Chapter One
Sofia
“Damn, Princess. You broke my fucking nose,” Luca growls. His voice sounds thick and nasal because, yeah, I definitely broke his nose.
Good. He deserved it.
He’s sitting in a pool of his own blood, glaring up at me acting as if I’m the problem.
Like, I didn’t just watch my best friend nearly get dragged off by a monster.
My heart’s still hammering against my ribs from the adrenaline coursing through me.
My wolf is spitting fire at not being able to help someone in such a vulnerable position.
Someone who is not only hugely important to me, but who is physically weaker and needed me.
My blood burns from the frustration, anger, and—if I’m honest with myself—the complete terror of helplessness I had felt.
I haven’t felt that useless or small in years. Not since the night my mother blew our life apart. I’ve worked hard to never feel that insignificant again. And Luca had to go and annihilate every bit of confidence and self-belief I’ve been building.
The cloying scent of copper burns my nostrils as I survey the damage.
As well as his obviously broken nose, blood stains his chin and gray shirt.
There are long, angry claw marks along his hips and outer thighs, cutting past his jeans and into the flesh.
My marks. I did that when I tried to fight him off.
He should’ve let me go.
I narrow my eyes at him. I know the look I’m giving would make most wolves back down, but of course, not Luca.
No, he watches me like I’m a puzzle he already knows how to solve.
One that’s not worth his time. Assuming he’s not the reason I’m standing here, shaking with fury and shame and something that came dangerously close to grief.
He could have gotten Emily killed. Jackson too.
What the hell is wrong with him? I’m an alpha female, for fuck's sake. I can handle myself in a fight. I could have taken at least two of those warriors easily.
“You’re lucky that’s all I did, you un-fucking-believable, chauvinistic asshat!” I shout, my voice echoing across the clearing. “I can’t believe you did that!”
My chest rises and falls in hard bursts as I glare down at Luca, and he glares right back. He is the absolute worst! He’s sitting there, resetting his broken nose, looking so damn calm about it all. As if we aren’t in a clearing with seven dead warriors and a dead alpha.
Not that they’ll be missed. Every last one of them deserved to die.
My claws are still out, my wolf pacing just beneath my skin, liquid gold burning in my eyes, and my vision sharper while my wolf remains present.
Every instinct in me is still screaming from being held back, restrained like I’m some fragile little pampered princess instead of a completely capable alpha female.
“How do you still not get that I can look after myself?” I snap, my voice cracking with the heat of betrayal.
“I saved you from getting hurt in a fight you have no business being a part of,” he mutters, voice low and clipped. “No need to be a brat about it.”
He looks up at me, raising an eyebrow as if he’s expecting a thank you. Like saving me from the fight—saving me from myself—is something I needed.
“Seriously, Luca? A brat? Because it's childish and unreasonable to not want to stand by while a sadistic psychopath abducts my best friend? That’s your take on the situation? Unbelievable.”
I growl, throwing my hands up in pure rage.
There’s no talking to him. No fucking point anymore.
I whirl around to where Ryan is watching this disaster unfold.
Completely naked after shifting back into his human form after the fight, but I’m too angry not to lay into him. “And you! What the hell, Ryan?”
“What did I do?”
“Exactly! What did you do? You did sweet fuck-all while a vulnerable omega was about to be swept off to be fucking tortured for the rest of her life. Do you honestly think Luca could have held me back forever? That I wouldn’t have gone after her?”
“No, Fia, it’s not that simple,” Ryan says, sinking to a seated position, so he’s not standing around with his junk out.
Which is the one thing I can be grateful for right now.
His face is pale, and his jaw is clenched tight.
He looks like he’s choking on the guilt, and yet he’s still trying to defend himself.
“Yes, it is! Emily needed our protection. And you failed her. She came to us for a new home, and I thought we gave that to her, welcomed her with open arms, but you were going to let her abuser swoop in and take her back. You’re a sorry excuse for an alpha, and I can’t even look at you right now.”
“Fia…” Ryan trails off. Anguish chokes his voice, and pain contorts his face.
That was harsh, but I don’t give a single flying fuck.
I have no idea if Emily will survive what just happened.
Jackson has carried her to the pack hospital after she collapsed.
She should never have had to be the one to put her piece of shit ex down.
I hate Ryan for everything that just happened. He might be the only family member I have left, but what’s one more colossal disappointment? At least my family is consistently awful. I wouldn’t want to get my hopes up.
And I hate Luca too. For holding me back.
I detest the part of me that wants to sink to the ground beside him and check how bad it really is.
