Chapter 3
"Where are my things, Greta?" I asked, staring at the empty wardrobe in my bedroom.
"Beta Marcus ordered them moved," the housekeeper replied, keeping her eyes fixed on her feather duster. "Miss Caroline requires the space for her wedding gifts."
"This is my room."
"Not anymore. Your boxes are in the attic."
I marched up the narrow, creaking stairs. Dust coated the wooden planks. Three cardboard boxes sat next to a rusty mop bucket.
"You owe me your life," Marcus used to bark, shoving a broom into my ten-year-old hands. "I saved you from the border. A wolfless stray with no name. You work for your food here."
I scrubbed floors for eight years. I endured Caroline’s constant sneers. I accepted my place at the bottom of the pack.
Then came my eighteenth birthday. Joseph had cornered me in the gardens during the summer gala.
"You're mine," he had demanded, his Alpha aura wrapping around me like a warm blanket. "My mate."
I believed him. I gave him everything.
Now, my entire life was packed into cardboard.
I headed back downstairs. I needed to face Caroline. I needed to expose her treacherous phone call about Alpha Mercer.
I reached the master suite. The heavy oak door stood slightly ajar.
"Are you sure she won't cause trouble, Joseph?" Caroline purred.
"Vivian obeys me," Joseph said. "She knows her place."
I peered through the two-inch gap. Caroline wore a sheer silk robe. She backed Joseph against the mahogany dresser, her hands sliding up his chest.
"Prove I'm your only Luna," she whispered.
She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his.
I waited for the rejection. I waited for my fated mate to shove her away.
He didn't.
Joseph’s hands settled firmly on her hips. He tilted his head, deepening the kiss. A low groan rumbled in his throat.
A loud, grating laugh erupted from my chest. It was an ugly sound. I should be crying, but the sheer absurdity of his betrayal just made me laugh.
Joseph’s head snapped toward the door. "Who's there?"
I spun on my heel and bolted.
"Vivian! Stop!" Joseph yelled from the hallway.
I ignored him. I slammed the front doors open and sprinted into the freezing night.
I ran blindly. Branches whipped my face. Mud ruined my shoes. I didn't stop until the glow of the pack house vanished completely.
"Well, well. Look what wandered away from the rich wolves."
I skidded to a halt. Three massive men blocked the moonlit trail. Their clothes hung in tatters. Their eyes glowed a sickly yellow.
"I don't have any money," I said, backing away slowly.
"You smell like an Alpha's whore," the tallest rogue sneered. "But you don't have a wolf. How tragic."
"Let me pass," I demanded, grabbing a heavy branch from the dirt.
"A wolfless toy giving orders?" Another rogue chuckled, cracking his knuckles. "We're going to have fun with you."
"Get her," the leader barked.
I threw the branch at his face and sprinted into the thick underbrush. Thorns tore at my jeans. Heavy paws slammed against the earth behind me. They had shifted. I was entirely human. I stood no chance.
A sudden, violent cramp ripped through my lower abdomen.
"Ah!" I shrieked, doubling over.
My foot caught on an exposed tree root. I slammed hard onto the cold ground. The impact knocked the wind completely out of my lungs.
The snarling beasts circled me, snapping their jaws. But the terror of the wolves faded beneath a much sharper, more devastating agony.
Liquid pooled between my thighs, warm and sticky.
I pulled my trembling hand up to the moonlight. My fingers were slick with thick, dark red blood.
"No," I sobbed, curling into a tight ball. "No, please. My baby. Not my baby."
The pain spiked again, blinding and absolute. The yellow eyes of the wolves blurred into twin stars. The forest spun, and then everything faded into a silent, pitch-black void.
***
Hundreds of miles away, a fire crackled in the grand hearth of the Ashberg Pack stronghold.
Luna Maria paced the length of the Persian rug. She wrung her hands together, her silver hair catching the firelight. "Did the trackers return?"
Alpha Tom sat heavily in his leather chair. "They searched the northern territories, Maria. Nothing."
"She’s out there, Tom," Maria insisted, her voice breaking. "Our daughter. I can feel it."
"It has been eighteen years."
"A mother knows!" Maria shouted, slamming her hand against the mantle. "She is alive. My heart tells me she is out there."
"We will find her," Tom said softly, standing up to pull his mate into his arms. "Even if I have to tear apart every pack on this continent."
A frantic knock shattered the quiet room.
The heavy wooden door swung open. Beta Silas stood in the entryway, panting hard. He clutched a crumpled piece of fabric in his fist.
"Alpha," Silas gasped, holding up a torn, blood-stained piece of cream-colored silk. "Our border patrols found this near the Blood Moon territory."
Maria gasped, snatching the fabric from his hands. She pressed it to her nose, her eyes going wide.
"It carries the scent of your bloodline," Silas said grimly. "But there was a massive amount of blood. We don't know if she survived the night."
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