Chapter One: The Hunt
Rain hammered against the forest, turning the narrow trail into a river of mud.
Vesper didn't stop running.
Her lungs burned with every breath, but slowing down wasn't an option. The howls behind her grew louder, sending a chill down her spine.
They were close.
Far too close.
She tightened her grip around the silver pendant hanging from her neck, its cold surface pressing against her palm.
"Just a little farther," she whispered to herself.
A deep growl ripped through the silence.
She froze.
A massive black wolf landed a few feet in front of her, its golden eyes glowing through the darkness.
Another emerged from the trees.
Then another.
Within seconds, she was completely surrounded.
Vesper slowly backed away, her heart pounding against her ribs.
"What do you want?" she asked, forcing her voice to remain steady.
The largest wolf stepped forward.
Unlike the others, it didn't attack.
Instead, it lowered its head and inhaled her scent.
Once.
Twice.
Suddenly, its entire body stiffened.
A deafening roar tore through the forest.
The other wolves instantly lowered their heads in submission.
Bones cracked.
Muscles shifted.
Dark fur disappeared beneath pale skin.
Before Vesper stood a man.
Tall.
Powerfully built.
Rain dripped from his dark hair onto the scars that marked his broad chest. His sharp jaw was clenched, and his storm-grey eyes remained fixed on her as though she'd become the only thing in the world.
Neither of them spoke.
The forest itself seemed to fall silent.
His wolf was losing its mind.
Mate.
The word echoed through every part of him.
Impossible.
His mate couldn't be...
Her.
Vesper frowned.
"Do I know you?"
For the first time in years, Alpha Kaelen Draven felt something dangerously close to shock.
He inhaled again.
There was no mistake.
She was his fated mate.
But beneath her scent lingered another.
A scent he had sworn never to forget.
A bloodline he had spent fifteen years hunting.
His expression darkened.
"No," he answered coldly.
"You don't know me."
He took one deliberate step toward her.
"But I know exactly who you are."
Confusion flashed across Vesper's face.
"I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else."
"I never make mistakes."
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
It was the kind of calm that came before bloodshed.
"You should have stayed hidden."
Vesper instinctively stepped back.
"I don't even know your name."
A humorless smile touched his lips.
"I'm Alpha Kaelen Draven."
The name struck her like lightning.
Every village she had passed through whispered the same story.
The ruthless Alpha of Blackthorn.
The man whose enemies never lived long enough to regret crossing him.
Kaelen's gaze never left hers.
His wolf demanded that he protect the woman standing before him.
Every instinct screamed that she belonged beside him.
But the man inside him remembered only one thing.
The night his parents died.
The crimson flames.
The blood.
And the symbol carved into the killer's skin.
The same symbol engraved on the silver pendant hanging around Vesper's neck.
His jaw tightened.
Fate had a cruel sense of humor.
After years of searching for the last survivor of the cursed bloodline...
The Moon Goddess had made her his mate.
His eyes turned ice cold.
"You should be afraid," he said quietly.
"Because if fate hadn't bound us together..."
He paused, his gaze dropping briefly to the pendant around her neck before meeting her eyes again.
"...I would have killed you the moment I found you."
Vesper's breath caught.
She had no idea who this man truly was.
Or why he looked at her as though she were both his greatest desire...
And his greatest enemy.
