All Chapters of The Awakening : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The silver thread glimmered like a dying star between my fingers as I pulled the final stitch. I had spent weeks carving a masterpiece out of a mess, breathing life into a gown that was little more than a hand-me-down from Nora, the chief maid. It was a relic of the royal palace, salvaged from the scrap heap of a life I was never meant to lead.Lia stood beside me, the yellow of her dress blending seamlessly with her pale skin. She looked like a soft sunbeam, a stark contrast to me. With my almond-tinted hair and emerald eyes that seemed too large for my face, my fair skin was a curse, it made me stand out in a pack that preferred I remain invisible. No one ever looked past the surface to see the girl drowning in a pathetic, orphaned story.“What if you get mated to Alpha Kai tonight, June?” Lia whispered, her eyes dancing. “You know the tales. The Moon Goddess loves to bridge the gap, mating the lowest beta to the strongest alpha to create a perfect balance. That could be you.”I he

Kai’s large hand buried into Lia’s hair, pulling her head back just enough to allow him to graze her neck. He was suckling at her skin, a slow, possessive mark of a new Luna, claiming her in front of the very woman he had discarded moments before.I was crouched on the floor, my fingers digging so deeply into the fabric of my silver dress that I could hear the silk groaning. My hands were clutched tightly over my stomach, trying to hold my internal organs together. Every time his teeth grazed her, a white-hot spike of agony shot through my own chest, the shattered remains of our mate-bond screaming in protest. I forced my eyes to the floor, fighting the sob that threatened to shatter my ribs.“Look at her,” Kai’s voice rumbled, vibrating through the hall. He didn't stop his assault on Lia’s neck, his eyes hooded and dark. “A Beta who cannot even stand. A warrior who crumbles at the sight of her Alpha’s happiness.”He pulled away from Lia just enough to sneer at me, his lip curling in

The door to my chamber was standing open. A figure stood there, framed in the doorway, blocking the morning sunlight that fought to enter the bowels of the palace. The shadow it cast was long and thin, cutting across the filth of my floor like a blade. I could tell from the hue of the shadow, the slenderness of the frame, and the lack of that suffocating, heavy pressure that it wasn't Kai.I squinted, my head throbbing in time with the pulse in my wounded shoulder. As the blurry image finally snapped into focus, my breath hitched. It was Mali, the Royal Physician. The man who had patched my scraped knees when I was a pup and who had treated the entire royal lineage for decades.A flicker of foolish, desperate hope ignited in my chest. Had they realized the horror of last night? Had Kai’s conscience if he had one finally bitten him? Maybe the pack’s elders?"Mali?" I rasped, my voice a ghost of itself. I tried to sit up, but the silver chains rattled, the metal hissing against my skin.

"Ugh. Do they never clean in here? It smells like something died. Oh wait," I laughed, a bright, brittle sound "Something is dying. It's just taking its sweet time about it."June didn't move.I circled her slowly, my gown whispering against the filthy stone. I'd chosen this dress carefully, deep crimson silk, the color of fresh blood, with gold embroidery that caught the torchlight and threw it back in fragments. I wanted to look like everything she'd lost. I wanted to look like victory."You know," I said, stopping near her head, "I've been thinking. About all of this. About you. About me. About how we got here."I crouched down, bringing my face close to hers. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow. But I knew she could hear me. I knew it."And I realized something," I continued, my voice soft, almost gentle. "Something I should have understood years ago."I reached out and touched her face, just a light brush of my fingers against her cheek. She flinched. Good."This could

The footsteps came without warning.Heavy. Deliberate. Familiar in a way that made my stomach clench and my heart rate spike despite the poison slowing everything down.Kai.I knew his walk. I had known it for years, the confident stride of an Alpha who owned everything his eyes could see. It made my blood run cold.The guards at the end of the corridor murmured something I couldn't catch. Then their footsteps retreated, and there was only one set of boots approaching my cell.The door already open from Lia's visit, because apparently no one in this palace could be bothered to close a cage properly swung wider. Torchlight spilled in, and through it, silhouetted against the flickering flames, stood Kai.He stepped into my cell.I didn't move. Couldn't move. My body had given up on voluntary movement hours ago, leaving me paralyzed in the straw like a broken doll.Kai circled me slowly, his eyes taking in every wound, every bruise, every piece of evidence that his orders had been carrie