slow walk. I shook my head repeatedly, trying to make sense of what I'd just overhead. I had known my parents weren't exactly the best people out there, but I'd had no idea just how cruel they actually were. My hand flew to my mouth as I tried to muffle my pained whimper.

We were all fucked.

It turned out my parents had made a deal with Black Glow pack and had purposefully chosen to break the terms of that arrangement. I couldn't for the life of me figure out if they were just plain dumb or if they had actually lost their minds. Everyone knew Black Glow wasn't a pack to be messed with. There wasn't a single person who had dared to cross paths with their Alpha who had lived. How on earth could they have thought they could get away with it?

I remember clearly how much both my sister and I had been skeptical about them signing a contract with Black Glow. We'd been in deep trouble with another pack and my parents had enlisted the pack warriors of Black Glow to help reinforce our defense team, with the promise that they were going to be in their debt. It was clearly time for them to repay the debt and they were backing out. Choosing to send a different pack to brutally attack them instead.

Dear goddess, how could they have done that?

I didn't want to even think of the innocent pubs who might have gotten seriously hurt in the entire fallout. Yes, I was well aware that they were asking that my elder sister mate with their vicious Alpha, but still. It was even worse trying to double cross them by sending warriors to their pack. Did they really think they were going to get away with it? Really? After everything they've seen and heard about Black Glow's Alpha? I shuddered at the mere thought of what might become of my pack if the Alpha of Black Glow pack came to know of their horrible plan.

The hairs at the back of my neck stood the second I heard the hurried patter of footsteps. Turning so quickly I was surprised I didn't get an instant whiplash, I took in the worried look on Dahlia's face. Dahlia was my sister's best friend. It took her just shy of a second to spot me. A crease forming on her forehead, she quickly walked towards me. I felt my heart crash against my ribcage in worry mixed with a bit of fear.

Whatever she had to say was clearly not something good.

"What's wrong?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. I closed the distance between us, my hands coming to rest on her arms. The tears running down her cheeks were like a punch to my gut. Her dark hair was disheveled and a few strands were sticking to the sides of her face. Her jeans were torn slightly in a few places. "Dahlia, what's wrong?" I repeated.

Her right hand flew to her mouth as she tried to stop herself from wailing but it was no use. The tortured sob that escaped her lips caused tears to roll down my eyes. I still didn't know what exactly was going on but I knew that it was extremely bad. My mind immediately flew to my parents. Had something happened to them? And Whitney? Was she okay?

"The Alpha of Black Glow pack was here." She finally managed through her heart wrenching whimpers. My blood instantly chilled in my veins. Oh no. My eyes widened so much in their sockets I was scared they were going to literally fall out their sockets. My hands left Dahlia as I felt bile working its way up my throat. The tears flowing down my cheeks now were hot frightened tears. Rather than pay any attention to them, I fisted my shaking hands.

"Dahlia," I whispered quietly, looking right at her. She began shaking her head slightly, almost like she was asking me to not make her say it. I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach. What had that asshole done? I knew he had to have found out that the attack in his pack was engineered by my parents for him to have come all the way down by himself. Usually, he lets his minions do all the work for him. "What did he do?" I finally asked.

She squeezed her eyelids tightly like she was reliving the horrible moment. I quickly held her arms when she swayed unsteadily on her feet. She gently pulled herself away from my grip like she didn't want to be close to me when she delivered the terrible news. Taking a calming breath, she got the words out. "He killed your parents, Aria." She muttered under her breath, looking at me right in the eye. "And he took your sister with him."

Numb.

That was all I felt for a split second. And then pain and anger, realization and hurt, came crashing into me in such strong waves it had me literally taking a few steps backwards until my back gently collided with the bark of a tree and I lowered myself to the ground. I stared at Dahlia, but I wasn't actually seeing her. My vision became blurry as a result of the tears pooling in my eyes. Her words kept playing in my head on repeat. He killed my parents. And he still took my sister?

A scream pierced the air.

It took a second for me to register that it had come from me. I let out another scream. And another. And another. For hours all I did was scream and sob and cry. I let myself imagine what my life was going to be like without my parents. Yes, they hadn't exactly been the best parents out there but I couldn't deny that I had loved them. In the end, all they'd sought out to do was protect the pack. Black Glow's Alpha had no right to take the laws into his hands.

