Chapter 1 1

Elara POV

The freezing bite of the spring river water still clung to my bones, making my teeth chatter uncontrollably. My lungs burned with every shallow breath, and the scent of bitter medicinal herbs mixed with damp, rotting wood filled my nose.

I wasn't dead. I was... here.

Trapped in the fragile, wolfless body of Elara Snow. I had woken up in the world of the werewolf novel I used to read, occupying the body of the doomed, sickly Omega who was destined to be the tragic "white moonlight" of the ruthless Alpha Kalen Lancaster. But right now, the billionaire Alpha and his glittering world were a lifetime away. I was at the absolute bottom of the food chain.

Before I could even force my heavy eyelids open, a sharp, furious voice pierced my pounding headache.

"You stupid, useless boy! She has no wolf, Isaac! No wolf! And you let her near the thawing river?"

I cracked my eyes open. The room was a cramped, drafty shack on the very edge of the Bloodmoon Pack's Omega quarters. The blackened wooden beams above looked like they might cave in at any moment. Standing near my cot was Diana, my mother. She was jabbing a fierce, trembling finger into the chest of a towering, broad-shouldered young man who was shrinking into himself like a beaten pup.

Isaac. My older brother.

"Isaac..." My voice was a raw, sandpaper croak.

Both heads snapped toward me. Isaac dropped to his knees beside my bed, his massive hands hovering over me as if I were made of spun glass. Diana shoved him aside, her calloused hands immediately cupping my freezing cheeks. Tears spilled from her fierce, exhausted eyes.

"Elara. Oh, Goddess, my sweet girl," she breathed, the terrifying anger in her voice instantly melting into frantic relief.

The sudden shift in the room's atmosphere was too much for Isaac. The tension inside the fully grown werewolf snapped. He buried his face in the ragged fur blanket covering my legs and began to sob loudly, his broad shoulders shaking with the force of his guilt.

"By the Goddess, Elara," he choked out, his voice muffled by the furs. "If you hadn't woken up, Mom would have skinned me alive!"

*Smack.*

Diana's palm connected hard with the back of Isaac's neck. The dull thud echoed in the tiny room.

"Shut up!" she snarled, though her voice cracked with residual terror. "If anything happened to her, I wouldn't have stopped at skinning you!"

Instead of getting angry, Isaac just rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at me. He gave me a goofy, tear-streaked smile that completely betrayed his intimidating size. The suffocating dread that had filled the drafty cabin finally evaporated, leaving behind a strange, chaotic warmth.

Diana wiped her eyes with the back of her frayed sleeve and pulled the moth-eaten furs tighter around my shivering shoulders. Her maternal instincts immediately shifted from panic to primal survival mode.

"You're freezing. You need strength," she muttered, her eyes scanning my pale face. She turned to Isaac, her tone instantly shifting back to a harsh bark. She smacked the back of his head again, though lighter this time. "What are you staring at? Go to the communal kitchen! Get the fire going. I'm making her the eggs."

Isaac's eyes widened in shock. Eggs were a luxury in the Pack, the "Alpha's Share," strictly rationed to high-ranking warriors and the Alpha's inner circle. For an Omega family to have two was a miracle; to eat them was unheard of.

But he didn't argue. He looked at me, his eyes full of fierce, protective devotion. "I'll be right back, El. I promise."

He scrambled out the door, Diana shouting after his clumsy footsteps to hurry up.

The wooden door clicked shut, letting in a brief howl of the freezing wind. I lay there, taking in the harsh reality of my new life. In the shadows near the cold stone hearth, I caught sight of a small, skinny figure clutching a battered wooden bowl. It was my little brother, Jett, watching me with wide, hungry eyes.

Soon, Isaac would return, and Diana would make that precious, golden steamed egg custard. A meal this starving family couldn't afford, yet willingly sacrificed for a wolfless burden like me.