Prologue
PROLOGUE.
“Please, Mom... don’t leave me.”
Her fingers trembled in mine, already cold, already slipping away. My mother closed her eyes, and my entire world shattered.
That morning, nothing hinted at the horror to come.
Sunlight spilled through the curtains of our tiny house. As always, my mother was making breakfast with that same gentle smile she wore every day, while I sat at the table, grumbling at my phone, impatiently waiting for news from the college.
Nothing about that morning suggested it would be our last together.
My name is Sophia Carpenter. I’m seventeen years old, and in a few weeks, I’ll be eighteen.
Up until that day, my life had been painfully ordinary. I lived alone with my mother, a kind woman who kept herself locked away from the world. She had no friends, no family, no past, at least none she was willing to talk about. The only thing I knew about my father came from an old photograph sitting on her nightstand: two young lovers smiling at each other as if they believed happiness could last forever.
That morning, I should have listened to her.
I can still see the fear in her eyes. The slight tremor in her hand when she said, “Sweetheart, you can’t go to university.”
At first, I thought she was joking. Then I convinced myself she’d given in to some irrational fear. To me, she had suddenly become an obstacle standing between me and the future I’d fought for.
Going to university wasn’t just a dream. I’d worked my ass off for it. I’d saved money in case she couldn’t afford the tuition. And now she was telling me that after everything I’d sacrificed, I couldn’t have the life I’d spent years building?
I lost it.
I yelled. I slammed the door. And I left.
I had no idea I would spend the rest of my life regretting that choice.
Everything happened so fast after that.
School. The strange incidents. The constant feeling that someone was watching me. The shadows lurking in the hallways. The whispers I could barely hear. That invisible presence following me wherever I went.
And then there was the man.
The one who saved me when I was seconds away from dying, cornered by people who were dangerous in ways I couldn’t even understand yet. I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know why he already knew my name before I’d ever told him.
But when I went home that night, fear twisting through my stomach, I already knew something terrible had happened.
I knew I was about to discover something that would destroy me.
And then I saw it.
The world stopped.
The living room reeked of blood and fear.
My mother lay sprawled across the floor, soaked in blood, barely recognizable. Her eyes found mine with a heartbreaking tenderness, and her voice, nothing more than a whisper, reached me through the ringing in my ears.
“Sophia... listen carefully. I don’t have much time, so stop crying and listen. I have to tell you about what you really are. You have to find him... your grandfather... the pack... and the ritual. Otherwise... you’ll die.”
Then, with what little strength she had left, she added:
“Forgive me... and remember... he’s responsible for everything. For your father and me... it was him.”
Her final words weren’t just an accusation.
They were a promise.
From that day on, I was no longer human.
I didn’t know it yet, but something inside me had awakened. Something ancient, forbidden, wild, and impossible to control.
I left everything behind: my town, my school, my friends.
I only had one goal left : Revenge.
I would find the man my mother held responsible. The man who had taken my father from me. The man who had murdered my mother.
But first, I had to survive.
And to survive, I had to complete the Rite of Passage and join my grandfather’s pack.
I thought he would help me.
I thought he would understand.
I was wrong.
There was nothing grandfatherly in his gaze. Only hatred that had been festering for years.
“Because of your mother, we became outcasts,” he growled. “You carry her blood, and that’s the only reason you’re still alive. But if I ever see you again... I’ll kill you.”
I was alone again.
Alone, but not broken.
The days passed. I wandered. I learned how to survive. I met others like me.
And then he appeared.
His steel-gray eyes pierced straight through me, and his scent wrapped around me like a cursed kind of comfort.
“You, Sophia Carpenter... you’re my mate.”
His voice wasn’t a confession, it was a command.
“And I won’t allow you to fool around with other men.”
My heart stopped.
Him. It had been him all along : My Alpha.
How had this become my life?
Just a few months ago, I was an ordinary high school girl with ordinary dreams.
Now, I was a she-wolf lost between vengeance, instinct, and a forbidden desire powerful enough to destroy me.
And this was only the beginning.
