Chapter 1

　　Lilia's POV

　　Today was my eighteenth birthday.

　　I was an Omega of the Bloodthorn Pack, but my wolf had never awakened. I worked as a serving girl at a tavern on the edge of Pack territory, pouring drinks, wiping tables, and listening to drunk warriors boast about their victories.

　　But today was different. When the sun set, I would finally see him.

　　My fingertips traced the outline of the necklace below my collarbone without me realizing it. Nothing comforted me the way it did. Nathan had given it to me.

　　Nathan Holt. Alpha of the Bloodthorn Pack.

　　Twelve years ago, in that blizzard, he was the one who found me in the snow. He'd been only seventeen that year, still just the Alpha's son, yet he had talked his father into letting me stay in the Pack over the Elders' objections.

　　But plenty of people in the Pack had never welcomed me, including the Alpha and Luna themselves. An orphan of unknown origin was, in their eyes, nothing more than a burden Nathan had picked up in a moment of soft-heartedness. Nathan alone had never once treated me as an afterthought.

　　Back then, I had looked up to him more than anyone else, never daring to hope for more.

　　He was destined to inherit an entire Pack, and I was nobody. I didn't even know who my parents were. I told myself that being able to stay by his side was already more than I could ask for.

　　Then, a war took the lives of the former Alpha and Luna, and Nathan stepped up to become the new Alpha of the Bloodthorn Pack.

　　On the night he became Alpha, he came to find me and told me something I had never dared to hope for.

　　He'd put off searching for his mate for so long because he'd been waiting for me. Waiting for the day my wolf awakened, he said. Then he would push aside every objection and make me Luna.

　　I had replayed those words more times than I could count. Afterward, he had me move out of the barn where I'd been living and into the Pack House, into a room of my own.

　　Today, he had promised to spend my birthday with me.

　　He never came. The clock on the wall struck twelve. Midnight was already behind us.

　　I held my breath without meaning to, waiting for my wolf to finally awaken.

　　Nothing. My wolf stayed silent, as if it had never existed at all.

　　By rights, it should have awakened at sixteen. I was two years overdue, and there was nothing.

　　Nathan said to be patient. When I was ready, it would come.

　　I sat behind the bar, glancing at the tavern door again and again, until the last of the customers drifted out and I could bear it no longer. I decided to go find Nathan myself.

　　The main building of the Pack House glowed against the dusk. Carrying a rag, I pretended to wipe down the walls as I drifted toward the corridor outside Nathan's office, a trick Nathan himself had taught me: play the quiet Omega, and I could slip in to see him.

　　As I drew closer, a memory from a few days ago surfaced without warning: Nathan pressing me back against that wide desk, lowering his head to kiss me. Even now, the thought of it sent heat crawling up my ears.

　　The door stood ajar. Low voices drifted from inside,several of the Elders.

　　"The marriage alliance with Blackwater Pack is the only viable option. The harbor passage rights alone make the marriage worthwhile."

　　My breath caught. I flattened myself against the wall, not daring to move.

　　"Alaric of Blackwater Pack is aging. He has only one granddaughter and one grandson," another voice added. "A direct marriage alliance, and no Pack in this region will dare challenge us again."

　　"I understand." It was Nathan's voice, as unreadable as ever.

　　"Then what is there to hesitate over?" an Elder pressed. "The girl is twenty-two. Her name is Tina. She can give you strong heirs,"

　　"I'm not hesitating," Nathan said. "The alliance will happen."

　　My nails dug into the rag in my palm, nearly punching through the cloth.

　　I should go. This was not a conversation I was meant to hear. But just as I turned to leave, I heard my name.

　　Another Elder's voice cut in.

　　"Alpha, there is one more thing. We've noticed you've grown quite close to Lilia of late. With the alliance imminent, perhaps... some distance would be wise?"

　　A beat of silence. Then I heard Nathan laugh.

　　"You worry too much," he said. "My interest in her is nothing but pity. I was the one who brought her here. I have to take responsibility for her. At worst, I'll keep her in the Pack as a Breeder. It would give her a place to belong."

　　Breeder.

　　I couldn't believe what I had just heard.

　　So the promise Nathan had made,the one I had held close all this time,had been nothing but an offhand remark?

　　I don't know how I backed away from that door. I only remember stumbling down the stairs, out the front of the Pack House, running all the way into the woods at the edge of Pack territory.

　　Branches raked across my cheeks and arms, and I felt no pain. The night wind tore my tears sideways across my face. I just wanted to run,run somewhere no one knew me.

　　It was the thick smell of blood that finally stopped me in my tracks.

　　The scent was fresh. I froze where I stood. I knew I should turn and leave. But my feet wouldn't move.

　　Holding my breath, I inched toward the sound, shielded by the shadows of the trees.

　　Moonlight leaked through gaps in the canopy and fell on a clearing. A man stood with his back to me, two or three others around him.

　　His black clothes all but melted into the night; only his blood-covered hands gleamed stark under the moon. The man kneeling before him had stopped struggling. The wound torn open at his throat pulsed with dark-red blood.

　　I heard the man's voice, low and utterly level:

　　"You should not have betrayed your Alpha."

　　The pressure rolling off him was so heavy I could barely breathe.

　　I started to ease backward,and my heel snapped a dead branch.

　　The crack cut through the silence of the woods.

　　He turned, slowly.

　　For someone so terrifying, he had a devastatingly handsome face. His golden eyes glinted dark beneath the moon.

　　He saw me.