The rejection burns worse than silver. "You're weak, Sera. You've always been weak." Alpha Marcus doesn't even look at me as he says it. Twenty-three years in the Crescent Moon pack, and this is how it ends. On my knees in the dirt while the entire pack watches. "You have until sunrise to leave our territory." My wolf whimpers inside me. She's small, yes. Late to shift, yes. But we're not weak. We're just... different. The pack disperses. No one meets my eyes. Not even my sister. I'm still kneeling there when the forest goes silent. Too silent. The kind of silent that makes prey animals freeze. Then I smell him. Pine and smoke and something wild that makes my wolf suddenly alert. She's never been alert before. He steps from the shadows like he was born from them. Kael Thorne. The Shadow Alpha. Every wolf knows his name. Every wolf fears it. He's killed more alphas than I've seen winters. His pack controls the entire northern territory. They say he's more monster than man. They say he hasn't smiled in ten years. He's looking at me like I'm the only thing in the world. "You're coming with me," he says. It's not a question. "I don't even know you." "You will." His eyes are silver. Pure silver. I've never seen anything like them. "I'm not going anywhere with you." He moves faster than should be possible. Suddenly he's crouching in front of me, his hand under my chin, tilting my face up. "You are mine, Sera Ashwood. You've always been mine. I've been waiting for you to be free." "How do you know my name?" His thumb brushes my lower lip. "I know everything about you." That should terrify me. Instead, my wolf is purring.