Chapter 2

• Amy
• By the time I was thrown across the border, the sky had turned pitch black.
• The guards shoved me down a steep incline. The silver cuff smashed against a rock. The pain in my wrist had long since faded into a dull, throbbing numbness.
• They didn't leave immediately.
• One of them drew a short knife and sliced off the old cloak I had draped over my shoulders.
• The other snatched the medicine pouch from my waist, not even leaving a single pinch of blood-clotting powder.
• I forced myself up, my knees scraped and bleeding from the frozen mud.
• "Luca's order was to banish me, not rob me."
• The guard smirked. "The future Alpha also said to make sure you don't walk out of the border alive."
• I looked past them toward the dense woods.
• That was where the Crescent Moon boundary marker stood. Inside was the place I had endured for ten years. Outside was the territory of rogues, hunters, and the unforgiving Northern snowline.
• The guards flanked me.
• They didn't shift. Dealing with a wolf-less Omega didn't require their beast forms.
• I pulled the moonstone pendant from my collar, gripping it tightly in my palm.
• My mother had taught me a lot about herbs. She had also taught me how to read the wind, find water sources, track footprints, and memorize the gaps in the pack's patrol routes.
• She never let me touch weapons, but she made me memorize every single escape route.
• I used to think she was just worried I would be bullied.
• Now I knew. She had been preparing me to run.
• When the first guard lunged, I sidestepped, grabbed a handful of frozen gravel from the snow, and smashed it into his temple.
• He howled in pain.
• The second guard cursed and reached for my hair. I slammed the moonstone pendant onto the back of his hand.
• Silver-white light flared from the crack in the stone.
• The guard's skin blackened with a hiss of burning flesh. He stumbled back, his eyes wide with shock.
• "What the hell is that?"
• I didn't answer. I turned and sprinted into the forest.
• A double howl ripped through the air behind me.
• They had shifted.
• I had no wolf form. I couldn't outrun them.
• But I knew this forest better than anyone. The Crescent Moon children were allowed to train near the border, but only I was sent out here daily to gather herbs. I knew which snowdrifts hid deep holes, which frozen streams were solid, and which rotting logs could mask a scent.
• I tore off a piece of my sleeve, wiped the blood from my wrist, and pressed the burning silver wound into the freezing mud.
• The pain sharpened my focus.
• The sound of paws pounding the snow grew louder.
• My breathing turned ragged, the coppery taste of blood thick in my throat. The backlash of the severed mate bond was still tearing me apart from the inside.
• Luca must be in agony too.
• That single thought pushed me up the next ridge.
• I ducked under a fallen tree and heard a satisfying crunch behind me, followed by a yelp as one of the guards crashed through a snow bridge into a pit.
• His partner's curses drowned out his cries.
• I kept running.
• Until a silver arrow grazed my shoulder and buried itself with a sickening thwack into the tree trunk ahead.
• I froze.
• The Crescent Moon Pack didn't use silver arrows. They hated silver, and they despised hunters.
• Unless Luca had been dealing with hunters all along.
• Three men emerged from the shadows of the trees.
• They wore thick leather coats, silver knives strapped to their hips, and bore no pack tattoos on their faces.
• The lead hunter eyed the silver cuff on my wrist, then shifted his gaze to the back of my neck.
• "Is that her?"
• The remaining guard snarled. "Take her. Just don't kill her on Crescent Moon land."
• The hunter flashed a dirty grin. "Your future Alpha is ruthless. Selling off his own fated mate."
• My stomach dropped.
• Luca hadn't just banished me. He was handing me over to hunters.
• The silver cuff was never just a humiliation. It was a tag. Marking merchandise.
• I took a half-step back.
• The hunter drew his silver knife. "Don't fight it, sweetheart. Even an incomplete White Wolf bloodline fetches a premium price."
• White Wolf.
• The moment the words hung in the air, the moonstone pendant burned in my palm.
• My mother's dying face flashed in my mind. She had gasped for air, shoving the pendant into my hands. "After your Coming of Age... don't trust any Alpha. Unless he falls to his knees before your blood."
• At the time, I thought the pain had driven her to delirium.
• Now, the hunter's silver knife was pointed directly at the mark hidden at the nape of my neck.
• I finally understood why Luca was so desperate to reject me.
• Not because I was an Omega.
• Because he knew I wasn't an ordinary one.
• The guard stopped moving. He wouldn't step into the range of the silver arrows. He was just here to watch the hunters take me.
• I clutched the pendant and bolted toward the frozen creek.
• The hunters gave chase instantly.
• Silver arrows struck the ice around my feet, shattering the surface.
• One caught me in the shoulder.
• The silver sizzled against my flesh. I collapsed hard onto the ice.
• The surface spider-webbed with cracks.
