Four Years Ago

"John!" I cried, and my heart shattered as he took his final breath.

Fredrik screamed in anguish, his face crumpling in grief as he cradled his little brother's body.

"This is what happens to those who disobey me!" Sebastian laughed hysterically, looking down at me with a maddening smile. "His death is on you."

The world around me spiraled into chaos. My vision dimmed as tears filled my eyes.

I did this.

I stared at John's eyes, still open but void of life. He warned me not to escape. That there would be consequences. I didn't listen to him and now he's dead.

There wasn't even time to use my power to heal him. He was just gone.

Fredrik yelled and tackled Sebastian away from me. Their bodies collided.

The force of the impact shook the ground beneath us. Fredrik clawed and ripped at his brother's body and the entire time, Sebastian cackled.

Beside me, Lizzie fell to her knees, sobbing as she cradled her twin. Then her head snapped up at me. Angry and full of hatred.

"Heal him!" she screamed.

"I-I can't..." I stammered. "I can't heal the dead."

"Heal him!" she shouted again.

"I'm sorry."

Lizzie burst into tears as she held her brother close, and a terrifying scream ripped from her throat, raw and primal.

The sight of her falling apart ignited a fire within me. I was shaking, my breath coming in short as I trembled with anger. Then something snapped inside of me.

The necklace glowed, and I felt a surge of an ancient power awakening within me. I saw flashes, memories of a life that wasn't mine but the previous owner of the necklace. A strong and powerful werewolf, as he controlled and manipulated his pack.

"Being able to heal is just a fraction of what your power offers..." The necklace's ethereal voice echoed in my mind, but this time it's tone was sinister. "You can manipulate blood."

My heart was racing as I stared down at my shaking palms. My elongated claws were still coated in Sebastian's blood from where I'd scratched him earlier.

"You can manipulate blood." The ethereal voice echoed in my mind. "Just one drop, and you can control anyone with a single thought. You'll be unrivaled. An alpha among alphas. Unstoppable."

I stared at my hands. "A single drop."

Before I could stop myself, I licked the blood from my claws. The foul taste of iron filled my mouth and, with a deep breath, I focused on Sebastian.

I imagined his blood boiling, his flesh tearing apart, his bones breaking, making him feel every ounce of pain and suffering I'd endured from his hands.

Sebastian staggered, his eyes widening in agony as old wounds began to split open anew. Blood gushed from the deep gashes, his body convulsing as I willed the blood to fracture his bones.

Each crack was louder than the last. He attempted to force shift into his wolf to get away from me, but I forced him to stop mid-shift. He screamed, a sound of pure torment, as he fell to his knees.

"Stop it!" Sebastian growled viciously, blood spilling from his mouth, his alpha's voice no longer working on me.

"Why should I?"

I stood up and shadowed over him, and with dark, narrowed eyes, I clenched my fists, and another cut sliced across his face.

Sebastian writhed in pain, his body a broken mess, every movement causing him excruciating agony. His eyes grew wider, and beneath the lens of rage, I saw his terror.

"You will never hurt another person again!" I declared, finally realizing my worth, my strength, and the power I wielded. "You will never control me again!"

"You're nothing without me!" Sebastian screamed.

"No." My voice was steady, fueled by the anger and grief that had consumed me. "You are nothing without me!"

I clenched my fist, and Sebastian writhed in agony.

"You will feel everything I've felt, all the pain, and all the suffering you've put me through!"

With one last surge of power, I focused all my energy on Sebastian, watching as his body contorted, his bones snapping and reforming in unnatural ways. His screams grew louder, more desperate, until they finally faded into a gurgling whimper.

"Enough!"

I startled back at the sound of my wolf's voice.

"Stop it!" he commanded.

"And why should I listen to you?" I cried back, tears streaming down my face. "After you went silent on me when I needed you the most?"

"I warned you to stay away from Sebastian. You can only blame yourself for the pain you have suffered," he said. "Now stop this! This isn't you. You're not a killer."

He was right. This wasn't me. My eyes shook over Sebastian's pained form. What was I doing?

"I'm sorry!" I cried. "I'm sorry! Please make it stop!"

"I'm here!" My inner wolf growled. "If you promise to listen to me from now on, I promise I'll never leave you again."

"I promise!" Anguished tears fell from my face.

"Good!" he growled again. "Now take a deep breath, and calm your nerves!"

Immediately, I inhaled, calming my nerves and stopping this newfound power that was coursing through me, and dropped my arms. My wolf's warmth embraced me, his spirit encircling my heart and fighting off the darkness the necklace had settled upon my soul.

The moonstone's glow faded.

Breathless, and my energy spent, I stumbled and fell to my knees, struggling to keep my balance.

