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I shook my head, the fog clearing.

A love potion. I’d heard Charity speak of them before after using one to control a male in the village.

Selene had bewitched me.

With a vicious growl, I tilted my head back and howled into the night.

A warning.

A vow.

She would live to regret her actions this day.

I would not rest until she had paid for her deceit.

CHAPTER 1

Iris

Present day

Draven Moreau was back.

And he was watching me.

I did my best to ignore the male as I worked my way across the bar, carrying a tray of drinks, but as usual, it was impossible when he looked at me with such deep and unsettling intensity. The alpha of the Silver Claw Pack was still fairly new to Roxburgh, or Wolf Hill Woods, to be precise—and he hated me with a fiery passion.

He also wanted me.

At least that’s what it looked like from where I was standing. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if he wanted me and hated himself for it or hated and lusted after me in equal measure and couldn’t decide which would win out.

As far as I knew, in the almost twelve months he’d been here, I hadn’t done anything to earn either emotion, besides breathing.

Or why he’d zeroed in on me. He hadn’t deigned to inform me of that as yet. But he was often here at Hell Fire, the hellhound-owned bar I now worked at several nights a week, and every time he showed up, he sat in a corner, surrounded by his pack mates, and watched me with what could only be described as murderous hunger.

It was too bad the alpha was completely insane because he was the most gorgeous male I had ever laid eyes on, even when his face was all twisted with lustful self-loathing. Or maybe I was way off base and it was just plain old loathing?

Perhaps the hunger I saw was literal and he wanted to take a bite out of me? Did wolf shifters eat people? I didn’t think so, but what did I know?

Not a very comforting thought.

I glanced his way again, unable to stop myself.

His hair was black and wavy, in need of a trim, and every now and then, he shoved his fingers through it impatiently. My gaze dipped. The male was tall, muscular, a body built for sin and violent brutality, and as expected, his vibrant green gaze was locked on me.

His lips curled in a sneer when he caught me looking.

Awesome.

I quickly looked away. Yep, he was a perfect combination of chiseled features, raw, rugged masculinity, and full-on unhinged lunacy.

Maybe the mark on my face offended him? Or maybe he watched me out of morbid fascination? Then again, he might have some kind of fetish?

I should be used to people staring at me by now, and I thought I was until Silver Claw’s alpha showed up. I could do without the constant reminder of the ugly mark on my face or how I got it.

How I’d almost gotten my family killed, and how the guilt and shame I felt was a living, breathing thing that had festered inside me for the last year.

I shoved those thoughts out of my mind before they sent me on a downward spiral, delivered my drinks, and headed back to the bar. After my sister mated Warrick, alpha of the hellhounds, we’d all had to make some adjustments. The first was getting used to how protective my new bro-in-law was. Which was why I was now working here at Hell Fire and not the place I’d previously been waitressing at in the city.