CHAPTER 1

 The whip cracked like thunder through the air before it hit my skin.“Argh!” I screamed in pain, tears stinging my eyes as the whip stung my back.It didn’t matter how many times this happened. It didn’t matter how many years this has been going on for. I would never be used to this level of cruelty. Not when it came from the one man who was supposed to protect me. “You useless little thing,” Peter, my father, spat at me, venomsoaking his words. “You think everyone doesn’t see how weak you are? How pathetic your wolf is?”Another strike came down on my back, and I flinched with my hand balling into fists. He didn’t let that one sit beside another one came down on my back again.“I raised you to be something,” he hissed at me. “Not some runt of a creature who has her first shift at sixteen like a cursed mistake. And that wolf of yours, what can it possibly do?! You’re lucky I haven’t thrown you to the rogues, Seraphina. Very lucky.”I bit the inside of my cheek until the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. The pain grounded me at least. It reminded me that I was there and alive still. That had to count for something.When he finally stopped, I took in a shaky breath. My back throbbed, skin raw and burning under my dress that I feared to move.Peter paced across the room, muttering insults about me to himself. I kept my eyes down as I struggled to get myself up.“You’re not going to be like this forever,” he said suddenly, turning toward me like he hadn’t just beaten me bloody. “Tonight is the moon banquet. Alpha Kaelen of Crimson Wood pack will be there, and you…you’re going to catch his attention.”My stomach twisted in a sickening manner as I asked him, “Why would he care about a person like me?”I didn’t think he processed my question before he raised the back of his hand and made it collide with my cheek. It was so fast and so brutal that I lost my footing for a good moment.“That’s the problem I have with you. When you know you don’t hav something, you have to pretend like you do! Why do I have to teach you everything?! You’ll do what I say,” he snarled at me.I kept my eyes trained on the ground, avoiding eye contact so he wouldn’t slap me again and accuse me of being defiant.“And if he doesn’t look your way or even take a sniff in your direction, then I’ll know it’s because you didn’t try hard enough. And if that happens, Seraphina…” He leaned close to me, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl I had heard before. “I’ll make sure it’s the last time anyone ever sees you again. And trust me, you won’t be missed.”I swallowed the growing lump in my throat, nodding quickly as my voice trembled. “Yes, sir.”He straightened his back and smoothened his shirt as if the past few minutes had not happened and he had not threatened to end me.“Go fix yourself. We leave in an hour. Make sure no one sees the bruises.”With a single nod, I walked into my bedroom where I cried silently, the rest of the sobs ending in my throat and nearly choking me as I got in the shower and felt the sting of the water hitting my back. I watched as the water washed off my blood until it was clear.I returned to the room, where I struggled to zip up my dress due to the fresh wounds on my back. I stared at my form in the mirror, hazel eyes staring back at me. I barely recognized myself. I was a ghost of what I used to be, if at all I remembered what I used to be. I used makeup to hide the bruises and pulled my curls into an updo.And for a moment, I let myself have hope. I prayed to the Moon Goddess, hoping this would all end.~The Moon Banquet was one of the best places for politics. It was where future alphas were made and new alliances were formed. It was always held on unclaimed land so anyone could arrive except for rogues, but it was always hosted by one alpha.This year, it was Alpha Kaelen.“I don’t belong here,” I muttered to myself when we stepped into the grand hall, hoping Peter didn’t hear me.I could feel the stares on us as soon as we walked in. I felt the judgement that came with the looks as well. I was the daughter of the disgraced beta who had been banished from Crimson Wood pack for betraying the former alpha, the father of Alpha Kaelen.It made me wonder Peter wanted me to catch his eyes. After what Peter did to his father, I doubted that Alpha Kaelen would be happy to see us there.“Smile,” Peter hissed beside me in a whisper. “Stand straight and keep your head high. You are going to catch the eye of that alpha, even if it’s the last thing you do.”I could almost smell the desperation coming from him, but I simply nodded stiffly as we walked in further.The hall shimmered with gold and hints of steel made to look like silver. Wolves danced under the lights and the chandelier. I moved through them like a ghost, trying my hardest to avoid Peter for the rest of the night as I prayed and hoped that Alpha Kaelen wouldn’t show up.“Thank you,” I said with a smile as I took a glass of what looked like wildfruit wine from a tray being passed around.When I drew it up to my lips, I felt Peter right beside me.“He’s coming out now. Do your best to capture his attention. I don’t care how you do it,” he instructed.I looked around the room, spotting far more beautiful and put-together women who would sooner pull his attention than I ever would.And then, I felt it. It was a sudden, violent pull right in my chest. Heat started to spread in my chest, following a magnetic pulse in the air. My breath stilled. My wolf, even as small as she was, started to stir in a way I didn’t think I had ever felt her do before.No. My wolf never acted like this. She barely even whispered on most days. Now, she was wide awake, pacing within me with so much urgency.And that’s when I saw him. Alpha Kaelen. I didn’t need to be told that it was him.He was tall, power coiling around him like a bated storm. His face was sharp, and his dark eyes were locked onto mine. He looked like he had been searching for me for years.“No,” I whispered when I knew what this feeling was. I was starting to realize that it could only be one thing. One thing that would make him notice me that fast and me feel that drawn to him that quickly, even before seeing him.“Mate.”The word slipped out of his lips, low and dangerous. Like a purr. “Mate,” I responded in a whisper of my own, my heart sinking as soon as I said that.I didn’t know what to feel. The room faded with everyone else in the background, as if he was the only one I could see. And then it finally dawned on me.Alpha Kaelen was my mate.