Chapter 1

Seleste’s POV

The fire didn’t burn as much as the silence. Not the searing pain of the brand pressed to my skin, not the flames that consumed my parents' bodies in front of me, it was the silence of the pack. Their eyes, cold and empty. Their backs turned against me as if I had never been one of them.

The pack shaman’s chant still echoed, slithering through my skull like a venomous whisper, each word laced with centuries of spite and cruelty. I was cursed, now marked. My wolf, sealed inside me like a prisoner. I couldn’t shift, I couldn’t heal, I couldn’t even feel her heartbeat echo in my chest anymore. Just silence where her howl used to be.

“You are a danger to the pack,” Alpha Gordon had said, voice as cold as stone.

“You must never return here!”

That was three days ago.

Now I roamed around with no name, no family, no wolf.

Only pain.

They thought they had broken me. That they had burned the fight out of me. But fire isn’t meant to be caged. It waits, buried in ash, patient and dangerous.

I didn’t know where I was going, I only knew that I had to keep walking if I didn’t want to die. The sun burnt harshly against my skin and the nights were much colder in exile. The stars brighter and crueler. My body ached, and my feet bled, but stopping meant death and I wasn’t ready to die. Not yet.

And then they came; Rogue hunters.

Three shadows slipping from the trees. Their cruel laughter filled the air as the moon light shone on their hungry and cruel faces.

I didn’t scream. I couldn’t. Not when fear had taken over my whole body.

They circled me like animals, amused at how broken I looked, their eyes glittering with lust as they savored my body like a prey waiting to be pounced on.

One of them reached for me, thinking I’d just let it happen. But then, I remembered my mother’s eyes in the last moment of her life. I couldn’t end up like that, not when I haven’t gotten my revenge.

A cold shiver ran down my spine as the beast in me took over my body. I felt it, the pain under my skin as the mark tried to suppress her.

I fought hard.

Teeth. Nails. Fury.

In the end, I got a black eye and a cracked rib for my trouble.

One of them let out a cruel chuckle before grabbing my cheeks, his filthy claws digging into my skin.

“Feisty little bitch,” he sneered as blood trickled down his cheek from the very spot I had clawed at.

“Pretty eyes. Wonder what you would sound like when you scream for mercy.” He said before grabbing a hand full of my dry hair and yanking my head back. I almost lost my vision as the pain ran through my brain, his breath stank of sour meat and rot. I didn’t think twice, I spat in his face. He reeled back in shock and cursed under his breath then struck me hard across the cheek. The blow rattled my teeth as I fell to the ground, I lay there, panting, every inch of my body throbbing. Not from the hits, or from the humiliation but from the helplessness I felt.

“She’ll be perfect for the hunt.” One of them sneered before pressing his hard boot into my back. The word struck me like a blade.

“Hunt.” What was he talking about?

I didn’t understand what they meant until they started to drag me through the forest, my screams and pleas fell on deaf ears as when they finally stopped, iron hands seized me and hurled me into the wagon’s belly. Wood bit into my skin. Chains clinked like mocking laughter.

When they were done with me, I was bound in iron chains, my limbs weak and heavy from fighting.

Around me were three other girls, one crying silently, while the others curled into themselves like they’d already died inside. The air stank of sweat, blood, and fear.

One girl, barely fifteen by the look of her, whispered,

“They’re taking us to Silverfang pack.”

Silverfang. I’d barely heard of the pack.

Fear slowly crept its way into my body as I wondered what they would do to us. I cursed my ill fate as I fought the tears threatening to roll down my eyes again.

I stared at the wooden bars as the wagon jolted forward, the wheels groaning over uneven terrain. I couldn’t feel my wolf, not even the smallest stir. It was like she’d been locked in a dungeon inside me and the key thrown into the black sea.

I was alone. I had never felt this alone in my life.

And yet, deep in my gut, something simmered. A promise made to the ashes.

If I made it out of this alive, I would take my revenge on those four monsters that had thrown me into this cruel fate.