Chapter 1

The salt spray hit my face, cold and sharp. Jessica squealed beside me, pointing at the churning waves where the rocks met the sea.

"Isn't this amazing, Sarah? So wild!"

I nodded, but a weird feeling settled in my stomach. This trip was supposed to be a last hurrah before real life started. College was over, and I felt like a boat without a rudder.

Jessica, on the other hand, was all bright sails and forward motion, always looking for the next thrill.

That' s when we saw them.

Not on the rocks, but emerging from the waves as if the sea itself birthed them. Men, sleek and powerful, with eyes that held the ocean' s depth.

One, clearly their leader, was breathtaking. Ethereal, Jessica breathed. His name, we' d learn, was Ethan Rourke.

Jessica didn't hesitate.

"I want to go with him," she declared, her eyes fixed on Ethan, captivated.

Before I could process, another figure stepped from the treeline bordering the beach. Tall, broad, radiating a raw, untamed energy. His eyes, amber and intense, locked onto me. Marcus Thorne.

He didn't ask. He simply stated, "You're mine."

And just like that, our paths split. Jessica went to the sea, chasing a dream. I was pulled into the forest, into a nightmare.

Life with Marcus' s werewolf pack, the Ironwoods, was brutal. He called me his Luna, a title I earned through fear and forced compliance, not love. His possessiveness was a chain, heavy and cold. I was a prize, a symbol of his power, nothing more.

Jessica, I heard, wasn't happy either. The quiet, ancient traditions of the Selkies, Ethan' s reserved nature, it wasn' t the adventure she' d imagined. She grew restless, then reckless.

One day, desperate and ostracized by the Selkies for some transgression I never learned the details of, she came to me. Begging for help.

I still had a sliver of loyalty to the friend she once was.

To create a diversion, to give her a chance to escape whatever mess she' d made, I subtly provoked a rival faction, stirring trouble for Marcus's pack. A dangerous game.

Chaos erupted. In the confusion, as I tried to ensure Jessica got away, she pointed a finger at me. A betrayal so swift, so cold, it stole my breath.

"She's the one causing all this! She's with them!"

Her words were a death sentence.

The Selkies, Ethan' s people, already on edge from the conflict I' d indirectly started, saw me as an enemy, an aggressor.

Ethan himself was there. His eyes, usually calm like the deep sea, were stormy. He didn' t recognize the manipulation, only the perceived threat.

The last thing I saw was the ocean, and then, nothing.

Pain, then cold, then darkness.

Killed by the very people Jessica had chosen, because of a betrayal I never saw coming.