Silencing my inner wolf’s voice by actively ignoring it, I take a cool stroll down the street toward the harbor, where Cecelia lives in a small, secluded area of Nightmist. Because ofwhat Hugo Morales did when he mated with a human, his home in the main residential area of the coastal town was seized, and he was allowed to occupy a small cottage between the woods and the harbor with his daughter when Cecelia was a newborn.
I faintly remember what it was like to hear about their plight when the news first reached the pack. I was only four years old back then, and my father explained that it was wrong for a pure-blooded wolf shifter to have a child with a human. The only reason Hugo was allowed back was because he was of pure blood, and Lunaris couldn’t kick him out even if he did leave of his own accord in the first place.
Cecelia’s heritage as a half-human and half-werewolf makes her weaker than the rest of us. It’s probably why it’s easier for her to pack on pounds that are easily extinguished by a werewolf’s fast-working metabolism. Her body just doesn’t work the same way as the rest of us.
Cecelia Morales is different.
The only trouble is that I somehow became intrigued by her uniqueness to the point of no return.
It’s almost impossible to forget that night we spent together on her twenty-first birthday. I could say that I wasn’t in my right mind, and it could be true, considering I had no control over my inner wolf’s desires that night.
I growl as I near the harbor, not wanting to recall those memories I buried so deeply. What’s the point, anyway? If I become alpha, there’s no viable reason for me to be mated to a half-breed.
There’s no reason for me to be mated at all. But if there was one she-wolf my inner wolf would have wanted, it would be—
I slow down as I near Cecelia’s cottage, frowning when I notice that the place is shrouded by darkness and covered in an invisible, eerie mist that alerts my inner wolf. As goosebumps spread across my forearms and extend to the back of my neck, where the fine hairs prickle at attention because of my highly intuitive senses, my heart skips a beat that sends me bolting for Cecelia’s front door.
I don’t bother to knock before shoving the door open.
“Cecelia?!” I call out urgently, flashing through the cottage in search of her. But when I discover that she’s nowhere to be found, I find a note propped underneath the empty vase on her kitchen table.
As soon as I begin reading the strokes of Cecelia’s neat handwriting on the letter addressed to my sister, my stomach churns, and my blood rushes with anger through my veins.
Cecelia Morales has left town.
Crumpling the note in my curling fist, I know there’s no way I can participate in the ranking trials without her.
I have to find her before my chance at becoming alpha slips through my fingers as quickly as logic seems to slip away every time I’m around her.
Chapter 7 - Cecelia
My heart pounds with growing fear in every beat as I race through the woods, barely feeling that freedom I usually taste on runs with my best friend.
A stray tear slips from my beady eyeball as I continue trudging through the forest in the dark of the night. I can’t believe I’m doing something I should have done a long time ago; it would have saved me so much torture, so much heartbreak. Now, my heart breaks with the regret of leaving my best friend behind.
I’ve decided to head toward Trenton, a human town where my mother lived when my father fell in love with her. Perhaps I can find out about her life—a life I’d been severed from when she died giving birth to me, kept away because of my father’s unwavering loyalty to his pack. I can’t believe that it’s the same pack that wrongfully accused him and cast him out.
I wince in pain when I suddenly knock my paw against a trimmed tree stump, pausing to let the pain slip away before I continue. Whimpering through my pointed muzzle, I take a moment to grieve my life as a wolf. This will probably be the last time I shape-shift.
After tonight, I’ll never transform into wolf form again. I’ll live out my days as an ordinary human, forgetting that the wolf part of me ever existed.
With tears clouding my vision, I admit that I never did fit in with the pack. The invisible thread that kept me bound to Lunaris must have snapped when Alpha Sirius announced that I would be my worst enemy’s partner for the trials.
I can’t believe that happened, but I wasn’t about to stick around to find out where it would lead. There’s no way I wouldhave been much help in Dominic’s quest to win and emerge as alpha when I’d be too focused on the pain he’d caused me in the past. I might have even gone as far as putting him at risk of losing, subconsciously hanging on to the hatred that’s been brewing inside since he broke my heart.
I’m not doing this for him. I’m doing this for me. I can’t help the man who hurt me the most. He doesn’t deserve my help.
With that thought reaffirmed in my mind, I set out for Trenton again, my paw only mildly aching from where I bumped it. I don’t heal as quickly as other werewolves, but I push through the pain in my quest to get as far away from Dominic Rivera as possible.
But a faint whooshing sound stops me in my tracks just as I’m about to make a run for it. I glance over my furry shoulder, focusing my hearing to catch the rustling of bushes growing louder as it approaches.
Though my senses aren’t as sharp as other wolves, in wolf form, I’m alerted to the approaching danger when my airways are signaled by the distinct scent of a familiar wolf.
Oh, no!
Recognizing Dominic’s minty scent amid the nourishing fragrance of the summer blooms, my eyes widen, and my wolf kicks into gear to run away as fast as my paws can carry me. I can’t afford to be caught until I’m safely out of Lunaris territory, and I’ve barely made it to the edge of the woods.
My heart races as I charge for the edge of the forest, hoping he’ll give up the chase once I get across the border. I can’t help but wonder why he’s following me.