• The lead hunter closed in, reaching for my ankle.
• I rolled onto my back and kicked out at his knee, but the arrow lodged deeper into my shoulder. The pain threatened to drag me into darkness.
• The hunter pinned my wrist under his heavy boot.
• "Stop squirming, little White Wolf."
• Then, a howl echoed from the distance.
• It wasn't the howl of a Crescent Moon wolf.
• It was deep. Sustained. Trembling with an ancient power that commanded everything in its path to yield.
• The hunter's face drained of color. The Crescent Moon guard started backing away immediately.
• A fierce wind swept down from the North, flattening the tree line.
• The scent of cedar, cold stone, and burning embers hit me in a suffocating wave.
• Inside me, my wolf rose.
• She didn't whimper this time.
• She was answering the call.
• The hunter cursed, raising his silver knife to pin my other shoulder to the ice.
• In a blur of motion, a massive black wolf exploded from the tree line and clamped its jaws around the hunter's wrist.
• Bone snapped. Blood sprayed across the ice.
• The hunter screamed, collapsing in a heap.
• More wolves materialized from the darkness. They were massive—twice the size of Crescent Moon wolves. Their fur was darker, their movements eerily silent. They surrounded the hunters and the lone guard with lethal precision.
• The Crescent Moon guard tucked his tail between his legs, trembling violently.
• A towering man stepped out from behind the pack.
• He wore a long black coat. Silver hair whipped around his shoulders in the wind. The eyes beneath his brow were so cold they commanded absolute submission.
• He didn't even glance at the hunters.
• His gaze locked onto the silver arrow in my shoulder and the silver cuff on my wrist.
• Then, he walked up to me. And dropped to one knee on the ice.
• Behind him, the entire Northern Pack lowered their heads.
• I froze.
• He reached out, his hand hovering agonizingly close to my wound without actually touching me.
• His scent enveloped me. The crushing pain of the mate bond backlash receded slightly.
• My wolf practically purred, leaning into his presence. It terrified me how calm she suddenly was.
• When he spoke, his voice was a low, lethal rumble.
• "Who put this silver on you?"
• I stared at him. "Who are you?"
• His eyes flicked to the nape of my neck, a dark storm brewing in their depths.
• "Axel North. Alpha King of the Northern Pack."
• My fingers dug into the ice.
• The Alpha King of the North.
• The most ruthless Alpha in existence. The man who had conquered seven rebel packs and personally slaughtered elders who dared deal with hunters.
• He leaned in, catching the scent of my blood, and his expression shifted.
• I smelled it too—the raw, overwhelming intensity of his scent.
• It wasn't like Luca's. It didn't force my body into submission.
• It was an anchor handed to me in the middle of a raging storm.
• My wolf spoke a single word.
• Mate.
• Second chance mate.
• Axel's pupils dilated, swallowing the iris. He heard his wolf too.
• The Crescent Moon guard tried to bolt.
• Axel didn't even look back. "Keep one alive."
• The Northern warriors pounced. The screams didn't last long.
• Axel shrugged off his coat and draped it over my shivering shoulders.
• I flinched away from his touch.
• He stopped, his hands falling to his sides. There was no anger in his eyes.
• "I won't force you," he murmured.
• The words made my chest ache in a way physical pain couldnt.
• Luca had ruined me with his commands. But the most dangerous man in the world was kneeling in the snow, offering me a choice.
• I pushed myself up into a sitting position on the bloodstained ice.
• "If you're really the Alpha King of the North... take this silver off me."
• Axel's gaze dropped to the cuff.
• Silver burned him just as it burned any wolf. But he didn't hesitate.
• He wrapped his bare hand around the metal band.
• His skin seared. Black smoke curled into the cold air.
• I saw the muscles in his forearm bunch and cord with the strain, but his grip never faltered.
• Snap.
• The silver cuff broke.
• Black blood oozed from the raw wound on my wrist.
• Axel tossed the broken metal into the snow. His voice was dangerously soft.
• "Who?"
• I looked back toward the Crescent Moon territory.
• The fires on the high dais were probably still burning. Luca was probably still celebrating getting rid of me.
• I gripped the shaft of the silver arrow in my shoulder and yanked it out. Searing agony blinded me, but I forced myself to stand.
• "Luca Vane."
• The Northern warriors all raised their heads.
• They knew exactly what that name meant.
• My former mate. The one who rejected me. The one who sold me.
• Axel watched me, waiting for my next words.
• I clutched his coat tightly around myself, letting the blood drip from my wrist onto the snow.
• "I don't want you to kill him for me."
• Axel's eyes darkened. "Then what do you want?"
• I stared at the border of the Crescent Moon Pack, my voice as cold as the wind howling around us.
• "I want him to live long enough to see his pack take my name."