Chapter 1
Chapter 1
“RUNI”
ry damn time.
the same way every
My father’s voice shouting behind us as the last rogue slit his throat, “Run, Taryn Just run!” I’m running away with my brother, his hand’s squeezing mine, so hard I can barely feel my fingers. Behind us, the sounds–no, growls–are closing in.
My lungs burned. I wanted to stop. But I couldn’t.
The forest blurred around us, trees rushing past in streaks of dark and light, the sound of paws thudding against the earth growing louder, closer.
“Keep going!” My brother’s voice was frantic, but his grip was slipping. I turned, just in time to see the flash of fur and teeth before it lunged at me–No!
I wake up gasping, my heart hammering in my chest,
Shit, it’s that stupid dream again.
My jerked, my hands slamming onto the scattered papers all over Kallias‘ desk. The dream fades into the gray–lit office, papers littered with “Riverstone Pack Quarterly Summaries” stamped in his neat handwriting.
All mine, technically.
My muscles ache from sleeping in that awkward position, and I let out a groan, half from pain, half because I was dumb enough to fall asleep here.
Three hours of sleep. Not bad, considering the nightmare marathon I’ve been running lately.
Of course, there’s no Kallias to do his own assignments. That would be too much work for the soon–to–be great Alpha of the Riverstone Pack, God forbid.
I rub my eyes, trying to shake it off. It’s been years, but the memory of that night never seems to go away. Every time I close my eyes, it’s like I’m back there, running through the forest with no way out.
Before I can even stretch, the office door bangs open, and Seraphina storms in “Taryn, you ready? Tonight’s the big night!” Her voice is all excitement, but I’m not feeling it. Not even a little.
She throws a wrinkled dress at me like it’s something worth more than the dust it’ll gather.
I stare at it, frowning. “What is this?”
“Oh, come on,” Seraphina rolls her eyes, “Kallias bought it for you. Thought you’d be excited, seeing as it’s for the Lunar Eclipse tonight.” Her words are as sweet as poison, and as soon as she’s done talking, she drops her gaze to her own haul–a pile of bags in her arms, all bulging with clothes. Fancy clothes. New clothes. Way more clothes than she’ll ever wear.
My stomach turns, but I grit my teeth. “Just the one dress for me, huh?”
She shrugs, “You’re not mad, are you? It’s all for tonight. This is your big chance.” She pouts, practically dripping with feigned innocence. “I mean, who know, maybe you’ll get a pack warrior as a mate or something? And don’t worry about Kallias being all distracted tonight; I’ll take care of him.”
“Sure,” I mutter, tugging the dress up like it’s a dead rat. “I’ll try not to be too touched.”
Seraphina barely hears me, too busy admiring her reflection in Kallias‘ full–length mirror, spinning in one of her own damn dresses. She’s got the bags, the attention, the affection–even the best friend. It’s twisted, watching her act all dainty while
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Chapter 1
Kallias treats me like well, like his secretary. A placeholder.
I’m his fucking girlfriend for Pete’s sake.
The door opens again, and there he is, Kallias himself, with that classic, cocky Alpha smile on his face. He was always the most gorgeous man of his age in the entire pack He scans the room, attention zeroing in on Seraphina as though I don’t even exist in the space. My heart clenches as he turns to me with a bored expression.
It’s fine. It’s fine.
“Taryn, you done with those documents?”.
“Yeah,” I say, trying to sound bored. I mean, it’s not like I’m losing hours of sleep to his damn work, right?
“Good girl,” he says, giving me a pat. Crimson immediately crawls up my cheeks. He barely glances at me as he walks past, his attention zeroing in on Ser, who is now preening under his gaze. “Taryn sure did help. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help yu even with that late–night studying we did.” Seraphina’s eyes turned gloomy with helpless ness as she looks up at Kallias. Kallis pullas her in for a hug. “Don’t worry, you’re all the help that I would need.” He replies. My heart pounds hard as I clench the dress he bought.
They’re close friends. They’re close friends. They’re close friends.
“Are you ready?” he mutters, more to Ser than me, though, but I’m sure they’re just close like that.
I nod as Kallias steps closer towards me, his hand brushing my hair back from my face. “You’ll be fine,” he says softly, almost like he cares. But there’s always this distance between us, a wall I can’t quite figure out how to break down. Yet he can easily do that with Ser.
Maybe I don’t even want to.
“Get dressed,” he adds, glancing at the time. The ceremony starts in an hour. Don’t keep everyone waiting.
I try not to watch the way he lingers, how his hand brushes her arm just a little too long. My stomach twists, the suspicion I’ve tried so hard to ignore bubbling up again. I can feel it, that gnawing jealousy clawing at me, but I swallow it down.
Now isn’t the time.
But..
“Seraphina, could you give us a moment?”
