Chapter 1 - BLOOD

JAYDEN

The scent of blood reached my nose before I even reached my brother’s cabin.

It rode the summer breeze in a thick, metallic wave, cutting through the familiar smells of pine, damp earth, and approaching rain.

I stopped at the edge of the narrow woodland road, every instinct in my wolf rising at once.

Wolf blood.

Fear.

And something worse.

Silver.

My chest constricted.

Adrian.

My feet moved before the thought finished forming.

I shifted beneath the cover of the trees, bones cracking and reforming in a flash of brutal power. My paws struck the wet ground, carrying me through the forest faster than any human could run.

Branches whipped across my black fur, and mud sprayed beneath my claws. The cabin Adrian had built—the one standing miles from the nearest werewolf territory—came into view through the trees.

I had hated the place from the beginning.

Too isolated.

Too exposed.

Too vulnerable.

Too human.

When I warned him, he had only laughed. “I’m not hiding, I’m living.”

Now, the front door stood open.

Chopped wood pieces lay scattered on the ground. And a dead body among them.

My wolf let out a low, furious growl, surging forward.

Then I saw him.

Adrian was on his knees in the clearing beside the cabin, one hand pressed desperately against his side. Blood poured through his fingers, darkening his shirt and soaking into the earth beneath him. His face slumped toward his chest, his breath coming in shallow, broken pulls.

Across from him stood a man holding a crossbow tipped with silver.

I had seen hunters before. Most wolves had. They were not myths told to frighten reckless pups. They were trained men and women who knew exactly where to strike, what metal could weaken a werewolf, and how to leave no witnesses behind.

The hunter raised the crossbow.

“Adrian!” My roar tore through the woods.

The hunter spun.

Too late.

I launched from the shadows in my wolf form, a massive blur of black fur, bared teeth, and rage.

The hunter fired.

The silver bolt sliced past my shoulder, close enough for pain to flash hot beneath my skin.

I hit the hunter with enough force to send him crashing into the mud, the crossbow flew far from his hands.

For one second, he stared up at my enormous wolf form above him, his eyes wide with terror.

Then his expression changed.

He smiled, “You came.”

My growl deepened.

The man reached for something at his belt.

I did not give him the chance to use it.

My jaws quickly closed around his throat.

A sharp crack.

Then silence.

The rain began to fall.

I stood over the hunter’s body, my chest heaving, blood stained my muzzle. Rage burned through me so intensely that I could barely think or breathe.

A weak cough hit my ears.

I shifted back into human form and ran to my older brother.

“Adrian.” I dropped to my knees beside him. “Stay with me.”

Adrian’s eyes fluttered open.

For a moment, relief softened his face.

“Jayden,” he whispered.

I pressed both hands over Adrian’s wound, trying to stop the bleeding. But the scent told me everything I did not want to know.

Silver had already entered Adrian’s bloodstream.

The hunter had not come merely to wound him.

He had come to kill.

“You’re going to be fine,” I said, my voice broke around the lie. “I’ll get you to the pack healer.”

Adrian gave the faintest shake of his head.

“No territory,” he breathed. “Too far.”

“Don’t talk like that.”

“Mia...”

I froze.

At the sound of her name, something dark and vicious twisted inside me. My wolf paced beneath my skin, savage and restless, demanding justice.

Mia.

Adrian’s human wife.

The reason Adrian had walked away from pack lands, away from his future alpha title. The reason he had chosen this fragile little house on the borderlands over the safety of his own people. He had insisted she knew nothing of the dangers surrounding wolves.

But hunters did not simply stumble upon werewolves.

Not this deep in the woods.

Not with silver bolts, traps, and the exact knowledge of where Adrian lived. Adrian was too careful and smart. He wouldn’t have led a hunter here.

Adrian coughed again, blood appearing at the corner of his mouth.

“Don’t...” His gaze struggled to focus on my face. “Don’t blame...”

