001 - NATASHA

ONE MONTH EARLIER

“Help me… please.”

The voice is faint. Small. Frantic.

I freeze halfway through peeling off my boots, and glance around the dark shack.

The night is dead quiet, the kind that swallows sound. The only movement is the sound of the cold wind blowing outside.

I look around as I speak to my wolf, Nikola.

‘Did you hear that?’ I ask but before she answers, the voice trembles through my mind again.

“Please… help me.”

The hell? Am I imagining things?

Without another thought, I bolt outside into the biting wind.

“She’s a girl,” I mutter, scanning the snow-blanketed forest. “But I don’t think she’s from the nearby pack. Any idea where she could be?”

“Not sure,” Nikola growls back. “But we need to move. Now. Run west.”

I don’t hesitate. My clothes tear as bones crack and reshape, flesh folding into silver-white fur.

We bolt through the snow covered forest, white paws barely touching the ground. The cold air burns my lungs as we run.

The snow's a bit of a nuisance, but I locate a disturbance. 

“Half a kilometre ahead,” Nikola confirms.

We bound faster.

The scent hits us first—fear, filth, sweat… and something fouler. Lust.

Nikola’s hackles rise, mine too. We're both mad enough to delete someone.

We find her just past the gully, a tiny girl stumbling barefoot through the snow. Her wrists are bound, her face streaked with dirt and tears.

Behind her, three men give chase. They reek of blood and metal. One raises a knife and grins.

Fucking hunters.

A growl rips out of me, and the men freeze, snapping in my direction.

The knife-wielder smirks. “Look at that coat. It’ll sell for a pretty buck. Kill the wolf—we’ll take the kid back.”

I’m on him before he finishes speaking. My jaws clamp down on his throat. Bone crunches. Hot blood sprays the snow. The girl screams, but I push the sound away.

Now for the other two.

The second man lunges. His blade scrapes my shoulder—a searing burn that makes Nikola roar inside me. Silver.

Rage floods us. I bite down on his arm; bones splinter under my teeth. He drops the knife, howling. I fling him aside and hear the wet crack of impact against a tree trunk.

Nikola wants to go tear deeper, and end him. But the third man has the little girl with a knife pressed to her throat.

“Stay back!” His voice shakes. The child thrashes, crying harder.

I lower my body, my hackles high, as a warning growl rolls out. Nikola’s fury claws at me but I shove it down. One wrong move, and the girl dies.

Not worth it.

The man drags her closer to the tree line. His eyes flick left, then right. He thinks he can run.

I take a step forward, but he jerks the knife tighter and the girl whimpers.

I force myself to be still, but my ears twitch at a faint rhythm beyond the trees.

That's new.

The child screams again as the man raises the knife, and I launch forward.

Pain explodes through my shoulder as the blade pierces flesh, but I slam him down anyway. My claws rip through his chest, my jaws close around his neck, and silence follows after one twist.

I spit blood into the snow and snarl. “So much for all that muscle.”

A soft sniffle makes me turn. The trembling girl crouches behind a fallen log.

I pull back to shift. The girl's obviously terrified and my appearance isn't exactly comforting. 

I shift, and crouch naked in front of her, ignoring the sting in my shoulder.

“Hey,” I say gently. “It’s over. You’re safe now.”

Her big brown eyes meet mine—wide, haunted, and full of tears.

She can't be older than six. Her little hands tremble hard as she stands from behind the log.

“Don’t hurt me,” she whispers. 

My heart twists painfully. “I won’t. You’re safe, little one.”

She hesitates, then crawls toward me. When her tiny, cold fingers brush mine, I can feel the tremor of her pulse that feels like my own heartbeat.

“Where’s your family?” I ask softly.

She shakes her head, silent tears slipping down her cheeks.

I pull on an oversized hoodie hanging from a low branch, then scoop her into my arms. She’s trembling—whether from cold or fear, I can’t tell.

“We’ve got to move,” Nikola murmurs. “This isn’t neutral ground. And that wound—”

“I know.” The burn of silver throbs beneath my skin. I need herbs, fast.

I hold the girl tighter, patting her back. “You’re okay, little one. Let's get you out of this cold.”

I begin to walk to my hideout, but the air changes, and absolute power floods the clearing. Its heaviness makes my skin prickle.

Nikola growls but we don't submit to the aura forcing itself against us.

I turn just in time to see a massive, snarling midnight black wolf with eyes like silver flames leap from the trees.

He lands with a thunderous growl that makes the air tremble. The girl screams and clings to my neck.

My fingers tighten around the scared pup as I step back slowly, every instinct screaming at me to run away from the intruder. He's literally the size of a horse… if not bigger.

More wolves pour from the trees behind him, but they’re background noise. My gaze sticks to the black one—the one radiating enough power to make the world bend.

He shifts mid-step, and a man stands where the beast was—tall, broad, mud-smeared, and naked.

I avert my gaze, giving him a second to pull on sweatpants from a nearby guard. When I finally look again, my pulse stumbles.

Black, tousled hair brushes his shoulders, damp from the snow. His face is gifted with a strong jaw, high cheekbones, and lips that look like they were carved in sin. He looks like war and temptation decided to make a child together.

But it’s his eyes that stop me cold. Goddess, his sharp eyes are violet, burning with authority.

There’s only one bloodline in existence with that color.

The Royal Lycans.

Nikola’s voice trembles inside me. “Mate.”

For the first time in the past four years I've been a rogue, I don’t know what the hell to say.

The word knocks the air from my lungs.

For the first time in four years of running, I can’t think. I can’t breathe.

I recognize him now—from a newspaper in a human town

weeks ago.

Of all the souls in this cursed world, the Moon chooses him?

The Lycan King?

For me?

You have got to be fucking kidding me.