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CHAPTER ONE
Shouts echoed in the distance. Footsteps pounded like a steady war drum on the forest floor, causing adrenaline to course through my veins like fire. The air in my lungs burned, each breath more painful than the last as I pushed harder, ignoring the stabbing pain licking up my legs.
I was unsure of where I was running to. The compound was nearly impenetrable, but I refused to give in to where that road would lead me.
“Freya, stop this madness, child.”
My father’s harsh voice cut through the wind, whirling around my constricted heart. How could he do this to me? His daughter. And my mother? Her proud expression as I was forced to bear the assault of our alpha stabbed me through the heart in bitter betrayal.
Tears slid down my cheeks, the frigid wind freezing them to my skin as I raced farther into the forest. There was a cracking in my chest where my heart had once beat for them. My family. My pack. They’d tricked me. Made me believe that my sacrifice was honorable.
It was nothing more than betrayal.
“Come now, my child.” My mother smiled up at me with moons in her eyes as she ushered me into a silken white dress that clung to my shapely frame. “It’s an honor to be among the chosen, Freya. You should be grateful for this opportunity to please your leader and aid your pack.”
Gratefulness was not one of the things I was feeling at the moment. It wasn’t even in the top ten emotions that roiled through me. I scoffed internally.
Chosen.
I’d grown up learning about being chosen, but little was known about the ceremony itself. What was known was that those who were chosen were never seen again. It had been nearly a decade since the last Choosing. I’d only been ten at the time, but I remembered clinging to my mother’s leg as she readied my aunt just as she was readying me now. The room had been full of excited energy. The women tittered around one another, chatting about what a blessing it would be to bring their family honor.
The only one who hadn’t been celebrating that night was my aunt, whose normally flushed face was pale. The lights in her eyes had dimmed as she sat quietly under my mother’s ministrations. She hadn’t wanted to go, that I remembered. Two of Alpha Rollins’ guards had dragged her out.
That was the last time I saw her.
Five of us had been chosen. One woman for each son or heir of a member of the High Council. I’d been more than surprised when my name was called. Dread had pooled in the pit of my stomach, weighing like a stone as Alpha Rollins’ son Damien placed the mark on my forehead. A branding for all to see that I was the one he had chosen. Nothing good came of anything when Damien was involved.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” he’d whispered in my ear as I walked off the stage. “Soon, I’ll have that taste of you, little deer.”
The memory blurred my sight, and I stumbled, crying out. My bare feet slipped on a patch of wet leaves, and I tumbled to the ground.
“Freya.”
Dammit. They were closing in. There wasn’t enough time to make it down to the river from the cliffs. It was the only way I knew that would take me beyond the gates of the compound. I had wasted too much time trying to convince my younger sister to join me, but she’d refused. Brainwashed, just like everyone else in this fucking pack.
A sharp pain lanced up my leg when I attempted to stand. I didn’t have the same speed as the other shifters. I was weaker. The runt of my pack.
Only one choice remained.
Grunting, I heaved my body up from the ground, gritting my teeth at the pain that shot through my right leg. There wasn’t enough energy left in my reserves for me to heal whatever was broken. I shrugged it off, enduring the coursing pain as I limped toward the one place where I could seek my freedom. The one place they would never be able to follow. They wouldn’t be able to claim what was mine because there would be nothing left of me to claim.
“Freya, stop.”
The wind whipped at my hair, chasing it along the side of my face, obscuring it from their view. My body froze at my alpha’s command, toes dancing along the edge of the cliff. One step, and it would all be over.
I would break the chain.
No more Choosing.
No more games.
No more…I gulped.
I could end it all right now, and none of the women in the compound would have to suffer. The ritual would remain incomplete.
My sacrifice would make me the last.
“Don’t do this, child,” my father’s voice whispered in mock concern. I looked into the eyes of the man who’d raised me with a gentle hand and tender voice. There were no traces of that man left in the black void of his angered eyes. He wasn’t my father. Merely a man who sought to sell my soul for his wealth and status.
