#Chapter 1: The Beginning

“Riley, you’re marrying Darkmoon whether you like it it not!” My uncle Anderson screeched across the room.

“I’m not marrying anyone you fucking liar!” I threw back.

My life had been like this for the last five years. Ever since I was fourteen, Uncle Anderson ruled my life. According to him, my parents had passed away in the chaos caused by the Lycans. The Lycans were a rival pack that had attacked us. I’d been separated from my parents only to find their bodies when all had subsided.

From then on out, Anderson was in control of our pack, the Blueheart pack. We were a small pack with not many stakes in the High Council of the werewolf world. But that didn’t stop Uncle Anderson from ruled like we did.

Anderson glared at me across the room. His eyes grew wide with anger. He slowly walked across the room to stand toe to toe with me. My chest heaved, anxiety spiraling in my bones. But I held my chin high, proud and unwavering.

“They. Died,” Anderson annunciated. “Whether you believe the Lycans were the cause or not, they’re dead. I am in charge of this pack. I make decisions. You’re marrying Darkmoon. End of discussion.”

At that moment, I noticed a stranger, dressed in traditional Darkmoon black leathers, standing outside the door.

I had no idea how long he had been standing there, watching this fiasco.

“Hello,” The man said. “I am Wesley Darkmoon. I have brought you your betrothal gift from Alpha Darkmoon. He wishes you to accept it and wear it to show that you are his soon to be bride.”

With that, the man whipped out a beautiful velvet box. He cracked it open to reveal the biggest black diamond I’d ever seen. It was sparkling in the morning light, shinning with ever shift of Wesley’s hand. I blinked at it a few times before looking up at the man holding it.

“Alpha Darkmoon couldn’t come give me this himself?” I asked.

“Riley,” Anderson hissed. He gave the Darkmoon man a look. “I apologize for her.”

“No, he doesn’t,” I said, sternly. “If Alpha Darkmoon can’t be bothered to come propose to me himself, I can’t be bothered to accept.”

“Riley,” Anderson snapped, warning. “You will accept the proposal.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head.

With that, Anderson lunged forward and yanked me out of the room. He dragged me past Wesley and down the second set of stairs into the basement of our keep. The smell of damp earth filled my nose as I resigned myself to my fate. I knew what happened in this basement.

We reached the bottom of the stairs and the guard who’d come to my room was there. He wrenched open the iron door and I was met with deep darkness. Anderson shoved me inside and pushed me towards the corner of the room where an iron cage was. I begrudgingly went into the cage. The guard slammed the door shut.  

“You will sit here and think about your choices,” he bit out through gritted teeth. “The Darkmoon and Blueheart packs will be united. With, or without, your cooperation.”

The door to the room slammed shut, leaving me in complete darkness. I was in there for a while, long enough that my stomach started to grumble with the hunger Anderson punished me with. Then, the door swung open, clattering as it slammed into the brick wall of the basement.

This marriage to the Darkmoon Pack was just another political ploy of his. By marrying into the Darkmoon Pack, Anderson would be higher up on the werewolf ladder. He would have more power and there was nothing Anderson wanted more than power.

It was exactly why I refused to believe my parents were killed by the Lycans. I saw the fights between Anderson and my father. I knew Anderson would’ve done anything to get the reigns to our pack.

Even kill his own brother...

A pair of blue eyes made it’s way into my view. They were the same eyes Anderson had but these held a sort of kindness that Anderson never showed. I sighed in relief.

“Ethan,” I breathed.

“Cousin,” the man greeted. He threw me a loaf of bread through the bars of the cage. I greedily grabbed it and took a hulking bite of it. Ethan smirked.

“You’ve got to stop getting yourself in these situations.”

“Not like your father gives me a choice,” I mumbled around the mouthful of bread.

Ethan laughed and slunk down to the floor to sit across from me. “What happened now?”

“Darkmoon,” I grunted. “Sent some lackie to bring me my engagement ring. Couldn’t even be bothered to bring it himself. So I refused the proposal and Anderson got pissed.”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “Of course. You were threatening his chance of power.”

I nodded in return. Ethan and I were on the same page about his father. He was actually the first one I’d confided in about my theory of Anderson betraying my parents. He’d told me he’d heard his father secretly meeting with a Lycan in the dark of night, a week before the massacre.

“You don’t have much of a choice in the matter,” Ethan continued. “You and I both know that women don’t have much power in our world.”

I ripped off another bite of bread. It was true. My role was to make babies and marry Alphas. The female wolves had served that role for as long as I could remember.

“I could be the Alpha if they let me,” I grumbled. I swallowed a big bite of bread. “My father was the Alpha. Anderson isn’t even an Alpha. Challenging him for the position would be easy.”

“You’re a good fighter too,” Ethan mused.

“If only I had the chance to become the Alpha,” I chucked the last bit of bread at the corner of the room in frustration. “If only I wasn’t a woman.”

Ethan’s eyes went wide. He glanced at me. “What if you could get a chance?”

“What are you talking about?” I said. “I’d have to get a promotion from an Alpha Academy. They don’t even consider women.”

“So don’t be a woman,” Ethan continued. “Be me.”

“What?” I gasped.

“I haven’t received a promotion. Technically shouldn’t because my father isn’t an Alpha. But you could take my name. You could get a promotion.”

My eyes darted back and forth on the dirt floor. Could this work? Would this work?

Three days later, I stood among a group of men, and no one suspected I was a woman.

Ethan had help me escape from our keep. He’d used a knife to sloppily sheer my hair short. He’d used a potion made from herbs to mask my scent, to give me the illusion of being a man. I was still short and skinny, but the potion had schooled my features to be more masculine. As long as I took the potion every three days, my face would be kept in it’s form.

 I entered the gates of the Alpha Academy as Ethan Blueheart. Riley was lost to the forest as far as everyone else knew. I passed the first check and was about to head to my dorm when I caught sight of a man in front of me.

I caught his golden eyes and felt the immediate pang in my stomach. It was one I’d heard myths and legends about. The pang of acknowledgement of a fated mate.

I stared at the man, my vision becoming blurry and hearing going out. The lust in my core surged through my body. I could barely breathe. Nothing felt like it was more important that this moment. The man’s mouth started moving and I was yanked from my own thoughts.

“Sorry?” I squeaked.

 “Keep up, mate,” The man said. His voice was divine. “I’m Knight Darkmoon. I’m your advisor as a third year student. You’ll be stuck with me for the next year.”

Knight Darkmoon. The Knight Darkmoon. Alpha and my fiancé.

And he was my fated mate.