ALPH

e Girl Who Was Neve

d never beli

that life was unfair. People were born into different circumstances, loved the wrong people, made t

e enjoyed making a fool of any

rned that l

. She could smile when people insulted her, laugh when they underestimated her, and

hing she could neve

metimes as though she were waitin

it most oft

side the window, staring into the darkness beyond their little house. The moment Rose entered the

d learned that her mother was capable of answeri

ir neighborhood, Rose was about to discover that the

os

voice came fr

pulled her pill

ha

rs. I need to

ait until

N

that single word that m

rict, yes. Irritated, occasionally. Over

ipped her feet into a pair of

beside the dining table with a

een carved into the lid. Rose had seen it before, tucked away inside the locked dr

s if it contained something cap

that?" R

toward the window

that belo

tared

t is, I should warn you that I

, ple

other's voice erased the

ut a chair a

hat's go

on the table but kept on

what I told you a

pression

her could have chosen, that

that he wasn't the kind of man I should try to find. And I remember

leave because he s

a short, hu

s conv

e than you could

y wasn't

ther f

ng against the windows, soft at first, then harder, u

other opened t

was unusually smooth, and a tiny dark-red stone sat at its center. Ev

eaned

's pr

s yo

hy

to know that you aren't wh

sat

orry,

r lifted

entire life believi

her for three

she l

t because she genuinely believed h

ugh late-night te

os

family secret, just tell me. You don't have

inventing

explai

her swa

ere are people living among humans who aren't entirely human themselves

bli

king about

es

silence

the pendant, th

he sto

ng back

listen

assignment I haven't finished, and I am not about to sit

r caught

in touched, Rose fe

den pulse beneath her skin. It was so brief that

other fel

ghtened around

, n

fro

ha

her as though she

n't be hap

u're sca

looked at t

stone had b

tside the house,

e f

ound was deeper, more powerful, and strangely mournful, as if whatever had produce

the windows and pul

irs," she

didn'

was

stairs

u tell me wha

Rose saw something she had never

erat

ve fou

stomach

ho

wer, three heavy knocks sou

omen t

king cam

e ti

Deli

ice spoke from

Blood Moon Crown,

ked at h

ad gone comp

she wh

outside

the girl

art began

they want

ndant from the box and pr

do not let them t

om

unders

beneath another

r fingers arou

es

her into a sudde

e a little girl again, protected by the o

hispered somethin

or keeping yo

t door b

entered

sps, and each carried the same emblem on his chest:

dark hair was streaked with silver at the temples, while his pale eyes moved

settled

ed breathing

tle, but s

hifted from professional indifference to

ne step t

ossi

vely moved beh

e you p

gnored he

he bowed

make the other two men e

s voice suddenly careful

stepped b

t going a

s jaw ti

is no longer

my dau

plied, "is precis

r mother's h

Its paper looked ancient, its edges worn, and the s

name erased from the records has appeared again. The

ded the

s printed across it, but she recogn

E L

own

were a mystery he had spent his en

are the destined mate of Xander Sangu

m fell

tared

ooked at h

back

ho

d offended by

nara. The futu

mouth f

e that some stranger I've never me

the man

n't make i

er whispered, gr

already sha

what kind of ancient book says oth

thing resembling respect

bold words,

te them down and take t

unger men ste

ue when speaking

urned

when breaking into

yes flashed an unna

rumbled fr

umbled

diately moved i

e certain the entire Blood

ed one hand, stopp

oug

is gaze lingered on her face, searchin

en wrong," he said quietly

s time it learned

ent, nobo

at the pendant clen

expressio

id you g

looke

gainst her palm, its red ston

to close Rose's f

was t

rk engraved on its reverse: a crescen

a shar

stonishment, he d

men followed

s," the older

ed at him

re you

his hea

s. We did

r closed

the men breaking into their home, the impossible story about werewolves, or even t

s that her mother

had

known al

rned to

voice trembling with ang

r opened

nswer, the pendant bur

r opening somewhere deep inside her. She staggered, clutc

heard a voice that did not

an's

t, and fille

aughter ha

knees w

ice co

oon will co

e a seco

stant but unmista

ring her to me b

nt's ligh

ed into her

of the Blood Moon dynasty, Xander Sanguinara wok

ed, his breathing uneven, his go

rs, the invisible bond he had alwa

ingered i

a

d r

nough to make the wolf

d a hand agai

that?" h

om doors

hurried inside and

the intrusion. The Sacre

expressio

pla

de yours on the night of you

l had raised him to believe that his future mate would be the key to securing the kingdom, strengthe

questioned

ame, he would meet the woman fate had chose

s guard wa

e?" Xander

ard he

Rose Luna, Yo

sharp pulse of warmth spre

ose beneat

i

mind with such force that Xan

d his wolf sound

even when he was crowned heir to the mo

aimed anything with s

ced himsel

e is

ched a retrieval team. They s

gaze sh

ieval

our Hig

anyone to r

lowered

N

ounds. Beyond the iron gates, the kingdom stretched beneath a m

hat the Blood Moon d

t the Sacred Register

ture Alpha King must never allow

a made him suspect that the council h

riginal Registe

ard he

council keeps it in

er t

I stu

owed and hu

ngers against the place where his

ot know

ver seen

er she was kind, crue

had never been before, straining ag

m, a terrifying certain

se Luna from the world, they had not suc

finally revealed her name

most powerful werewolf dynasty in existence had spe

Chapt