I begged. I screamed. But his mother and mistress watched with glee as the doctor scraped my womb clean, killing the only thing I had left.
Hours later, bleeding and hollowed out, I was dragged onto the floor of the pack's banquet hall. Ignatz stood on the stage, holding his mistress's hand.
"I, Ignatz Turner, reject you, Genevieve, as my mate," he announced, treating me like garbage to be discarded.
He thought he was breaking a weak human. He didn't realize he was unlocking a monster.
The pain of the rejection didn't kill me; it shattered the seal on my powers. The scent of ozone and Royal Lilies exploded through the room, bringing every wolf to their knees.
My bones cracked, reshuffling into the massive form of the legendary White Wolf.
As my father's Royal Guards blew the doors off their hinges, I looked down at Ignatz, who was now trembling in the dirt.
"I accept your rejection," I growled.
Now, the hunt begins.
Chapter 1
Genevieve POV
The heavy stench of sex and musk clung to the stale air of the apartment. It was a choking miasma-a blend of cedar, which was Ignatz's natural signature, and the cloying, overly sweet perfume that belonged to Evelyn. It coated the back of my throat like ash, tasting of betrayal.
I pushed myself up from the thin, lumpy mattress wedged in the corner of the kitchen, my body aching from the hard floor. The Turner Pack didn't waste proper beds on "No-Wolves," even if that No-Wolf was the Alpha's Mate.
*Be calm,* I told my inner wolf. She was pacing inside my chest, a restless shadow scratching at the cage of my ribs. She wanted to rip the throat out of the woman sleeping in the master bedroom. She wanted to howl and force the Shift that I had been suppressing for five long years.
"Not yet," I whispered, my voice raspy with disuse. "Father said we must wait. We must be sure."
My father, Arlington Foley, the Alpha Supreme, had sent me here with a sealed scent and suppressed powers. It was a test. A cruel, agonizing test to see if my Fated Mate, Ignatz Turner, would love the girl, not the title or the White Wolf bloodline.
I hadn't failed. He had.
I stood up, my knees cracking in protest, and began the morning routine. Eggs, bacon, toast. The smell of grease made my stomach turn, a violent wave of nausea I hadn't felt before.
Ignatz walked into the kitchen ten minutes later. He was shirtless, his Alpha aura radiating a low-level pressure that usually made Omegas cower. To me, it just felt like a dull headache.
"Coffee," he grunted, not deigning to look at me. He sat at the small table, scrolling through his phone.
I placed the mug in front of him. My hand trembled slightly-fatigue, I told myself. "Here, Ignatz."
He looked up, his lip curling in a sneer. "It's Alpha Ignatz to you, Genevieve. And God, you look like a corpse. Put some makeup on. You're embarrassing me."
"I'm sorry," I said, the words tasting like bile. "I didn't sleep well."
"If you possessed a wolf, you wouldn't need so much sleep," he scoffed, taking a bite of the bacon. "I need a Luna who can run beside me, Genevieve. Not a human burden who can barely lift a frying pan. The pack is weak because you make me look weak."
My heart constricted. Five years ago, when the Moon Goddess first snapped the mate bond into place, I felt a spark. It was faint, but it was there. I thought I could nurture it. I thought my love would be enough.
"I do my best for the pack," I said softly.
"Your best is worthless," he spat, the words landing like a physical blow.
Just then, the bedroom door opened. Evelyn Hooper emerged, wrapped in a silk robe that cost more than my entire existence in this pack. She was a high-ranking warrior's daughter, blonde, curvaceous, and utterly devoid of a soul.
"Morning, darling," she purred, gliding past me as if I were nothing more than furniture. She sat on Ignatz's lap, nuzzling his neck. "Mmm, you smell delicious."
Ignatz's face transformed. The cruelty vanished, replaced by a predatory, infatuated grin. "And you smell like paradise, Evelyn. Like a true Luna."
He looked at me over her shoulder, his eyes cold. "See? That is what a mate should smell like. You? You smell like dishwater."
I turned back to the sink, gripping the edge until my knuckles turned white. My inner wolf let out a low, vibrating growl that rattled my bones. The suppression spell my father placed on me was straining. My scent-the scent of winter frost and royal lilies-wanted to burst out.
*Hold it,* I commanded myself. *Just a little longer.*
"Genevieve!"
The shrill voice of Meredith Turner, Ignatz's mother, cut through the air. She stood in the doorway, her face pinched and etched with perpetual disapproval.
"Why are you standing there?" she snapped. "The hunters just brought in a fresh kill. The carcasses need cleaning before the feast tonight. Get to the slaughter shed. Now."
"But I haven't eaten..." I started.
"Omegas eat only after the work is done," Meredith hissed. "Go. You are a stain on my son's reputation. The least you can do is clean up the mess."
I walked out the back door, the morning chill biting through my thin t-shirt. The slaughter shed was a grim place, reeking of iron and death. For hours, I scrubbed blood from the concrete, my hands numb, my back screaming in protest.
Every muscle in my body felt tight, like a rubber band stretched to its breaking point.
*Shift,* my wolf pleaded. *Let us Shift. Let us heal.*
I stumbled toward the edge of the forest, gasping for air that felt too thin to fill my lungs. A wave of dizziness hit me, so strong the world tilted on its axis. I leaned against a tree, sweat beading on my forehead.
Through the trees, I saw them. Ignatz and Evelyn. They were laughing, chasing each other in a playful game of tag. Evelyn pretended to trip, falling gracefully onto the moss. Ignatz was there in a second, scooping her up, kissing her forehead with a tenderness he had never shown me.
The pain in my chest wasn't just heartbreak. It was physical. A sharp, cramping pain in my lower abdomen.
I reached out with my mind, trying to push through the static to my mate.
*Ignatz... please... something is wrong. I need help.*
The Mind-Link opened for a fraction of a second. I felt his annoyance, sharp and hot.
*Stop whining, Genevieve. Don't interrupt me.*
The link slammed shut.
I slid down the tree trunk to the cold ground. The sun was setting, casting long, jagged shadows. My body gave a violent jerk. The Shift was coming. It usually came with the full moon, but the stress was triggering a biological response I couldn't control.
But it wasn't just the Shift.
My hand drifted to my stomach. A warmth, faint but undeniable, pulsed there. A second heartbeat.
I froze. The realization hit me like a physical blow.
I was pregnant.
From the one night, three months ago, when Ignatz had come home drunk and mistaken me for Evelyn in the dark. He had never acknowledged it.
Inside the pack house, I heard laughter. Glasses clinking. They were starting the feast without me.
I curled into a ball on the frozen earth, the cramp intensifying into a searing agony. I was the Princess of the Royal Pack, the daughter of the Alpha Supreme, carrying the heir to two bloodlines.
And I was going to die alone in the dirt.