Chapter One

KIMBERLY POV

The grandfather clock in the hall chimed nine, each loud ring echoing through the pack house like a funeral bell.

I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of my bedroom window, gazing across the courtyard below, at shadows dancing. Torches wrapped the perimeter, flames twisting violently in autumn wind.

“You’re trembling,” Mona whispered, her face coming to rest beside mine in the window.

I didn't turn. “Am I supposed to be chill when I’m being sold like livestock?

“He’s here,” Mona said, as if my bitterness didn’t faze her.

The crowd below parted as the sea did before Moses. I could feel it even through the glass — the wave of power that came before him.

Alpha Derrick Wilson of the Night Walker Pack glided, lethal grace in each step, midnight robes billowing about him, his followers scuttling behind like well-trained shadows.

I stepped back involuntarily. "God, look at them all. Crouching, retreating from the look in his eyes.”

“It’s respect,” Mona said correcting her, but her voice was unconvincing.

“Oh, it’s fear,” I shot back, turning to look at her. “And my father is serving me up to him on a silver platter.”

Over the years, the rumors about Derrick Wilson had taken on mythic proportions. At twenty-eight, he’d become the youngest Alpha to wipe out three enemy packs in one night.

They referred to him as the Blood Alpha. The Night Bringer. The man who would soon rule all of Perth, if he could just add in our Moon Stone territory.

And I guess he wanted the wife to go with it.

Mona came over, adjusting the straps of my ivory dress with unexpected tenderness. “Maybe it won’t be so bad. Maybe he chose you because—"

"Because what?" I laughed; the sound was brittle even to my own ears. “Because of my brilliant personality? My father is handing him half the city.” “I’m just part of the transaction.

Mona’s hands paused on my shoulder. "You haven't even met him. How can you be so sure?"

There was something in her voice that made me look at her closer. "You know something."

Her eyes — jade green like our father’s — flitted away. "I don't."

"Mona." I gripped her wrists. "Tell me."

She bit her lip. "I've seen him before. During border negotiations last spring.

"And?"

"He's not what people say. He's..." Her cheeks flushed. "Different. When no one's watching."

A chill finger of suspicion ran up my spine. “How would you know what he is like when there’s no one there to watch?

Before she could respond, the door slammed open. In the doorway stood Luna Catherine, the silk of her gown clinging to her skeletal frame, her face twisted with barely concealed disgust.

“It’s time,” she said, her voice laced with venom. “Not that I can imagine a good reason for why he’d want you when he has plenty of better options.

I had learned long ago that Catherine’s barbs didn’t sting. Not since I was twelve and discovered her burning the only photograph I had of my actual mother. But tonight, with my future on the line, her words hit home.

“I’ve been wondering that myself,” I responded coolly.

Catherine squinted into slits. Your father believes this union will keep us safe.' But we both know you’re going to let him down, as you did finding your true mate. You're defective, Kimberly. Always have been."

"Mom!" Mona gasped.

“It’s fine,” I said, even though it was not. I had borne the shame of my mateless status for three years. In a world where the majority of she-wolves came into their mates during their first shift, I had stepped out of mine alone. Broken. Not meant to be by the moon goddess herself.

I straightened my shoulders. “Perhaps Alpha Derrick likes defective merchandise. I believe he’s very damaged himself.”

Catherine had put up her hand, but Mona had usurped her. "Stop it! Both of you. “This is a significant night for the pack.”

"For the pack," I echoed. "Not for me."

I walked past Catherine, who I could smell an expensive perfume, that made me feel sick to my stomach. The corridor loomed in front of me like a road to the gallows. Downstairs, I could hear a murmur of voices, clinking glasses, forced laughter.

Mona fell into step beside me, lacing her arm through mine. "I'll visit you, you know. In the Night Walker compound.”

My throat tightened. “They say once you go there, you never leave.

“Then I’ll get inside,” she said, her voice fierce. "You're my sister. Nothing will change that."

I gripped her hand, cognizant it was a lie. After tonight, everything would change.

The grand hall blurred as we descended the staircase, faces and voices merging, transforming into the hullabaloo shook as we filed out into the night.

My father was at the center flanked by lower rank Alphas from neighboring territories. His eyes — once warm and kind — had hardened when Catherine came into his life.

Now they shone only for Mona, his beloved pure-blooded daughter.

I surveyed the room for the man who’d soon own me.

“There,” Mona exhaled, pointing to the far corner.

