Chapter 1 #2
It was easier to ignore Shane when Mavy was already bright and chattering, her gaze wide with the excitement of someone who had no care in the world.
She was talking about the annual mating festival—the upcoming gathering of packs from different kingdoms where everyone dressed in their best in hopes of finding their Goddess-chosen mates.
She spoke as if it were a fairytale and not a damnation.
“The Northern Kingdom, Desert Moon, is said to be hosting,” Emilia said, her voice soft and gentle. “An alliance with their Alpha is of utmost importance.”
“That hasn’t been decided,” Alpha Jaxon corrected.
“Desert Moon’s Alpha built that territory from nothing,” Mavy said, tilting her head the way she did when she’d been reading up on someone. “Everyone calls him the Mad King, but no one’s seen his face. Oh, Adea. Maybe we can find our mates there!”
She nudged me. I opened my mouth as a hand slid across the small of my back. It was a brand, a claim that made the phantom pain beneath my collarbone flare into a blinding white heat.
It was slow and deliberate, his touch seared through the fabric of my hoodie, fingers spreading wide.
Shane. He didn’t look at me—he kept his gaze on his father.
For one broken second, the warmth of his hand felt like a desperate homecoming.
Like a buried memory I recognized, but couldn’t remember.
His fingers crept lower, and the feeling curdled into a far more dangerous chill.
Instincts wound tight, screaming at me to snap at him, but I stayed paralyzed.
“Is that what you’d like?” Shane’s thumb traced a slow, bruising circle against my spine, forcing the question into my skin. His breath was warm on my ear, his arm brushing my shoulder. “To find your mate at the festival?”
“Shane.” Jaxon’s voice carried mild warning, the kind a father used on his heir.
I sat rigid, my heart slamming against my ribs.
I didn’t belong here, but I’d spent the last ten years alongside the twins—Mavy had insisted I be enrolled in her year when I arrived, two years her senior and newly orphaned, and her father allowed it.
No one questioned her. No one asked what I wanted.
For five years he’d been merely unpleasant, the Alpha’s son performing for an audience.
Since my eighteenth birthday, that dynamic had curled into a predatory obsession.
The same morning the dreams had turned from whispers to screams. That was the day I should have gotten my wolf, but nothing ever went right for me.
It had been two years, and my scent hadn’t changed, but he had—the way he tracked me across rooms and pressed too close on staircases and smiled as if he already knew how this ended.
“Trent is coming over before the Academy,” Mavy said, picking at her food. “Hitch a ride with us, Adea? Please?”
I swallowed a bite of toast that felt like dirt in my mouth. Trent hated when I rode with them. He coveted his alone time with her. I could already see the distaste in his eyes when he realized the rogue’s scent would be clinging to his leather seats.
“It’s okay, Mave. I… prefer to walk,” I said.
“Oh, okay.” She smiled sadly. She turned back to her plate and picked at her food. She didn’t hear the word no often, and I was one of few who could do it and get away with it.
“What’ve you got to do, Ady? Scrub the toilets?” Shane’s voice rumbled beside me, sharp and mocking as he used Gabe’s nickname for me.
Jaxon’s gaze flicked to his son. “Shane.”
It wasn’t a rebuke. It was a prompt. Shane didn’t back down; he tilted his head, his eyes bleeding into that challenging glow. “Yes, Alpha?”
No one spoke. Jaxon didn’t get angry. Instead, he lifted his chin, a proud smile touching his lips at his son’s defiance. This was how they raised kings—by letting them practice their cruelty on the things they owned.
That’s me.
“Shane, don’t be an ass,” Mavy snapped, oblivious to the standoff between the men. “She isn’t a slave.” She leaned against me, her silver eyes searching mine for forgiveness I didn’t have the heart to withhold. “I’m sorry, Adea. Ignore him.”
I wanted to tell her it was fine, but Shane’s hand remained, a heavy weight against my spine that made my skin crawl. I gave a tight nod.
“I’m joking, aren’t I, Ady?” Shane murmured, his eyes locking onto mine. His fingers flexed, a slow, possessive drag over my backside that made my breath hitch.
