The horror at what he’s proposing rips the air right out from my lungs.
The Stormfire alpha, one of the most ruthless wolves in all of existence, wants to claim my daughter as his mate.
It’s abhorrently inconceivable… and yet, it’s the only way to guarantee her freedom. I knew she would be hunted and special. Everyone knew from the second she was born. This fate is one I could never dream of avoiding for her.
She has a destiny I could never stop.
Staying here would be a worse fate than being Rizer’s future mate. Perhaps I will even find a way to reverse the agreement. Eighteen years is a long time in the life of a shifter.
“Your answer, she-wolf.”
I lift my head and stare into his crimson eyes. “You have a deal. Now open the portal, Alpha.”
He chuckles again, the sound laced with dark promise. “As you wish. Keep good care of my intended mate. I will be watching.”
Chapter 1
Lilith Thornblood
There isn’t enough booze in the shifter world to deal with alpha egos.
I take a deep drink of the red wine I stole from the teacher’s lounge at Caeli Pack Academy before passing it to my best friend. The only person in the whole world (okay, just the academy) who I like. She’s also the sole reason the alpha’s sons are walking right over to us at this lame excuse for a party to celebrate the rare blood moon. Who throws a party for eighteen-year-olds without booze?
Aurelia Winters coughs as she takes a long drink and rolls her eyes at me when I chuckle. Although she tends to think otherwise, Aurelia is ridiculously stunning, and it’s mostly down to her bloodline. She looks just like her mum, but her father’s genes are strong and make her the perfect example of a Caeli wolf. Taking another sip from the bottle, Aurelia tucks her curly blonde hair behind her ears and looks past me at the alpha’s sons with her big blue eyes. She is the perfect wolf at the Caeli Pack Academy, whereas me, on the other hand, I stand out as the outcast they put up with. I’m a red in a world of white with my dark-red hair and red-furred wolf. Other than the streak of white hair that falls down the side of my cheek, there isn’t much about me that lets me mix in with the pack I have always lived in.
The Caeli Pack is hidden deep in the snowy Mountains of Alaska, where no one ever comes because it’s too high up and the humans are afraid of us. Mostly because we’re supernatural beings who don’t mix well with them since they only see us as a means to protect them from the bad things in the world. Every pack in the world has its mission, its purpose, and Caeli’s is learning and recording every event in the world of shifters. Basically, librarians with a bite.
“I stand out everywhere,” I mutter to Aurelia.
“So? You’re pretty and unusual here. That’s not a bad thing,” she replies. “Don’t worry so much.”
Says the girl who fits into our pack better than my ass fits into these skinny jeans. I don’t hide or blend in very well. Aurelia is the opposite. At least, she is until we’re at a party like this where she stands out far more than I do in some sense. It’s all because of the mating season. In a year’s time, most females will have chosen a mate, and the males all want the prettiest wolf in the pack which is Aurelia.
Finding a mate is definitely not on my to-do list. At least not with any of these wolves.
I take the bottle from Aurelia. “I think I should just leave at the end of the academy year in two weeks. Maybe join the demon-hunting trials in the Stormfire pack or something.” Throwing back a deep mouthful, I wipe my lips with the back of my hand. “Hell, maybe I could look for my father and actually fit in there.”
Aurelia gawks at me, then snatches the bottle. “Are you freaking crazy? You could also die in the trials. That’s it. No more booze for you.”
I glare at her jokingly. “Hey, I’m not even tipsy!”
“You’re speaking like my aunt on New Year’s Eve! Have you forgotten that you could get killed trying to capture those disgusting demons? They eat wolves for fun. Why would you even want that?” She shakes her head. “You’re safe here. You shouldn’t leave.”
“My brother left.”
With a sigh, she rests her head on my shoulder for a few seconds. “But he’s a male and strong. There are like three female demon hunters in the whole of the Stormfire pack, and each of them are totally badass.”
“So you’re saying I’m not a badass?” I question with a raised eyebrow.
She laughs. “If you were brought up in Stormfire, taught to fight from a kid instead of how to read a book and study like our pack taught, we might be having a different conversation. But your circumstances are totally different. You were brought up a Caeli, and we both don’t have a clue about fighting demons or capturing them. Come on, Lilith. You know this. Please tell me you weren’t being serious?”
I don’t answer her because I know she’s right. But the thought of studying wolf history and doing nothing more than studying for the rest of my life makes me feel sick. It’s like my pack is squeezing the life out of me with each passing day, and the only way to stop is to find an escape.
“We can talk about it later,” I say, shrugging my shoulder. “They are nearly here.”
Aurelia raises her head and straightens her tight, sparkling yellow dress that shows off her long legs. I cross my own covered legs, the movement straining my jeans and knocking mud off my heavy boots.
