Chapter 1

1.

I was never a child of the Croft pack.

I was war loot. Salvaged from the slaughterhouse ruins of a rogue wolf massacre.

That night. The air thick with the stench of torn entrails and fresh blood. My mother shoved me down into a narrow, damp cellar and used her own body to brace the flimsy wooden door.

I crouched in absolute darkness. My hand clamped tight over my sister Emily's mouth. All night. The sound of fangs tearing through flesh. Bones being crunched alive.

At the breaking point of terror and despair, the wolf spirit inside me detonated.

A blinding silver radiance. The purest power of the Moon Goddess herself.

It wrapped around me and Emily in an instant. Then my body shut down. Total depletion. I sank into a deathlike coma so deep my heart left no trace of a beat.

Dawn. The Croft pack's ruling Alpha led the cleanup crew. They found us.

He didn't even glance down at my blood-soaked body. The weak thing that barely looked alive. He walked straight past me and lifted Emily into his arms. Unharmed. Still glowing with the residue of my drained power.

He hoisted her above his head and bellowed at the search party like a man possessed.

"The Moon Goddess bears witness! This girl is the chosen Kingmaker! Whoever bonds with her shall receive the ultimate blessing. Bloodline limits shattered. The next Alpha of this territory!"

And me? My power was gone. I couldn't manage the most basic wolf transformation. The brutal hierarchy of wolfkind branded me on sight. Omega. The lowest rank.

In a world that worshipped violence and slaughter, an Omega who couldn't hunt was a mobile blood bag. A tool to be used up and discarded.

Emily became the princess. The crown every elite male fought like rabid dogs to claim. And I became the most pathetic stepping stone beneath her counterfeit throne.

Today was the mate-bonding ceremony. But everyone in that hall understood the truth. This was the arena where the next Alpha heir would be decided.

Emily stood on the dais in a pristine white couture gown. A proud queen. The air swam with expensive perfume, barely masking her painfully mediocre pheromones.

Cole. Perfect beast physique. The strongest Beta enforcer. Down on one knee before her. Total submission. The hall shook with deafening howls.

Only Caine stood in the deepest shadows.

His left arm had been destroyed once. A savage old wound clawing from his wrist to his elbow. The scar of wolfsbane poisoning.

He stood there, gray eyes fixed on me like I was a sewer rat.

We were fated mates. And I could read the hatred bleeding from his stare. I was the one who had ruined his last shot at the Alpha title.

In the absolute law of wolfkind, once he was forced into a mate bond with me, bound to a worthless Omega, he was out of the game. Finished.

Last lifetime.

I looked him in the eye. "I accept the bond."

Calm. Quiet.

I watched the hunger for power in his eyes die. Snuffed out by my hand. From that day forward, he hated me down to his marrow.

He credited his rise to his own talent. He blamed me for the humiliation of being chained to dead weight.

The wolfsbane toxin flared. Again. Again. Making him wish he were dead. I spent countless nights at his bedside. Draining my own life force. Pulling the blackened poison from his veins. Thread by thread.

I healed his left arm. Rebuilt his strength. Made him a top-tier warrior again.

And when I coughed up blood from pure exhaustion, he'd spit one word through his teeth. Cold.

"Leave. Useless waste of space."

Until the rogues came with their silver weapons.

The estate burned. The building roared with flames. Emily was trapped in the center of the hall. A collapsed beam pinning her down. Screaming.

Caine tore past me like a madman. Charged into the inferno. Used the body I had rebuilt for him to shield her from the burning timber.

Another beam crashed down. Snapped my leg.

I watched him carry Emily toward the door. He stopped. Looked back at me.

"If you hadn't forced that bond on me." His voice cut through the roaring fire. Smug. Nauseatingly self-righteous. "Right now, I'd be the one holding her. I'd be the one worthy of becoming Alpha. You owe me this, Seraphine. Burn here."

He charged out of the flames with the fraud in his arms. Didn't even look back.

***

I gasped.

My eyes snapped open. Chest heaving. I dragged cold air into my lungs in greedy gulps. Howls battered my ears. The thick stench of Alpha pheromones stabbed at my senses.

I was back. Back at the beginning. Before the betrayal. Before the destruction. Today. The bonding ceremony.

"Alpha!"

Cole's booming voice detonated through the hall.

He was down on one knee before Emily. And Caine, the man who should have been in the shadows shredding me with his stare, strode forward instead. He dropped to his knees. Hard.

Total violation of wolfkind's absolute exclusivity law.

"Cole and I. We petition to jointly mark Emily! We will share the duty of her protection!"

Caine's eyes were locked on the fraud. Fanatical. Revolting.

The hall exploded.

Two elite warriors. Sharing one female.

Pure greed for power. And the ultimate public humiliation of me. The Omega with a heaven-ordained bond. Discarded in front of everyone.

A flash of triumph flickered through Emily's eyes. Gone in an instant. Replaced by a perfect, saintly victim expression.

"Caine, don't do this... Seraphine needs a mate too. If you both choose me, what will happen to my poor sister?"

"Drop the nauseating victim act, Emily."

I spoke. My voice came out cold. A blade dipped in ice. It sliced through the noise of the hall and severed it clean.

Every head turned. They stared at me like I'd lost my mind.

The reigning Alpha's brows slammed together. A warning pressure rolled off him. Tangible. Heavy.

I met his eyes. Didn't flinch.

The power that had burned itself dry saving others in my last life was now raging through my veins. Wild. Starving.

I walked to the center of the hall. The ancient stone monument carved with the old laws. Without hesitation, I bit open my own wrist.

Blood dripped onto the rough stone. A sharp hiss.

"Since you all treat her as the only key to the throne." My voice rose above the collective gasp. "Three days from now. At the coronation ceremony. I, Seraphine, invoke the Blood-Light Challenge. I challenge Emily. No limits. To the death."

Dead silence.

The Blood-Light Challenge. The most ancient and savage absolute law of wolfkind.

Any wolf willing to stake their life and soul had the right to launch a death-duel for the throne. No restrictions. No mercy. For centuries, it had been too brutal to use. And never by a bottom-rank Omega.

Caine snorted. "Have you lost your mind? A waste of flesh who can't even shift wants to die in the arena?"

Emily rushed forward. Reached for my hand. "Seraphine, don't say things in anger―"

"Don't touch me."

I flung her hand off. My gaze swept over the pair of brothers. Both of them. Blinded by power.

"I, Seraphine, hereby reject the fated bond with Caine."

A tearing agony ripped through the depths of my soul. I severed the invisible thread. Hard.

I watched him stumble back half a step. Hand clutching his chest. Shock all over his face.

Cold. I looked at him cold.

"I have no interest in a stray dog who wags his tail at whoever throws him a bone."

I didn't acknowledge the curses erupting behind me. I turned. Walked out of the hall.