I couldn’t feel anything anymore.
Not the cold wind hugging through my skin. Not the blood trickling down my arm from Ezekiel’s rejection. Not even the ache in my chest where our mate bond once existed.
All I felt was emptiness.
They had taken everything from me. My daughter. My mate. My dignity.
And yet, I kept walking. Step. By step. By step.
I didn’t know where I was going.
I just knew I couldn’t stay there. Not in that pack, not in that hall where they all laughed at me, sneered at me like I was nothing but a stain in their perfect world.
“A traitor, her daughter deserves to die.”
“She doesn’t belong here.”
Their words rang in my ears.
I wanted them dead. Every last one of them.
But I was weak. Ezekiel had stripped me of my strength, of my status as his mate, leaving me vulnerable. The moment he rejected me, I felt my body give out. Like a part of my soul had been ripped away, leaving only a hollow shell.
I stumbled. The forest spun around me, twisting into shadows. My knees hit the dirt, my breath coming in sharp, painful gasps.
I couldn’t even cry anymore.
Was this it?
Was this how I was supposed to end? Alone, broken, abandoned?
No.
Not like this.
A rustle in the darkness.
I snapped my head up, instincts flaring.
The scent hit me first. Rot. Blood. Death.
A low growl rumbled through the trees, and a pair of glowing red eyes emerged from the shadows. A rogue.
No—more than one.
Three wolves stepped out, their lips curling into snarls, their claws already extended.
“Well, well,” one of them sneered. “What do we have here? A lost little Luna?”
My breath hitched. They knew who I was.
Or who I used to be.
“She smells different,” another one murmured, tilting his head. “Weaker.”
The third one smirked. “Rejection,” he mused. “She was thrown away.”
Thrown away.
My hands curled into fists, but I didn’t have the strength to fight. I could barely keep myself upright.
And they knew it.
“Looks like she’s free game.” The first rogue stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. “Shame. I heard she used to be beautiful. Now? Just a broken little bitch.”
He lunged.
I braced myself—
But he never reached me.
A blur of black. A sharp, wet sound. A body hitting the ground.
The rogue gasped. Choked.
I blinked.
His head wasn’t attached to his body anymore.
The other two barely had time to react before something—or someone—ripped through them like they were nothing. Limbs twisted. Blood sprayed. Flesh tore.
And then—silence.
Three bodies lay in the dirt, torn apart like animals.
And in front of them stood him.
A man. A monster.
Dressed in black, drenched in blood, his golden eyes gleaming like molten fire.
He tilted his head, inspecting me like I was something fragile—something already broken beyond repair.
“Viana Moonford.”
My breath caught.
I didn’t recognize him. But the way he said my name…like it was already his to own.
“Who—” My voice cracked.
His lips curled. “The one you should’ve prayed never to meet.”
A shiver ran down my spine.
But not from fear.
From something darker.
“Your mate abandoned you,” he continued, stepping closer. “He chose another. Humiliated you. Threw you to the wolves.” He gestured to the dead rogues. “Literally.”
I clenched my jaw.
He was right.
Ezekiel had tossed me away like garbage. Rejected me in front of everyone. Told the entire pack I was a liar, a cheat, a disgrace. That Naya wasn’t his daughter.
I knew the truth. But it didn’t matter. Not to them.
Not even to him.
The man stopped just inches away. I could smell him now. A mix of smoke, blood, and power.
Overwhelming. Suffocating.
Deadly.
“You want revenge.” His voice was smooth, laced with amusement. “I can see it in your eyes.”
I didn’t deny it.
“You want them to suffer. You want him to suffer.” He leaned in, his breath ghosting over my skin. “But you can’t do it alone.”
I swallowed hard.
“Join me.”
The words sent ice through my veins.
I knew who he was now. The Bloodbane Alpha.
The rogue king. The exiled warlord. The one Ezekiel’s father had betrayed years ago, slaughtering his pack and driving him into the shadows.
Now, he is back.
And he was offering me a deal with the devil.
“I can give you power,” he murmured. “I can give you everything you need to make them bleed.” His fingers grazed my chin, tilting my face up to meet his. “But if you swear loyalty to me, there’s no turning back.”
He smiled. But it wasn’t kind. It wasn’t gentle.
It was a warning.
I should’ve been afraid.
Maybe a part of me was.
But what else did I have to lose?
Ezekiel had already taken everything.
And if this man, this monster, could help me take it all back, then what did it matter if I sold my soul?
“I swear,” I whispered.
His golden eyes darkened.
“Good girl.”
Before I could react, pain exploded through my body.
I screamed.
It felt like fire was crawling through my veins, burning me from the inside out. My bones cracked. My skin seared. Something was changing.
I fell to the ground, clawing at the dirt, gasping for air. My vision blurred, my ears ringing.
I heard his voice, low and unforgiving.
“Now, let’s make you something worth fearing.”
The last thing I saw before darkness swallowed me whole—
Was his smile.
“You’re now Snow Bloodbane. And you will never escape me.”
