The night reeked of blood.
It clung to the damp earth, thick and metallic, mixing with the scent of pine and rain-soaked leaves. But Sienna Blackwood barely noticed. She had bigger problems.
Like the fact that she was about to die.
Her lungs burned as she tore through the Shadow Woods, bare feet slamming against the uneven ground. Her legs ached, her pulse pounded in her ears, and every breath she took felt like knives scraping against her ribs. But she kept running.
Because stopping meant death.
The first howl shattered the silence—a deep, guttural sound that made the hair on her arms rise.
Then came the second.
And the third.
And the rapid thudding of paws against the earth.
They were close. Too close.
Sienna's stomach clenched as she pushed harder, branches whipping across her arms, sharp twigs cutting into her skin. She barely felt them. Fear was the only thing keeping her upright now.
She wasn't supposed to be out here.
No one was.
The Shadow Woods weren't just dangerous; they were forbidden. People didn't come back from these trees. Stories had been whispered for generations, warnings carved into pack law.
But she hadn't had a choice.
Tonight was her twenty-first birthday. The night her wolf was supposed to wake. She should've been with her pack, celebrating, feeling the shift take over for the first time.
Instead, she was running for her life.
A snarl cut through the night, closer than before.
Sienna's chest seized.
They were done playing.
She forced her legs to move faster, even as exhaustion clawed at her muscles. But she was losing steam, her body still adjusting to the power stirring beneath her skin.
And then she felt it.
The instant her foot caught on something, she knew.
The world tilted.
Air rushed past her, then pain—a violent collision of skin and dirt as she hit the ground. Hard.
Stars exploded in her vision. Her palms scraped against the earth, sharp stones biting into her skin.
Move. Move.
But the second she tried, a low growl rumbled through the trees.
Slow, deliberate footsteps crunched against the forest floor.
Sienna swallowed, her breath hitching as she forced herself to look up.
Glowing red eyes stared back at her.
One pair.
Then another.
And another.
They stepped into the moonlight, rogues. Filthy, scarred, their massive bodies blocking every escape.
The leader was the worst of them. Bigger than the rest, his face lined with deep, jagged scars, his fur matted with old blood. When he grinned, it was all teeth.
"Little Alpha's pup," he murmured, voice rough and dripping with amusement. "You smell… different."
Sienna's stomach twisted.
Her wolf stirred inside her, weak and uncertain. The shift hadn't fully set in yet. She wasn't strong enough.
She couldn't fight.
The rogue leader tilted his head, his claws flexing into the dirt.
"This is your birthright, girl," he said. "A sacrifice."
A shiver rolled down her spine.
Sacrifice.
The word echoed, stirring something dark in the back of her mind.
Her mother's whispered warnings.
Her father's cold silence.
The way the pack never looked her in the eye.
Sienna had always known she was different.
Now she finally understood why.
The Moonbound Curse.
Her birth had been an omen. A prophecy wrapped in secrecy and blood.
She was never supposed to live.
The rogues lunged.
Sienna barely reacted in time. She rolled, just as claws slashed through the space where she had been. Scrambling to her feet, she ignored the fire in her ankle and ran.
But she wasn't fast enough.
A sharp burning pain exploded across her shoulder as claws raked through flesh.
She choked on a scream. Her vision blurred. The scent of her own blood filled the air.
The rogues howled.
She wasn't going to make it.
Her body ached. Her breath came in ragged gasps. And worst of all—her wolf was silent.
Then, suddenly...
A sound.
Low. Dangerous.
Not from the rogues.
The air changed.
Something rippled through the trees, heavy and suffocating. Ancient.
The rogues hesitated.
And then...
Chaos.
A blur of movement. A snarl so deep it shook the ground.
The rogue leader was gone, slammed into a tree so hard the wood splintered.
Sienna gasped, staggering back as a shadow stepped into view.
Not a rogue.
Not even a wolf.
Him.
Tall. Broad. His body covered in blood and dirt, golden eyes burning like wildfire.
Not just a man.
Something more.
Power radiated off him, thick and overwhelming, pressing against her skin like a physical force.
An Alpha.
And he was looking right at her.
Sienna's knees buckled.
The last thing she saw before the darkness swallowed her was him, stepping forward.