TEN YEARS AGO

Crack!

I shrieked and jumped out of the way just in time as a smoking wooden beam came crashing down from the ceiling.

The fires had spread to the pack house…

Where was everyone?

I heard distant snarls and cries as I raced down to the corridor. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, but I bit my lip and blinked them away. I had to be a big girl.

My baby sister needed me.

“Betty?” I called as I rounded the corner to her room. “Betty?”

I choked the tears down, racing to the nursery and grabbing the doorknob.

The metal burned to the touch.

With a yelp, I pulled my hand away. I stared at the door, stricken and confused, as more screams echoed from outside and from the lower floors of the house.

Why was the doorknob hot? What was happening? I wanted my mom…

Suddenly, I noticed the door was beginning to shudder and splinter. There was a glow around the edges of it.

Before I could wonder why, it burst out into the hall in a ball of flame.

Debris rained over me, scratching my face and arms with splinters of wood. I coughed as a cloud of smoke followed.

“Betty?” I gasped.

I blinked my eyes open to peer through the doorway, and, for a moment, I was confused. Instead of the opposite wall of the nursery, I was staring out into the night.

Finally, I realized—the outer wall had completely fallen away.

And everything in the nursery had been turned to charcoal and ash.

This time, I couldn’t stop the tears. I sank against the corridor wall, terrified and confused and not ready to accept what this meant.

It was then I heard footsteps.

“Clara!” shrieked a familiar voice. “Thank God!”

I cried harder as the woman raced down the corridor toward me.

“Mom…” I sobbed.

Seconds later, my mother’s warm hug enveloped me.

After a moment, she pulled back and looked at me. There was blood on her face.

A crash sounded from around the corner, and we heard shouting. My mother’s eyes went wide with fear, and without another word, she scooped me up into her arms and ran down the corridor.

We raced down the servant’s entrance in the back, out to the edge of the woods.

At last, my mother stopped, putting me down and gasping for breath as she clutched her side. I felt another jolt of confusion and fear when I realized her shirt was red.

“Mom, what’s happening?” I whispered. “Where did the bad wolves come from?”

My mother dropped to her knees in front of me. She reached into the collar of her shirt and pulled out something I’d only ever glimpsed before—a polished gold chain with a shiny capsule on the end.

Still breathing raggedly, she placed it around my neck. My hand went up to brush the gold pendant in wonder. It felt heavy.

My mother’s hands moved to clutch my shoulders tightly. There was deep sadness in her eyes, but also steely determination.

“Clara,” she murmured, “Listen to me. I need you to run. I need you to run into the woods, as far as you can, and not come back to this place. Can you do that for me?”

“Mom…” I mumbled, tears coming to my eyes again.

“Clara, can you do that for me?”

Her determined eyes were fixed on me. After a long moment, I gulped and nodded.

She pulled me back into her embrace.

“Be strong, Clara,” she said. “Be strong and live. I love you.”

I raised my little arms to hug her back, but she was already pulling away, heaving herself to her feet. She turned me around to face into the dark forest.

“Go!” she cried again, frantically glancing toward the fires behind her.

I wiped the last of my tears away and ran.

***

PRESENT DAY

All these years later, I was running through dark woods again. And this time, I was the one bleeding from my side.

F*ck. Whose bright idea was this?

It was supposed to be easy getting into the damn pack. Instead, my plans had been ruined by the appearance of this stupid rabid rogue wolf.

I shivered as I ran in the freezing winter air, my panting breath coming out in a white cloud.

I was an Alpha’s daughter, making me stronger than most wolves. However, the rogue had gotten the better of me and left a gaping wound on my body. With the amount of blood I was losing, I wasn’t able to stay in wolf form.

Now, I was running naked through the forest trying to get away.

Where were patrols when I actually needed them?

I pushed myself forward, closer and closer to a border I knew was near.

The sound of my pursuer’s feet against the ground let me know he was gaining quickly. Before I could turn, the wolf burst through the trees and collided with my human form.

The blow caught me slightly off guard, and my body went tumbling through the dirt and dead leaves. I felt the cold bite of the fresh white snowflakes that were slowly starting to build up on the ground.

“Somebody help me!” I screamed. I was quickly approaching my limit. If I don’t get help soon, I’ll be in some serious trouble.

Giving it everything I could, I fought back against the rabid wolf. I managed to throw him off of me, but only for a second before he lunged at me again. My head hit the ground hard, and I felt blood trickling down. I braced myself for the pain of a killing blow.

Nothing.

Dazed and confused, I realized that the rogue’s teeth never touched me.

What was going on?

Shadows everywhere within the misted forest had me trying to grasp a better understanding of my surroundings.

As my eyes tried to focus, I made out the silhouette in front of me.

It was the most massive wolf I had ever seen. And it was now going toe-to-toe with the rogue who was h*ll-bent on killing me. The air was filled with the flying of fur and snarls of anger and vengeance.

The rogue flew past me again, and the snarls got louder. If I didn’t move, their massive forms were going to trample me.

I crawled backward across the ground, still clutching my side, my head now swimming with pain. Every inch of my body hurt, and I was coated in fresh blood.

Watching the fight was hypnotizing. The wolf that had come to my rescue was relentless in taking down the rogue wolf that had been after me. It was darker than the darkest of nights, and moved with lethal intent. Yet, it was still graceful.

Whoever he was… He was a skilled fighter. A warrior, maybe?

I had this strange, powerful desire to know who he was.

*Crack*

I watched as the black wolf dropped the rogue from its mouth. Its corpse hit the ground with a thud.

It was then that I came back to reality. I was also a rogue.

Sh*t… was he going to kill me, too?

I scrambled backwards some more. Not a smart move—the crunching of leaves drew its attention. The wolf spun around, and I froze in place.

It really was the largest wolf I had ever seen… even bigger than I remember my father being. God, it was beautiful. A solid black wolf wasn’t something I had seen in many years.

The wolf’s eyes locked with my own, and I found myself lost in a feeling I had never felt before. I was captivated by it, almost as if I was locked in the moment, not able to escape.

It hesitated for a moment, and then moved toward me.

My eyes darted to its claws with every step it took. Slowly, it cocked its head to one side.

Then I heard the cracking of bones shifting as the midnight-black coat melted away to become it changed from the midnight black coat to richly tan skin.

A hush seemed to fall over the forest as I took in a sharp breath.

To say the man standing before me looked like a god... Well, that would be an understatement. He was tall and broad, his brooding shoulders brushed by soft brown locks of hair. Even the tattoos that decorated his skin just made him more beautiful.

As I lay there, frozen on the forest floor, his hazel eyes found mine.

“Mate.”

My mission just got a whole lot more interesting.