“What? Why? She asks, brows popping up in annoyance. “I just have something to talk to with my boyfriend.” I emphasize the last word, although I’m not even sure why I did. Seraphina would never do that, right?
“Taryn, what the fuck are you doing?” Kallias grits his teeth to look at me. “She wants to help you right now and you’re shoving her out of the room?”
1
“I just have something to ask, Kallias. You and Ser… is there something I should know?”
Kallias‘ face darkens, “You’re being ridiculous. There’s nothing going on. She’s just a friend–a long–time one, before you even came, if you ask me. Maybe if you were the east bit like her, it would have been less tiring trying to keep you around..”
I stare at him, feeling that familiar sting of rejection. Just a friend. It shouldn’t hurt, but it does. I nod, keeping my steady. “Oh, okay. I–I’m sorry for asking”
His jaw tightens, and for a moment, I think he might say something else, but he turns on his heel. “Finish up here,” he barks. “and stop overthinking”
Kallias storms out of the office, slamming the doonbehind him, leaving me standing there, frozen. I try not to think about
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Chapter 1
the sting of his words, but they stick lingering in the air like a bad smell. Too jealous, he’d said. Too sensitive
My hands automatically move to the stack of documents on his ilesk. I start arranging them, forcing myself to focus
Do the work. Get it done. That’s all that matters. That’s all I’m good for anyway.
The night falls thick and cold, the kind that senles in your bones. The whole pack is gathered outside, preparing for the Lunar Eclipse. I can see them all gathered around the clearing, dressed in every damn shade of elegance, every fabric soft and gleaming under the moonlight.
My fingers twist the fabric of the dress, the one Kallias “gifted” me. Shabby, even compared to the basics Seraphina tosses on when she’s bored. But hey, it’s better than nothing, I tell myself.
And who am I trying to impress, anyway?
“Kallias bought it for you. Embrace it.”
It wasn’t like Seraphina’s gown–hers sparkled under the moonlight, dripping with luxury and the fact that Kallias bought these for the two of us and the differences are simply… A sigh leaves my lips as I tugged at the hem of my dress. It’s okay. Taryn. It’s not like a dress would change lots of things between us,
“Why is she even here?”
“I guess she’s still hoping to be blessed with a wolf, huh?”
“Well, for someone like her who’s been trying to for the last decade, I think it’s just pitiful at this point.”
I don’t have time to bite back; the ceremony’s starting.
One by one, the wolves around us start to shift, bodies twisting, muscles tightening as fur bursts through skin, like they’ve -done it a thousand times.
I should have shifted years ago, and yet for some reason I never did, until I became an adult. Every year I participate in these ceremonies hoping I finally get my wolf out.
The Gamma was kind enough to register me in here as an Omega when I first arrived without so much as a family–I was an orphan with no background.
“Argh!” The kids roared as they fall to the ground in pain.
1 stand there, my heart pounding in my throat. Maybe I shouldn’t have attended this year. It’s always going to be the same thing. I’d stand here as they all shift into their wolves and 1-
Time slows, and then, like a switch flipped, I feel the change surge through me.
“Ah!”
The world tilts as I drop to all fours, bones rearranging, a prickling pain crawling through my limbs. It hurts. It hurts! I can feel every single one of my bones snapping in place as I screamed until I couldn’t anymore.
Shit! I did it! After all those years, I finally shifted!
As my four paws hit the cold dirt, I look up, and my eyes land on Kallias.
He’s already shifted though just for formalities, his massive brown wolf towering above the others, and he’s looking straight
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Chapter 1
Right at me.
Mate!
BU
The shock ripples through the crowd like a silent tidal wave. I hear gasps, 1 feel their stares, but all I can focus on is Kallias. My mate.
My mate.
I shift back to my human form instantly, heart hammering so loud it drowns out every other sound. Clinging to whatever dignity I have left. I pull the dress back up around my shoulders and stagger forward, heart slamming with equal parts joy and terror. “Kallias!” I call out, stepping forward.
But he backs away, hackles raised, teeth bared even in his human form. “No. This can’t be,”
1 froze.. “What–what do you mean?” I’m his girlfriend, aren’t I? Shouldn’t he be happy we’re destined?
He sneers, “An Omega mate? This–this can’t be happening. That’s a joke. There’s no way I’m accepting g this. You.”
Seraphina steps forward, her voice soft, too soft, like I’m some wounded animal. “Kal, don’t be too harsh,” she says, reaching toward me like I’m going to break. “She didn’t choose this..
She steps toward me, her nails biting into my arm as she helping me up. It wasn’t gentle though; it was rough, almost possessive, like she was staking her claim.
