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Chapter One
The music stops when someone screams.
The pack gathered for the mating ceremony between the Alpha’s son and his new bride, and my Uncle Viktor actually allowed me to attend. Our Alpha is by no means a generous man, and I am usually excluded from these kinds of events.
Of course, I am only present at the celebration to serve. It is my job to clean up after my cousin, and to make sure everything is perfect for his special day. Uncle Viktor has taken every possible opportunity to remind me that my presence will only be tolerated so long as I make myself useful.
It does not matter that I am the Alpha’s niece; I am an orphan, an unwanted pup that my pack has been saddled with. A servant. A burden. A prisoner.
On the day of my cousin’s mating ceremony, I would not partake in the celebration. I'd keep my head down, my hands busy, and my mouth shut. At least, that was the plan; then again, I wasn’t counting on a stranger making such a dramatic entrance, causing my cousin’s blushing new bride to scream melodramatically in surprise as the music came to an abrupt stop.
“Who is that?” someone else asks as a hush falls over the gathered crowd.
I’m off to the side, cleaning up the shattered pieces of a champagne glass that another wolf knocked over in the startled commotion. From where I’m crouched on the ground, I can’t see whose arrival caused such a stir.
“The exiled Alpha,” another voice replies. “He’s the leader of the rogue pack.”
I can only make out bits and pieces of the conversation, but I know enough. Whatever is going on, I don’t want to get involved.
“What is he doing here?”
Whoever the stranger is, he’s obviously not on the guest list. I don’t know why he’s here or what his presence might imply for the Bane pack. I’m just happy to be out of the dreary cellar that’s considered my room. When I’m not slaving away, they keep me locked down there, out of sight and out of mind. I’m the runt of the pack, after all, an embarrassment. The mutt. I've never even manifested a wolf.
“Tristan Lyall.” My uncle’s voice cuts through the whispers in the crowd, and I flinch at the sound. Everyone falls silent, and I can hear his footsteps somewhere ahead of me. “This is quite a surprise. We were not expecting you.”
No shit, Sherlock. The band just stands there with their instruments in their hands. People shuffle around and whisper anxiously. I keep my eyes on the ground, picking up another shard of glass.
“Apologies for the intrusion.” The voice is deep and commanding, but significantly younger than my uncle’s. Even before I lay my eyes on him, something stirs within me at the sound of that voice.
“What do you want with the Bane pack? You have no business in our territory,” Viktor says, and I clench my eyes shut at the threat behind his words.
I have to tell myself over and over that I’m not the one he’s angry at. Not today. I haven’t done anything wrong, but fearing him is a reflex without reason. It’s an instinct that’s been beaten into me over the years, both literally and metaphorically.
“Is that any way to treat a fellow Alpha?” the stranger replies, sounding amused and unbothered. I’ve never heard someone address my uncle that way. His tone is so casual, almost teasing.
“Why are you here?” my uncle asks again, more insistently this time.
“I’ve come for my mate.”
A murmur spreads across the gathered pack as wolves gasp and talk amongst themselves, but I simply let out a soft breath.
Is it stupid of me to feel relieved at that moment? I assume that whatever is going on between my uncle and the other Alpha has nothing to do with me. For this one night, Viktor will have bigger problems to deal with. Perhaps everyone is so distracted with the celebration and preoccupied with the stranger that I will be spared any further abuse for the evening. All I really want is to be invisible. Everyone looks at me with such scorn and disgust that the idea of disappearing, even for a little while, would be a relief. I have such simple wishes: warm food, a soft bed, a quiet night without labor or mockery…
A sweet little fool with sweet little foolish dreams.
“What are you talking about? If you wish to find a mate, perhaps you should look within your own pack. Surely you can find a decent enough she-wolf among your rogues and mutts.”
I don’t see the look they exchange, but even from where I’m kneeling on the floor, I can feel the tension that suddenly sweeps across the courtyard. It’s like the stranger’s imposing presence extends beyond himself, his power hanging in the air like a mist that curls its fingers around each and every wolf gathered here.
“Careful, Viktor,” is all he says, and my uncle does not reply. “A Seer in my pack had a vision of my fated mate among your pack. I’m as unhappy with this as you are, but to deny her from me is to deny the will of Selene. If you refuse me, you will not just be making an enemy out of me and my pack but of the Moon Goddess herself.”
My uncle Viktor knows no law but his own. He honors the Goddess so long as it is convenient for him. But will he really risk waging war against another pack over one man’s mate?
I suppose that depends on the mate, doesn’t it?
“And you expect to believe the word of some supposed Seer? I will not hand over one of my wolves to the king of outcasts just because one of his rogues said it was destiny.”
“There has been enough conflict between our packs, Viktor. I am offering you a chance to secure peace between our territories. All you have to do is give me the girl with violet eyes.”
