Chapter One

Ashlyn’s POV

My head was completely still.

My mind, utterly silent, as angry roars rent the air.

This close, their fury was palpable.

Hands dragged me roughly across the palace courtyard. Not caring that the sharp cobblestones were scraping my raw skin open. Or that the heat from the sun-baked stones was searing my bleeding wounds.

And most definitely, not caring that the pregnant woman they condemned for murder was their very own High Luna.

“Husband Killer!” 

Someone in the crowd screamed as something wet hit my face.

Rotten fruit. 

The putrid smell filled my nose, mixing with the metallic smell of my blood.

I was soaked in it.

I swallowed, fighting nausea as my eyes lifted to the front of the lines, where the attack had come from.

Shouting faces blurred together in the mob. Some foreign to me; others were pack members I had personally helped.

The mother whose child I saved from the pox last winter. The guard whose arm I stitched back together after a rogue attack. The young maid I saved from her abusive husband.

They were all there. 

Staring at me with angry, lost eyes, like they didn’t know what to believe. At the forefront were the court members. Rich, pompous elders dressed in their finest clothes, like this was a celebration.

Bitterness filled my heart.

I’d bled for these people. Given everything for this Kingdom and yet—

"Move, witch!” A guard shoved me, sending my already weak frame sprawling across the execution podium.

My head collided with the ground, and hot, blinding pain exploded across my skull.

But I didn’t move. Didn’t dare breathe.

Because lying stiff and cold on the ground, his body wrapped in nothing but a white cloth, was my husband.

My mate and the father of my child.  

LYCAN KING HUNTER STORMBORN.

“HUNT!!!!!!” His name rippled through me, tearing my sore throat apart as all my pain crashed into me.

Was he really dead? Last night had to be a nightmare; it had to be.

“No. no. please.” I sobbed, gasping for breath as I crawled towards him.

“Hunt!!” The entire courtyard seemed to have gone silent as I screamed my husband’s name. 

Why was no one stopping me? Why wasn’t my mate waking up? How could his heart stop beating, and mine didn’t stop with it?!

“HUNTER!!!” The tips of my shaky fingers touched his icy skin, and I froze.

He was dead. This wasn’t a bad dream. My husband was really gone.

“Why is no one doing anything?!” Ingila’s shrill voice cut through the air angrily. “STOP HER!”

But deep within me, something cracked.

They laid my Hunt out here, bare on the ground, as proof of my sin.

They killed my husband and now desecrated his body to implicate me before the pack.

“You half-breed slut!” Pain threaded my skull as Injila fisted her hands in my hair. “Get away from my brother!”

She started to pull me from Hunt’s side, and the dam in my chest burst open.

Something ancient and furious tore through me, flooding my veins like fire. 

 My magic.

For years, I’d buried it. Hiding it to be their perfect queen.

Now, power clawed up my limbs, burning as heat crackled at my hands.

My claws slid free before I felt them.

Injila only had one second to widen her eyes in fear before my claws dug into her wrist. She let out a scream as I slapped her face with enough force to send her stumbling.

The sound echoed through the courtyard, and the crowd descended in chaos.

“WITCH!!” 

“Murderer!” 

“She’s going to kill the princess!”

Terrified screams erupted amongst the crowd. 

I was vaguely aware that with sunlight sparking across my brow, I looked like a monster.

But I was so deep in my grief and fury that only one thought remained. 

I had to protect my child. Then I would make them pay.

“Get her!!! GUARDS!!” Injila screamed, sobbing and stumbling to run backwards. “GET HER!!!”

With a single thought, the hem of her dress caught fire as she screamed in terror. 

My hand rested protectively on my stomach as I raged.

I was going to wash the stones in their blood. I was going to burn them all to ash! I was going to— 

Something dark clicked around my neck, and I dropped to the floor immediately.

What the hell was that? The filthy, oily smell made my baby turn.

“GET IT OFF!” I snapped, lifted my fingers to touch the collar. “Get it—”

My fingers collided with the stone, and I retched immediately, a dark force roiling over me. I managed to push to my knees. Gasping as hot tears streamed from my eyes.

