Chapter 1
Everyone said I was Alpha Arthur's dirtiest little secret, a shameful plaything he kept well hidden.
No inner wolf. Could not catch a hint of a mate's scent. A defective scrap who could not even shift.
What they never realized? I used to be the one and only Alpha Queen of this entire continent. Sick of playing peacekeeper, I disguised myself as a useless weakling, content to just drift through life in Arthur's territory, eating, sleeping, and waiting to die.
Even if he treated me like a hollow decoration, I was perfectly fine with it.
Until the day the seven Rogue leaders surrounded our lands.
Arthur's legs were snapped clean, forcing him to his knees. A rival chieftain pressed a silver dagger hard against his throat.
"Hand over the Alpha Mark, or die." The chieftain's eyes slithered toward me, and a vile smirk crawled across his face. "This little piece of trash is cute, though. Once you are dead, I will have my way with her."
I stared at Arthur, drenched in blood, and sighed.
Damn it. I had finally found an Alpha who did not pester me with a hundred questions and kept me fed and housed.
In the heartbeat before that dagger plunged down, I unclasped the collar around my neck.
The Alpha Queen's aura, caged and suppressed for a hundred years, ripped across the land like a tidal wave. All seven leaders slammed to their knees at once, their bodies shaking like leaves in a storm.
I fired up the Mind Link I had left dormant for a century.
"Every Alpha from every nearby pack, hear the Alpha Queen's command," I commanded. "In half an hour, get your sorry hides to Silver Moon territory and handle the trial of these seven Rogues."
*****
I sat in the great hall of the Silver Moon Pack House, staring at the empty plate on the table.
Arthur had promised before he left that he would bring back the most tender venison from the Black Forest for me to roast tonight. He was this territory's Alpha, cold as a slab of granite most of the time, but when it came to feeding me, he never held back.
Urgent footsteps pounded outside the door.
Not Arthur.
Rayne smashed the hall's wooden door open with a brutal kick, bursting in caked in mud and fury.
He was Silver Moon Pack's youngest warrior, and the one who despised me most. He stalked over to the table and sent my empty plate flying with a vicious kick. The clay dish crashed against the stone floor, shattering into a thousand shards.
"Still sitting here waiting for someone to spoon-feed you?" He jabbed a finger in my face, sneering down at me. "You worthless scrap, not even an inner wolf, you have got no right to be in the Silver Moon Pack. Every other wolf has a mate scent. But you? You reek of common dirt. A defective reject who cannot even shift!"
I stared at the shattered clay shards, refusing to give him the satisfaction of a reaction.
Of course I did not have a mate scent. As the Alpha Queen, my nature had long surpassed the boundaries of ordinary werewolves. In their eyes, I ranked lower than the lowliest Omega. But I could not care less, as long as Arthur kept food on my plate.
When my silence stretched on, Rayne's fury boiled over. He whipped out his short blade. "I will deal with this nuisance for the Alpha myself."
He never finished. The front door exploded inward with a deafening crash.
Arthur staggered through and crashed to the ground with a sickening thud. He was drenched in blood. Three claw marks raked across his chest, deep enough to flash white bone. His left arm twisted at a grotesque, unnatural angle.
I shot to my feet.
Arthur spat a mouthful of blood, lifted his head, and locked his fierce gaze onto mine. Ignoring his broken body, he pushed off the floor with his one good hand, staggered upright, and yanked me behind him. His back became a solid wall between me and the open doorway.
Rayne stumbled back two steps, his blade clattering to the stone floor. "Alpha! What is happening out there?"
"The first defense line has been breached." Arthur's voice came out hoarse, thick with the metallic tang of blood.
Rayne's face went stark white as he stumbled backward. "That is impossible. A coalition of all seven Rogue leaders? They would actually dare launch a direct assault on us?"
Arthur did not waste a word on Rayne.
He spun around, ripped a blood-smeared silver chain from his neck, and shoved it roughly into my palm.
That was the necklace marking the Luna's status. Inside the Silver Moon Pack, that token carried more weight than any other.
"Take the secret tunnel." Arthur locked his gaze onto mine, his tone carved from stone with no room for argument. Then he proceeded to whip his head toward Rayne and unleashed a torrent of pure Alpha Tone. "Get her out."
Rayne's eyes bulged, his entire face twisting in defiance. "Hell no! She cannot even shift, and she can barely run! Dragging her along means we all die!"
Arthur's pupils snapped into vertical slits. His inner wolf roared with primal fury. Even with his body savaged and bleeding, that pure-blooded Alpha aura slammed Rayne to his knees right where he stood.
"You will protect her with your life." Arthur bit out each word, ruthless and final.
It was a bloodline compulsion. Rayne could not fight it; he just clenched his jaw and nodded.
Arthur turned back, brushing my cheek with the back of his blood-drenched knuckles. The gesture was featherlight.
"Do not be scared." His voice dropped to a murmur. "Once I have slaughtered these Rogues, I am coming to get you."
With that, he shoved me toward the tunnel entrance, then pivoted and strode straight into the savage howls echoing from beyond the gates.
