Chapter 1

“Viremont’s paying a fortune for p>

Serena’s boot found his groin before he finished his sentence. His voice went up three octaves. Then he folded in on himself.

Conversation over.

Another rogue dropped from a tree. “Silverveil. Third-time runners don’t get quick deaths p>

Lunging forward, she took him by surprise and drove her shoulder into his chest.

Before he could breathe, she introduced her knee to his future children, and he discovered religion on the way down.

Two down.

Only a small army to go.

Wasting no time, she grabbed his sword. It was heavy, unbalanced, and the grip was trash. But free was free.

Elara was frozen, wide-eyed, and pressed against a tree. Serena recognized the look because she’d worn it for a year straight. The look was a cage before the cage arrived.

Legs trembling, Serena stepped forward to anchor herself between Elara and the threat. A year in silver chains had burned Serena’s wolf away, but Elara’s was still whole. And she was going to make damn sure the girl didn’t die today.

“Shift and run,” Serena ordered over her shoulder. “Now p>

Elara gave a single nod and shifted mid-step, paws hitting the ground in a sprint.

More emerged from the trees, blades drawn, chains hanging from their gloved hands.

“Dumb,” Serena muttered, eyes flicking left. “Dumber.” Her gaze slid right. “And desperate p>

Five. Ten. Too many. Fuck. The math was not mathing.

“Fine,” she breathed. “Come earn it p>

Every one of them moved at the same time.

She braced for impact, but the strike blindsided her from a direction she wasn’t guarding.

Pain detonated from her chest, cracking through her sternum like lightning splitting a tree.

A raw, high-pitched scream tore from her throat as gold light exploded from her skin. The shockwave blasted the rogues back thirty feet.

Serena hit the ground with a thud, ears ringing and spots dancing in her vision.

She blinked a few times, only to notice she was glowing. Her hands looked like a literal religious painting, which was odd, considering the rest of her looked like a crime scene.

How interesting, she thought, completely detached, like it was happening to someone else.

Crunching leaves yanked her back to reality. A rogue groaned, staggering to his feet.

One by one, they hauled themselves upright. Of course they did. Because nothing in her life had ever stayed down the first time.

“KILL HER p>

Serena shoved herself off the ground. “I didn’t survive a collar and cuffs in Viremont just to be ended by you assholes p>

The words came out louder, with much more attitude than she intended. Every eye in the clearing locked onto her.

“Whoops p>

She bolted, dignity abandoned.

Shifts sounded behind her. Paws drummed the ground in pursuit.

If they caught her, they’d rip her throat out with their teeth. She was well aware.

Her legs burned, the forest blurring into a smear of green and brown. Alpha speed shouldn’t be possible. She had no wolf. Yet her body did it. And she wasn’t going to question it. Beggars. Choosers. Life-or-death situations.

A tree root caught her foot and she face-planted into the dirt.

“Shit p>

Survived a year in silver. Killed by a tree root. Fitting.

Miles away, a massive black wolf skidded to a sudden stop, head snapping up. A scent struck him like a battering ram.

His pulse thundered in his ears, every sense sharpening to a razor point.

It smelled like pine, moonfire, and something painfully familiar. Like something he had lost and never stopped searching for.

Aegon: Run to it. Now.

Dexmon didn’t need to be told twice, his wolf’s desperation echoing his own.

All he knew was that he needed more of it.

Like a hook sunk deep, the pull yanked hard, and he streaked towards it at Alpha speed.

Moments later, he burst into a clearing. Rogues were shifting with silver chains in hand.

His paws stopped working the instant he saw the source of the scent. His entire body screamed one word he didn’t dare say.

Aegon: Why are we stopping. Why are we STOPPING.

Thick white hair was plastered to her face, the rest shoved into the collar of her shirt. Even from a distance, her green eyes were striking.

The need to touch her, to feel her skin on his, burned so hot he almost shifted back on the spot.

Then the rest of it registered. Her clothes were soaked in blood. The sword she held looked too heavy for her wrists. She was surrounded on all sides, back against a tree.

But instead of cowering, she squared up to face them head-on.

There was zero chance she could take them. She was unshifted, bleeding, and outnumbered.

Dexmon hit the fight in a blur of fur and teeth.

His jaws closed around one throat, then another. Blood, hot and copper, flooded his mouth. He didn’t care.

Aegon: On our left. Behind us. Focus. FOCUS. Stop smelling her.

Dexmon: Helpful. Truly. Shut up.

Behind him, two attackers closed in on her. Instead of flinching, she charged towards them, catching both off guard.

She dove under their swinging chains, rolled, and came up on the other side.

Before either of them understood what happened, she kicked one hard in the back and sent him sprawling.

Aegon:…Did she just charge them? And it actually worked?

More steel flashed.

Serena turned just in time to see a blade arcing towards the black wolf.

She had exactly half a second to register that this was a terrible idea. But some mix of instinct, gratitude, and stupidity shoved her forward. A holy trinity of bad decisions.

She stepped into the strike meant for him and the sword drove into her side.

Every nerve ending in her body lit on fire. She gritted her teeth, refusing to scream. She would not give them that.

The wolf snarled as she fell to her knees.

In the same instant, pain carved through him too. It was so intense he staggered. His body screamed, but he wasn’t the one stabbed.

Reinforcements flooded the clearing, cutting down every remaining rogue. Those who tried to run were hunted. No survivors. No mercy.

Dexmon shifted as she pitched forward, hands replacing fur just in time to catch her.

She stared up at him and for a moment the world stopped.

Her expression said, very clearly, What the fuck. He couldn’t argue with it.

The urge to mark her burned dangerously, heat coiling low in his body. He wanted her pinned beneath him, breathing him in until there was nothing else.

That hunger terrified him more than the rogues ever could. He shook his head once and swallowed the instinct like poison.

Restraint won. Barely.

Before Dexmon could say anything, her eyes fluttered closed. Hot blood pooled from her side, soaking his shirt.

“Fuck p>

His wolf whispered a single word in his mind, but he already knew it.

Aegon: Mate.

And she was dying in his arms.