I set my fork down. My hands were steady despite the tremor.
“The Table meets this afternoon,” Jaxon announced, the shift in topic sudden. The Table was filled with select high-ranking wolves from different pack kingdoms. “We vote on the host for the mating festival among other things.”
“Silver is a dying pack,” Emilia said, her voice soft yet firm. “A burden they can’t afford. If we want an alliance with the North, we go to Desert Moon.”
Mavy’s face lit up. “Adea, imagine. Us in beautiful dresses in a different kingdom under the full moon.”
“Yeah,” I managed, the words came out flat. “The chances of you finding your Goddess-chosen increase with every mile from home.”
“Me? You mean we,” Mavy corrected, nudging me. “Daddy, can we go shopping this weekend? Adea needs a dress. One that doesn’t hide her beautiful figure.”
Jaxon surveyed me—the stray he’d kept as a pet—and nodded. “Fine. But keep it appropriate, Mavy. I won’t have my pack represented by anything less than dignity.”
As if that was my natural state. I bit the inside of my cheek at the jab. The chime of a text message broke the spell. Trent.
“I have to go!” Mavy squealed, jumping up to kiss her parents. She threw a glare at Shane before she winked at me. “Tomorrow night, Adea! We’re going shopping!”
She walked out of the room, taking the light with her. Shane’s touch disappeared as I stood.
“Alpha, Luna. Thank you for the meal,” I said, bowing my head. I ignored Shane as I grabbed my dishes and walked into the kitchen. I stacked the porcelain, my movements mechanical.
“I’ve got the dishes. Go so you won’t be late,” Gabe said as he pried a fork from my hand. I didn’t meet his eyes, because if I did, I would cry, and I couldn’t afford to cry in front of them.
“Thank you,” I whispered as I scooped up my bag and headed for the door.
“See you later, Ady.” I refused to acknowledge Shane, but his voice followed me like a shadow as I reached the door.
I didn’t stop until I hit the tree line.
***
When the ivory towers and castle gates were swallowed by the pines, I closed my eyes.
The woods were the only place the migraine didn’t follow. Here, the air was sharp with the aroma of damp earth and pine needles—and something else. An ancient, breathing pressure. My senses were stretched thin, but beneath my ribs, a restless shadow stirred.
I pulled the tie from my hair and let the chocolate strands free as I ran. I felt her the strongest here. I didn’t stop until I reached the hidden pool—a fracture in the earth where the water ran black and motionless. It was the only corner of the world where I could peacefully exist.
I dropped my bag and collapsed onto the moss, the cold ground a mercy against my skin.
Even out here, I didn’t feel entirely alone; the forest breathed with me, a thousand tiny heartbeats thrumming in the undergrowth.
But it was a different kind of company. The trees didn’t demand my loyalty, and the water didn’t ask for my soul. This was mine, and mine alone.
Above me, the canopy fractured the sunlight into jagged shards of gold and blue. The wind hissed through the branches, a low, rhythmic sound that mimicked the battlefield in my head. For a moment, I wasn’t a stray or a pet. I just was—and the forest didn’t ask anything more of me than that.
A pair of rabbits darted through the ferns, their pulse a frantic thrum. My heartbeat slowed. I could have stayed there until the sun died, letting the moss grow over me, but the sudden snapping of twigs cut through the peace.
I’m alone.
I belong.
One day, I promised myself. I’d find a place where the walls weren’t so pristine and there were no debts. I didn’t know where it was or who built it. It existed somewhere else, and it was mine.
I sat up, the weight of the dreams settling back onto my shoulders. There was a scent that eluded me. Not pine, nor the damp of the pool. Only a dark, intoxicating sweetness. It slipped before I could grasp it.
I reached for that restless shadow beneath my ribs, but it didn’t stir.
Whatever she craved, it wasn’t here. I needed to leave my sanctuary.
The ominous walls of the Academy called—a place designed to remind me I was a wolf in name only.
It was time to pretend I was a woman who didn’t have a war raging inside her.