Prologue

~ANORA~

“I, Alpha Rorik Ashwood, of the Crimson Moon Pack, hereby sentence you, Anora Myers, to death by beheading. The execution shall be carried out in three nights’ time, under the full moon!”

Rorik’s voice doesn’t just ring through the hall; it roars, vibrating in the very stone floors beneath my knees.

For a heartbeat, there is silence. Then, the room explodes. Cheers and howls of approval erupt from the pack members lining the walls, people who, only weeks ago, bowed their heads in my presence.

“Furthermore,” Rorik continues, his voice cutting through the frenzy like a blunt blade, “you shall receive twenty lashes of the silver whip every day in the pack square until your final hour. That is my verdict.”

“Rorik, please! I’m innocent!” My voice is thin, cracked from hours of screaming. I lunge forward, my shackles rattling against the stone. “I didn’t do it! You know I couldn’t!”

But Rorik isn’t looking at me. His face is a mask of stone as he presses his signet ring into the hot red wax on the parchment, sealing my fate forever.

The crowd goes up in an uproar. A heavy stone catches me in the temple, and the world tilts.

Warm blood begins to trickle down my cheek. Another rock clips my shoulder, but I don’t cry out for myself. Instead, I instinctively curl my body into a ball, wrapping my arms tightly around my stomach, shielding the small, secret life growing inside me from the chaos.

“Rorik!” I wail, my eyes searching for his through the chaos.

When I finally catch his gaze, my heart breaks further. His gaze is dead and empty of the warmth that once burned there when he looked at me.

Now, it is replaced by pure hatred and bitter ice. The man who once held me like I was his entire world now stares at me as if I were poison.

I still can’t believe that I am living to see a day like this. Another stone grazes my cheek. I flinch, pressing my palm to the sting, trying to shield my face as the pack’s wrath rains down.

“Jealous bitch!” someone spits, the words followed by a glob of saliva that lands on my tattered tunic.

“Bitter woman!”

“Wolfless runt!”

The cruel chants go on. But amongst the sea of hateful faces, I see a few pack members standing still.

They aren’t cursing or throwing stones at me, their eyes are filled with pity and grief.

They are the last of my father’s loyalists, but they are silent and terrified of the Alpha’s wrath.

To everyone else, I am no longer their Luna. I am a pariah. A monster.

Rorik rises from his seat, flanked by the elders. He doesn’t spare me a second glance as he turns to leave.

Desperation lends me strength I don’t know I have. I scramble forward on my hands and knees, grabbing the hem of his cloak, then his leg.

“Alpha Rorik, please! You know me, you know I could never hurt anyone. Look at me. Just look!”

He stops. For a second, the hall goes quiet. I stare up at him, my eyes pleading, begging him to look past the accusations and see the woman he loved.

I hope that in the silence, he will see my soul. Words have failed me; maybe my eyes won’t.

Rorik stares down at me, his expression blank. Then, with a grunt of disgust, he kicks his leg back, sending me sprawling onto the cold floor.

“Gammas! Take this woman to the square and deliver the first twenty lashes,” he commands, his voice devoid of any emotion.

“Her punishment begins now.” He turns and walks away. He doesn’t look back. Not once.

“Rorik!”

My scream is cut short as two burly Gammas seize my arms, hauling me upright.

They drag me toward the heavy oak doors, my feet scuffing uselessly against the floor.

The pack follows like a pack of vultures, hurling insults and stones as I am paraded toward the centre of the pack.

It isn’t supposed to be like this. Only a month ago, I was the pride of the Crimson Moon Pack.

I was the daughter of Alpha Marcus Myers, the chosen mate of Rorik Ashwood, and the beloved Luna of this pack.

But a single night changed everything. One night, thirty days ago, my entire world tumbled straight into hell.