I winced, pain flashing through my arm, and without thinking, I yanked it back. The movement was pure reflex. Seraphine’s eyes widened as she stumbled back on the ground. “Ah! 1–I’m sorry, Taryn… I just wanted to help you!”
Seraphina’s eyes widened before it began tearing up. No, I didn’t… Before I could blink, Kallias” hand was on me
“You!”
I staggered, the sting of the slap ringing in my ears, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. Did he just….
The world spun for a moment, my head snapping to the side from the impact, and the crowd’s whispers shifted from shock to something darker. I couldn’t focus on their faces, just the throbbing heat in my cheek and the overwhelming humiliation that swirled around me.
“How dare you, you fucking Omega!” he spits before closing his eyes and turning to the blood moon hovering above us. “1, Kallias Morrigan, son of the Alpha of the Riverstone Pack…
My eyes widen in realization as to what he’s doing “No… No, don’t. Please…I crawl over to his feet, tears collecting in my eyes. “-reject you, Taryn Sinclair as my mate and future Luna.”
Shit.
I stagger back, pain erupting through me, sharper than the slap, ripping through my insides like a knife. Is this what it feels like ti e rejected?
My vision swims, and the whispers grow louder, drowning me, until all I can hear is the rush of blood in my ears. Every breath is agony, every step a mistake.
“She deserves it,”
“Did she think he actually loves her?”
“Well at least he got the As he wanted before rejecting her, right?”
No… No!
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Chapter 1
Then I run.
The wind whipped against my face as I tore through the trees, branches clawing at my skin. My feet pounded the dirt barefoot but I didn’t stop.
I barely notice when the ground turns uneven, roots grabbing at my ankles, branches clawing at my skin.
I know exactly where I’m going–don’t need to think twice.
My brother’s grave.
The only place I can get away from the pack and breathe without feeling like I’m being crushed.
The dead are better company.
80%
By the time I reach the small clearing, the moon’s risen high above, casting a pale, eerie glow across the dirt mound that’s still too fresh. I drop to my knees beside it, dirt sticking to the damp trails on my cheeks. The silence presses down on my ragged breaths.
I barely hear the soft crunch of leaves behind me. When I turn, I find my pet deer, Silas, padding over, his eyes wide, curious. He presses his snout against my shoulder, soft and warm, grounding me in the way only he can. I stroke his head.
“You know, Silas,” I whisper, voice rough, “-maybe I should’ve listened to you. Animals have better instincts than people. You knew Kallias was bad news
He nudges my hand, and I almost laugh. Almost
But the moment didn’t last.
His head snaps up, ears twitching as he stares into the dark line of trees. Every hair on my neck rises, and my hand freezes mid–stroke. I open my mouth to call him back, but he’s already darting off.
I bolt up, stumbling after him, calling his name in the dark. “Silas! Silas, come back!”
A chill crawls down my spine, my senses suddenly aware of every rustle, every whisper of movement in the trees. My breath. fogs the air, heart pounding like a hammer in my chest.
A deep, menacing growl echoed through the trees, vibrating through my bones. My breath hitched, and before I could even process what was happening, a massive black wolf exploded from the shadows, moving with deadly precision.
My deer didn’t even have time to react. The wolf lunged, its jaws closing around her throat with a brutal snap. Blood sprayed across the grass.
“Ah!”
I choked on a scream, scrambling backward as fast as my legs would carry me. The wolf was… enormous. Bigger than any I’d ever seen, with sleek black fur that shimmered under the moonlight, and eyes that glowed a violent red. It was the stuff of nightmares–raw, untamed power, radiating danger with every step. And it had killed my deer like it was nothing.
Before I could react, the wolf lunged. I barely had time to scream before it sank its teeth into my deer, blood spraying across. the ground. I stumbled back, falling to the dirt as the deer’s lifeless body hit the ground.
Then its crimson eyes… turned to me.
It stalked toward me, growling low in its throat. This was it. This was how I was going to die. Rejected by my mate and torn apart by a wild animal in the middle of nowhere.
Its red eyes lock onto mine.
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11:38 Sat, 15 Mar ti A
Chapter 1
80%
I stumble backward, hands hitting the dirt as I try to scramble away. But my limbis feel useless, the ground spinning beneath me as the wolf prowls closer, eyes never leaving mine. I can’t even scream, can’t make a sound.
It’s close now, so close I can feel its breath, hot against my face. It should be growling, snapping, tearing me apart.
But it doesn’t.
I slowly open my eyes to meet its crimson ones.
Instead, it tilts its head, studying me, and then, with a low rumble that almost sounds like… a purr, it licks my cheek.
The roughness of its tongue scrapes across my skin.
What the fuck?
The wolf’s tail wags, once, twice, almost as if it’s–happy?
I blink, staring into those red eyes.
Oh Goddess…what is happening?
AD
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38 Sat, 15 Mor
