PROLOGUE

Third person POV

A heavy scream broke the silence of the night. Soon, more screams filled the air as the Crescent moon pack was attacked by rogues. Trained warriors alertly faced the rogues while the rest ran for their lives.

Sixteen-year-old Kayla Xanders woke up to the sounds of the screams in the middle of the night. She was disoriented after waking up suddenly and it took her a moment to realise that a fight was going on outside the pack house.

Gathering herself, Kayla ran to the grounds where the fight was going on. She stood frozen in her spot with terror as she saw unkempt rogue wolves fighting the trained warriors of her pack. She consoled herself by telling that her pack was one of the biggest packs that ever existed, with the most skilled warriors. Since rogues never banded together, she was certain that there would only be a few of them.

But then she saw that there were rogues coming from every direction. There must have been over fifty of them. That felt simply impossible, but she was seeing it with her own eyes…

Then she saw one of the rogue wolves turning into her direction. Its brown coat was matted with blood and its eyes were filled with craziness. Spotting her, it snarled at her and ran towards her. But then it paused and sniffed at the air. With a whimper, the wolf turned direction and ran off to the other side. Kayla stood confused, not understanding what just happened.

Then she saw that the reaction of the wolf had caught the attention of another rogue who was in human form. The man walked towards her with an ugly smirk and she finally got back the control of her limbs. She tried to run away, but then the man threw some powder towards her that sparkled when it made contact with her. She wheezed and coughed as she inhaled the sparkly substance. She tried not to lose her consciousness from whatever the drug was.

The rogue approached her with a victorious look, but before he could reach her, he was attacked by one of the pack warriors. Kayla used this opportunity to run away from there. Kayla looked around and saw that the matter was more serious than she realised. Her pack members were on the ground laying either injured or dead. She felt her heartbeat skyrocket as she tried to find her family.

She wandered around desperately and then found her parents lying dead on the ground. She fell to the ground with disbelief and tried to tell herself that it was all just a nightmare. Her parents were the Alpha and Luna of their pack. They were powerful wolves, and it was impossible to defeat them this easily! They couldn't die! She tried to shake them awake, hoping that they were just unconscious even when she knew full well that they were not. Then she saw her brother Martin lying on the other side. She ran to him and felt hope rise in her when she saw that Martin was still breathing. Maybe he was only slightly injured and then she would have someone left in this world…

But her heart broke when she saw how gravely her brother was injured. Werewolves healed pretty fast, but even werewolves couldn't heal injuries of this level. Kayla knew that there was no saving her brother. Tears fell endlessly as she watched her only sibling dying in front of her. Martin who was supposed to take charge as the Alpha in the next month.... Barely twenty-one with big dreams of finding his mate and leading the pack... So ambitious and so young to die…

Kayla sat down on the ground and laid down his head on her lap. Martin struggled to open his eyes, and he held her hands.

"You are the only one left, Kay… Take care of the pack. Never give up. Be strong," he wheezed out.

Kayla nodded her head as tears streamed down her face. 

"I will," she cried. 

"Sing to me, will you?" he asked tiredly.

Kayla started singing the lullaby her mother sang to her when she was a kid. Martin had a serene expression on his face and even after she knew he was already dead, she kept on singing until her voice turned hoarse. 

Then she gently laid down her brother's head on the ground and stood up. Slowly, her grief turned to rage. She will make them pay for what they have done! 

She threw her head back and let out a loud angry scream that echoed in the now silent night.

Suddenly, she felt pain all over her body. There were cracking sounds as her bones broke and twisted into a new form. She realised with horror that she was changing for the first time.  But she was not supposed to change until the first full moon after her sixteenth birthday. And that was not until two weeks later. The process of changing was always painful the first time, and they needed to be around the comfort of their family and pack. For Kayla, since it was not a full moon, the pain was even more severe.

After what felt like hours of screaming and endless pain, the shift was finally over. A large golden brown wolf lay there in place of a sixteen-year-old girl. Kayla stood up with shaky legs and turned around, watching the bodies littering the ground. She felt rage fill her veins and let out a long aggressive howl that was a war cry and a warning of a hunt to her prey. Then she sniffed the air to scent the rogues. Now it was time for them to become the hunted. Then she ran off in pursuit of the rogues.

Meanwhile, the rogue wolves were running at a leisurely pace without a care in the world. They hadn't crossed the pack's borders yet. They snapped and growled at each other playfully, not knowing what was waiting for them.

Soon, Kayla caught up to them. On seeing the rogues who were running together merrily as if they were a pack, she remembered the pack she lost. She growled angrily, alerting them to her presence.

The rogues turned around and took threatening stances but after scenting the air; they hesitated when they realised it was Kayla. But she had no such qualms about attacking them. She jumped right onto a rogue and went directly for his jugular. Seeing that she had killed one of them, the wolves lost their hesitancy and turned offensive. Five or six of them jumped on her at once and she was overpowered. She let her rage and grief take over and with a snarl; she threw all the wolves off her body before blacking out.

Once she came back to her senses, she found herself surrounded by bodies of the rogues. She hadn't been thinking at all when she pursued the rogues. But now that she could think again, she couldn't believe that she managed to kill off these many rogues all by herself. That too when Alphas including her father and brother failed to do it. She had the feeling that there was more to it than what meets the eye. How were they able to defeat such a mighty pack this easily? 

With thoughts racing through her mind, she went back to the pack covered in blood and gore. More and more questions started flooding her mind. How did these many rogues band together? Were they working under someone? And what did they want with her? All of them seemed to recognise her and wanted to leave her unharmed…

Had she been in her right mind, she would have spared at least one rogue and questioned him to know their motives...

Then she realised one thing. She had never found the rogue in human form that had thrown the powder at her. She knew for sure that he was not among the dead ones. But she couldn't find any trace of his scent now. Kayla knew that she had to find him to get the answers. He was the key to solve all the mysteries.

Even though she had killed the rogues, she didn't feel any satisfaction. Her task was not yet complete. She would have to find the mastermind behind all this...

She looked at all the injured lying on the floor. All that remained of the once glorious Crescent Moon pack.  She wiped off the tears from her face with determination. She vowed that she will never cry again. Just like she had promised Martin, she will stay strong. From that moment, she was the Alpha of the Crescent moon pack. She vowed to herself that she would bring her pack to its former glory and take revenge on those who destroyed everything. She will never let anything come between her and her mission.

And that day, the most ruthless female Alpha the world has ever seen was born...