Sebastian lay still; his body broken and bloodied. The surrounding chaos went quiet. Even the rain had shied away, as the other wolves from the Drake and the Novak packs had stopped in their battle to watch in stunned silence. I looked down at my hands, feeling the immense power that still hummed within my palms.

Oh Goddess, what had I done?

"Silver-eyes." Fredrik approached me, his eyes were filled with a mix of horror, fear, and finally settling on anger. "You need to leave before the Royal Council arrives. I'll deal with Sebastian."

"He's right!" my wolf said urgently. "Too many people have witnessed your power. They will come for you. We need to go back to Havenwood."

"But I killed Sebastian."

"He's not dead," my wolf said. "It will take a lot more than that to kill an immortal wolf."

"But–"

"Run, Nate. Run!"

I ran. I ran so fast it felt like my heart could burst from my chest. I made it to the edge of the estate, climbed the oak tree, and jumped over the fence.

The moon light guided my path as I charged through the forest. I crouched down when I found a secluded spot far enough away from Sebastian's pack house so that I could shift into my wolf without getting caught.

Every bone in my body cracked, and I howled in pain. My fur bursting through my skin and shredding through my clothes as I fell to the floor. Only the moonstone necklace remained on my neck, having shifted in size to meet the needs of my wolf.

As the pain of my transformation passed, I stood back on all fours and once again I ran, making my way back home to Havenwood.

But shifting into my wolf had slowed me down and I could hear footsteps coming from behind me. I could sense a pack of powerful wolves chasing after me. It had to be the Royal Council Fredrik mentioned.

I went back into a sprint. Urging myself to run faster.

Branches whipped my face as I sprinted through the underbrush. The sounds of pursuit grew louder, and my heart pounded in my chest. Each beat louder and faster than the last, echoing in desperation.

I leaped over fallen logs and ducked under low branches, trying to put more distance between me and the chasers.

My lungs burned with every breath, but I couldn't stop. Not now. Not when my freedom was so close.

Throughout the night, I pushed my wolf harder and faster. Running for miles and using the moon as my guide back home. But as the moon faded lower and lower and the orange glows of the morning dawn rose, I knew my time was running out.

I had to make it home before I reverted back to my human form.

Havenwood's border was near. I could sense the familiarity of the woods, the scent in the air, and the feel of the ground.

Once I passed through the boundary, I should be safe. They shouldn't be able to cross through.

The chilly morning air stung at the back of my throat as my lungs burned. Each inhale felt like it would be my last dying breath.

My body ached and a long sharp stitch stabbed through my left flank, and my legs felt like jelly about to collapse. I didn't know how much longer I had before I shifted back.

Still, I willed myself to fight on. Even if it meant crawling through the mud on my hands and knees, I would not die today.

But my moment of hope vanished when the sound of howling wolves closed in around me. Panic coursed through my veins.

Not now. Not when I'm so close to home.

As the royal council chased after me, they began their hunt. They made a game out of the chase.

They found entertainment in my misery, taunting me, as they chased me round in circles. They'd already directed me miles away from the border, and now I found myself lost in the woods alone.

I panicked when the pack grew louder and my heart sped up into overdrive. My paw caught on an uprooted branch, and I tripped.

My snout planted into the mud and I bit my tongue. I hissed and snarled, my mouth now coated in blood.

And that moment was all it took for the exhaustion to take over and I shifted back into my human form. My bones once again cracked as I turned.

Cold and naked, I shivered and hugged myself to hide my dignity. The forest had fallen silent, and I lifted my head in search of a clear exit.

My heart spiked with adrenaline when I spotted an unoccupied corner of the woods.

I staggered back up and flinched when, out of the shadows, an incredibly large and powerful wolf with dark tan fur and amber eyes stepped out into the clearing. The white light defined his beautiful features, and his smooth fur shimmered under the morning light.

"Lucius?" I croaked as I crawled back, happy to see he was alive.

The wolf's mouth upturned into a sinister grin, showing off a perfect set of pearly white canines, and his tongue licked his drooling fangs. And I realized then that he wasn't Lucius. But a wolf from the Royal Council whose looked similar to Lucius.

"I forgot how undignified shifting the old way used to be like." The tan wolf gazed his eyes over my naked frame in disgust. "So you're the silver-eyed wolf Sebastian has been holding up. I heard rumors about you, but I didn't believe them to be true until now."

He was speaking through the mind-link, his large and booming voice echoed in my head.

"Who are you?"

I limped in the opposite direction, holding back my strained breaths, which instead gasped out as whimpered cries.

My legs gave way, and I fell collapsing against my shaking hands and crawled through the mud in a last, desperate attempt to escape. The new wolf prowled around me and blocked my path as he crouched down in front of me.

"Prince Daniel Novak. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Nathaniel Silverman."

