Chapter 1

The Rejections

"Jake, say it. Say the words”.

Even though my voice is hardly audible beyond a whisper, its weight echoes over the clearing like thunder. A sacred campfire is blazing behind us, its brilliance illuminating the serious faces observing this bonding ceremony my bonding ceremony while the whole pack has assembled.

Jake Hunter, my Alpha and fated mate, is standing inches away from me, his jaw tense and his muscular form stiff. Tonight, his once-warm blue eyes have become chilly. My skin feels like ice. Like an unseen noose, his quiet closes in on my neck.

"Lily..." For a while, I held onto the naive hope that he would take my hands, admit that this was an error, and claim me as his own. His voice is scratchy and uncertain. That he will choose me.

Selena then takes a step forward.

She has a little smile on her face that is sharp enough to pierce my heart, and her golden hair shines in the moonlight. My stepsister. My tormentor. The girl who always managed to steal everything that belonged to me.

Jake squares his shoulders and takes a long breath before turning to face me. Then

"As the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, Jake Hunter, I refuse to mate with you, Lily Graves."

The world falls apart.

The group lets out a collective gasp. My name is spoken, yet it seems so far. My chest collapses, my eyesight becomes blurry, and an unseen force tries to tear my soul in two. After stretching and fraying, the mate connection breaks.

White-hot, ruthless pain erupts within me. My knees buckle. My breath comes in harsh, short spurts as I slump, scarcely feeling the cold earth under me. It's worse than I thought it would be. The pain is more profound and soul-crushing than it is just bodily. I feel as if a piece of me has been ripped away, leaving just an empty shell.

Selena kneels next to me and strokes a strand of my black hair behind my ear with her well-groomed fingers. She coos, "Poor Lily," in a mockingly sympathetic tone. "Did you truly believe that he would pick you over me?"

I hear the triumphant lilt in her tone, but her words hardly make it through the fog of pain. She wants me to be destroyed. She's asking me to plead. However, I refuse to provide her with the gratification.

My whole body screams in anguish as I push myself up, my shaky fists slamming into the mud. Jake's lips are squeezed into a thin line, but his face is inscrutable when I look him in the eye again. Feeling sorry? Feeling guilty? I have no idea, and I no longer give a damn.

I respond in a calm but raspy voice, "You didn't just reject me." "You ruined us."

His jaw clenches, but he remains silent. He doesn't, of course.

From behind me, my mother growls, "Get up, Lily," in an embarrassed tone. "You're creating a commotion."

A scene? My partner just turned me down in front of the whole pack, and she believes that looks are important to me? However, I am familiar enough with my mother to know that vulnerability is not accepted. Instead of showing any sensitivity, she would rather that I suffer in quiet. I shouldn't have been surprised.

The world tilts and a vicious wave of sickness hits me as I struggle to get up. The rupture of the relationship is still fresh and searing inside of me. But I'm not going to break down again.

With a smooth ascent, Selena puts her arm around Jake's. He doesn't retreat. My stomach turns at the sight. She has been selected by my mate, my fated partner.

She whispers to Jake, "Come on, love," loud enough for everyone to hear. "We need to plan for the future."

As they go, Jake remains silent and doesn't even give me a sidelong look, leaving me standing there feeling alone, broken, and ashamed. As the throng gradually starts to disperse, whispers of condemnation and sympathy permeate the atmosphere. Some turn their heads away. Others watch with open interest, taking in my suffering as if it were a performance for their amusement.

A solid hold on my wrist stops me as I turn to go, hoping to find a dark corner where I can finally break without anybody seeing. With a last-minute hesitancy, I turn around, expecting to see Jake, but instead, I see storm-gray eyes.

Blackwood, Damien.

The Nightshade Pack's Alpha.

An infamous combatant. A guy many people dreaded. And he has an unfathomable expression on his face as he looks at me right now. A sharp object. Making calculations.

He whispers, "You don't look so good, sweetheart," in a deep, rumbling voice that makes me shudder.

I glare as I tear my hand from his. "I don't require your sympathy."

The corner of his mouth twitches into a grin. "Sorry? No. However, I do have a proposal.

My heart falters. "A proposal?"

His dark, smoky, and dangerously enticing fragrance wraps around me as he leans in slightly. "What are your thoughts on retaliation?"

Like an enticing poison, the words creep into my mind. Retaliation. Deep within my chest, the thought pushes beyond the humiliation, the sorrow, and the sadness. I was rejected by my partner. Everything was taken by my stepsister. Not even my own mother stood up for me.

There is nothing left for me to lose.

For the first time since the ritual started, I feel anything other than hopelessness as I look into Damien's eyes.

I sense flames.

"What are you thinking of?"

He gives me a slow, rapt grin, and I know—

Everything is about to change.

But before he can say anything, the air is pierced by a loud howl. A caution. A danger.

As their eyes dart toward the darkening forest line, the pack members pause. Between the trees, shadows move quickly and purposefully. The stress in the air makes my heart race.

Damien's smile never wavers. Instead, as if preparing for what's about to happen, his hold on my wrist becomes a little tighter.

He whispers, "You don't seem to have much time to make up your mind, my love." "A lot more interesting things are about to happen in your world."

Before I can reply, the first wolf leaps out of the shadows, his eyes blazing with need for blood.

Then

Anarchy breaks out.

With its teeth glistening with saliva, a massive black wolf snarls and charges into the clearing. The sound of fighting fills the air, with growls, snarls, and the terrible crunch of bone, as more shadows appear from the woods. Wolves fight, their fur blending in the commotion. Some members of the Silver Moon Pack transform instantaneously, while others are too startled to respond.

My heart is racing as I take a step back, but Damien advances ahead of me with a firm and unwavering presence. His sneer has gone, replaced by something harsher, as he looks over his shoulder. more hazardous.

His voice is dark with promise as he states, "This is just the beginning."

A big gray wolf jumps at me, claws outstretched, teeth bared, before I can inquire what he means

Then

darkness.

Pain.

And one more thought before it's all gone

Everything has altered because of this night.