The words faded.

“Adrian?” I leaned closer. “Adrian, look at me.”

My brother’s hand weakly gripped my wrist.

For one terrible heartbeat, I thought he might survive.

Then his fingers loosened, and his head fell back against the wet grass.

The forest went still.

“No.” I shook him once, then harder. “No. Adrian!”

Nothing.

My brother’s heart had stopped.

I stared down at the body of the only person who had ever loved me unconditionally. I had spent my entire life standing beside him. Adrian had taught me how to track, how to fight, how to lead without cruelty. Adrian had been the one everyone trusted—the steady alpha they all believed would lead their pack for decades.

I had never imagined taking his place.

And now he was gone.

A heart stopping roar escaped my chest, tearing through the trees.

I felt numb for a few long seconds and couldn’t move.

Then a woman screamed from behind me. “Adrian!”

I turned.

Mia stumbled out from inside the cabin, barefoot. Her pale summer dress flowed around her body, and her dark hair streamed wildly around her face. She looked terrified, her eyes searching the clearing desperately.

Then her eyes landed on me.

Her expression shattered, and she rushed forward.

I immediately rose to my feet.

“Stop.” The command snapped through the clearing with Alpha force.

Mia froze.

Her gaze lifted to me. Her eyes widened at the blood on my hands, the fury on my face, and the two dead hunters lying several feet away.

“Jayden...” Her voice trembled. “W-where is Adrian? What happened? Is he—”

“Do not say his name.” I roared.

Mia flinched as if I had struck her.

I stepped toward her slowly, my rage so sharp that even the rain seemed to recoil from it.

“You knew,” I spat with venom.

Confusion filled her tearful eyes. “What?”

“You knew they were coming.”

“No.” She shook her head immediately. “No, I don’t understand—”

“Hunters found this house.” My voice was low and deadly. “They came with silver. They knew my brother was here. They knew exactly where to wait for him.”

Mia’s lips parted, but no sound came out.

“You brought them here,” I continued relentlessly. “You set the trap.”

Her face went white.

“I would never do that.” Her hands rose helplessly before her chest. “Jayden, I love him. Adrian is my husband. I would never hurt him.”

“You expect me to believe that?” My wolf growled beneath my skin.

“Yes.” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Please. Please, you have to believe me.”

I turned back to Adrian’s motionless body.

My brother had died on human land, far from the protection of the pack. He had died because someone knew where to find him.

And the only human who had been close enough to betray him stood in front of me now.

Mia tried to get passed me but I grabbed her wrist, roughly yanking her against me.

“You were the only one who knew his routines,” I said. “The only one who knew when he would be alone. The only one who could have told a hunter how to get close.”

Mia pressed a shaking hand over her mouth.

“No,” she whispered. “No, I didn’t. I didn’t tell anyone anything.”

“Liar.”

The word landed like a blade to her gut.

She stared at me as though she could not breathe.

“I didn’t do this,” she pleaded. “I swear to you. Please, where is Adrian? I want to—”

“To what?” I demanded as my fingers tightened around her tiny wrist.

“I want to see A—” Mia swayed on her feet and murmured. “Adrian.” Her eyes fluttered shut and all the color drained from her face.

My jaw clenched. “Mia?”

Her knees buckled.

I moved on instinct.

I caught her before she struck the muddy ground, pulling her against my chest. Her heartbeat fluttered wildly against me.

She was light in my arms, trembling even as unconsciousness took her. Her face was streaked with rain and tears, her fingers curled weakly against the front of my bare chest.

I looked down at her, rain had slowly soaked into her dress.

“Damn it,” I muttered.

Every instinct told me to push her away.

To throw her beside the hunter she worked with.

But the scent coming from her skin was not triumph.

It was not guilt.

It was terror.

Real, raw terror.

And beneath it—

A faint, unfamiliar sweetness.

My body went rigid.

My wolf stirred uneasily beneath my skin.