Five years ago, Stella escaped the very pack that should have protected her but instead wanted her dead. Rejected by her mate, Silas, and framed for a crime she didn’t commit, she fled with nothing but the clothes on her back and a newfound power that terrified everyone—including herself. Now, living in the human world, she’s tried to leave the past behind. But when Silas shows up with an impossible revelation—no one in their pack has shifted since the night she left—Stella is forced to confront the truth. The pack believes she’s tied to the curse threatening to destroy them. With enemies closing in, Silas asking for her help, and unwanted feelings rising from the dust, Stella must decide: can she trust the man who betrayed her, or will she watch her old world burn to the ground? This time, she holds the power—and she’s no longer the girl who ran.
view moreAngela's blood spread across the temple floor, mixing with the silver light from the ritual platform. The black chemicals in her system made it steam where it touched stone.'Finish it,' Rona urged, her voice straining as the ritual pulled at our connection. 'Before he—'Viktor's laugh cut her off. The sound rattled out like breaking glass. His body convulsed, muscles bulging and splitting his skin as he grew. Eight legs burst from his torso—four wolf, four human, bent at unnatural angles. His chest split vertically, revealing a second mouth lined with both fangs and human teeth. His original head remained, but the skin had peeled back, leaving exposed muscle that pulsed and shifted. Three more wolf heads emerged from his shoulders, their snouts too long, jaws unhinging to show tongues that writhed like snakes. Yellow eyes opened across his body—in his chest, along his arms, between the joints of his legs. Black veins spread from the injection ports in his neck, carrying chemicals tha
The temple stairs were slick with blood. Three of Viktor's rejects had followed us down, their bodies contorting as they moved. One's spine cracked audibly with each step, vertebrae pushing through skin before being dragged back in.'Stop admiring the freaks and kill them,' Rona growled.I shifted—not full wolf, just what I needed. Claws extended as I met the first one. It lunged with too many teeth in a jaw that split four ways. I ducked under its strike, drove my claws up through its throat and into its brain. No healing from that.Silas took the second one with a silver blade to the eye. But the third—the third got past us. It caught one of Kane's men who'd followed us down. We watched as it literally pulled him apart, its muscles shifting and multiplying as it tore.The sound of Viktor's approach cut through the man's screams. His footsteps were wrong, arrhythmic. Like he was shifting with each step."Little Stella," his voice echoed down the stairs. "Always running to the temple.
The first of Viktor's altered wolves cleared our barrier with impossible speed. Its body was wrong—limbs too long, joints bending backwards, skin rippling as partial shifts cascaded across its form. One of our guards, raised his silver-loaded rifle and fired. The bullet hit center mass.The creature didn't even flinch."It's not stopping," He said, backing up. "Why isn't it—"The altered wolf's jaw unhinged, splitting its face in half. Before Mark could fire again, it had him. Teeth sank into his shoulder, through the tactical vest like it was paper. But it didn't just bite—it started shifting while its mouth was full of Mark's flesh. Fangs extended, retracted, extended again, shredding meat from bone.Mark's scream cut off in a gurgle.'Well, that's new,' Rona commented grimly. 'And disgusting. Can we kill it now?'Three more guards opened fire. Silver bullets tore through the creature's body, but it kept eating, kept shifting. Only when they finally hit its brain did it collapse.Bu
Blood still dripped from my nose, silver instead of red. The Moon Goddess's words echoed in my skull as the pack hall erupted in chaos around me.'Well, that was dramatic,' Rona commented. 'A goddess shows up and suddenly everyone loses their minds.'She wasn't wrong. The elders were shouting over each other, the rogues were still kneeling, and Silas—still on the ground where I'd put him—stared at me like he was seeing a ghost."Your eyes," he said quietly. "They're silver."I reached up, feeling warmth trickle down my cheeks. Not tears. Blood."The ritual site," I said. The certainty hit me like a physical blow. "I need to go to the ritual site. Now."'Bad idea,' Rona warned. 'Very bad idea.'But I was already moving. The underground temple called to me, a pull I couldn't ignore. Footsteps behind me told me Silas was following."Stella, wait—""Either help me or stay out of my way," I snapped, not slowing down. "I just beat you in front of your pack. Don't make me do it again."'I vo
Getting out of Manhattan was a blur of broken glass and silver blades. Bella's chemical-enhanced wolves had torn through Veronica's office like a storm, but they hadn't expected me to jump. Twenty stories up, and I'd grabbed Angela, crashed through a window, and landed on the adjacent building's fire escape. Not my most elegant escape, but as Rona helpfully pointed out, we didn't die.'Though next time,' she grumbled as I drove us out of the city, 'maybe don't jump off buildings with the bitchy sister who tried to kill us. Just a thought.'"She's leverage," I reminded her, checking the rearview mirror for pursuit.'She's dead weight,' Rona countered. 'And if she makes one more smug comment about your modeling career being over, I vote we use her as a speed bump.'Angela sat silently in the backseat, but her smirk said enough. The handcuffs were reinforced with silver now—a gift from Veronica's surprisingly well-stocked weapons cabinet. Questions for another time.My phone rang. Silas.
