Prologue – The Crimson Flame
The iron scent of blood lingered in the air like a cruel memory, stale and yet ever-present in April Morningstar’s dreams. Crimson fire painted the sky that night. Screams had echoed from the forest to the valley where her pack once thrived, now reduced to ashes and bone. She had only been six years old, hidden in a hollow beneath the altar by her mother’s trembling hands.
“Stay silent, April. No matter what you hear,” her mother, Kelly, had whispered. “Don’t move. Not until it’s over.”
The last thing April had seen was the terror in her mother’s blue eyes—eyes just like her own—and the flash of red blood on white fur as her father, Alpha Andrew Morningstar, battled Victor Blackwood’s father to the death. The rest had come in flashes: growls tearing through flesh, warriors howling as their wolves were ripped apart, and finally silence. Deafening, soul-shattering silence.
That silence followed her to the Red River Pack.
To them, she was just a stray omega orphan—found trembling and mute by one of their scouts. They gave her a broom closet to sleep in and bruises for every step out of line. Her rank, her lineage, her power… all buried beneath years of servitude and obedience.
But her wolf, Ari, never forgot.
She had been dormant for so long, but April felt her presence like a shadow beneath her skin. A massive black-and-red beast with crimson eyes who stirred in rage when April was struck, who howled in defiance during moonless nights when April wept into her pillow. Ari was power, fury, royalty—everything April had forgotten she was.
And then, one night, that all changed.
The full moon cast silver beams across the polished floor of the Red River Pack house, and April—now twenty and quiet as snowfall—moved through the kitchen, preparing trays of food for the alpha gathering. The air was thick with testosterone and tension as alphas from all corners of North America arrived to discuss territory disputes and rogue activity.
April moved unnoticed, as she always did.
Until he stepped in.
Jasper Black.
Alpha of the Black Claw Pack, San Francisco.
Her mate.
The moment their eyes met, her tray slipped from her hands and shattered on the marble floor. Her knees buckled under the weight of an invisible tether snapping into place. And then it hit her—
Cinnamon.
The scent wrapped around her like a memory and a promise. Warm, deep, and comforting, laced with something darker and more possessive. Her heart thundered in her chest as Ari surged forward, growling in recognition.
Jasper’s expression shifted from annoyance to confusion to fury as he inhaled and stiffened. His wolf, Cain, howled from inside him.
“Mate.”
He hadn't seen her in fourteen years. Not since that night. Not since the fire.
He had believed her dead.
And now here she was—alive, breathtaking, hidden in plain sight under the guise of an omega.
But before he could say anything, before the storm could break free between them, April was dragged away—yanked by the arms of Alice and Lily, Victor’s sisters, and thrown against the wall like trash.
The beating began like any other. Hands slapping, claws scratching, insults slung like blades.
But this time, Jasper saw.
This time, someone heard her silence.
He moved with Alpha speed—too fast for the girls to react. In seconds, Alice and Lily were pinned against the wall by snarling warriors from Black Claw. Jasper’s eyes were glowing, Cain close to the surface, his voice pure venom.
“If any of you touch her again, I’ll rip your f*****g hands off.”
April stared at him in shock, blood trickling from her lip, her breath catching as he knelt beside her. His scent hit her again—spiced, earthy, protective—and tears pricked her eyes. He cupped her face, thumb brushing her cheek.
“You’re safe now,” he whispered. “I’ve got you, April.”
A sob escaped her throat, soft and disbelieving. For the first time in fourteen years, someone looked at her not with disdain… but as if she mattered. As if she were something more.
And for the first time since the fire, Ari lifted her head and roared inside her mind.
“Mate.”
And so this is the story of the most powerful Luna, a pure blood Alpha, April Morningstar.