I loathe how my wolf doesn’t care that we’re furious—how she leans into his attention like it's everything she’s ever wanted.
In all honesty, I hate myself for the guilt I can’t fully ignore about how much damage I inflicted on him.
I shove that part of me down. Hard. Luca’s not the same guy who was there for me after everything with my parents.
And even if he did it because of some fucked-up notion of protecting me, he still stopped me and endangered my best friend. And I can’t forgive that.
I shoot Luca one more glare before I storm off towards the pack hospital to check on Emily and Jackson.
The pack hospital is buzzing with activity. So much so that no one even glances at me when I walk in. My presence here isn’t unusual, to be fair. Checking in on injured pack members is one of my stand-in luna jobs while Ryan waits for his mate.
I don’t want to disturb anyone; instead, I follow the commotion.
It leads me straight to Jackson. He’s standing outside Emily’s room while Doc and his nurses check her over.
The air is heavy with the scent of his emotions: the bitter tang of resentment, the sour odor of worry, strong enough that I could choke on it.
I lay my hand on Jackson’s shoulder, and he flinches. He’s so wrapped up in what’s happening with Emily that he didn’t even realize I was here. He’s pulled on some shorts, but his legs and upper body are bare, meaning I can see he’s covered in deep gashes, scrapes, and bites.
“You need to get those looked at,” I say, softening my usually fiery tone.
“She’s unconscious, Fia. What if she doesn’t wake up?”
“She will,” I say firmly. I refuse to believe there could be a goddess who would allow Emily to suffer this much, only to die when she finally finds happiness.
No one could be that cruel. I’m sure of it.
Even as a niggling voice pokes at me from deep inside my mind.
What if she lives, but she never wants to see you again?
I wouldn’t blame her. It might not have been my fault that her psychotic ex turned up here, but I didn’t keep her safe.
While my sweet omega bestie risked her life to reject her sadistic mate, I was at a safe distance, letting Luca get the better of me and allowing myself to be restrained.
I should have been able to get out of his hold.
Should have fought back harder. How will she ever forgive me?
Icy dread curls in my stomach as the reality of what happened over the past hour hits me.
With the adrenaline finally fading, my shoulders slump, and exhaustion weighs heavily on me.
My muscles are exhausted, and I have a dull ache from trying to dislodge myself from Luca’s hold.
I can only imagine what Jackson must be feeling.
He was the one in the thick of the battle, not me.
“Go, let someone check you out,” I say, trying to sound like I have my shit together and gesturing for Olive, one of the nurses, to come over. “Emily will need you strong and healthy when she wakes up.”
Jackson’s shoulders slump. He knows I’m right.
“I’ll be right here. I won’t leave her side.”
“Thanks, Fia, I’m glad she has you. That we both do.”
His eyes are watery and red-rimmed. I hear what’s left unsaid.
He doesn’t have Ryan and Luca anymore. They let him down so astonishingly; it’s hard to see how their friendship could come back from them standing back and not helping him to save Emily.
And those three have been best friends their whole lives, close to thirty years.
But maybe Ryan and Luca shouldn’t have been such useless assholes if they wanted Jackson to still be friends with them. I shake my head, trying to dislodge those thoughts. I have more important things to worry about right now.
I bring my attention back to Emily. She’s so tiny in the hospital bed. Her pale blonde hair dyed pink from Aidan’s blood. She’s so vulnerable. So undeserving of the shitshow that has been her life.
A part of me hoped Emily would be my mate when we first met.
I had an immediate connection with her. The need to protect her and be there for her was so strong that I couldn’t have avoided it, even if I had wanted to.
And it wasn’t just that I wanted her to be safe; I wanted to open up with her, too.
She is the only wolf I allow to see my unfiltered emotions.
The only one I don’t need to wear a mask with.
Sure, I have other friends. But Emily was the first wolf I really connected to in years.
Since I was a kid. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that it wasn’t a mate bond that we shared.
It was something different. A friendship unlike any other.
And I want my friend to be happy, healthy and safe.
“Any updates?” I ask as Doc comes out of the room.
He sighs before answering. “I don’t need to tell you, Sofia, there’s no treatment for a rejected fated-mate bond. Emily, being an omega, puts her at a higher risk, but she was the one to do the rejecting. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
I nod as tears prick my eyes, and the now blurry shapes of nurses leave Emily’s room. I’m always losing people. But I can’t lose her. I trust that she has survived so much already; she’ll get through this.
I drop into the seat beside her bed and take her pale hand in my tanned one, letting myself remember all the things Emily and I have shared over the past few weeks.
She has to be okay.