Chapter 1

Ava watched as another of her pack was slaughtered by the intruder. The silver chains around her wrists, ankles, and neck stopped her from doing anything. Her alpha and his queen had already been killed in the invasion. She was originally from the city, but every month around the time of the full moon she traveled to the country to run with her pack. Ava knew she shouldn’t really see the pack she ran with as hers. They only put up with her because Zedi and Roger demanded they did.

None of the other members of the pack really liked her. Still, the open air of the city did not compare to the scent of the forest, the fresh grass, or the feel of other wolves, even if they were unfriendly. She had not found any other pack and wasn’t interested in being rejected at every turn, which was why she stayed where she was. Better the devil you know and all that. But now even that was being taken away from her as she watched members of her back being slaughtered by a man she didn’t know.

She was known as a half breed wolf, which meant she had been turned by having the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Working late at the advertising agency where she was a receptionist, Ava had been bitten by a stray dog. At least at the time she’d thought it was a stray dog. Since being bitten she had learned differently. The large stray dog had turned out to be a wolf. Some packs frowned upon changing humans whereas others found their mates by biting humans. She didn’t have a clue why she’d been bitten, but Ava had had to learn fast how to deal with being a half breed. If it hadn’t been for Roger, the now deceased leader, she would have died.

The dog who’d bitten her had taken off, leaving her hurt and bleeding. Roger and his wife, Zedi, had guided her through the transition until she was able to mingle with humans once again. Until she’d been bitten her life had been ordinary. She had never taken the time to relish her life or the simple pleasures she enjoyed. Roger and Zedi helped her to adapt. Dogs had even stopped barking at her, and she had no choice but to sell her beloved cat. Having her pet hiss at her all the time was unsettling.

So every month she would come back to the pack to embrace the destiny that had been thrust upon her. Most of the wolves in her pack wouldn’t have anything to do with her because of her not being a full blood wolf. She couldn’t change on demand and was bound by the restrictions of the full moon. Also, she was bigger than the other female wolves. Where the other wolves were slender without an extra pound on them, Ava had plenty of pounds to spare. Running with the wolves hadn’t changed her weight at all. She didn’t mind as her body stayed the same even with her eating more. Her life had changed so drastically in the last eighteen months, and now she knew her life was going to change again.

Zedi and Roger were dead, along with four other men and women. Their bodies lay in a corner as the man smiled menacingly out at the crowd. His pack stood behind him obviously prepared to take matters into their own hands if necessary.

Fear clawed within her stomach. In all of her life she’d never been the type of person to search for confrontation. The man who clearly was the alpha looked happy to tear apart members of her pack. Was he doing it for fun? She’d never seen him before and didn’t know what he had against her pack. Are they really your pack?

For a long time Ava hadn’t felt like a member of the pack. They put up with her, but no one wanted anything else to do with her. She was the only one who’d been turned by an unknown wolf, and they made sure their disgust was known to her. Neither Zedi nor Roger knew who turned her, but they’d been there when she needed them the most, and she felt a sense of loyalty to them. Licking her raw, chapped lips, she cried out as another man’s head was torn from his body.

Her stomach turned. Leaning forward she could no longer contain the vomit she’d been trying to keep down. Everything she had consumed within the last few hours came up. The pack around her started to curse and move away. Someone kicked her thigh sending her down to the ground. Fortunately, she didn’t land in her own vomit.

When her stomach settled she stood once more to look at the stage. The silver from the chains hurt her skin. Glancing down she saw the red raw skin was bleeding in places from where the metal touched her. Wiping at her brow, she wished there was something more she could do.

The sound of a feminine scream interrupted her thinking. Ava saw the only person who had been nice to her. The girl was no more than fourteen. Jane was her name, and where the other pack members had ignored Ava, the young teenager talked about her life constantly. Ava found it strange that out of all of the pack, Jane always smelled different, as if she didn’t belong. At times, Ava was sure she and Jane both smelled the same way, but no one said a thing about the young girl, at least that she heard.