“You thought we wouldn’t protect ourselves from you?!” Injila hissed furiously. Taking the help of a guard as she got to her feet.

The flames on her dress had completely died out. 

“What is– “ I rasped, finding it harder and harder to breathe.

“Obsidian salt!” One of the Elders stepped forward. His beady little eyes shining in delight as he sneered. “It will keep your little party tricks under control.”

NO!

Pure fear jolted my heart. “I- I’m pregnant.”

Obsidian salt would trap my magic, but- but it would also kill my baby.  “No. no no.” I shook my head more violently this time as I tried and failed to touch the collar. “Get it off! My baby! My– “

But not one of them moved. All the court members, the pack elders, and– my hope lifted as I caught sight of my family.

Beside the court, my stepmother stood with my stepsister, Janet.

They‘d always hated me, but I felt the first cramp, and my desperation grew.

“Mother!” I screamed out, struggling as guards gripped both my hands and began to drag me to the podium. “Jane!”

“Please.” I gave in and begged. Sobbing as warm blood began to flow down my legs. “Please!!”

We were family. Despite everything, I was still their family.

Cold faces met my sobs. And as I looked at them, from the elders gathered to the hatred shining in Injila’s eyes, I realized this had been their plan all along.

“Jane?” My voice dropped to a hoarse whisper.

From beside my stepmother, my sister blew me a kiss and her lips mouthed the words. 

“SEE YOU IN HELL.”

My lips parted as humorless, cold laughter spilled from me. So this was it? 

I’d spent years squashing my magic, playing devoted Luna, and living by all their rules. But it could never be enough, could it? 

Not as long as the blood of a wolf and a witch flowed through my veins.

“Tie her up!” Injila commanded. Her voice carrying over the crowd as the guards dumped me before the stake.

This time, I didn’t resist.

My mate and my child were gone. I had nothing left to fight for.

The hot sun above me burned down on my skin. But my eyes were dry, my chest hollow as I laughed softly.

Thick ropes dug into my skin as the guards bound me to the stake. 

My laughter was louder now. Drawing fearful whispers from the pack. But they still watched, their eyes full of burning hatred.

“Behold!” Elder Federick stepped forward, turning to address the crowd. “How we burn the witch and the evil in her womb. We opened our hearts! Allowed a half-breed on the High Luna throne and in return… “He paused, waving a hand to Hunt like my husband was a prop. “In return, she killed our King! Now we shall burn the husband killer at the stake and rid our pack of this evil!”

Loud cheers rippled through the air along with chants of “Kill the witch!”

For a moment, tears burned my eyes, blurring my vision as I stared at the people—my people. Calling for my death.

Then, blood red robes blocked my view of the crowd.

Injila.

She held the torch in her hand, the golden light of the fire illuminating her amber eyes as she smirked. “Any last words?”

Twin teardrops rolled down my cheeks, and my voice cracked, but my chest was hot with the force of my vow. 

“I’ll find you,” I promised. “In this lifetime or the next, I’ll find you and then— “

Her face blanched as my lips pulled back in a grin.

 “I’ll burn you from the inside out.”

“Bitch!” She spat hatefully. 

But satisfaction filled me at the fear in her eyes as she threw the torch on the stake and hurried back.

The fire caught quickly, the heat licking up my legs. I coughed, gasping for breath as the flames swallowed the wood greedily and thick black smoke rose.

My eyes watered, and I coughed, choking even more. I couldn’t breathe.

Panic seized my mind, and with it, the first flames licked my skin.

The pain was immediate. Blinding. 

I could hear my bloodcurdling screams over and over again. The smell of cooked flesh and sizzling blood filled my nostrils, burning me until I couldn’t breathe.

So this was my end?

Killed by the very gift that lived in my veins.

Pain crushed my throat until only one thought was left.

If I had another chance, I would never be this Ashlyn again.

I would make them burn.

More screams left me as the fire surged higher, and this time, everything went dark.

For a moment, I didn’t exist—

Then my eyes opened underwater.