Chapter 1
The day the plague crossed our borders was the same day I learned I was betrothed to a Pack Elder ten years older than my dad.
“How old are you again?” Mom placed my breakfast of avocado toast in front of me. My head jerked back in surprise.
“Seventeen?”
“You’ll be eighteen in twenty days.” Reaching for a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice on the dining table, she leaned back in her chair and studied me over the rim.
“Why ask if you already know?” I bit into my toast hurriedly when her gaze started to smolder.
“Elder Bloomsday mentioned he saw you at the clinic the other day.”
“Mm,” I glanced towards the hallway, surprised dad was still not here. He never missed breakfast.
“He likes you.”
I coughed, spluttering as I choked on dry bread. I reached for a glass of water, but my hand knocked it over. Mom shoved her glass of juice in my hand.
“What the hell,” I swore with tears in my eyes when I finally stopped coughing.
“Language, Evelene!”
“Then maybe don’t drop news like that in the middle of breakfast,” I snapped, and tossed my half-eaten toast onto the plate. The legs of my chair grated over wire-brushed oak floorboard as I rose from the dining table.
“What are you doing?” Mom frowned at me.
I slung my backpack over one shoulder and turned for the door.
“He has asked for your hand in marriage.” Her voice stopped my hand on the doorknob. With a wince, I yanked the door open, and pine-scented air nuzzled my face.
“Of course he has. The useless old fool. Now he will find a way to get back at us for rejecting him.”
The silence from the room broke my stride at the threshold. A chill began at my heels, spreading quickly to my head.
I whirled around to face my mother, where she now stood under the dining archway. “You…” My voice faltered. “You told him no, right?”
Her hands trembled by her side and she hurriedly hugged herself.
“Mom,” My voice came out in a breathless whisper, “You told him no, right?”
“I agreed.” She snapped. My backpack slid off my shoulder and fell to the floor with a dead thump.
“We have to get out of here, Lene,” she said in a rush as she crossed the room. “You saw the news this past week. Nocturne district is overrun and there are rumors that animals are starting to flee Aureate district.” She stopped by the window and turned to face me. “We are next.”
“What does that have to do with this? Dad said he was gonna get us out of here.”
“Do you see any moving vans?”
I barely held back from screaming at her, “So your brilliant idea was to sell me off to that hideous vulture?” As soon as I said the words, something smashed against the window next to her. We jumped, and then turned to see the corpse of a bird sliding down the glass with a rubbery squeak, leaving a long smear of blood.
Mom met my eyes, nervousness etched on every inch of her face, “Please. You have to do this.”
I shook my head stiffly, and picked my backpack off the floor.
“Lene, he is the only one who can get us into one of those packs in Miami.”
“No!” I yelled this time. “We should have left already. I refuse to believe that there’s not even one pack that will accept us.”
“Wake up!” She screamed, causing me to take a step back. “Everyone from this city carries the Hearthrown curse, and we’ll take this plague anywhere we go. No pack will welcome us with open arms without some sort of influence. We’ll not survive as rogues either.” She pushed her hands through her waist-long hair. “Elder Bloomsday is our only chance of getting out before the plague hits here.”
I bit my lip hard as we locked eyes, “You wouldn’t dare do this if I had a mate.”
“Unfortunately for all of us, you failed to provide one in eighteen years.” She hissed, and an involuntary groan escaped me. I was about to speak when my shoulders stiffened, and my head jerked around the room in sudden realization.
“Where is Dad? His car never left but he missed breakfast.”
Mom’s face hardened, “Go to school, Evelene.”
“Dad will never allow this. Where is he?”
But she had already turned her back to me, heading for the kitchen. I screeched and banged the door loudly behind me. I decided then to ride my bike to school, feeling a heady thrill at how mad mom would be when she heard the sound of the sport bike she hated so much.
But I had just slammed the cold lever of the garage door when I heard the rumble of an approaching car. A shiny onyx Bentley Flying Spur was speeding up our driveway, the golden rays of dawn flashing off the windshield.
“The hell,” I whirled around to sprint for my bike when a hand seized my arm.
“Mom.” My struggle to free my arm from her fierce grip was futile.
“Go with him, Evelene.”
“Mom!”
“Go with him,” she growled in my face. “He’s not going to wed you in that car. Just let him drop you off at school.”
I flinched at the hard, desperate mask that was her face, the unusual shadows under her eyes and her quivering chin. She was desperate for Bloomsday not to come into our house, the same man she wanted me to marry.
“Where’s dad?” My voice was all suspicious now.
“Night take me.” She cursed in exasperation. “Can you not….” She smiled brightly at a spot behind my shoulder. “Hello Elder.”
I stiffened, and then slowly turned my head to the large, leather-smelling man standing beside the luxury car. He walked forward to give mom kisses on her cheeks, then he turned to me with a wide, leery grin.
“Hello, Evelene.”
