For six years, I was Hazel, girlfriend to the future Alpha, Julian. I thought we had forever, a cherished place in our werewolf pack, even as a human. Then Mate Hunt night ripped it all away. I woke up lost in the forest, only to find Julian with her – his true fated mate. His words hit harder than the forest floor: I was just a 'placeholder.' Six years together, and he tossed me aside, his fingers bruising my throat as he growled that I meant nothing. My world, my heart – shattered.

Left for dead, freezing and injured, a different kind of predator found me. A colossal black wolf, eyes glowing gold, big enough to swallow me whole. But instead of tearing me apart, he curled around me, a warm, terrifying shield against the biting cold. For a moment, I felt safe.

That safety vanished when my pack, my family, found us. The Alpha who raised me, Maxen, didn't see a survivor. He saw a disappointment. Turns out, he’d only taken me in hoping I’d magically become a werewolf like my mother – the fated mate who’d rejected him. When I couldn't shift, he cast me out, branding me an omega, the pack’s punching bag.

Now, I'm less than nothing, surviving on scraps and enduring their cruelty. What they don't know, what I don't know, is that my monstrous protector is no ordinary rogue. He's Lykos, the wolf of Kael, the Lycan King. And Lykos has decided I am his fated mate – a human. Kael is furious, but his wolf has a will of its own, dragging the King himself towards my abusive pack.

My old life is over. My only ally is a creature of legend. And the most feared Lycan in existence is on his way. Is he coming to save me, or is the King's arrival just another nightmare waiting to begin?

My phone buzzed at the exact moment Sera's did.


We both froze. The ball of arcana floating between us wavered slightly as our concentration broke.


"That's strange," Sera murmured, reaching for her phone.


I grabbed mine, surprised to see a notification from an app I didn't recognize. The icon was simple—a silver circle with a pulsing blue center. Below it read: "DIVINITY: MISSION ALERT."


"Sera?" I held up my phone. "What's this?"


Her eyes widened as she looked at her own screen. "You got one too?"


"Got what?" I tapped the notification, and my phone unlocked to reveal an unfamiliar interface.


The screen showed what looked like a mission brief:


*LOCATION: BLUE MOUNTAIN PACK TERRITORY*


*OBJECTIVE: INVESTIGATE ANOMALOUS ENERGY READINGS*


My stomach dropped. "Blue Mountain? That's my old pack."


Chapter 156 - Chapter 156 - A Mission and a Lie