No right whatsoever.

And then I let myself feel anger at the height of the audacity he must have had to still take my sister with him after he'd ended my parents life. I kept my mind on the fact that my sister was probably going through one form of hell or the other, rather than on the fact that I was never going to see my parents again. Hurting and crying wasn't going to get me anywhere. But rage absolutely would. Rage was the only thing that could keep me going now.

Because I was definitely going to rescue my sister from the clutches of that devil and avenge my parents' death.

I turned to fix my gaze on Dahlia. I took in her defeated form, resting against the foot of an oak tree. The slump in her shoulders let me know she had next to no strength left in her. Her eyes were closed but I knew for a fact that she wasn't asleep. If I didn't know her that well, then the way her fingers were rhythmically tapping her knee would have still given her away.

I raised myself up until I was standing and then covered the few feet it took to get to where Dahlia sat. Her eyes opened as she watched me walk closer. I stretched out my hand when I had gotten to where she sat, grateful when she understood and took it, letting me pull her up to her feet. "C'mon, we have to go." I said, brushing off dirt from her shirt.

She looked at me with sad eyes but didn't respond, her small nod the only indication that she had heard me. I took her hand firmly in mine for mental support as we began a slow walk back to pack grounds. I tried to get in touch with my wolf but like the other times in the past two weeks, I realized I couldn't. My wolf had the uncanny ability to sense when there was danger ahead. I only wished that she stuck around to help me through it rather than leaving me all by myself. But then, it might as well be a good thing.

It has definitely made me much more stronger.

I pressed my lips together once I caught sight of the pack grounds. Unsurprisingly, no one was outside of their homes. The feeling of fear and terror in the air was so palpable I could have sworn that I could literally hear it. I hadn't wanted to ask Dahlia for details because at the end, none of that actually mattered. It wouldn't change the fact that my parents were already six foot under or that my sister was being held captive by the person we all hated the most.

I walked Dahlia to her house, asking her to get some sleep, and then I continued the journey to the pack house. Dahlia had already informed me on our way back that the council had asked her to look for me and invite me to the meeting they were planning to have later in the day. A glance down at the screen of my phone informed me that I was almost an hour late.

The doorknob twisted in my grip when I finally arrived at the conference room and I gently pushed the door open. All eight pairs of eyes turned to look at me as I walked further into the room. Tucking my hands into the pockets of my hoodie, I took confident strides to the empty seat beside Liam, my father's Beta. I let my gaze roam around each of them, taking in their expression and filing it away for later.

Someone cleared their throat.

It was Colin, the pack's gamma. All eyes instinctively shifted from me to him, including mine. I felt my entire body tense at the visible cold look in his eyes. It was not a new thing to me that the council hated me. To them I was the younger rebellious one of the Alpha's two daughters. Not that I gave a shit what they thought. I might be the stubborn disrespectful younger daughter to them, but they would all continue to be malicious and cowardly puppets to me.

I knew for a fact that my parents didn't make any decision without first bringing it to them. Just as I knew that they could only carry out whatever it was that they wanted with the council's approval. It simply meant that all eight of these douchebags had been in support of sending pack warriors to launch an attack on The Black Glow Pack. As far as I was concerned, that only meant that they were all both dumb and selfish. None of them had thought about the after effects their actions might have on the pack.

On my parents.

I looked away from Colin's cold stare, my eyes stinging with unshed tears. I was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that my parents were no more. One second I had been standing outside their door, eavesdropping on the discussion they were having in how they thought that Black Glow's Alpha might be onto them for going against the terms of their agreement. The next second, I'd been receiving the horrible news of their death.

"It was nice of you to finally join us, Aria." Colin said, venom lacing his Every word. I shot him a death stare from the corner of my eyes. I owed him no respect. My parents weren't here any longer to stop me from doing whatever I wanted. Dahlia also wasn't here to talk some sense into me. Colin wasn't my Alpha. If anything Liam was going to take my father's place as Alpha for as long as he needed to. Having thought all that, I let myself say the words I'd been wanting to for a very long time.

"Fuck you."