Prologue - The wait and the Arrival
Lucian's POV
For three hundred years, Alpha King Lucian Blackwood ruled in silence.
The moon rose, the packs bowed, and kingdoms fell — yet his heart stayed hollow. The mate bond was supposed to ignite the moment she was born, but fate was cruel; centuries passed, and she never came.
He had begun to think the Moon Goddess had forgotten him.
Until tonight.
The wind shifted. Her scent — sweet, wild, and maddening — drifted through the forest.
Citrus and vanilla… and defiance.
Lucian’s wolf growled inside him, ancient and desperate.
“Finally,” he whispered, eyes glowing gold. “She’s here.”
He didn’t know her name. He didn’t know where she came from.
But he knew one thing: once he found her, he would never let her go.
Ava’s POV
If someone had told Ava Sterling that her weekend getaway would end with a six-foot-five man calling her “mate,” she would have laughed, rolled her eyes, and asked for another latte.
But here she was — in a creepy forest, her car dead, her phone useless, and a giant man with piercing eyes staring at her like she was dessert.
“Mine,” he’d said, voice deep enough to rattle her bones.
“Excuse me?” Ava had blinked. “I don’t belong to anyone, wolf-boy.”
He’d looked shocked — like no one had ever dared speak back to him.
She turned, heels clicking against the dirt, muttering, “Great. First flat tyre, now a delusional forest king.”
She didn’t look back. She didn’t need to.
She could already feel his gaze following her — amused, intrigued, and annoyingly certain.
End of Prologue
