Chapter 1 He found me

Selene pov

I opened my eyes, clutching my chest, my breath coming in sharp, panicked gasps.

No... no, this can't be happening.

My vision blurred, but I felt the shift happening in me before I could stop it. My brown irises turned into pure gold ...it was the mark of a wolf sensing her mate for the first time.

The scent hit me next, it was sharp and overwhelming, thick with power and heat.

I could feel him.

Even from this distance, the bond snapped into place like a chain around my neck. His scent clung to the air ...it was, dominant, unmistakably powerful. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever inhaled.

My mate.

Today was my eighteenth birthday ...the day I have been dreading all my life. The year when every wolf comes of age, when the mate bond awakens and the moon goddess chooses for you.

For most, it's a blessing.

But for someone like me ...someone who had survived alone since I was eight,the idea of being shackled to anyone, even by the Moon Goddess herself, was the same as death.

And I wouldn't let that happen.

I was still lost in thought, struggling to steady my breath, when Keisha burst into the room.

"Holy shit..." she whispered, eyes widening as she took one look at me. Her red curls clung to her damp face, wild from running. Her green eyes ...one that always seemed to hold concern just for me ,was fixed on my glowing gold irises.

"Is it happening?" she asked, with a low voice.

I couldn't answer ...I just nodded, clutching my chest as my breathing turned ragged again. My wolf was stirring beneath my skin, pacing, growling, snarling to break free. She could feel him. Our mate. And she was ready to tear down the walls to get to him.

Keisha dropped to her knees in front of me and gently held my face, grounding me with her touch.

"Breathe, Selene. I need you to be calm and listen to me, okay?"

I tried. Goddess, I tried. But the bond had snapped tight around my ribcage like a noose. I was suffocating in it.

"Keisha..." I managed to choke out.

Her expression darkened. "Our scouts just returned. The Northern Pack army is marching this way ...in numbers. It's Blackthorn."

My blood ran cold.

"That can't mean anything good," she continued. "We need to move. Now."

I nodded quickly, panic tightening every muscle in my body. "Yes... I can feel him. He's coming closer. Please, Keisha. Let's go. Now."

We shifted into our wolves and tore through the forest, heading east faster than we'd ever run before.

If we could just cross the border, we could lose them. The army. Him.

Something in my gut told me what I'd been dreading all along ...he's with them. My mate is part of that army. Part of the Northern Pack. Part of the life that destroyed me.

And I'd rather be caught dead than have any connection to Blackthorn ever again.

I pushed harder, my paws pounding the earth, lungs burning as I ignored the intoxicating scent growing stronger with every heartbeat. His scent. It wrapped around my senses, pulled at my instincts like a drug.

But I wouldn't give in.

Keisha ran beside me, her smaller wolf just behind my flank.

"We're close to the border!" she called through the mind-link, hope flickering between us like a spark.

But before I could respond, I heard thudding paws. Dozens of them. closing in on us.

"Shit," I growled, skidding slightly on the forest floor. They'd caught up.

And now his scent was undeniable. It hit me like a tidal wave, and my wolf howled from within, begging to turn around, to find him, to submit.

But I refused.

I kept running, breath ragged, my heart pounding like a war drum ...until something slammed into me from the side, knocking the air clean out of my lungs.

"It's funny you thought you could run from me, little wolf."

His voice was deep, rough with amusement ...and something far darker.

Before I could gather myself, the Alpha command hit me like a thunderclap.

"Shift back to your human form Now."

The words wrapped around my bones and bent my will without mercy.

My limbs trembled as my wolf was forced into retreat. Pain shot through me, it was brief but unbearable ...and then I was naked, my long black hair falling in damp waves around me.

My eyes still glowed gold. His command had weakened my body ...but not the mate bond. Not the power surging between us like a live wire.

I looked up.

And the moment I did, everything inside me broke.

Somewhere behind me, I heard Keisha struggling, snarling in her wolf form, her voice crying out through the mind-link. "We didn't do anything! Let us go! Please...Selene's done nothing wrong!"

But I couldn't answer her.

Because the face in front of me had already knocked the air out of my lungs.

Kael Blackthorn.

My mate.

The very man who banished me from the pack when I was just eight.

The man who turned his back when I screamed for someone..anyone, to believe me.

Who refused to listen when I pleaded, trembling and bloodied from their cruel assaults , that I had no idea what had happened to my sister.

Who looked me in the eye with cold indifference and branded me a traitor.

Kael Blackthorn. My mate.

The same boy who exiled me... and the face behind all my nightmares.

And fate, it seemed, had a twisted sense of humor.

now, he stood before me as the Alpha of the army I tried to escape.

"So this is where you've been hiding, Selene," he said, breathing out my name like a sin he fully intended to commit.

A moan slipped from my lips before I could stop it . I curled into myself, clutching my legs as the bond flared inside me, the ache to be claimed spreading like fire under my skin.

No. I refused to give in.

"Take the other one. Head back to the pack," Kael ordered without looking at me, speaking to the tall, broad-shouldered wolf who stepped forward.

He was handsome ,silver-eyed, with a rigid jaw ...and he pointedly kept his gaze off me, as if my naked body disgusted him.

He bent and reached for Keisha.

"Let her go, you bastard!" I snarled. "Leave us alone!"

Kael's gaze finally cut to mine, his lips curling in amusement .

"She's not my problem," he said coolly, as if Keisha were dirt under his boot.

"But you... you are. You're my mate, Selene. And I will never be denied what is rightfully mine."

I forced myself to my feet, trembling . "I'd rather peel the skin off my body piece by piece before I ever belong to you."

His eyes darkened.

"I reject-"

"Finish that sentence," he growled, stepping closer, "and you won't like what happens next."

He circled me like a predator, his voice low and lethal.

"You can't reject me. Not now. Not ever. Even your body betrays you."

"I hate you." The words came out like venom.

Kael's lips curled.

"Are you sure you want to be mated to a murderer?" I asked, my voice low and wicked, "Or have you already forgotten what led to my banishment all those years ago?"