Chapter 1 PROLOGUE

DAMON

I had walked through worse fields than this one.

That was the first thing I thought when I stepped over the body of the first dead man whose chest was caved in and whose eyes were still open, staring at nothing. 

Around him lay the others—dozens, all with the same stillness, some with torn heads, others with crushed bodies. My pack had been thorough tonight. They always were.

The smell of death clung thickly to the night air. Somewhere behind me, my pack celebrated the victory with drunken laughter and distant howls, but none of it held my attention.

Rather, the sound of someone crying did. They were all supposed to be dead, and so I turned towards the source. 

She was on the ground ten feet away, half hidden in the shadow between two bodies. Her hands were pressed to the chest of a man like she could somehow force his life back into his body if she tried hard enough. 

The man was very clearly going to die—the wound I had given him would see to that—and she was trembling so violently I could see it from where I stood. Her hair fell across her face, but I could tell her lips were moving.

“Please,” she sobbed. “Please don’t leave me.” The man coughed harshly, blood spilling from his mouth.

Her mate. I knew it immediately. I had seen enough bonded creatures die over the years to recognize the look in their eyes when fate tore them apart.

Pathetic. I thought as I began to walk towards her.

She didn't hear me coming at first. She was too consumed by him, too buried in whatever was breaking open inside her chest to notice anything else. 

However, the moment she realized that I was behind her, she froze. Slowly, she turned her head, and the second her eyes landed on me, terror flooded her expression.

Good. It was just what I loved to see.

She immediately moved in front of the wounded man like her body could shield him from me.

“Please,” she begged again, her voice cracking violently this time. “Please don’t kill him.”

Dark hair clung to her tear-stained face. Blood covered her hands, her clothes, and her knees. She was injured too. I could smell it. How noble, begging for the life of her mate while hers hung in the balance. 

I said nothing. Begging had never moved me.

The man looked up at me weakly, blood running down his chin as he struggled to breathe. He could barely keep his eyes open.

I reached down, grabbed him by the throat, and ripped him away from her before she could stop me.

“No!” she screamed.

He clawed weakly at my wrist as I lifted him off the ground. It changed nothing. My claws slid into his chest effortlessly, and a sharp gasp tore from the woman’s lips.

I felt the exact moment my hand closed around his heart. And then I ripped it out.

The world went silent for half a second. I watched the exact moment it destroyed her as blood spilled over my hand, and the male’s body went limp instantly before she let out a scream.

It was worse than a scream. It was the sound of a bond snapping, of something that was never meant to be severed being severed anyway. 

The sound echoed across the battlefield so sharply that even the howling in the distance seemed to pause for a moment.

I let the corpse fall at my feet. The woman collapsed beside him immediately, clutching at her chest as agony tore through her body. 

Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face while she stared at the dead man beside her like she still couldn’t accept what she was seeing.

The bond was killing her already. I should have walked away then. Instead, I found myself watching her.

“You…” she choked out, her breathing uneven. “You monster.”

I said nothing. It wasn't the first time I had been called such. Her entire body trembled as she lifted her head and looked at me with pure hatred.

“You mock the mate bond because you’ve never felt it,” she continued, her voice trembling violently. “But one day, the Moon Goddess will give you a mate of your own.”

I almost laughed. That was never going to happen.

“A woman you will love more than your own life,” she whispered. 

Love. The word meant nothing to me.

Blood dripped slowly from my fingers while I stared down at her without emotion.

“And then…” Her voice broke completely as another wave of pain hit her. “Her heart will be ripped from her chest exactly the way you ripped his from his chest."

A cold wind suddenly swept through the battlefield. The woman smiled through her tears.

“Only then will you understand what you’ve done to me tonight.”

Silence settled between us. Then I crouched in front of her. Her breathing hitched slightly, though whether from fear or pain, I didn’t know.

“Who says I won't kill her myself if I do find her?” I finally spoke, and she let out a chuckle.

“You won't,” she said with utmost certainty, and I didn't know whether to find it fascinating that she thought she knew me or irritating. “And when she's finally snatched from your fingers, you'll wish you had." 

I wrapped my hand around her throat as I had grown tired of the conversation. Her eyes widened slightly, but she didn’t fight me. Perhaps she already knew there was no point.

“Then let’s hope,” I murmured, tightening my grip, “that fate is kinder to her than it was to you.”

And then I snapped her neck. Her body went limp instantly. The battlefield fell silent around me once more.

I stood there for a moment, staring down at the dead mates at my feet before turning away without another glance.

She was wrong. There was a reason why I had gone for years without a mate. However, if fate truly intended to give me a mate someday, then fate was a fool. Because when I found her, I would kill her myself. 

After all, my hands were already bloody.

What was one more?