Chapter 1: STRANGERS

Today, I had finally given Luna Elizabeth, my stepmother, the reason she had been looking for to hang my head in the pack house.

That was all that rang through my head as I raced down the outskirts of the pack.

"SHADOW! PLEASE COME BACK!" I pleaded as I ran after the black horse.

She didn’t slow down. If anything, she seemed to be galloping even faster.

Shadow had been the last gift my father had ever given me before he died. Right after his death, everything was taken away from my little sister and me.

To punish me further, my very own ex-best friend, Gale, had seen to it that she took Shadow, the one material thing I loved the most, for herself, especially now that she had married my stepbrother.

The thing was, Shadow had a little mental problem. She acted out around people and would mostly only calm down when I was with her.

The stable boy had barged in while I was with her, and she had run off.

My stepbrother and his family ruled the pack, and Luna Elizabeth would have me flogged if they found out I had lost Shadow.

I couldn’t afford that.

I watched as Shadow slowed down at the top of a small hill, and I increased my speed, hoping I could finally catch up to her.

But when I got over the hill, I saw Shadow standing beside a group of men.

I felt an instant chill in my bones.

There were about fifty of them, and only one was on a horse. They were all broody and seemed cold.

Their dark leather uniforms had sashes across their chests. I couldn’t tell what crest they carried.

They simply stared at me, their expressions dangerous and hostile.

They were not members of our pack. Neither were they members of any neighboring packs.

Were they an enemy pack that had come to attack?

Everything within me told me to run.

The man on the horse dismounted and slowly walked toward me.

He reached Shadow first and pulled her to his side.

And when I finally saw his face, I was stunned at how handsome he was.

He was, without question, the most beautiful man I had ever laid eyes on.

He was tall and broad-shouldered, with dark hair pushed back from a face carved sharp enough to look deliberate.

His eyes were an impossible cold blue, endless and utterly without warmth.

But there was something else about him.

He bore an expression that said he had seen death many times.

And mine wouldn’t be the first.

When he was only a few steps away from me, I finally saw the crest against his sash.

The crest of the Night Pack.

My body shook in terror.

The most dangerous and backward pack in the entire wolf world.

They didn’t even belong here.

There were two factions in the wolf world: Lumere and Duskmere.

We were in Lumere.

They belonged in Duskmere.

My heart began to race so fast I was worried it would jump out of my chest.

The man stopped about five steps away from me.

He looked me over, and the moment he glared at me, I felt naked.

"Is this yours?" he asked, waving Shadow’s reins.

I nodded.

"Yes. She is mine."

He tilted his head and eyed me up and down.

"But women don’t ride horses. Especially a horse untamed like this one."

"She is not untamed!" I snapped.

He glared at me, and I immediately bit my tongue.

Whoever this man was, he had me on edge, and I didn’t like it.

"She is not an untamed horse," I said after taking a deep breath.

I didn’t like the way he had spoken about Shadow.

She was a gift from my father.

"Do women talk back to their superiors here?" he asked, taking a step forward. "Because where I come from, women know their place."

I swallowed and looked him straight in the eyes.

Everyone knew about the Night Pack.

We had heard stories about them.

They were the worst of the worst. Backward, proud, and dangerous.

Out of all the packs in the wolf world, they were the ones everyone stayed away from because of how mannerless and uncouth they were said to be.

I was maltreated in this pack, quite alright, but I’d rather die here than be shipped off to the Night Pack.

I turned to look at Shadow.

She was as calm as ever.

Shadow never tolerated strangers and would usually act erratically around them, but with this wolf, she was calm.

"Unfortunately, this is not wherever you come from," I said.

I stretched my hand out toward him.

"Your assistance in holding my horse is appreciated. If you could hand her over now."

He stared at me.

I could feel his cold, dangerous gaze all over me.

His brows rose as if he couldn’t believe what I had just said.

Then his eyes moved over my body.

I suddenly became conscious of my shirt. It was worn out and had lost two buttons, leaving part of my cleavage exposed.

He laughed.

Then he spoke in Faeskoll.

"If we were home, I would have taught this one a lesson and shown her her place," he said.

I felt the blood drain from my face.

Faeskoll was an ancient language of wolves. It was believed to be almost extinct, and rumors that only barbaric packs still spoke it were rampant.

But my mother had known how to speak it.

She had taught me before she died.

To hear someone actually speak it—

He didn’t know I could understand him.

His men laughed with him.

Then he turned back to face me and pointed at me.

"The next time I see you or this horse, you wouldn’t like the consequences."

With that, he tossed the reins toward me.

I caught them quickly and took a reasonable step back.

I climbed onto Shadow’s back and rode away.

The moment I was far enough from them, relief washed over me.

What were wolves as dangerous as the Night Pack doing here?

**CASSIAN’S POV**

Cassian stood watching as the strange girl rode away.

He was still in disbelief over what had just happened.

He had never been challenged by any woman in his entire life.

And from her scent, she hadn’t even shifted yet.

Where he came from, his dominance was enough to make men and women fear him.

Packs dreaded his presence.

He hadn’t even announced who he was, yet he had expected to be spoken to with respect.

Instead, she had spoken rudely to him.

*So ungrateful.*

If it weren’t for the blood pact his father had made, he wouldn’t even be here.

A year after his father died and Cassian took possession of the pack, he discovered that the late Alpha had loaned territories and money to the Willow Pack.

Cassian had been furious.

He had demanded his money back.

He was not going to be like his father and pity anyone with ridiculous stories.

If he had known what else his father had done, he would have left the entire matter alone.

The Willow Pack was broke.

They had nothing to offer.

They were practically living on debts.

And then he uncovered the agreement.

His own father, the late Alpha, had signed a blood pact agreeing to have his own son marry one of the Willow Pack’s daughters as payment.

Cassian had wanted to go insane.

What benefit did that do to anyone?

He had taken the matter to the King of all wolves, but the King had insisted that he honor the agreement.

In his own words, it would strengthen relations between the two nations and soften the effects of the plague.

Cassian had backed out immediately.

But the King had pushed back and threatened consequences.

The last thing Cassian needed was to deal with pack politics.

And so here he was, forced into Lumere, on the other side of the wolf world.

Here to take a bride he didn’t fucking want.

Cassian spat on the ground as he turned back toward his men.

"Let’s get what we came here for and get the fuck out of this place."

Cassian wanted to get the bride he didn’t need and out of this place.

Whoever the hell she was.