CHAPTER 1

SELENA

Silence had never felt so heavy.

I sat on the cold marble floor, tracing invisible patterns with my tiny fingers. My doll, the one with the missing eye and frayed dress, lay forgotten beside me. Something was wrong.

The front door creaked open. My head snapped up just as a man stepped inside. He was a familiar face one of my father’s visitors, always with a friendly smile. But today, there was no smile. No warmth. Just the heavy thud of his boots as he walked toward me.

A strange chill curled down my spine.

“Where’s my father?” My voice was small, nearly lost in the thick silence stretching between us.

The man crouched in front of me. His fingers brushed against my hair, gentle yet unsettling.

“Selena…” His voice wavered, thick with something I couldn’t name.

I swallowed hard. “Where is he?”

A deep sigh escaped him before he finally met my gaze. “Your father is watching over you from above.”

The room tilted.

No.

I had heard those words before. She’s watching over us from above, Selena. That’s what my father had said about my mother. But no matter how many times I searched the sky, I never found her.

A lump clogged my throat.

“Is he lying to me too?” I whispered to myself. My father always came back. He never broke his promises. He wouldn't leave me.

Would he?

Tears burned my eyes as the man Alpha Kinsley wrapped his arms around me. “I promised your father I would protect you. No one will ever hurt you, Selena. Not while I’m here.”

I stiffened in his embrace. “When is my father coming back?”

Silence.

His arms tightened around me.

I didn’t want comfort. I wanted my father.

Alpha Kinsley pulled back, studying me with dark, unreadable eyes. “For now, you’ll stay with me. You won’t be alone, I promise. I have a son, four years older than you. He’ll be your playmate.”

Playmate?

I shook my head. “I don’t want to leave. This is my home.”

His expression softened, but his decision was final.

“You won’t have to leave completely. We’ll visit every weekend, alright? But it’s not safe for you here alone.”

Not safe.

The words hit harder than they should have. My father isn’t coming back. Just like my mother never did.

A cold numbness spread through me as Alpha Kinsley carried me outside. The gates of my home my real home clanked shut behind us.

I pressed my small hands against the car window, watching as the mansion disappeared into the distance.

And then it was gone.

♦♦♦

The car rolled to a stop in front of a massive estate. The walls stretched high, crowned with jagged iron spikes. Guards tall and stiff stood by the gates, their faces expressionless.

Alpha Kinsley stepped out first, lifting me into his arms. “Welcome to your new home, Selena.”

My stomach twisted.

It didn’t feel like home. It felt like a cage.

Inside, the air was colder. The ceilings loomed above me, impossibly high. The scent of polished wood mixed with something sharp—metal and smoke. The warmth of my old home, the faint trace of my father’s cologne, was gone.

Footsteps echoed.

A boy stood at the top of the grand staircase. He looked about nine, his dark hair falling messily over piercing gray eyes. His gaze locked onto me, sharp and assessing like a predator sizing up prey.

I shrank under his stare.

“Who is she?” His voice sliced through the air like a blade.

“She’s your new sister,” Alpha Kinsley said firmly. “She’s Beta Luca’s daughter.”

The boy’s jaw tightened.

His cold gray eyes flickered with something dark. “She’s not welcome here.”

The air thickened.

I clenched the hem of my dress, my heart pounding against my ribs. But I refused to cry.

I knew from that moment this was not going to be easy.