Prologue

Never trust fate, never trust in the power of destiny. It leads only to, 

The Destruction.

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"Why are you doing this?" Amelia's eyes were begging Colton. She wanted to break down and cry, as Colton's frozen eyes met hers. "You- you told me you loved me, you told me-"

He laughed as if he couldn't believe her naivety. "Because... you are just a means to an end. This is nothing personal." Colton snarled as his hand wrapped around her neck. She couldn't breathe. She clawed against her throat, trying hard to breathe. 

She tried to shift, but she couldn't. He leered at her, as his claws ripped at her skin, and then as if he didn't care to even finish the job, he threw her down like garbage, before he bounded off, as Amelia fell to the ground. 

Amelia watched with helpless fury as everything close to her was destroyed. Every important thing in her life was scattered around her, broken into a million pieces. Empty eyes stared at her from the ruins around her.

Empty eyes that accused her.

Agonized screams echoed throughout the familiar lands of Winter Moon Pack. This was her home, and now this had become her grave. 

She was the reason for this annihilation of her pack. 

She prayed she would die, already, but she wasn't dead yet. Just broken, fully, beyond recognition. 

Wolves came at them in every direction, snarling, pouncing, ripping, blood dripping from their muzzles, canines snapping. Screams and howls echoed everywhere. 

Her body was groaning, as much as her heart. Her bones were bent into a weird pretzel and her heart burned in betrayal. She should have never trusted him.

Once a cruel bully, always the cruel bully.

She should have learned her damn lessons, but here she was, once again, made into a fool.

This time, she wasn't the only one paying the price. 

Her whole pack was paying for her foolishness, her stupidity, her love.

She should have rejected him when she first found out who her damn mate was.

Colton Rivers was notorious for his cruelty. He was known for his disregard for other lives, though Amelia never believed it. And here was the proof of that.

She had waited for him, even when he never gave her another look, even when he kissed and had sex with another woman, even though the pain, Amelia had waited, like a damned fool.

She had waited for him to look at her, to give her some small amount of love, at the very least. He had taken a year, to finally accept the bond, to come to her, and Amelia was giddy, exhilarated that he had finally come to his senses.

He had tried to woo her for weeks when she was hesitant at first, and she finally fell for his lies, the web of myth and mayhem he had spun carefully around her and she was trapped. 

Today was her mating ceremony... 

It had all gone too fast, but she didn't doubt anything. She was a naive, stupid, simpleton, who had trusted the mate bond that was strong enough to change even the cruelest of bullies.

Today was their mass funeral...

And here she was, once again proven wrong by her mate, Colton, the big, bad Alpha Wolf.

'I wish you had died,' she thought with a burn in her heart. 'I wish you had died, Colton.' It was as if he could sense her thought, because he turned to look at her, and his eyes flashed for a second, with something akin to guilt. Did he have the heart to even feel the guilt? The bastard... cruel, selfish bastard.

She couldn't even move. She wanted to run to him and snap his neck, but she was so damn weak. She had Alpha blood, and she was a fragile, senseless idiot. There was no absolution for what she had done, except maybe, if she could just kill him as she died.

She was begging for her wolf to come and destroy them, but there was no sound back. There was only the emptiness and the loud sound of the silence. Amelia shuddered. She was going to die, without her wolf. What would her wolf do? Where would she go?

She saw as the tall brown wolf slashed its sharp claws across her mother's face. It was Colton's mistress.

Her vicious eyes were mocking as she punched Amelia's mother, Luna Barbara, with a kick. Normally, her mother would have fought back and would have shifted by now. She was the fiercest of the warriors, but the welcoming potion they had served during the ceremony was dosed with aconitum napellum. Wolf’s bane.

It was heavily masked with the sweet scent of cherries and berries and mint, that no one even took a second sniff.

They were all in a rather celebratory mood that the princess of Alpha Rolland was finally getting her mate back from the b*tch of the woman, Meganne. But no, Meganne was not the type of woman who watched from the sidelines as some weak, starry-eyed girl took her lover from her, now was she!?

Meganne had planned the perfect revenge, except Colton was in on that revenge, too.

"Mom..." She tried to scream, but the word left in such a frail gasp. 

Screams filled the pack land. Children's wails filled the air.  

Amelia begged her wolf to come back, just once, to save her brother Ash, who had only turned a few weeks ago on his sixteenth birthday. He was strong for his age since he had Alpha blood running through his veins, but he was still not fully grown.

Ash was still weak next to Colton's massive gray wolf.

Colton growled as his canines ripped into Ash's beautiful white and brown wolf. He let out a victorious howl as Ash crumbled to the ground. The game was lost before it had started. Ash was no match for Colton. Ash, beautiful, beautiful Ash, with eyes full of innocence, a heart full of sparkling laughter and happiness. He had been her world. She was almost like a mother to him, from his breath.

As a Luna, mom was often busy with pack duties and Amelia had become the caretaker of the little one. She was six years his senior, and he was her baby brother. Tears wet the ground where she lay in, as her heart bled for her beautiful baby. He was dead even before he could live properly, and Colton was the killer. Tears leaked down her eyes and she couldn’t even wipe them.

Colton Rivers. Her mate. Colton, who had promised to protect her, treasure her, who had promised her the moon and everything in the sky and the earth... was a monster. He stood amid the bloodshed, his eyes reflecting the blood around him. Blood was dripping from his muzzle and claws.

How could this be possible? How could someone the Moon Goddess had chosen for her do this to her? Was the Moon Goddess so wrong in her calculations? Why would she do this to Amelia?

How could someone kind and generous like Amelia, someone who always cared for others get this man... this wild, beastly, selfish man now standing proudly over the ripped body of her father, Alpha Rolland, the Alpha of Winter Moon Pack, the Alpha who had ruled his pack with strength and compassion.

Colton could never come closer to her father. He was not even good enough to drink her father's piss.

She saw another large red wolf tearing into her best friend Cilia. Cilia was like a sister to her, her darling friend.

Cilia’s warm brown eyes met Amelia’s and Amelia begged Cilia to forgive her for this through a mind link. Cilia shook her head as her eyes turned blank and the wolf threw her down on the ground like she was a crushed paper cup.

Amelia growled weakly. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t wake up. Her white dress was torn and so was her skin. This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. It was a sneaky ambush, and she should have seen this coming. Had she not been so blinded by him and his pretense, she would have seen it coming.

"I, Amelia Emme Winters, of Winter Moon Pack reject Colton Allan Rivers, Alpha of the Ruby River Pack." She muttered and for a second, she saw the pain in Colton’s eyes. Oh, she knew he had felt it. And she felt a small sadistic pleasure when he bent over and grabbed his stomach. "You will forever regret doing this to me, Colton."

Meganne’s brown wolf bounded towards her. She snarled closer to Amelia’s face, blood dripping from her canines, and then she was pouncing on Amelia’s already torn body.

Blaine, one of her best friends and a gamma warrior, ran towards her, growling, snapping. No… Amelia wanted to scream. She didn’t want to lose any more of her friends. 

Amelia closed her eyes as pain ripped through her body. "If you are seeing now, Moon Goddess, and has a sliver of pity in your cold, cold heart for me, you should help me. I can't die like this. I need to avenge my family and..."

Her breath stopped and Colton's wolf Hawk howled, the mournful sound echoing amid the war cries of the wolves. Everyone stopped and stood still. 

He shifted halfway through the war, as he felt her life passing away.

I will never forgive you, Colton. Never forgive me for this. She is our- she is our mate, and you killed her. Hawk howled. 

Shut up, mutt. Colton hissed. 

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