PROLOGUE
*
"You don't seem to understand. I want you with an obsession that borders on absolute madness. The more you resist me, the harder I chase you."
"You will never have me." She said and he chuckled darkly.
"The thing is, I already do. There's a thin line between enemies and lovers. You. Are. Mine."
~
ADAIRA
~
Is it possible to die of excitement? Or maybe just pass out because you’re so happy you don’t know what else to do?
I am the luckiest girl on the planet and today is going to be the happiest day of my life.
“Slow down, Ady. You’ll hurt yourself if you keep bouncing around too much.” My mother chuckled as I twirled around our kitchen.
“I just can’t stay at a place mum. I feel so... alive. It’s like there are fireworks going off in my brain and my tummy.” I giggled and twirled again.
I stopped and leaned in to whisper in my mother’s ears.
“I’m getting mated, mum, can you believe it?” I spoke like it was a secret when the whole pack knew what was happening.
Today, in front of the whole members of the Brookstone pack, Tyler would claim me as his mate. Tyler is the Alpha’s son and next in line to lead the pack. And he is also my boyfriend, we have been dating for almost two years. Tyler turned 18 last year and my 18th birthday was last week. I was disappointed that we weren’t fated mates because I always felt so connected to Tyler like he was my mate, but we decided to become chosen mates. We would bond our wolves together and our official joining would be honoured the same way fated mate bonds were honoured. I was ecstatic.
“I’m proud of you, baby girl.” My father said and I shrieked as he picked me up and spun me around.
He was happy that Tyler and I were finally getting mated. My father had been persuading me to get mated to Tyler since the first day Tyler asked me out. Mating Tyler would automatically make me the next in line Luna of the pack and my father was eager to hurry the process and alleviate our status.
My parents were both Omegas, the least ranked wolves in every pack. The ones with the weaker wolves and who were assigned to the menial tasks in the pack. I had never been subjected to the gruesome life of an Omega because I was born on a full blood red moon. It had been centuries since a wolf was born on a day like that. I was special and was therefore treated as such despite being an Omega, especially after having my first shift and my wolf was as white as the moon, a sign that I was blessed by the moon Goddess.
I was never subjected to bullying, or ordered around by higher ranked wolves, and I had the Alpha’s favour even before I started dating his son. Any wolf who troubled me was immediately punished by the Alpha. Even my parents enjoyed a certain level of privilege because I came from them, but it was not enough. Only becoming the Luna will truly make their lives comfortable so I understood my father’s eagerness.
“My baby girl is all grown up now.” He said as he dropped me down and my smile was so wide, it almost split my face in half.
“We need to help with the preparations of the pack square for tonight’s ceremony. Will you be okay on your own?” My mother asked as she came closer to the two of us.
“I’ll be fine, mother. I can come with you if you want, that way, you can keep an eye on me.”
“No. You’re the future Luna, you shouldn’t be working during your own mating ceremony. We’ll meet you when it’s time. Your only job is to get dressed and look beautiful for your special day.” She said as she hugged me and gave me a peck on the cheek.
My father kissed my other cheek and they both left. I ran to my room and picked up my phone to call my bestfriend Chantel. The excitement in me was too much, I needed to talk to someone or I would explode into tiny pieces of happiness. Chantel and I have been bestfriends for years, her father is the pack Beta so she was highly ranked in the pack. Lately though, we weren’t talking as much as we used to. She is always busy nowadays.
“Hey Chantel.” I squealed as she answered my call.
“Hey.”
Her tone was drab and I put my excitement aside for her sake, she seemed sad.
“What’s wrong, Chantel?” I asked her.
“Nothing, I’m fine.” She replied to me.
“You don’t sound fine.”
“I said I’m fine, okay. What do you want?” She snapped at me.
“It seems you’re in a bad mood. Someone must have made you angry. Don’t worry, we’ll talk later.”
“Whatever.” She said and hung up.
I stared at the phone for several seconds after the call was disconnected. Chantel has never been so rude to me before, I wonder what’s going on with her.
I decided not to let Chantel’s bad mood affect me. I took a bath and got dressed in the beautiful dress that Tyler had gotten for me. It complimented my ivory skin perfectly. I checked the time and there was still about an hour left before the official ceremony would start. I was too excited to sit at home and wait so I decided to go find Tyler. He was probably at his house. I wanted us to have some time to ourselves before we would be engrossed in the ceremony.
As I walked towards the direction of Tyler’s house, people stared at me. Some of them walked up to me to say I looked beautiful and others slightly bowed as I passed. It all seemed so unreal, I wasn’t even officially the Luna, yet I was already being revered like I was.
I got to Tyler’s house and the butterflies in my tummy multiplied like they usually did when I was close to him. I didn’t have to knock, I was welcome here at any time and as shifters we rarely locked our doors. The trust of the pack bond was that strong. I walked up the stairs heading for his room, but I heard his voice coming from the opposite hallway so I turned in that direction. When I got closer, I realised that it was coming from his father’s office. This close, I could hear what they were discussing about and I froze as I heard Tyler’s next words.
“I will not get mated to Adaira.”
