Chapter 1
The fire snapped against the dark, sparks chasing one another up into a starless sky.
Once a year, the eve of the Spring Hunt. The air hung thick with pine resin and the heady, restless heat of werewolves at high blood. Excitement clung to the camp like smoke.
My fingers curled around the small bronze tag in my fist. The metal was warm now from my skin. My palm was slick with sweat.
Number Two.
Everyone wanted Number Two.
Tradition was simple: the man and woman who drew matching numbers would spend the night together,a blessing from the Moon Goddess on the eve of the Hunt.
And Number Two belonged to him.
Our Alpha. Ethan.
He was the absolute power in our pack,strong of body, blessed in birth, and cursed with those pale ice-blue eyes that brought every she-wolf to her knees.
I had bargained Sarah, the wolf seated beside me, into the trade. I'd agreed to take all her patrol shifts for the coming week. A small price.
I only needed this one chance.
For six months now, Alpha Ethan and I had lived in the shadows.
Six months as the secret tucked away in his apartment. The release he reached for in the dead of night. Never,not once,his Luna in the daylight.
I was sick of crawling along the walls like a rat.
My wolf Anly paced inside me, restless. She wanted to be claimed. Marked. She wanted every wolf in the pack to know who I belonged to.
Tonight, I would walk out of here with a name.
The music cut.
A wave of cold swept over me,cedar and woodsmoke, the unmistakable scent of him. Alpha Ethan.
I lifted my head and met his eyes.
Black shirt, sleeves rolled to the elbow, the lean cord of his forearm taut beneath the cloth. He was walking straight toward me.
My heart slammed against my ribs. He's coming for me. He's going to honor it.
He stopped in front of me. Looked down. There was no warmth in his face. Only a thin, polished disgust.
He reached out and ripped the tag from my fist.
The motion was rough. His fingertips scraped skin from the back of my hand.
"Trading numbers?"
His laugh was sharp and pitched to carry. The wolves around us went still.
"You think a low trick like this earns you the right to be my woman?"
The blood drained from my face.
The air seemed to harden. Every wolf nearby paused mid-motion, hungry for the spectacle.
He didn't even glance at me again. He turned and walked the few paces over to Sarah, the rightful owner of the tag.
Sarah was trembling, shoulders drawn up, eyes wide.
He flicked the tag into her lap as one might toss away something soiled.
"Take your trinket and get out of my sight."
Then his gaze shifted,and landed on the girl beside Sarah.
Cora.
A delicate creature. The one Alpha Ethan had once named, in his own words, the first love I could never have.
She wore a white sundress, slim as a startled lily.
Alpha Ethan bent down. Brushed his lips against her ear. The lightest touch,the kind one might press to a sacred relic.
A gentleman's kiss.
To me, it was a public execution.
Cora flushed and dropped her gaze, her fingers twisting together.
But Alpha Ethan didn't pull back. His arm slid around her waist, drawing her in until she was half-cradled against him,possessive, unmistakable.
Whistles broke out around the fire. Cheers.
"Alpha Ethan! That looked an awful lot like first love. Aren't you going to admit it?" someone shouted.
He raised his head. And smiled. A tender smile I had never been given.
"Of course. Cora has always been someone I look after."
The crowd erupted.
Then someone's eyes,I don't know whose,drifted to me, alone in my corner.
"What about the wallflower over there? Another old flame of yours, Alpha?"
