Chapter 1

Helena strode through the fields with a determined pace. Her hazel eyes flashing with sparks of green and gold. She wasn’t even sure where she was heading but she had to get away from the from the Packhouse.

Long legs carried her through the tall grass and although she could have easily shifted form and got away quicker Helena knew that reining in the animalistic side was her best bet right now. The conversation she’d overheard on the staircase replayed itself repeatedly through her mind.

“It doesn’t matter, they want her then that’s the end of it, I hear they paid a lot of money to cover her leaving the pack before her eighteenth”

“Didn’t a Luna there get killed?”

“That’s a rumour…but I tell you what I’m glad it’s not Celeste, she’d be eaten alive.”

“Yeah well, I don’t think many stand a chance with that pack, they’re insane ”

“They’re coming down for the next ball, that’ll be when she goes.”

“Yeah, shame though, she’s a nice enough girl.”

It had to be her, it was her birthday in six weeks’ time, the other unmated Beta females of the pack were over or not as close to eighteen. They had mentioned Celeste, Helena’s best friend and while they couldn’t be more different, they were the closest of companions. While Celeste had the palest porcelain doll face with wide blue eyes and a gentle expression Helena was, as her family would say, “all wolf”.

Her skin was creamy but with a light tan from all her running, her long, enveloping chocolate-coloured tresses blew in every direction, curling into wild ringlets and her mouth, although containing full soft lips was often set in a determined look.

She wasn’t the life of the party, nor the pretty doll to gaze at like Celeste so why would she be getting whisked away from her home? There was the unmated Alpha Asher from the nearby mining town with his scars and drink problem, Alpha Francis from Greenfell that was known to be a ruthless and cruel leader, Helena grimaced at the idea of fighting that brute away.

Another thought made her stop, a murdered Luna. That meant…Alpha Romanov…surely not. The White Forest Pack. Her breath caught and tears filled her eyes. That pack was so far away, almost everything people knew about them were rumours of magic, war and death. Who was even her buyer, some random thug Beta with no patience for his own mate?

Anger flashed up again as Fyre, her wolf resisted all ideas of being told what to do, especially by the useless Alpha Jones of her pack, the Five Lakes. He had been a truly fearsome Alpha leader in his prime but now there was a weariness to his massive body that seemed to translate throughout the small pack and its township.

Alpha Jones was in his fifties, broad-built with greying hair and silvery eyes, yet was plagued by his brutish sons Caleb and Jack who were in their mid-twenties. Though Caleb was the older brother and destined to be Alpha of Five Lakes someday it was rumoured Alpha Jones was hanging onto his title while Caleb “matured”. He and Jack had been excessively rough to some of the gamma family’s daughters whilst the rest of the men were out on patrol.

The poor girls had been too afraid to name their attackers, but everyone knew. Both brothers had high set cheekbones, sandy hair, and mossy coloured eyes like their mother yet the enormously powerful build of their father standing easily over 6 feet tall, toned with muscles, tattoos, and attitude.

Whilst Helena had actively avoided them for years, Celeste mooned over their looks and tree like bodies. Thankfully her eighteenth birthday saw Celeste not be mated to them, a relief to Helena at the time. Helena had few interactions with the brothers, she saw no need to pander to their status for in her eyes they hadn’t earnt it.

She knew once Caleb was named Alpha the tables would turn, and she would have to show more obedience and deference to his authority. The idea of deference to such a man troubled Fyre greatly too.

The brothers didn’t take part in the fighting and war training that Helena’s adoptive father, Beta Dawes specialised in. They had ignored calls to increase patrols when incidents of rogue attacks on the Pack boundaries increased. Instead their focus was on partying, where they could preen and pose as mighty leaders under the gawping eyes of fawning women. Meanwhile houses and training grounds fell into disrepair. Caleb and Jack relied upon their huge forms to intimidate, untrained brute strength was sometimes just as dangerous as the highly trained, for a brute can still kill, but often without thinking through the consequences.

/Perhaps getting away wouldn’t be the worse thing/ Fyre grumbled

“Paired off with a lunatic or go rogue?”

/Better to go rogue from the White Forest, further away from those who could easily track you?/

“Mmmm...” The idea tumbled round Helena’s mind. If she had to be removed from her home, then at least it should serve her a purpose. She was a strong fighter, resourceful and quick but not cold, her heart ached at the fact her adoptive parents were going to be devastated. Celeste would inevitably weep buckets. Would she be able to mind-link from that far away? It seemed doubtful.

Helena had come to a stop at the edge of a field and leant against the fencing gazing out into the wild open where the strong breeze calmed her nerves as she took in deep breaths of fresh air.

/You won’t be taken by surprise with the news anymore/ Fyre reassured, you have that to your advantage. She was a quirky wolf, shy and calm in some situations but fiercely protective of their independence.

Suddenly Fyre altered her to the fact she was no longer alone, there was a presence. Helena tied her hair back into a messy bun and walked with the wind along a narrow track that wound through the long grass heading towards town, hands buried deep into the pockets of her hoodie, shorts and sneakers displaying long toned legs that nobody round there could ever outrun.

As she strode down the path in silence, the two observers stayed back, they had seen enough.

“Next ball – she’s mine.” Jack muttered

“Might take two of us, she’ll fight you know,” Caleb snorted whilst greedily eyeing Helena’s body, annoyed at the hoodie covering her top half. The other girls in town weren’t nearly as modest.

“Whatever, she’s been a stuck-up cow towards us for months, I’m not having it anymore…you know she’s leaving after the ball, got to make this one stick.”

“They might not want her when we’re through,” snickered Caleb, a darkness colouring his pleasant-looking face.

With a high-five the brothers confidently strode down the track back to the packhouse