Chapter 1

I threw myself into Ash Callhan's path, right where it led to the Moon Temple, and grabbed hold of him with everything I had.

"Ash, you can't go in there."

Deep in the Nightwood, silvery moonlight spilled over the altar inside the Moon Temple.

Ash stopped in front of the temple and looked at me, gentle as ever.

"Willow, this is Obsidian Pack tradition. I have to pass the Moon Goddess's trial before I can marry you."

My voice shook. I was almost begging him.

"Something's wrong here. Every man who's walked into that temple has come out a different person. You'd be the tenth, Ash. I can't lose you."

Ash blinked, then took my hand.

"Maybe they just failed the Moon Goddess's trial. They wanted to leave you and couldn't admit it, so they made themselves hate you instead. But that won't happen to me. I know how I feel about you.

"Even if the Moon Goddess shows me something on that altar, it won't change a thing."

I shook my head hard. He didn't understand what he was walking into.

Ever since I turned eighteen, every man I'd brought back here, no matter how much he loved me, left the Moon Temple wanting to end things with me. Some of them wanted to end me.

Heartbroken and confused, I'd gone to my father, Edward Mercer, each time. Each time, he told me the same thing.

"Willow, you've angered the Moon Goddess. This is her punishment."

To keep the rest of the pack calm, he'd punish me brutally every single time.

But I'd never once disrespected the Moon Goddess. My prayers were always sincere. How could I have possibly angered her?

I was scared and confused, and I'd asked a few close friends in the pack if they'd ever heard of anything like what was happening to me.

"This tradition's been around for centuries. I've never heard of anything this messed up. The Moon Goddess only gives blessings. She doesn't curse people. Why don't you go into the temple yourself and see?"

But my father always insisted only male wolves were allowed inside. Even as Alpha, he claimed he couldn't break that rule for me.

The more I asked, the worse the beatings got.

At one point I'd even wondered if I wasn't really his daughter, and I'd secretly run a blood test behind his back.

But the results were clear. We shared the closest blood tie there was.

So I couldn't understand it.

My father knew exactly what happened to every man who walked into that temple. He knew they'd all end up hating me.

And yet he never once tried to stop it.

Instead, he kept sending them in himself.

Those memories filled me with dread now, and I clung to Ash even harder.

"Ash, please don't go in there. We don't have to bond. I'll leave the Obsidian Pack if that's what it takes. Just don't go through that door..."

I didn't finish the thought out loud, the part where he'd come out hating me, wanting me dead for no reason at all.

Ash pulled me into a gentle hug instead.

"Willow, every couple who wants to bond has to receive the Moon Goddess's blessing. That's tradition. Besides, your father's the Alpha. If even his own daughter won't follow the rules, how's he supposed to keep the rest of the pack in line?"

I held onto him anyway, more determined than ever that Ash wasn't getting anywhere near that temple tonight.

But in the next instant, a wave of crushing pressure slammed into me, and my knees buckled straight to the ground.

It was my father's Alpha aura. There was no mistaking it.

I fought to lift my head and reached out toward Ash, begging him for help.

But his eyes were already fixed on the altar inside the temple. My cries didn't reach him at all.

Dread surged through my chest.

"Ash, no!"

My voice didn't stop his feet. All I could do was watch him walk through that door into everything unknown.

I finally broke down and collapsed on the ground, my hands clawing uselessly at the dirt.

'Ash, please be the exception. Please, Moon Goddess. Don't take one more man who loves me away from me.'