Willow Finds Her Mate

Prologue

Out in the mountains of Virginia lives a long-established pack of werewolf shifters, forgotten by humans and hidden among the ancient forests.

The Nero Pack has existed since before the first settlers ever arrived in Virginia.

For generations, our wolves have protected these mountains, passing the territory from Alpha to Alpha. Humans built their roads, towns, and homes around us, never realizing that an entire supernatural community lived alongside them.

There are roughly a thousand people in our little mountain town.

Most of them are human.

They don't know about us.

Some members of the Nero Pack live on pack land, hidden deep within a small valley surrounded by mountains. Others live in town among the humans, working ordinary jobs, attending human schools, and pretending to live completely ordinary lives.

But no matter where we live, we are still wolves.

And this is our territory.

Every wolf knows it.

The Nero Pack is ruled by an Alpha, a Luna, a Beta, a Delta, and the other ranks beneath them. But above all packs stand the Lycans—the oldest and most powerful wolves in existence.

His Majesty, Lycan Alpha King Damien, and his Luna Queen Lilith currently rule the Lycan kingdom.

Their son, Prince Elijah, is next in line for the throne.

Like every wolf, the Lycans believe in fated mates.

A fated mate is a gift from the Moon Goddess.

Every wolf is given one.

The bond is supposed to be unconditional. Your mate should love you, protect you, and put you before all others.

But the Moon Goddess gives wolves free will.

A wolf can reject their fated mate.

And there is a price for that choice.

A wolf who is rejected by their fated mate can eventually be blessed with a second-chance mate.

But a wolf who chooses to reject the mate the Moon Goddess gave them is not normally given another.

The Goddess does not make mistakes.

At least, that's what we've always been taught.

Until me.

My name is Willow Faye Cole.

And tomorrow is my sixteenth birthday.

Tomorrow, I will meet my wolf.

And everything I thought I knew about my life will begin to change.