Chapter 1

I was ten when my Omega mother mated the Alpha of the Blackwood Pack.

My stepbrother, Draven, never let me forget how I’d diluted their pure blood.

With his silent blessing, the entire pack became a weapon to carry out his hate.

During a full moon hunt, he gave the nod. That's all it took. His followers "accidentally" pushed me in front of a raging stag. I felt its antlers rip my shoulder open.

He looked down at me, his golden eyes dripping with scorn. “Don’t think you’re one of us just because your mother latched onto my father. Weaklings get culled. And I’ll be the one to kick you off my land.”

At his command, they'd ruin my offerings to the Moon Goddess. They shredded my coming-of-age gown with silver blades.

Through it all, my mother would only look at me with shame. My stepfather, the great Alpha, just saw me as a troublesome brat.

I made myself small, desperate for a scrap of kindness.

But it only made me the pack outcast. Hated and completely alone.

Until Draven’s best friend, Liam—the Alpha heir to the Rage River Pack—showed interest in me at the werewolf academy.

For the first time ever, Draven left me alone.

I thought Liam was my only light in the darkness. On my birthday, I gave myself to him completely.

The next day, I overheard him talking to Draven.

Draven’s voice was low, laced with venom. “Did you get the video? Of the half-blood losing control mid-fuck?”

Liam chuckled. “Of course. Gotta admit, she feels amazing. So soft… a real temptation. Almost got me hooked. But just in bed. The thought of her dirty blood…If it wasn’t to help you get even, I would’ve never touched a weak-blooded Omega like her.”

I clamped a hand over my mouth, tears streaming down my face.

My only hope was a lie.

But they didn't know. I’d already applied to the Valeriana Werewolf Institute.

And I wasn’t coming back.

...

The top-floor conference room of the Alpha Tower.

Draven watched the video from Liam, his hand tightening on his glass.

He threw back a shot of liquor and sneered, “An Omega who can’t even control her own wolf… losing her shit in bed. Let’s see her show her face in the Blackwood Estate now.”

I pressed myself against the wall, my heart hammering.

"Draven, isn't this a bit much—" Liam’s voice faltered.

"A bit what?" The glass slammed onto the table. "Too much?"

The sound of the rain covered my ragged breaths.

"She's an Omega with tainted blood. She and her social-climbing mother are an insult to the Blackwood Pack," Draven's voice grew colder. "I want her gone. I want her outcast, a rogue, banished to the wastes. So broken she’ll be too terrified to even think about setting foot in another pack’s territory."

My fingers dug into the wall.

After a moment of silence from Liam, Draven scoffed. "What? You're not actually catching feelings for the Omega, are you?"

"Of course not," Liam answered without hesitation. "It was just an act. Genevieve is coming back. I don't have time to waste on some inferior bloodline."

Standing outside the door, my heart felt like it had been dropped into a frozen lake.

Genevieve. Their childhood friend. A pure-blooded she-wolf from the Rage River Pack and Liam’s first love.

"She's worthy of an Alpha heir like me," Liam said, his voice holding a contempt I'd never heard before. "As for Cora, she was just a toy to pass the time."

I bit my lip, my tears mixing with the rain on my face.

I always knew Draven hated me.

He blamed my mother for driving his own high-born Alpha mother to an early grave, and he’d aimed all that hatred at me.

After I got close to Liam, Draven still gave me the cold shoulder, but he’d stopped tormenting me.

I thought he was finally accepting me.

I thought I was finally going to have a family, that I could finally have a normal relationship with him.

I never imagined it was just a setup for a crueler revenge.

He and Liam were brothers, raised together. How could I have been so foolish as to think Liam actually liked me?

I was so naive.

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and ran, sprinting out into the storm.

Rain blurred my vision.

The entire sky over Silvercrest City was mocking me.

Back at the estate, soaked to the bone, I trembled as I emailed my genetics professor.

"Professor, I accept the research position in Valeriana. What's the earliest I can leave?"

He was my advisor for the International Genetics Competition at the academy, a legend in the field of lycanthropy genetics.

I knew my wolf was weak.

I had pushed myself to be the best, desperate for the pack's acceptance. I wanted to use my talent in healing and genetics to create a serum that could strengthen the wolf spirit, to help the pack, to help Draven.

But no one ever cared.

Not my mother. Not Draven.

I had turned the position down before because the project was classified by the Werewolf Alliance and required a three-year commitment.

I didn't need to stay anymore.

The moment I hit send, a violent shifting heat surged through me.

I collapsed, my body shaking uncontrollably, burning up.

I tried to get up to find my suppressants, but the door burst open.

My mother stormed in, her eyes burning with rage as she held up a tablet.

"You shameless slut!"

She threw the tablet at me. The screen shattered.

But I still saw it.

It was me, half-shifted, while Liam and I… every expression was captured in perfect clarity.

My eyes went blank. A cold despair washed over me.

They couldn't even wait a day to spread it.

Just two days ago, Liam had promised me, his voice thick with sincerity, "I'll take responsibility for you. When you graduate, I'll take you back to my pack for the mating ceremony."

His Alpha scent had enveloped me.

I felt his wolf's desire for me, and my own wolf reveled in his kisses.

He dragged me into a spiral of need, his Alpha scent clouding my mind until I wasn’t myself anymore.

I was naive enough to think he actually loved me.

"Mom—" I reached for her.

"Shut up!" she shrieked. "Do you have any idea what this video leaking will do to my position as Luna? Your uncontrolled genes expose our inferior bloodline, threatening everything I've worked for in this pack!"

My heart sank into a black abyss.

She never cared about me. Only her precious, hard-won status.

"It was Liam..." I said, my voice a hoarse whisper.

My mother's face froze.

She was silent for a long time before waving a weary hand.

"How did you get involved with the Rage River heir? We can't afford to provoke a family that powerful..."

She paused, then added, "Besides, you and Liam were willing. A video won't do anything to him. Why didn't you just say no?"

I snapped my head up, staring at her in disbelief.

She avoided my gaze. "The links have been taken down. In time, people will forget."

She turned to leave.

"Mom, I'm your daughter—"

"Enough! Just pretend I was never here," she said without looking back. "And don't cause me any more trouble!"

The door slammed shut.

I looked up and saw Draven. He was standing on the second-floor landing, his golden wolf eyes filled with mockery.

He looked as if he knew this would happen all along.

The truth didn't matter anymore.

A deep, crushing helplessness washed over me, drowning me completely.

I curled up on the cold floor and sobbed.