Prologue

KARA

"Ma, do something," I pleaded with incredulity, hoping she would see the inexplicable amount of betrayal lighting up my eyes like fireworks on the 4th of July.

She narrowed her dark eyes into slits, the brown passing off as onyx as a shadow flickered over her cold gaze, "Kara, I know this is a lot for you but it has to be done. It's time for your father and I to retire—"

"Then retire and let me take over the pack," came my hoarse interjection. Fear and anger twisted into sharp icicles that skewered and ripped away chunks of my reality. What they were asking me to do was insane, "I can handle the pack, Ma. You and Dad just need to trust me."

"It's not that we don't trust you," my father answered in exasperation. He cut his thick fingers through his pepper and salt hair, "it's unheard of. We cannot have a she-wolf as an Alpha and you know it."

"That's the most misogynistic bullshit I've heard from you and I thought you better than that. You always told me that I can achieve anything, and I must achieve everything when I'm told I cannot achieve it," I seethed. My fists clenched at my sides, nails digging crescent moon shapes into the palms of my hands—they matched the moon hanging in the inky sky that shone from the window in my father's office.

"There are pack laws for a reason, Kara," my father expelled a sigh.

"And we can rewrite those laws," I challenged.

"Either way, a pack is stronger when a mated pair takes over. Your duty has always been to become Luna of the Blood Wolves. We are a strong pack, it only makes sense to pair you with the strongest Alpha," came my mother's gentle explanation—I loathed when she spoke to me like some wounded animal, "there are two Alphas that are equal in strength. They are both eligible to be wed. Your father's idea of the games will ensure you wed the better of the two. This will align two packs, making the Blood Wolves the biggest pack on this continent."

"At what cost?" My teeth grated like nails against a blackboard, "At the cost of my life? At the cost of my home? Will we even be known at the Blood Wolves after the integration of some other Alpha's pack?"

I felt my wolf bristle at the thought. She paced in my mind restlessly. The thought of mating with someone when neither she nor I were ready had her hackles rising.

"Maybe we could run away?" Lex, my wolf, suggested on a whim. Her guttural voice scratched at the walls of my mind.

"And leave our pack? Never," I thought back with pure determination.

"That's a bridge we will cross when we get there," my father responded to my earlier question.

He wore his age. The wrinkles lining his face and the circles ringing his eyes were earned from countless sleepless nights spent leading this pack. Alpha Killian Sommers had made a name for himself. Everyone expected him to pass on the pack to a worthy heir. However, after an attack, my mother, Vivian Sommers, couldn't bear any more pups from severe injuries sustained along her abdomen.

I was left as his only heir.

"Please Dad," I was on the verge of falling to my knees and pleading, "let me at least wait to find my mate."

A dry laugh spilled from my mother's red-painted lips, "Finding a mate is rare, almost unheard of these days."

Dad had chosen my mother as his mate, a lot like how most werewolves choose their mates.

"Then, I refuse to marry whoever wins," tears pricked the back of my eyes but I willed the torrent not to spill. I wasn't weak, and crying may not have been a sign of weakness, but it was something I refused to do in the presence of both my parents.

Betrayal may have stung with venous fury but I would display my hurt no longer. Not when my feelings were brushed aside with flippant ease.

My mother tucked her thick, platinum waves behind an ear, "I'm afraid you have no choice, darling. This is what has to be done. It's for the betterment of the pack. You've always wanted what's best for this pack."

"That doesn't mean I'm willing to promise my life to a complete stranger."

"You'll have time to get to know each Alpha during their stay here," my father uttered those words as if they were going to be a cooling balm slathered over my blistering heart.

"Each of them will be the picture of perfect because they want to win. It's not like I'll be getting to know their true selves."

"I designed the games to ensure that their characteristics can't be hidden. Trust me, Kara. I love you. You're my pup. I'll never do something that would harm you. I could have picked the most ruthless of the two because I know he could lead this pack, but he wouldn't be what's best for you, not unless he has a balance in his life," my father sat back in his chair and massaged his temples as if this conversation gave him a migraine.

It wasn't his life being chipped away and molded into something tragic.

I couldn't hold the quiver that shook my words or the whimper that crawled up the back of my throat due to Lex's mind-rattling whines.

"You want me to trust you even though you can't even trust me when I tell you I'm fully capable of running this pack. I know how this pack works better than any Alpha you could find for me."

"I'm sorry, Kara," hanging his head, he reiterated, "I'm sorry."

With a huff and this decision set in stone, I stormed out of my Father's office. Lex itched to be set free and I needed to find another way out of this mess because asking my parents to end this bullshit clearly got me nowhere.

One way or another, I wasn't going to get married by the end of this and I'd do just about anything to guarantee that.