Chapter 1
Chapter One: Wolf Moon Rising
Victoria — Pack Grounds
The forest smelled of pine and wet earth, sharp and alive. Victoria’s boots crunched over the frost-covered underbrush, but her wolf remained restless beneath the surface, tail flicking with unspent energy.
“Victoria!” a voice called from the clearing.
She turned, eyes narrowing. Marcus, her second-in-command in training, strode toward her, breath misting in the cold morning air. “You’re late. Again.”
“I wasn’t late,” she snapped, though her chest burned with the effort to catch her breath. “I—”
Marcus raised a brow, unimpressed. “You missed half the pack drills. Your father won’t be pleased.”
Victoria exhaled, letting the frost-laced air escape her lungs. “I can handle it.”
Marcus studied her. “Can you? Or are you dreaming too much again?”
She froze.
“Don’t tell me you were daydreaming about that… human?”
Victoria’s jaw tightened. “No.”
Marcus’s grin was teasing, but sharp. “Sure. Just don’t get distracted during training. You’re not only your father’s heir—you’re your pack’s future.”
Her wolf stirred in agreement, sensing a disturbance she couldn’t see yet. Something cold. Something out of place.
The wind shifted.
A scent drifted through the trees. Metallic. Sharp. Old. Alien.
And beneath it, something sweeter… almost imperceptible, but undeniable.
A pulse. A presence.
Victoria’s stomach tightened.
Her wolf growled low in her chest.
A vampire.
Lucian — Vampire Palace
Lucian leaned against the cold marble balcony of the palace, eyes tracing the dark line of the forest in the distance. Even from here, he could feel it—the pull.
His father, King Valtar, would have called it reckless. Dangerous. Forbidden. But Lucian didn’t care.
At eighteen, he had tasted enough to know life was fleeting. And the forest… the forest whispered to him in a way that made the blood in his veins hum.
There.
A single figure moved, fluid, confident, unaware—or perhaps daring.
Lucian’s eyes narrowed.
A wolf. Young. Strong. Determined. And somehow… captivating.
He had been trained to resist impulses. To calculate. To command. Yet something in her presence tugged at something older than desire. Something dangerous.
“Interesting,” he murmured, voice low, almost lost to the night wind.
The bond had not yet formed—or had it? He couldn’t tell. But a spark had ignited.
Lucian clenched his jaw. It would be trouble. She would be trouble.
And yet… he wanted to see her again.
Chapter Three: Crossing Paths
Victoria — Forest Edge
Night fell faster than she expected, the moon rising pale and full. Victoria’s patrol should have been uneventful, another routine run along the borders of Hale territory.
It wasn’t.
A shadow shifted across the tree line. She froze.
The scent hit her first. Cold, intoxicating, sharp with danger, and… impossible to ignore.
Her wolf stirred, restless, agitated.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” a voice said, silk and shadow and something darker.
Victoria’s breath caught.
“I could say the same to you.”
A figure stepped into the moonlight. Tall, pale, eyes that gleamed crimson even in shadow. A vampire. And not just any vampire—Lucian.
“You—” she started, then stopped. Words felt useless.
He smiled faintly, unreadable. “We’re breaking rules tonight, aren’t we?”
Her pulse quickened. The air between them thickened. Her wolf growled, but it wasn’t the only part of her warning her.
Lucian tilted his head, eyes flicking over her face. “Something tells me this is the beginning of… complications.”
Victoria’s heartbeat thundered. Something in the back of her mind whispered it too. Something she didn’t want to ignore.
Complications.
She didn’t know it yet, but her life—and the world she knew—was about to change.
