Chapter 1

Evelyn

The plate slipped from my fingers and shattered across the café floor. Glass scattered underfoot like fallen teeth. The room went quiet for a breath, then the manager's voice cut through.

"Gray! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I've got it," I said, crouching to sweep the shards into my hands. Paper cuts bloomed along my palm; the sting was sharp and ordinary and grounding. Customers watched with the kind of curiosity that always felt like contempt.

"Clean it up, and don't make me come back there," he snapped.

I did it. I stuffed the jagged pieces into the bin and pulled my apron off so fast the tie snagged on my wrist. Three years of pretending I belonged to the world they lived in.

Outside, neon bled across puddles. I started for the bike, hands shoved deep in my jacket pockets, when the corner drunk stepped out and blocked my path.

"Hey there, wild girl," he slurred, reaching for my waist. "Finish your shift? Let me buy you a drink."

I stepped back, heart racing. "Not interested."

His fingers locked around my wrist. "C'mon, sweetheart. I've been watching you all night. Something about you... different. Dangerous." He leaned closer, his breath hot on my face. "I like dangerous."

"Let. Go." My voice dropped an octave, unfamiliar even to myself.

"Make me," he taunted.

So I did. My fist slammed into his chest, sending him stumbling into a table. Glass shattered as he crashed to the ground.

"She attacked me!" he shouted, drawing everyone's attention. "This crazy bitch attacked me!"

People backed away. Phones rose, screens glowing as they filmed. My manager's face appeared in the doorway, pale with fury.

"Police!" someone yelled.

Minutes later, I was shoved into the back of a squad car, the drunk grinning as though he'd already won.

The interrogation room smelled of bleach and stale coffee. I sat across from Officer Davis, my wrists rubbed raw from the cuffs.

"You're twenty-one?" he asked for the third time.

"Yes."

"No guardian? No family?"

"No one," I said flatly.

"The man is pressing charges, Miss Gray. We'll need to contact someone..."

I almost laughed. Who would come? I had no one. For years, I'd been alone, incomplete.

Then the door opened.

"I'm here for Evelyn Gray."

Her voice froze me harder than the cuffs ever could. Victoria Grey. My mother.

She strode in, heels clicking, perfume sharp with cedar and wolf musk. Officer Davis glanced at the paperwork and quickly slid it toward her. She signed without hesitation.

The moment we stepped outside, her hand cracked across my face.

"Three years," she hissed. "Three years of silence, and this is how you show your face again? Dragged out of a human police station like a common thug?"

I touched my cheek, stunned. "It wasn't—"

"Don't speak." Her eyes cut through me like blades. "You were expelled for a reason. Don't think exile made you wiser. You're still a stain. And stains… stay hidden."

She checked her watch, bored already. "Your grandfather wants you home. Don't make me waste more time cleaning up your messes."

The truth hit me. "So that's why you're here. William sent you."

Her expression didn't change. "Lock yourself up tonight," she said. "It's Full moon today."

I spat a laugh, "You know damn well my wolf left me three years ago."

I walked to my Ducati. The engine snarled when I started it. I left her on the sidewalk and pushed the bike until the city lights blurred into one smear of yellow and red.

The road to the outskirts was an open throat. I ran it hard, the wind hauling at my jacket. The moon hung heavy and white above the trees.

Three years. Three years I'd endured this emptiness. Every full moon, I'd waited for my wolf to return, desperate to prove that white wolves weren't cursed like everyone believed. But every time, nothing happened. Just me, alone with the moon's mockery.

I gunned the engine, trying to drown out the thoughts that always came with the lunar pull. The faster I rode, the less I could think about—

A man lay against the shoulder, his shirt dark with blood. Two figures moved around him, guns catching the moonlight. Silver glinted.

Hunters.

I cursed under my breath and killed the engine, pushing the bike into the trees. I didn’t want trouble. Not tonight. Not ever again. But the man’s low groan cut through the silence, and before I could turn away, one of them lifted his head.

“Who’s there?”

I froze. Maybe they hadn’t really seen me—

“You shouldn’t be here,” the man snarled, gun already rising. “You saw something you shouldn’t have. So…” He smirked, thumb brushing the trigger. “You don’t get to leave.”

Damn it.

The silver bullet hissed past my ear, close enough to burn. I hit the dirt, rolling as bark splintered behind me.

He leveled the barrel again—this time at my chest.

I lunged, shoulder first, slamming into him. My heart slammed, my body remembering what my mind tried to forget.

The gun fired wild, sparks flying off the rocks. I tore the weapon from his hands and hurled it into the dark. He hit the ground, groaning, out cold.

Breathing hard, I turned toward the wounded man. “You’d better be worth it,” I muttered.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, with the kind of presence that made the air feel heavier. Definitely not human. A smell hit me—pine sap, damp earth, something alive and sharp. I pressed my fingers to his side to find the wound.

He jerked. His hand flew up and gripped my wrist.

A white-hot pulse shot through my arm, like someone had struck a match against my bone.

I yanked my hand back on instinct, but it was too late—my nails had cracked and split. Skin pulled tight as coarse fur burst through in a heartbeat. I was too stunned to speak.

Suddenly, the man's eyes—storm-grey despite the blood—snapped open and locked onto mine. For a second, his gaze burned through me like a torch.

"Mine," he rasped, his voice coming from somewhere deep and raw. Then he went still. Unconscious, heavy in my arms.

I barely registered what he'd said, too transfixed by the white fur suddenly sprouting across my skin. "Am I shifting?" The thought struck like lightning. "Is my wolf coming back?"

I stared at the man in my arms, my mind reeling with questions. My wolf had been gone for three years...and now, could it be because of him that she was clawing her way back?