Time seemed to stop. Alpha Derrick Wilson watched the whole event with clinical detachment. He was younger than I expected, perhaps thirty, and had features chiseled from rock. A strong jaw, high cheekbones and deep-set eyes so dark they appeared to absorb light more than reflect it.

But it wasn’t his looks that made my heart stutter. It was the force that radiated from him — primal, millennia-old, and completely restrained. It felt like looking straight into the eye of a storm that had the potential to wreck everything at any moment, but had decided to hold — at least for now.

His eyes scanned the room, then focused on me.

Mine, my wolf growled suddenly, surging from the depths of my being with a savagery that stole my breath.

I wandered, clutching the banister. This wasn't possible. My wolf had been silent for years, retreated so far I’d sometimes wondered if she was gone for good.

The look on Alpha Derrick’s face changed, something dangerous flickering across his features. He began advancing toward me, predatorily, the crowd instinctively parting like waves in his wake.

“Kimberly,” he said, and the sound of my name on his lips was a low command.

And I could see the scars up close — one rift through his eyebrow, another along his jaw. Badges of survival. Of victory.

I lowered my eyes as protocol dictated.

His finger curled under my chin and hoisted my gaze back to his. "Look at me."

I did. As if the world around us were softening at the edges.

“Interesting,” he said, not much above a whisper, just loud enough for me to hear. “They said you were docile.”

My wolf scratched at my insides, begging to be set free. Insisting I demonstrate just how wrong “they” were.

“I am whoever my Alpha wants me to be,” I answered slowly.

A cold smile curved his lips. “Is that what your daddy taught you to say?”

Before I could respond, Mona stepped up, chin raised defiantly. "My sister isn't a puppet. She has her own mind."

I froze, horrified. Nobody addressed an Alpha like that. Especially not this Alpha.

But instead of rage, a sort of mirth sparked in Derrick’s eyes. "So I see." He glanced at Mona, regarding her with sudden intensity. "And who might you be?"

“Mona,” she replied, meeting his gaze with unexpected boldness. "Her sister."

Alpha Derrick paced around us, deliberately, like a predator assessing prey. The drama was playing out in silence, hundreds of eyes watching.

“An impossible decision,” he said, his voice echoing through the hall. "Two sisters. Both... intriguing."

My father sprinted in, his face white. “The deal was done, Alpha Wilson. My eldest daughter—"

“This is how you keep your promise, Darwin?” “How?” Derrick cut in, his voice falling to a sinister pitch. “Oh, by selling me the goods they broke?

The words struck me like a punch in the gut. So he knew. He knew I was unmated, spurned by the moon goddess. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

I promise, she’s pure,” my father stuttered. "Untouched—"

“It doesn’t matter to me that she’s a virgin,” Derrick said, snarling. "I care about her wolf. And hers is broken."

The crowd murmured and rippled. That triumphant smile of Catherine’s made me want to howl.

“She’s still worthy,” Mona cut in, squeezing my hand so hard it hurt. “Her wolf is more powerful than any of them realize.”

Alpha Derrick’s focus zeroed in on Mona, something predatory waking in his gaze. “Maybe I picked the wrong sister.”

"What?" My father's voice cracked.

Derrick moved like lightning, catching Mona's wrist and yanking her to his side. “Yes, I think I like this one better.” She has... fire."

"No!" I dove forward without thinking and two of Derrick's men stopped me. "She's only seventeen! She doesn’t even have her first shift!”

The hall erupted into shocked whispers. There were a million documentaries on wolves out there, but taking an unmaturated wolf like Luna was unheard of. Forbidden.

But Alpha Derrick just smiled, raising Mona’s hand over her head. "Then I'll wait. This one will be my Luna. The deal remains — half the city for a bride. I’m literally deciding which bride I like better.’”

My father stood frozen, a fish opening and closing its mouth on land. Catherine appeared torn between horror and twisted pride that her daughter was chosen instead of me.

But it was Mona’s expression that broke me. Behind her mask of surprise was something else. Something that resembled terrifying satisfaction.

"Mona?" I whispered, my voice choked. "What have you done?"

She wouldn’t look me in the eye as Alpha Derrick tugged her against him, his hand resting possessively on her waist.

“The engagement ceremony is going on as scheduled,” he declared. “Only with one small change in the bride.

As two impossible truths banged their heads in my head, the room began to spin. My wolf, stirred after over a year of quiet in the presence of Alpha Derrick.

And my sister, somehow orchestrating her selection as his Luna.

Something was terribly wrong. And I was the only one who, it seemed, noticed.

Or care.