The forest shouldn't have been this quiet.
Evelyn Kane paused on the narrow dirt trail, her breath fogging the cold night air. Only a few hours ago she'd been driving home from work, exhausted and annoyed, when a fallen tree blocked the road and forced her into the woods to find a signal.
A stupid idea.A reckless idea.
But she'd been angry, tired, and desperate for her life to make sense, so she walked anyway.
Now she wished she hadn't.
The silence felt wrong — like something was holding its breath with her.
Her fingers tightened around her dead phone.
"Perfect," she muttered. "Great job, Evelyn. Brilliant decisions as always."
A branch snapped somewhere behind her.
She spun around, heart jerking, but saw nothing except trees swallowing the moonlight. She took one step backward—
—and that was when she heard it.Not footsteps.Not whispers.Not the wind.
Voices. Dozens of them.
Low. Humming. Inhuman.
Her pulse quickened. She followed the sound before common sense could stop her, slipping through the trees until the forest opened into a huge clearing glowing silver under the full moon.
Her breath vanished.
They were everywhere.
Wolves — massive, unnatural, their fur dark as shadows, their eyes glowing gold and silver. And around them, half-shifted figures with claws, fangs, and bodies too large to be human knelt in a perfect circle around a burning pyre.
A ritual.
A ceremony.
A world she should never have seen.
Evelyn's instinct screamed at her to run, but she couldn't. Her feet rooted into the earth as though the moon itself commanded her to stay.
Then she saw him.
At first she thought he was carved from darkness — tall, broad shoulders draped in a black coat, raven hair tied back, posture straight and regal. His presence was a storm contained inside a man's body, too powerful and too silent.
Alpha Ronan Blackthorn.
She hadn't met him, hadn't even seen pictures, but the moment her eyes touched him, something inside her snapped tight like a pulled wire.
He looked like sin wrapped in authority.Ruthless.Untouchable.A force, not a man.
And the forest… bowed to him.
Her stomach twisted — not from fear, but something heavier, hotter.
Then his head lifted.
Like he felt her.
His eyes — dark silver, almost metallic — locked with hers across the clearing.
The world fell away.A low ringing filled her ears.Heat shot through her chest, racing down her spine, curling around her bones.
Her breath hitched.
And then—it happened.
The bond.
A violent pull slammed into her soul like lightning exploding from the inside. Her lungs seized. Her heart lurched painfully. Every nerve in her body lit up with fire and recognition.
She didn't know what it meant, but it felt like fate.
Like destiny reaching out to her.
Like she had been created for this moment.
Ronan froze too.
But instead of wonder… horror flickered in his eyes.
He stepped forward, slow, lethal, his boots crushing the leaves beneath him. Every wolf dropped their gaze as he moved, but Evelyn couldn't look away. The bond wouldn't let her.
His scent hit her before he even touched her — pine, smoke, and a wild edge that made her knees tremble.
When he stopped a breath away, she felt small under the weight of him.
"Human," he said, voice sharp, deep, rumbling with power. "You trespass on sacred land."
Evelyn's lips parted. "I—I didn't mean— I was just trying to find a signal, I didn't know—"
"You shouldn't be here."His voice lowered.Dangerous.Final.
Her heartbeat stuttered. "Who… who are you?"
His eyes narrowed. "Ronan Blackthorn."
The name hit her like a blow.
The Alpha.
The most feared werewolf in the region.The shadow that haunted every pack.The man whose name made others kneel.
And he was looking at her like she was a disaster he didn't know how to stop.
Evelyn tried to step back, but her body wouldn't obey. Instead, the bond yanked again, tightening between them like a rope catching fire.
Her breath came out shaky. "Why do you feel— why do I feel—"
Ronan's jaw clenched.
Then something cold, violent, and final hardened in his expression.
He raised his chin slightly, voice cutting through the clearing like a blade.
"I reject you."
Everything inside Evelyn shattered.
"What?" Her voice cracked.
His eyes stayed locked on hers — but they were dead, cold, merciless. "I reject you as my mate."
The bond tore instantly.
The pain was blinding — like claws dragging through her chest, ripping something sacred and intimate out of her body. She gasped and collapsed to her knees, fingers twisting into the dirt as agony ripped through her.
It felt like her soul was bleeding.
A scream clawed up her throat, but only a broken sob escaped.
The wolves watched her without pity.
The moon burned overhead.
And the Alpha who rejected her didn't move—not even an inch.
But his eyes… they flickered.
With confusion.With something like hesitation.With something he didn't want to feel.
Evelyn's vision blurred. Her body shook uncontrollably as she choked, "Why— I didn't— I don't even know you—"
Ronan stepped back, breath unsteady. "The bond should be gone."
He sounded almost… afraid.
But Evelyn couldn't think, couldn't hear, couldn't breathe. Every heartbeat crushed her from the inside. Darkness crept over her vision, swallowing the world.
The last thing she saw was Ronan turning toward her again, his eyes wide — with disbelief, with something he didn't understand — as he whispered:
"Why isn't it breaking?"
And then the shadows finally pulled her under.