Chapter 1: 1: Breaking Chains

ARIEL

“Don’t go passing out on me yet, bitch. We’ve only barely started today,” Kane, the leader of the hunters, digs his dirty fingernails into my shoulder.

“Go to hell,” I say, mustering up what little fight I have left.

Kane’s cold, gray eyes—as strange as it sounds—are the only things that have kept me going.

The thought of ripping them from his head…

I often think about the first time I saw those eyes. It turned the best day of my life into the worst day of my life.

He and the other hunters took me from my mate, Xavier.

I think of the last time I saw Xavier. In the arena… Testing to become a warrior.

~“Come on, Ariel, show me what you’ve got.”~

~Xavier’s muscular arms wrap around me, and he pushes me back against the wall.~

~His earthy scent is making me feel lightheaded, and it’s hard to breathe when his broad chest is pressed against mine.~

~I’m losing my focus, but I can’t let that happen.~

~Swiftly, I grab Xavier’s wrist, pull it over my shoulder, and flip him flat on his back.~

~All my squadmates are cheering me on, hoping I pass my final test to become a fully fledged pack warrior.~

~Within seconds, Xavier is on top of me—like ~really~ on top of me.~

~I’m just wearing a sports bra, and our sweat-slicked bodies stick together as he pins me down.~

~He leans over and whispers in my ear, “Maybe later we can do this without clothes.”~

~His hand slides down my stomach to my thigh, gripping it tightly, hungrily.~

~My body squirms underneath him, craving his touch, surrendering to the heat.~

~For years, I’ve wondered if he is my mate, but right now, I’ve got more important things on my mind…~

~I savor the look of shock on his face as I swing my legs upward and put him in a triangle chokehold.~

~I squeeze my thighs as tight as I can, making sure Xavier won’t be able to break free.~

~Moments later, he taps the ground, signaling his surrender.~

~The crowd erupts in cheers.~

~I fall back on the floor, dazed. Did I really just beat the future alpha? Did I actually win?~

~Xavier gets up before I do and extends his hand. I take it, and he pulls me up, then straight into his chest.~

~“Well done, Ariel. Today, you proved yourself a true warrior.”~

~He leans down, and for a moment, I think he’s going to kiss me, but then—~

~Xavier growls softly in my ear, “And tonight, you’ll prove yourself worthy of an alpha in other ways. Meet me by the lake at midnight.”~

I was sitting by the lake later that night, waiting for Xavier, my fated mate. We were finally going to come together in every way.

But Kane and the other hunters came instead. I put up a hell of a fight, but there were too many of them.

The memory of the arena, of Xavier’s body, is the only thing that’s kept me sane these two years. Finally finishing what Xavier and I started that day is my reason to live.

I have no idea why the hunters have kept me alive to experiment on me for so long.

“I think you need to be reminded of your place, mutt,” Kane says as he picks up a syringe filled with silver liquid.

“No… NO!” I scream as he punctures my skin.

My spine begins to stretch, and a horrible cracking noise echoes throughout the room as my bones break.

He’s forcing my wolf out somehow, but the silver is keeping my body from healing during the transformation.

I feel my ribs puncture my lungs, and blood spills out of my mouth.

In fact, it’s spilling out of several places in my body as my bones penetrate my skin like a mangled mess.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Kane shouts. “I think I gave her too much! Medic! Get her fucking stable! We can’t lose our best test subject. She’s almost perfected!”

As the darkness settles in, I hear a soft and ethereal voice…

~“Don’t give up, my child.”~

~A mysterious woman sits beside me.~

~She’s beautiful in every way—pale blue eyes, long silver hair running down her back, and milky smooth skin that almost seems to glow.~

