Chapter 1

Tessa

On my half-sister Eva's wedding night, she shoved me into the luxurious suite prepared for the newlyweds and threatened, "Bear a pup for my husband."

I struggled in her grip. She pressed my face hard into the bed.

“No!” I protested, desperately trying to wriggle out of her grip. I didn't dare use my claws on her. Attacking the Alpha daughter would never be forgiven.

“If you want your mother alive,” Eva said, “You'll do what I tell you, Tessa.”

**

All our lives, Eva has treated me like her personal slave. My father is an Alpha. My mother, Melinda, was his fated mate, and I was his first daughter. None of that mattered, though, because she was just a human.

As a half-blood, I was not a worthy heir in the eyes of the Pack. So, my father, Alpha Arthur, had married a proper she-wolf and claimed her as his Luna, and together they had a daughter, Eva.

Things got so much worse when I turned fourteen. A Rogue attacked, and my mother was nearly killed. She's been in a coma ever since, and I've been left to fend for myself.

I have to be quiet, and obedient, and well behaved if I want my mother to keep receiving medical care. I have to keep my head down to survive Eva.

Eva and I are almost identical, and she hates it. She especially hates that some people think I'm prettier than her. Well, they used to.

Eva has beaten me, burnt me with cigarettes. She changed that when she burned an ugly scar into my face. And she got away with everything.

But this was a new low, even for her.

Eva had been promised to marry the Alpha hero, Leo. Early that morning, I walked in on her in bed with another man. I'd gone in to sweep her room, forgot to knock because I figured she'd be at breakfast, and instead stumbled on her mostly naked with some other guy.

I tried to run out before they noticed, but Eva was too quick. She slapped me hard across the face.

“Clean the sheets,” Eva ordered. “And if you know what's good for you, and for your mother, you'll keep your mouth shut.”

All I could do was nod. I didn't dare let even a hint of defiance show.

I kept my head bowed and my eyes on my task as I stripped the bed. I gathered up the sheets and Eva's clothes, which of course she'd left piled on the floor instead of in the hamper. By the time I had everything together she and her lover were gone.

I hurried to the laundry room. I started the bedclothes first. They would take longer in the washer, so I had a good excuse to hang around. I had to put the sheets in the dryer and start Eva's clothes after all.

That gave me almost an hour to myself. I peeked out the door to make sure everyone was busy eating. Then, I pulled my study materials out of hiding and tucked myself into the corner.

Ever since the Rogue attack, I've been doing everything I can to learn how to heal. Every spare moment I can find I spend working my way through the old healer's journals. I copy anything I think might be useful for my mother into my own notebook.

I know better than to let anyone learn what I'm doing. Eva and the Luna would say I'm getting ideas above my station. The other wolves would mock me for it, since I'm just a half-blood. But I have to try.

No one else will help my mother. Melinda might be father's fated mate, but to the rest of the pack she's nothing but his human lover. They'll keep her alive, but they won't heal her.

So it's up to me.

I've had plenty of practice tending to various injuries, thanks to Eva. I'm her favorite punching bag.

My peace only lasted a few minutes.

“I don't want to marry a cripple!” Eva's shriek tore through the house.

I couldn't hear our father's response. The laundry room was too far from the dining hall for that. But I could guess what he said. That marrying Alpha Leo was an honor.

And it was an honor. Alpha Leo was a hero! He had killed the King of the Rogues and finally put an end to the attacks that had been devastating so many packs.

Years ago, Rogue attacks were rare and most strong packs could deal with them easily. Then the King of Rogues appeared and everything changed.

The King gathered Rogues to his banner. Attacks became orchestrated raids. Suddenly the wolf packs were under constant siege.

Even a strong wolf pack like ours was no match for the Rogues. The attack that nearly killed my mother injured most of our strongest fighters. Packs had to band together just to survive.

Old alliances were renewed and old grudges were reluctantly shoved aside. I remember how scared everyone was. The Rogue King just took more and more territory, and it looked like no one could stop him.

And then someone did.

Alpha Leo came from a relatively small but powerful wolf pack. He tried to rally the other packs into a unified attack, but none of the bigger packs was willing to follow him.

So he and his Pack took on the King of the Rogues alone. His pack split the Rogues away from their king and whittled down their numbers. Leo took on the King.

I don't know much about the fight. I'm pretty sure what I've heard is mostly exaggeration. Wolves are strong, but there's no way Leo actually tore the Rogue King in half.

I tucked my notebook and the journals away, careful that no one could find them. I slipped out of the laundry and tiptoed upstairs so that I could listen in to Eva's argument with our father.

“No matter how badly injured he is,” our father explained to Eva, “Leo is still an Alpha. And he needs an heir.”

“An Alpha?” Eva argued, “He can't even shift anymore!”

Our father growled. I almost did, too. It was cruel to even mention that.

The fight with the King of the Rogues had been vicious. Alpha Leo was victorious, but there was a price. He'd been gravely injured in the battle.

Alpha Leo lost his vision in the fight. The best healers hadn't been able to help him. Worst of all, he'd lost his wolf.

Somehow, though, his Pack hadn't rejected or replaced him. Blind and wolf-less, he continued to lead. But everyone agreed he needed a successor as soon as possible.

And so Eva was chosen as his bride. She should be happy. Even injured, Leo was powerful and the leader of a strong, well respected Pack.

I would have loved to be chosen. Leo was a hero. So what if he was blind and wolf-less? He'd been injured avenging the Rogue king's victims.

Even though he didn't know it, Alpha Leo had avenged my mother. He'd done something our own Alpha had failed to do.

“Breaking off the marriage would be an insult to his entire Pack,” Alpha Arthur said. “Our Pack can't afford to start a war.”

“But I don't want to,” Eva whined.

She obviously expected that a little pouting and whining would make our father cave. It usually did.

This time, though, Alpha Arthur stood strong. “We made a promise,” he said, “And Alpha Leo needs an heir. You will do your duty, Alpha Daughter.”

Eva snarled and turned away. “You want me to sleep with a broken man? To give a child to a wolf-less, blind cripple?”

As I tried to dig up enough courage to argue with her for once in my life, I felt Eva's eyes lock onto me. I saw her grin.

And I knew I was in trouble. She had a plan, and it involved me.