Chapter 1 – The Night the King Came for Us
“Run,” I whispered to my son, shoving him toward the trees as the horns of the Alpha King’s guard tore through the night.
It had been five years since I’d heard that sound — the sound of a king hunting.
And this time, I knew exactly who he was hunting for.
The cold wind bit at my cheeks as I grabbed the small, trembling hand of my four-year-old. His golden eyes — his father’s eyes — widened in fear.
“Mama, what’s happening?” he whispered.
I didn’t answer. My wolf was clawing at my insides, torn between fight and flight, but my human heart knew one thing: Kael couldn’t see him. Not here. Not now.
The forest was alive with the sound of pounding hooves. The king’s elite hunters. My pulse slammed in my ears as I pushed my boy ahead of me, deeper into the darkness.
“Faster, Orion.”
The snap of a branch behind us made me freeze. My wolf bristled, but it wasn’t prey chasing us — it was the predator I’d once loved.
“Luna,” a voice growled from the shadows. Low. Dangerous. Familiar.
I didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. That voice haunted every dream and every nightmare I’d had for the past five years.
I turned anyway.
And there he was.
Alpha King Kael Thorne.
The man who had once promised me forever.
The man who had rejected me in front of the entire pack the night I found out I was carrying his child.
His midnight hair was longer now, falling in wild strands over a face carved from stone. His eyes — molten gold — burned into mine, searching, accusing… hungry.
“What are you doing in my territory, Ava?” he asked, his voice edged with lethal calm.
I swallowed hard, forcing my spine straight. “Passing through.”
His gaze flicked down to Orion. I stepped in front of my son, blocking him completely, but I saw the moment Kael’s nostrils flared. The moment he scented him.
The moment realization hit.
His entire body went rigid, and the king’s control cracked for just a second — enough for me to see the shock, the rage, and something else I refused to name.
“That’s… mine,” he said, his voice so low it was almost a growl.
My chest tightened, my pulse racing. “No. He’s mine.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. Behind him, more guards spilled into the clearing, surrounding us.
Kael stepped forward. “Five years, Ava. You kept my heir from me for five years.”
The world seemed to shrink until it was just the two of us — the king I once loved, and the secret I swore I’d die to protect.
“I will burn every inch of this land before I let you take him,” I said, my voice trembling but unbroken.
Kael’s lips curled into something between a smile and a snarl. “Then I guess we’re at war.”
And with a snap of his fingers, his guards closed