~“My name is Selene, though some call me the Moon Goddess.”~

```

~Oh my Goddess, THE Moon Goddess. Holy…~

~“I must apologize to you. You were never supposed to be taken by the hunters,”~

~“But my sister, Fate, can be quite vengeful, and she had another plan in mind. We don’t often see eye-to-eye.”~

~“In order to right these wrongs, I’m bestowing upon you a gift—the gift of healing. May you heal both your own pain...and the pain of others.”~

~As Selene sits back, she places her palm against my cheek, and her eyes sparkle.~

~“Ariel, you must escape this place—and find your mate.”~

~“Xavier...” I say.~

~The look on her face gives me pause.~

~Everything is growing hazy around me.~

~“I cannot tell you more right now, my child. Only you can heal him. Find him, heal him.”~

***

A searing pain wakes me up.

Before passing out, my entire body was broken; my bones were jutting out of my body, and I was losing so much blood…

I crane my neck to look at my battered body and find that…

All my wounds had been healed.

I feel a strength inside me that I haven’t felt in a long, long time.

Is this what the woman meant by the gift of healing?

She told me that I have to escape…

That I have to find my mate.

Xavier.

~Find him. Heal him.~

He needs me.

I hear a door open at the top of the stairs and uneven footsteps as someone stumbles down them. Kane, drunk again.

“You’re finally awake, mutt. Good. We’re gonna play a little game,” he says, slurring his speech.

Kane grabs a silver collar and clamps it around my neck, undoing the chains around my arms.

“Get a move on, bitch!” he says, tightening his grip on the chain as he pulls me up the stairs.

~Good. Hold tight, you hateful bastard.~

I wait till he’s almost at the top of the stairs.

I can hear the voices of other hunters coming from beyond the door.

Growling, my wolf comes to the surface, and I yank the chain as hard as I can muster.

Kane loses his footing and flies backward, tumbling down the staircase like a rag doll.

I calmly walk to the bottom of the stairs and stand over his body as he looks up at me, pleading for mercy.

“Pl—please…”

I dig into his pocket and find the key to my collar.

I unlock it, letting it fall to the floor.

I stare into his cold, gray eyes.

The eyes I’ve seen every day for the past two years as he’s experimented on me.

I plunge my claws into his face and rip them back out in one swift motion.

~Find him. Heal him.~

I have to get out of here, find Xavier.

At the top of the stairs I don’t just open the door. I tear it off its hinges, revealing a group of hunters.

“Who’s first?” I growl, drawing my claws.

I’m double-teamed by two of them as they jump on my back, but I swing around and slice both of their necks open.

They grasp their throats as the blood seeps through their fingers, crumpling to the ground.

Another hunter grabs a knife from his boot and charges at me, screaming.

He stabs at my face and the blade breaks my skin, producing a small cut.

As the blood rolls down my face like a lone teardrop, I touch the spot where he cut me and feel it already closing.

His eyes widen with disbelief. “H-how d-did you?”

I wrench the knife from his hand and plunge it into his chest.

I’m running on pure adrenaline…or something else, but I don’t feel in control.

As I turn around to look for the exit, I see a young hunter holding a gun.

~BANG!~

I feel a silver bullet rip through my thigh, but it doesn’t leave the other side; instead, it remains lodged in my leg.

Without a moment of hesitation, I pounce on the young hunter and break his neck, but a searing pain shoots through my body as I stand up.

~Shit, how does this healing thing work? This is the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life!~

I climb up through a dark tunnel and I emerge in what looks like an old barn.

~So they were hiding in a secret facility underground this whole time. No wonder no one ever found me…~

```

My wolf stirs in the back of my mind, and I welcome her presence like a long-lost friend. Relief washes over me as I realize that my physical wounds weren’t the only healing I received from Selene.

I search my mind for the pack mindlink as I reach for the containers. If I can feel my wolf, then I should be able to feel my pack again.

~Xavier? I’m coming home. Please, can you hear me?~

Silence.

I ache for my mate, need him. Why can’t he hear me?

I try my father and my friends. No one is responding. I must be far from home.

I spot several kerosene containers in the corner.

~I can’t let this place be used for evil again…~

I dump the oil all over the barn and smash a lantern onto it, creating an instantaneous and raging inferno.

The fire spreads fast, moving toward a pickup truck.

~Shit.~

~KA-BLA-AAAM!~

My feet lift off the ground, and I fly backward through the splintering wooden barn doors.

I crawl away from the fire and collapse.

As smoke billows into the clearing and the scent of burning oil overwhelms my senses, I see the tall figure of a man approach.

“Xavier,” I whisper at the person crouching down. I relish the smell of another wolf for the first time in two years.

But it’s not Xavier… It’s not my mate…

ALEX

As I watch the wild-looking she-wolf in front of me, lying unconscious on the ground, I can’t help but wonder if she escaped the fire…or if she started it.

There’s a feral quality about her, but she’s definitely not a rogue. ~So what the hell is she doing all the way out here, alone?~

I bend down and survey her body, looking for any sign of a pack.

As I lightly touch her arm, her hand suddenly wraps around my throat. The girl is awake.

As her hand cuts off my air supply, I feel something strange—sparks erupt from her touch. A spark that I haven’t felt in a very long time, not since I lost her… I shake the memories out of my mind.

I grip her wrist tightly and stare into her eyes. They’re bold, yellow, and quite beautiful.

She does not loosen her grip on my neck, but I see a change in her eyes as we stare. Behind the fear and anger, surprise.

She felt the spark too, didn’t she?

I grip her wrist and she lets me pull her hand away from my neck.

She tries to struggle against me, growling, so I pin her down on the ground, laying my body over her, pressing against her until she’s still.

I can feel her heart beating against mine.

My pulse rate falls until the rhythm of our hearts is in sync.

Then she passes out again.

That didn’t feel like containing an enemy, but like laying with a lover.

What I’m sensing… It can’t be…