I’d been cleaning toilets and scrubbing floors ever since the day my world collapsed. It was all thanks to that stupid Civil Were War and pack politics.
Because of all that, no one in the Rose Moon Pack spoke to me. And that was perfectly fine. As far as I was concerned, the only person I could trust was myself.
My parents died during the war. Lenox and his rogue pack killed my father, the Alpha of the Blood Moon. My mother was slaughtered by association. At least that’s what Bane told me.
Before the attack, they hid me in the dungeon we never used. They prayed to the Mother Goddess that no one would find me. I was seventeen then.
“You need to hide here until the battle is over. Or—”
I swallowed hard, biting back the lump forming in my throat. Then I finished the words he’d drilled into me since the war began.
“Or stay until someone finds me in the aftermath. I remember, Papa. I promise.”
He kissed my forehead, his hands trembling. Then my mother pulled me into her arms. She held onto me longer than Papa had.
“We mean it, princess. Don’t leave.” Papa’s voice was tight. “We’re locking the door and lacing the bars with wolfsbane. It’s bad, baby. We wouldn’t do this unless we had no other choice.”
My chest clenched at his words.
“If we don’t make it—”
His controlled voice finally broke. I watched him inhale my pup-essence to steady himself.
“If no one comes for you in three days, then you break out yourself. The wolfsbane will wear off by then. The bars are painted to look like silver. Rogues won’t risk it coming near the bars, but higher ranks will know better.”
I made a mental note of what he’d said and took in a breath to prepare myself for what was to come.
“You have food and water. Enough to survive.” His grip tightened around my hand. “No one will take you, Beauty. You aren’t meant to be anyone’s prisoner. I promise you that.”
I tried to hold on to him for longer, but he was already locking the door.
The clicking sound shot through the stone walls, making it impossibly obvious that I was alone.
I ate when I was hungry and slept when tired, but time blurred the longer I was in the cell. As I picked up an apple and brought it to my lips, a memory of my father came to the forefront of my mind.
He’d always told me I differed from any other princess. I was stronger. I didn’t understand it. Nor did I understand my wolf could make Alphas want me for the wrong reasons. But I never questioned him because I never needed to.
I was their only child. The heir to the Blood Moon Pack and future Luna. Possibly Alpha. Maybe both.
I stepped toward the bars, lifting my hand, and froze as the dungeon door slammed open. A body crashed against it, and I gasped.
His emerald eyes locked onto mine.
The Bane Of My Existence was staring back at me.
Shit! Of all people the Moon Goddess could have sent? And I get him?
“Beauty!” His voice was urgent. “Why are you in here? Stand back—I smell the wolfsbane. I’ll kick it down to get you out.”
My stomach twisted because the last person I wanted saving me was him.
“I’m capable of getting out myself,” I said with a snap in my tone. “Go play hero somewhere else.”
His expression darkened.
“You don’t know—do you?”
A chill slid down my spine as his brows knitted.
“Know what?” I asked.
“The war is over.”
Relief hit me in tiny bursts of warmth.
“Good,” I said. “Then move so I can go find my parents—”
“Beauty,” his voice dropped. “They’re gone.”
I stared at his emerald eyes for a long time, searching them for answers, but as my chest hollowed, I knew I didn’t need them from him.
“They died in the war. Your entire pack is gone.”
The earth beneath my feet shifted, and my knees buckled. I pressed my right foot heavy into the earth to steady myself.
“No,” I shook my head defiantly and refused to believe him. “No—I’ll find them.”
“You won’t.” He stepped closer. “And being the daughter of an Alpha, you know the law. No werewolf goes rogue.”
“I’m not going with you.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
Before I could react, he tore through the bars and grabbed my hand.
My pulse spiked, and my vision blurred as he pulled me against him.
“Come on,” he said, his voice was softer than I remembered, and that terrified me. “It’s the only way.”
His words gave me no comfort as he pulled me closer to his chest. I broke out into a cold sweat just before the world around me went dark.