Watching the man haul the girl up onto the stage, Ava had to look away. Jane wasn’t a bad kid. She was young, sweet, and hadn’t been polluted by other members of the pack. Jane didn’t see full blood or half blood. The young girl saw people who happened to change into wolves. The innocence within her eyes was something to be cherished, not ignored. Ava had been ignored most of her life. The only time she hadn’t been overlooked was when she’d been bitten. At twenty-five years old she’d not even had a sexual experience with a man. It was pitiful, but being a fuller woman came with its own set of issues. She’d been on the receiving end of cruel jokes, and she saw the real intent in the eyes of the men who asked her out. Ava preferred to keep everyone at arms’ length rather than risk getting her heart broken or even crushed through bad decisions.

Keeping her guard up allowed her to live her life in peace.

“No, no, no, no, please. I’ve done nothing wrong,” Jane said, begging for her life.

Staring down at the ground, Ava felt the fear through to her bones. Jane’s pleas were getting to her. There was no way she could let anything happen to the young girl. Glancing up she watched as someone tugged on the chain around Jane’s neck. The cries were too much, and before Ava could stop herself, she’d shouted at them.

“Leave her alone. She’s a young girl and has done nothing wrong.” Her voice carried through the air travelling over the rest of her pack to land on the man doing damage.

Biting down on her lip she heard the rest of her pack curse as their enemies turned to her. The men had attacked before she had gotten a chance to get naked and run. Some of the pack were not that lucky and were in fact naked. Even though she’d been this way for the last eighteen months, Ava hadn’t gotten used to seeing other men naked. She’d seen more cocks and breasts than she cared to remember in the last few months.

“You speak out for this piece of sniveling trash?” the man asked. He was the Alpha, and when he spoke Ava felt something answer within her. It was like her wolf knew his voice and was kicking at her skin trying to get out.

She didn’t have a clue who the man was. She’d never seen him before in her life. Ava knew she would have remembered him from the way he looked alone. He was well over six feet, and down one arm going up to his neck was a black tattoo that interlocked and wrapped around his thick arms. The Alpha didn’t wear a shirt, only a pair of really tight jeans that settled on his hips but outlined his thick legs. He wouldn’t be put down easy in a fight, and every part of him oozed power, masculinity. Ava hadn’t met another man like him. From his aura alone she was bowled over, and not just because she was bound within silver chains.

Across the distance she couldn’t make out anything else other than the fact he was a giant hunk of a man.

He’s killing your pack.

“She’s a girl,” Ava said, forcing herself to speak up. If no one else would speak up for Jane, then she would.

There’s no way to get out of here alive.

The man smiled, grabbing Jane around the waist. “You want to bargain for her life?” the Alpha asked.

Ava nodded. Any confidence she had vanished as he ordered the man beside him to grab her. The rest of her pack tried to move away from her, hoping not to gain the wrath of the other pack. Crap. Why couldn’t she have stayed home and taken to the city woods? It was guarded by high security, but she could have at least turned and gotten the run she craved. Instead, she’d come back to a pack who despised her, and now she was looking at the possible end of her life.

The open air, the never ending forests, and the scent of the waterfall attracted her more than the artifice of the city walks. She hoped to one day settle down away from the city.

“Max, I want her in one piece. I want to see who wants to bargain for this sniveling little pack,” the Alpha said.

Jane whimpered on the stage. Marry stared up at the one called Max as he approached her. He looked deadly with a scar down one side of his face. Max had been the one to grab her from behind the trees as she was undressing. There hadn’t been any time to run, but she’d tried. He cut the links that bound her to the others. There were only about thirty within their pack. The number had fallen as the dead bodies were amassing.

Her arm was grabbed, and she was dragged to the stage. She didn’t know the proper etiquette when it came to pack men. “You will bow,” Max said, forcing her down to her knees. Going to her knees, she cried out as the silver seemed to pull on her wrists.

“Well, you’ve got my attention. Now, what do you want?” the Alpha asked.