1 Chapter 1: Bad News in a Pretty Package

Hannah’s POV

My steps echo throughout the hallway as I make my way to my father’s office. My stomach is in knots, and each step I take increases my heartbeat until it’s racing beneath my chest.

I always knew this day would come, but now that it’s here, I’m not ready.

Being the daughter of the Alpha of the Blue Moon pack, I’ve known what my duty will be when my father decides to step down. I have saved my virtue for the one he names to succeed him. My body, my very being, and will belong to the new alpha.

It’s something I grew up knowing, but that doesn’t mean I agree with it. It’s not like I get a say in who my father picks to be alpha after him. I’m just a small piece of a much bigger puzzle in the inner politics of the pack.

I hate it, but it’s my duty, and I’ve always been an obedient daughter.

I stop outside my father’s door and blow out a quick breath. It’s easier calling myself obedient than it is to actually be obedient.

Who will it be? I’ve kept a close eye on the wolves in the packs here in deep New Orleans, and the pickings are slim at best.

I tussle my hair, biting my lip, and find the strength to open the door.

First, I catch sight of my father. He’s always been a handsome man. His hair is short on the sides, the middle a kind of wavy medium length. His peppered beard hides full lips. Thick brows cover gray eyes, and his tapered nose is usually in a book or reading some letter of trouble he needs to fix.

He’s not super old, but the weight of being the Alpha wears on him. If you look at his eyes long enough, you find the sadness he spent my whole life trying to hide.

My mother died giving birth to me, and though he continued on, sometimes I think a part of him died that day as well.

“Daughter,” he greets me, his voice deep and annoyingly fatherly.

I scan the room and find it’s empty except for him, which I'm glad for. Maybe I’m wrong as to why he called me?

I go to him, kissing his cheek in greeting.

“You summoned me, daddy,” I say, fighting to keep my voice from quivering.

He clicks his tongue, rakes his hair, and huffs out a deep breath.

Oh, no. He looks serious and nervous.

“Hannah,” he begins, “you are now eighteen. The time has come for me to pick my successor, and I have made a decision about who will be the new Alpha.”

“And my new husband,” I add, translating what this announcement actually means.

He sighs.

“Yes. I’ve gone through many eligible men, and I think I found the best fit. He’s strong and devoted to the path I want the Blue moon pack to go in. I truly did think of you when I decided,” he adds.

I feel a flare of anger at his clinical attitude, but I shove it down. With my mother gone, he has always doted on me, and I’m sure he did think of my feelings.

“Okay, who is it?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer but instead gestures for me to turn around. I do so, and as I catch sight of the young man who has entered the room, my heart stops.

Behind me stands Luke Butler.

My tormentor. My bully since forever.

I stumble back against my father’s desk as Luke’s piercing blue eyes connect with my gray ones. For a moment, his full lips part into a smile. Then he quickly fixes his features. A somber look replaces the grin I know I saw.

“No, daddy, I refuse!” I yell, unable to look away. “Anyone but him!”

Luke, despite being gorgeous, is the worst person I know. He spent our youth teasing me and making my life hell.

As if I’d give myself over to him— give him something I could never get back. I wasn’t saving myself for him!

“Hannah, let me explain,” the monster speaks, his voice deep, almost unnatural for his youthful looks. Standing a head taller than me, he closes the distance between us.

The look on his face is confusing. On the one hand, he looks genuine in trying to explain himself, but then there is a joy in his eyes as he looks at me. I can’t tell if he wants to shake me or… never!

In horror, I back away from him and my father--who clearly has no clue about anything.

“I refuse him,” I repeat.

My father puffs his chest at me. “He is my pick, Hannah. He has proven himself worthy.”

“Hannah, I will treat you like the Luna you should be,” Luke tries, his brow furrowing again with that inscrutable but sincere look.

“Ha! I already know how you’d treat your Luna. No thanks!” I snap at him.

“Hannah,” Luke repeats, this time trying to use a gentle voice to soothe me.

“Stop saying my name!” I yell at him.

He moves toward me again, a pained look on his face, and I reach over to shove him.

“Hannah, enough of this!” my father growls at me.

My tears burst free, my anger reaching its limit.

I’m trembling as I turn away from Luke. I don’t care that he looks like a Greek god, with a chiseled jaw and alluring eyes. His jawline can do whatever the hell it wants to as long as it leaves me out of it.

He’s still the boy who made me cry myself to sleep at night, the boy who made me dread going to school, the one I avoided at all cost. I want nothing to do with him— not now, not ever.

Trying to dismiss him, I turn to my father, wiping my tears as I try to plead my case.

“Daddy, please, there has to be someone else. He can’t be the only one worthy of becoming Alpha. He can’t be.”

“I am sorry, but this is who I pick, daughter. How is he not acceptable to you?” he asks.

I open my mouth to disclose all of Luke’s evil deeds, but my throat goes dry.

“I just can’t,” I whisper.

My father exhales and rubs his neck.

“Unless you can give me a reason he is unfit to succeed me, my choice remains the same,” he says.

I whip around and glare at Luke.

I hate him. I hate his name, his face, his height, everything about him.

He stares at me. He looks almost haunted, but, to my surprise, I see no fear in them. His eyes aren’t pleading with me to keep my secrets.

Doesn’t he know that if I disclose what he did to me, he will lose his shot at becoming Alpha? Or does he think he’ll be able to talk his way out of what he’s done?

I hate his cockiness!

My father finally breaks the silence.

“Then it is done. Hannah Blake, daughter to the current Alpha of Blue Moon Pack, is hereby betrothed to Luke Butler, its future Alpha.” my father says, his words sealing my fate.

I look up at Luke, my face showing just what I think of this betrothal.

“We’ll see about that,” I threaten.

One side of his full, pink lips lifts in a smirk.

I turn away and head for the door, ignoring my father as he calls after me. I run down the hallway, air fighting to enter my lungs.

Flashes of faces laughing at me invade my mind. Luke and his friends followed me down the hallway, teasing me about how tangled my hair used to get—tossing my milk jug between each other, only to pour it out on my tray of food. Anything to make my life hell.

I burst out into the warm southern air, and suddenly the smell of moist sand and dirt fills my nose as I’m brought back to my darkest memory.

Luke had his friends trick me into wandering into the off-limits Secret Forest, where I fell into a pit. They left me there for three days.

I was covered in mud, and as it started to rain, worms escaped their homes and crawled over me. I thought I would drown. I thought the insects would eat me alive.

And then Luke appeared, acting like some hero, climbing down to rescue me.

But the damage was done. After the trauma of those three days, my wolf has never been the same. Since then, my connection to her feels weak, like she’s far away.

Now he thinks I’ll be his Luna— mate with him?

Never.

With difficulty, I transform into my wolf form. I dart into the woods and run from the future I wish never to come.

How far do I have to run to escape Luke Butler? How does one outrun their own memories?