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Prologue
Connor
The night is bitterly cold as I take the last step down the long staircase from the alpha house—a looming two-story structure built high within the trees. At the base of the stairs, my twin half-brothers stand amongst a mingling crowd of wolves, some of them my betas—each of them with varying degrees of loyalty to me—and wolves who are unfamiliar. They must have come with my mother, but from where? How? Last I saw her, she was human.
“Oh, that can’t be good,” Sam, my second, mutters under her breath after seeing the twins. She gracefully moves to stand to my right, ready to protect me at all costs. Sam scans the crowd, cataloging each wolf and their respective threat.
At the sight of me, the crowd splits, and on the far side is a woman who is both as familiar as my own hands and a complete stranger. Her back is to me, and my first thought is she’s shorter than I remember. Streaks of silver weave their way through her thick black hair, and her voice has a melodic quality as she murmurs to the wolf shifter next to her. He looks at her with concern and then gently tucks a lock of her loose curls behind her ear before placing a soft kiss on her forehead. At that exact moment, their scents hit me. Mates.
Her back stiffens, and she turns slowly, her eyes wide in shock—eyes that were once a warm brown are now the vibrant blue of a turned wolf.
“¿Mijo?” she murmurs, her quivering hand covering her mouth. Tears drip down her cheeks.
My mouth runs dry, and I’m frozen in place. She’s here. She’s real. She’s home.
She races forward, her arms open wide. A low growl emanates from Sam’s throat as she leaps forward, quick as lightning, to block her path.
“Take another step forward, and I’ll rip your arms off and shove them down your throat,” she hisses through a mouthful of wolf’s teeth. Her small body quakes under the strain of fighting the shift, blood dripping from her fisted hands as her claws bite into her palms.
“Say that again, bitch,” my mother’s mate sneers, pushing my mother behind him. He’s taller and broader than Sam, his amber eyes filled with fire at the slight to his mate, but Sam’s stature can be deceiving. She’s the fastest member of the pack, and brawn is meaningless if the prey is impossible to catch.
Before I can react, the entire crowd is riled, moving into defensive positions. The growls are loud enough that other members of the pack step out of their homes and begin to surround the outsiders, unsure what’s going on other than there is a threat on our grounds.
¡Mierda! If I don’t stop this, it’s going to be a bloodbath!
Placing one hand on Sam’s shoulder, I announce to the crowd, “Martina Elena Sanchez Lopez has challenged for the position of alpha of this pack, and…” A sickening weight lodges in my chest as I force the words from my mouth. “I accept the challenge.” My heart bleeds as I look into my mother’s shocked expression. “The challenge will be resolved at first light in the battle ring. Until then, they are guests.” Sam continues to shake under my hand, her rage still palpable in the air. Knowing she’s too far gone to be gracious, I turn to Seth, one of my older, grizzled betas, and murmur, “Make sure they are fed and housed for the evening.”
The man thumps his fist against his chest. “Yes, Alpha. I’ll also make sure there are betas standing guard at every door.”
I nod woodenly, the truth of what I have to do sinking into my bones. I imagine my mother’s eyes lost in the empty stare of the deceased, and despite being in the deepest part of the forest that surrounds Twin Cedar Pass, I can’t seem to get enough oxygen into my lungs. My first instinct is to run to Callie, but it’s too dangerous for me to leave pack grounds tonight, and there’s no way I would risk bringing Callie here. Gritting my teeth to hide my desperate, shallow breaths, I use my free hand to rub my chest as if I can knead more air into my lungs.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Bayne, the eldest of my twin brothers, has glee in his amber eyes that indicates he’s excited to watch me suffer. He’s already figured out that he can’t physically beat me, but that doesn’t mean he can’t find ways to chip away at my sanity and convince the rest of the pack that I’m not stable enough to lead. Daveth, the younger twin, has a surprisingly more somber expression. He meets my gaze, and I see genuine pity. Who knew one of them had a heart?
“Forrest, I have to stop this,” my mother pleads, touching her mate’s shoulder.
He meets her gaze, and his eyes are filled with the battle to protect her at all costs against his desire to please his mate. The indecision lasts only a fraction of a second before he offers a clipped nod and lets her pass.
“Wait!” my mother shouts with her hand raised high in the air. “I rescind my challenge!” She tries to fight through the crowd, but the wolves who are loyal to me block her path. “I didn’t know,” she begs. “I came for the hijo de la gran puta I married. I would never hurt my son. Connor, please believe me!”
“Never hurt Connor?” Sam sneers, trying to tug away from my grasp, but I increase the pressure of my grip on her shoulder—a silent command to stay with me. Unfortunately, it does nothing to keep Sam quiet. “You left him to that monster for ten fucking years!”
“Sam,” I murmur her name in warning, but it comes out more as a choked whisper.
I need to calm down. I need to regain control. My wolf scratches underneath my skin, sensing my panic and wanting to protect me the only way he knows how. I force myself to take deeper breaths. I have to stay calm. I have to be in control.
Ignoring me, Sam continues, her voice hoarse with the violent rage of her wolf. “Do you know what he did? That bastard threw Connor in the ring to fight for his life. He demanded the pack shun him for daring to find solace with friends who actually gave a shit whether or not he lived or died simply because they weren’t wolves.”
“Sam!” I repeat in a harsher tone, but she won’t be stopped. Her words conjure memories of split knuckles and necks snapping between my wolf’s teeth. I shake my head to try and force them away, but they run like a never-ending parade in my mind’s eye.
“He constantly beat him, forcing him to drink liquid silver nitrate so he’d heal slowly, and then he whipped him into unconsciousness,” she screams, sounding more like a wounded animal with each word.
Shame lays its heavy weight on all members of the pack, many eyes averting to the asphalt underneath their feet. They all knew, but it was one of many secrets that were never talked about. I was supposed to be invisible to them.
Angry tears leak from Sam’s bright blue eyes, and with every confession, she unconsciously jerks against my hold on her shoulder. Blood now pools under her clenched fists. “For daring to love your son, I was also nearly beaten to death while Connor had to watch. Don’t fucking tell me you’d never hurt him. Every day you were gone was another day he suffered that bastard’s wrath!”
Sickness roils low in my belly. I knew Sam cared for me, but she never said she loved me in all the time we were together. I gently turn her and pull her to my side, my arm wrapped around her shoulders. She shakes, fighting against her emotions.
“It’s okay,” I whisper into her short black hair, my panic subsiding under the need to protect her from her own demons. “He can’t hurt anyone ever again.”