Daniel Novak... the author of my favorite book, the Wolf King.

Horror shot through me, as it all made sense, why the accounts in that book during that time were so detailed. It was because he was there, having witnessed the war and its post events.

And if the details and writings of that book were true, then the youngest Novak sibling betrayed his older brother. He took his brother's place as the heir to the Novak Pack after the war ended.

The book was never about the Wolf King; I realized. It was about Daniel's succession to power.

I was mistaken. Lucius wasn't the Novak Heir. That title belonged to Daniel Novak.

Fear gripped me when I realized I was in even more danger than before. That despite his twisted ways, Sebastian was actually trying to protect me from the Novak Heir.

And now he stood in front of me.

Daniel Novak had wanted me dead since he found out about me and my power. The power to destroy and manipulate. And after what I did to Sebastian, I was an even bigger threat to the Novak Heir.

I tried to crawl away, but attacking Sebastian had drained my energy, exhausting my reserve of power.

In a plume of shimmering white mist, Daniel shifted back into his human form.

There was no shredding of the skin as he shifted, or the cracking of bones or the tearing of clothes. It was so quick and effortless, so convenient.

The rest of the Novak Pack shifted in similar ways.

He looked exactly like Lucius. Tall, broad and muscular, with brown hair and amber eyes.

Daniel's fingers traced down my cheek and along my jawbone as he lifted my chin up. I flinched back from his corrosive touch and smacked his hand away.

His eyes shadowed with darkness and he grabbed me by the throat, squeezing the air out of my lungs. My head throbbed and my lungs burned, crying out for oxygen as I choked to death.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you."

My body shook. I'd never felt this terrified in my entire life.

I always thought Sebastian was the strongest wolf I'd ever encountered, but compared to Daniel, the Novak Heir, Sebastian was nothing.

Daniel was a monster.

Daniel slammed me hard against the nearest tree.

My head smacked against the trunk, and my vision wavered, seeing double. My head throbbed with a pounding headache, and already I could feel a painful lump growing on my scalp.

Sharpening my claws, I slashed out at him. But Daniel was too quick, and he jerked back, snarling.

He gripped my hands together and dragged me back on to my feet. He pulled my head back and tilted it to the side.

He touched my neck, his strokes soft as they hooked under the gold chain of the necklace. His eyes flashed with hunger as he stared at the moonstone.

"Now, what do we have here?" He tutted, lifting the necklace with the end of his finger.

"P-please," I sobbed through broken breaths. "I've done nothing wrong. Please let me go."

"This necklace just further proves to me what a threat you are. Not just to me and my pack, but to all wolves. And dangerous wolves must be put down."

Faster than I could react, he bit into my neck and released his venom into my system. I thought the feeling of wolfsbane was bad, but his venom was far worse.

I screamed and my body writhed in pain, shaking and convulsing as the venom burned through my veins. Every tendon, every muscle felt like it was flooded with a liquid fire that couldn't be put out.

I screamed, and I screamed.

My vision blurred as my eyes rolled back into my head, and my cries faded into broken whimpers as the pain finally subsided.

I heard a thudding from nearby, a running wolf headed in our direction.

Daniel's smile vanished into a look of pure fear, and he threw me to the ground. I laid still against the mud as he shifted back into his wolf and clashed with the new wolf.

Through my dazed state of mind, I tried to concentrate on the sudden commotion happening around me, but it was hard to focus.

The new wolf was a blur of black and tan. His left ear was limp from a previous injury, which made it appear floppy in the wind.

"Lucius," I crocked.

My floppy eared wolf was still alive. I smiled.

I didn't know how he survived Sebastian's attack, but I was so pleased to see him again. But this time, he was different.

Something within him had changed. Something strong and lethal. Something dangerous.

Lucius viciously growled and the royal council ran away like scattered rabbits running for the safety of the dense shrubbery.

Only Daniel and Lucius stood in the forest clearing as they shifted back into their human forms.

"Lucius!" Daniel snarled. "Understand that with his power, I can't allow him to live. I can't let history repeat itself."

"And I can't let you kill my mate!" Lucius's growl boomed through the woods.

"It's too late." Daniel backed up. "I've already poisoned him. He'll be dead within the hour."

Lucius roared and Daniel, scared, jumped and shifted back into his wolf as he ran away at lightning speed from his brother.

My consciousness blurred in and out as my savior draped his jacket over me. Then, carefully, he picked me up and held me in his arms.

"Lucius," I croaked again, letting his warmth seep into me.

"You're safe now." I felt him rubbing his cheeks against mine, claiming me as his. "I promise to keep you safe from now on."

My muscles relaxed, and I felt warm and safe in his embrace, and I snuggled closer to his chest.

"I will protect you."

"Lucius." They were the last words I said before I passed out.