My phone buzzed again—another message from my agency's crisis management team. The video hadn't hit mainstream media yet, but it was spreading through private channels, gathering attention in places that made my skin crawl. Places where people knew what they were really seeing.I stared at my laptop screen, watching the footage that could destroy everything. The quality was poor, deliberately distorted, but anyone who knew what to look for would see it. Me, in the Silver Claw arena. The shift. The fight. Someone had edited it to look like a leaked special effects test, a marketing stunt gone wrong. But the wrong people would know better.'At least they got your good side,' Rona commented. 'Though seriously, what's with the fake CGI overlay? Like anyone's buying that.'"Not helping," I muttered, reading another urgent email from the agency. They were already preparing cover stories: viral marketing campaign, performance art piece, anything to keep the truth buried.Angela stirred in th
Viktor's office felt smaller in the daylight. I sat across from him, my mother's journal open between us, while Angela lounged by the window. The chains were gone—they didn't need them anymore. Not when they had what they really wanted."Read it," Viktor said, turning the journal toward me. "Page forty-three."My fingers trembled as I touched the paper. The ink was faded, but my mother's handwriting was clear:*The price of defiance is blood. The Goddess demands balance—a life for a life, power for power. To save my daughter, I offer myself. But the debt remains unpaid. Only the sacrifice of a Luna Priestess's bloodline can break what I've done.*"You see?" Angela's voice dripped with satisfaction. "Mother's little miracle came with strings attached. One of us has to die to fix this."I looked up from the journal. "You knew? All this time?""Not at first." She examined her manicured nails. "But I started digging after that night you shifted. The way your blood glowed? That's not norma
The chains around my wrists were tight enough to break human skin. Silver-lined—they weren't taking chances. I kept my head down, letting my hair fall forward like a curtain as Kane led me through Silver Claw's gates.'Easy,' Rona murmured as another guard yanked my chain. 'Let them think we're weak.'I stumbled, playing my part. Five years of modeling had taught me how to wear masks, how to become whatever others wanted to see. Right now, I was the broken wolf, the curse-bearer, brought low by betrayal. Just as Viktor expected."Careful with the merchandise," Kane growled at the guard, perfectly playing his role as the mercenary selling me out. Behind his scarred exterior, I sensed his tension. One wrong move and we'd all die.The Silver Claw compound sprawled across what had once been a military base. Guards patrolled the walls, armed with both traditional weapons and modern guns. They'd adapted to their weakening wolves better than Blood Moon had.Silas walked several paces behind,
Three hours into the council meeting, and I still tasted Stella's blood on my tongue. The antidote she'd forced down my throat had worked—I was alive, the poison purged. But the memory lingered: her blood, glowing silver in the moonlight, mixed with herbs that smelled of Andrea."Alpha Silas." Elder Margaret's sharp voice cut through my thoughts. "Are you listening?"I looked up at the faces around the long oak table. Once, this room had housed the most powerful wolves in Blood Moon territory. Now they were just old men and women clinging to positions they couldn't defend without their wolves."I heard you," I said, keeping my voice neutral. "You want me to hand Stella over to Silver Claw.""To buy time," Elder Thomas amended quickly. "Just until we find another solution."I remembered Andrea's voice, soft but firm, as she bandaged my scraped knee when I was ten: "Being Alpha isn't about making easy choices, Silas. It's about making the right ones, even when they hurt.""No." The word
I wiped my clammy hands on my jeans as I walked toward my father's office. I was all nerves. My father had given me five years, and the deadline was almost up. My heart felt like it was beating outside my chest.I reached the office and hesitated before knocking."Come in," he called.I took a deep breath and opened the door. I slipped inside and waited for more orders. My father's green eyes were on me, hard and unfriendly."Sit," he allowed.I did as he asked.My father's voice always raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Today was no different. "Tomorrow night is the winter solstice," he stated.I swallowed nervously. "I know, Beta." My father never allowed me to call him 'Dad.' Only my sister, Angela, had the right to call him that. I was the murderer and disgrace; she was his pride and joy."You do know what that means, do you not?" he asked."I know.""Today is your final year of grace—not that you deserved it—but Andrea would have wanted me to be merciful."My heart skipped ...
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