Darkness bled across the forest, thick and cloying, sweet as rot.
Ash gasped awake — but she wasn't in her cramped servant's cot.She was somewhere else — somewhere silver-lit and heavy with the taste of wild magic.
Mist rolled at her bare feet, and the air hummed, thick and alive. Her heart hammered, wild and unfamiliar. Beneath her human skin, something ancient stirred — claws scraping, teeth gnashing.
And then she saw him.
The Alpha King she always dreamt of.
He stood only a few feet away — half-naked, powerful, savage and breathtaking in the way natural disasters were.Taut muscles flexed under his skin, scars latticed across his broad chest. His hair was raven-dark, tousled. His eyes glowed a molten gold.
Ash's body reacted violently, helplessly — heat flooding her belly, her thighs. The wolf blood in her veins snarled to life, whispering mine.
The Alpha's nostrils flared, his gaze locking onto her as if she were prey.
In a blink, he was there, pinning her against the nearest tree.
One hand gripped her throat — not choking, just holding — claiming without words.Ash's breath came in short, broken pants. Her fingers twisted into the hard planes of his chest. The scent of him — earth, blood, storm — drugged her.
"You feel it, little one," he growled, voice a rough caress over her skin."The howl... underneath your skin. Trying to break free."
Ash whimpered — a shameful, needy sound — as her body arched toward him.
The Alpha bent his head, mouth brushing hers without kissing, driving her insane. Their breaths tangled, lips nearly touching, heat blazing between them.
When he finally kissed her, it wasn't tender.It was a brutal claiming — his teeth scraping, his tongue thrusting deep.
Ash moaned into his mouth, her knees buckling. Her human shell trembled as the wolf inside screamed to be set free. She could feel the change — fur itching under her skin, bones aching to shift.
The Alpha growled against her mouth, as if tasting her surrender, and pressed harder — until her pulse roared in her ears.
And then—
From the mist beyond them, a woman stood watching.
Selene.
White hair spilled down her back. Her violet eyes blazed with sorrow and jealousy.
Blood dripped from her fingertips as she lifted a trembling hand and whispered:
"Mine."
Ash tore away from the Alpha, gasping.
The world cracked open.
The mist turned to blood. Trees shattered into ash. The earth moaned as ancient magic screamed.
Ash fell backward, tumbling into blackness, Selene's scream chasing her.
She woke up with a cry, clutching her thin blanket to her chest.
She was back in her tiny room,to reality, the smell of smoke and iron filling her nose.
The faint light of dawn slipped through the cracked window.She was human again.
Today was the funeral of the Queen Luna.
And somewhere out there... the Alpha she had kissed in her dreams —the Alpha who would destroy her life —was waiting.