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ADAIRA~All the figurative butterflies in my tummy seemed to die at once. A cold feeling of dread settled in my tummy instead and I began to sweat for no apparent reason. My heart immediately tried to convince me that it couldn’t possibly be Tyler that said that. Maybe someone was just trying to play a prank on me, but then he spoke again and there was no doubt that it was him in there saying those words.“I’m serious, father, I’m done pretending I care about her. She’s not even my type.” Tyler said in a tone dripping with disdain.“I don’t care if she’s your type or not, Tyler, you will claim her as your mate tonight.” The Alpha growled at his son.I could hear the anger in his voice and it made me shiver. Or maybe the shiver was for a different reason, who knows. I don’t really know what or how I’m supposed to feel except that it seemed like my heart was being ripped from my chest.“She’s just an Omega, a weak Omega. I can never accept her as a mate. I only dated her because you ma
ADAIRA ~ I walked with a smile on my face between my parents as they led me back to the pack square. My parents stood on either side of me like they were afraid I would run at the slightest opportunity. I wanted to, but I stayed for their sake. Even if it felt like my heart was being torn to shreds, I wouldn’t be selfish, they’ve given up so much for me, this was the least I could do to give them a better life. I would smile and pretend to be happy, I would mate Tyler even if he loathed my existence. It was a full moon, that was the only time this kind of ceremony could be held. Fated mates could have their mating ceremonies at any time, but those like me and Tyler that weren’t fated but decided to choose each other had to mate on the night of a full moon. It was a symbolism of getting the moon Goddess’ blessing for the union. The light of the moon always gave me comfort, and tonight was no different. I prayed to the moon Goddess for the strength to go through with this and what I
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ADAIRA ~ I should have known that something was wrong the second I saw smoke as we approached my old pack. I pointed it out to Raed but he kissed my cheek and told me to calm down and stop letting my nerves stop us from doing this. “Relax, babe. Shifters have festivals all the time, maybe they’re roasting the kills of the last hunt.” He said to me. As we got closer, my second clue was the lack of patrol at the pack boundary. Even Raed’s brow creased with a tinge of worry but he still tried to reassure me. “Maybe they were invited to the feast as well? I don’t know what your pack security protocols are like.” He said. “There’s always supposed to be guards at the boundary, no matter what festival is going on. They usually do one hour rotations on special occasions so each of them gets to enjoy themself, and the border would still be guarded. Except Tyler changed things around here when he took over, it’s so unusual for them all to be gone at the same time.” I replied. That was whe
ADAIRA~When I woke up after who knows how long, I was lying on my stomach in human form, and I was clean. Someone had bathed me, washed my hair and put a gown on me. I felt so violated and I growled as I tried to stand. How dare they touch me without consent?My back bumped into the top of whatever I was in and it made me even more angry. I looked around and discovered that I was in a fucking cage, I couldn’t rise up more than this. I only had two options in the enclosed space, lie down the way I was before I woke up or maintain my current crouch on hands and knees. Lying down would leave me vulnerable to attack so I decided to remain on all fours, it wasn’t much of an advantage if I actually got attacked while I was in this enclosed space, but it was something at least.My anger at being touched without my permission multiplied at the thought that I was locked up like a damn dog. I’m a shifter with an animal side, but it doesn’t mean I should be degraded this way, wolves deserve be
ADAIRA~It felt like someone was trying to fry all my brain cells and I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t scream. I couldn’t afford to alert the rogues that I was awake. The element of surprise may be the thing that lets me outsmart these rogues so I can make my escape. If it was someone else, I would have shut them out immediately, but I held on because it was Raed, and he may have something important to tell me. At least now I know that he’s alive.“Raed.” I tried to speak through the pain.“Ady.” His voice in my head was strained, that was how I knew that he was in pain too.He may even be in more pain than I was because he was the one that initiated the mind link. I knew why this was happening, we weren’t members of the same pack, and we weren’t mated yet. He could only have access to me because he’s an Alpha, but the price of trying to form a temporal bond to be able to mind link me was the pain.“Fuck! I didn’t think doing this would hurt so much.” Raed cursed.“We need to
ADAIRA~I made the mistake of trying to get up again, forgetting where I was for a moment. I snarled and cursed as my back collided with the top of the cage. I looked around, momentarily confused why I was still in a cage, I thought we had already escaped. My eyes widened as I finally realised what had happened… O dear goddess, I was just dreaming. We never escaped.“Who is Raed?” The man in front of me growled menacingly.He was crouched in front of my cage and in my position, I couldn’t see his full frame, just his face. But I didn’t need to see him completely to know who he was, I felt the power that seemed to seep from his pores. He could be no other person but the Rogue Alpha that was terrorising the other packs with his pack of miscreants. He was beautiful. Brown skinned with curly hair that was in a complicated knot on his head with some tendrils loose around his face, full sensuous lips, and those eyes that were now more golden but still had a little swirl of red in it.I had
ADAIRA~I waited patiently and listened carefully. The rogues were being rowdy, and from the sounds I could hear, it seemed like they were being gathered together for something, like they wanted to leave, maybe to invade another pack. The Rogue Alpha didn’t send any of his wolves to guard me, and I didn’t know whether to be elated or insulted. One one hand, I knew that it was a good thing because my escape would be easier without someone constantly watching me. On the other hand, if he didn’t send any guards here, then he didn’t consider me enough of a threat to do so. Even if this was a better option for my escape, my wolf was annoyed at being disregarded as a warrior, and I was annoyed at her for letting me down.Now I wish I could actually communicate with my wolf, the curse words I would have used on her have not been invented yet. Instead, I settled for just projecting my anger about her actions, making sure she would feel the full brunt of my disappointment. She tried to send f