Elyssa ran all the way home from Aubrey’s party following the news of the fire at her house, and the memory of it was ingrained in her mind. The entire estate burned down and not a single member of her pack survived. She knew it was no accident because her father and brother had tightened security weeks ago after the new family in town attacked one of the Peskington five families.
At the time, Elyssa had believed they were being overly protective, which was mostly because she was not allowed out of the compound any more. She did start to worry when Antonio told her the same security protocols were in effect at the Marino compound as well.
Lucian Callisto was the name they whispered in everything; a monster who took what he wanted and crushed anyone in his way.
She had cried for hours behind the ruins of her family house before running off into the woods to keep her scent hidden. It devastated her that her parents and big brother, Gregory, would never witness her shift; her sixteenth birthday was just around the corner.
Running all night, Elyssa ended up deep in the woods of the wilderness at sunrise, where the annual hunting games took place. In the weeks after losing her family, she mourned, until she finally shifted and was able to find the remote pack where she met Zuker and his family.
Since her sixteenth birthday, she had spent eight years training with the Ewing pack with the sole purpose of hunting Lucian Callisto.
By the time she returned to the city, things had certainly changed. In addition to the Mazzeo properties, her inheritance now belonged to the Callisto’s. Her first job was in one of her family’s old banks that the Callisto’s had claimed, and although everyone knew of the tyrant alpha, they were terrified to speak of him or his mother who was now reigning Luna. Her attempts to obtain real-time information, or get close to her mark without raising questions about who she was, left her in a bind.
So she decided to attend the Moon Ball, as the alpha of the highest ranking Peskington pack, he was certain to attend.
Now, she stood in front of the most sweltering man she’d ever seen, with his bright fiery eyes and an equally tempting touch. Her lips parted as she fought to breathe against her treacherous lungs. He likely knew Lucian since he was an alpha, as would Antonio.
Right, she’d promised Antonio she’d head downstairs.
“I take it you’re not telling,” Elyssa slurred.
“Where’s the fun in that,” he purred, his full beckoning lips curling in a rousing smile. His eyes raised to the door behind her, and his hand fell away from her face.
Elyssa stepped to her mate’s side, watching as the alphas marched in, accompanied by the armed guards. Then her gaze fell on Antonio, who shook his head at her with a hard glare. Once more, her eyes scanned the alphas sizing her up. Besides Dawson and the four that he had sent ahead, there were no new additions to the nine.
“What’s going on?” he asked from beside her.
“The ritual is about to begin,” Antonio announced, stepping forward. “I’ll take her off your hands. Come along, Elyssa.” He reached her and held his hand out to her.
Elyssa glanced across at her mate, who was staring at Antonio with a dark, menacing glare. He turned to face Antonio, hands shoved into his pockets.
“How do you know Elyssa?” he asked.
“El’s an old friend of the family, Lucian,” Antonio replied.
Lucian?
She could hear the pounding of her heart as the air slowed around her. With an inexplicable rage erupting again, blood rushed to her ear as the hall burned with her rage.
“Lucian?” she managed to ask.
“I don’t believe you have had the pleasure of meeting Lucian Callisto,” Antonio said into her eyes.
“Well, there goes the fun.” Lucian grinned at her.
As she held his gaze, she felt her heart almost explode. What a cruel and twisted fate this was. The monster who killed her family was her mate? Elyssa’s body trembled with rage she could not contain, so she walked into Antonio’s arms before her legs could give out.
“El,” Antonio whispered, wrapping his arms around her. “You’re shaking.”
“I… air.” Her faint murmur sounded against his chest.
“Marino, give her to me,” Lucian demanded in an indignant tone.
She didn’t want Lucian’s hands on her if Antonio complied with his demand. Not now; he was her mortal enemy. After a defeated sigh, Antonio held her face and gave her a look that said he could not offend Lucian.
Moving away from Antonio, she squared her shoulders and looked up at Lucian.
“I need to get back to my friend downstairs,” she said gently.
With a squint that narrowed his eyes at her, Lucian pointed to the stairs and snapped his finger at the alphas. “Start the ritual, I’ll be right with you.”
They headed off without a word, and Antonio glanced at her before leaving her alone with Lucian. By the time she turned back to him, Lucian was standing in front of her, his amber eyes piercing into hers like lava. A surge of hairs rose on her skin, and she felt the impulse to back away, but didn’t.
No, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“I don’t know your relationship with the Marino's, but I will not stand for it when one of them touches my mate like that,” Lucian growled.
A sombre Elyssa stared back, trying to keep her emotions in check. She had been afraid he would reject her when she killed Lucian Callisto, but now she realized it wouldn’t matter. As she gripped her clutch in her right hand, she swallowed, waiting for the right moment to pull her weapon.
The only way she could beat him was to be faster than him, she had the element of surprise, and they were alone.
“Antonio doesn’t know that,” Elyssa said.
Staring into his eyes now, she didn’t feel as seduced and tingly as before. In his eyes, she saw the burning Mazzeo estate, and the anguish her family had endured. What could make someone so evil, so cruel?
“That is irrelevant. You are mine, Elyssa, and that is all that matters.” Lucian reached to stroke her hair, but she pulled back from him and his gaze darkened. “What is wrong?”
“Like I said, I need to get back to my friend.” Elyssa glared at him and turned towards the stairs.
But Lucian caught her arm and proceeded to pull her back, up against him. “Out with it. What happened when Marino introduced me?”
Although gentle, his grip burned into her bare skin, a quiet reminder of an indisputable fact; Lucian was her mate. And she felt it in the now returning thumping in her chest and her strong desire for him, would she be able to pull the trigger?
“Let go, Lucian.”
With a smile, he whirled his fingers through her hair. “No.”
Their attention was drawn to the cheering and applause from downstairs. It was strange, she didn’t recall any rituals in the Moon Ball, so what were the other alphas talking about earlier?
“What ritual is happening?”
“I wonder, Elyssa, if you’ve been living under a rock.” Lucian mused as he looked at her with a glimpse of awe. “I think it would clarify a lot,” he added with a slight nod.
“That doesn’t answer my question, Lucian.” She tried to wiggle her arm free from his grasp, but couldn’t. His grip tightened slightly, and his eyes smiled into hers, almost crippling her will.
“Stop fighting me, cupcake.”
Elyssa stared at him, trying to suppress her giggle at the same time. A smile etched on her lips and she let, it. Cupcake?
“Come on, the ritual is starting.”
He slipped an arm around her waist and swept her down the stairs without warning.
Lucian led her to the ballroom, where a fierce, ethereal beauty stood in front of the live band. With her greying black hair brushed into a bun, her haughty pose screamed Luna. “We all know why we’re really here.” The guests murmured in confirmation as she stepped forward, smiling and gesturing to the room. “It’s time to hunt.” Elyssa glanced sideways at Lucian before turning back to watch the woman with an uneasy frown. Hunt? What had the Callisto’s turned the Moon Ball into? What were they hunting? She searched the hall for Taylor and when she didn’t see her, tried to find her scent. “A tradition so old and fine, where the wolves race through the goddess’ Labyrinth in search of their mates. We will send the most beautiful, unmated elite females into the Labyrinth, and if any one of them catches your eye, track them down and mark them by sunrise.” She gestured as she spoke. “Nevertheless, we’re not animals; there are rules; you can only mark a consenting fem
The ladies followed Jeremy and a squadron of Callisto wolves out of the ballroom and down a stairwell to a white-lit basement corridor. Aaliyah's mate, Jeremy guided each female into a lift, one at a time, with only a five-minute interval between each one. The wolves stood guard so close to them that they could only exchange uneasy glances, barely speaking to one another. Maybe they were finally realizing the severity of the ritual. Taylor turned around to look at her and Elyssa gave her a small smile. With Taylor ahead of her, she would be the last to go in, and judging by the look on her face, Taylor only just realized how dangerous this was going to be. Soon after, she watched Taylor enter the lift, descend slowly while smiling nervously and the five minutes that followed were the longest she'd ever had to suffer through. Jeremy held the lift open for her and Elyssa stepped in with a gulp. "Good luck," Jer
They snarled at Elyssa and darted off in the direction of Lucian’s howl, forcing her to sprint through the opening after them. Following them towards his scent, she struggled to match their unnatural speed. Elyssa shook her head, not wanting to focus on why he howled, was he trying to get himself killed? The monstrous creatures made a sharp left turn ahead and the Labyrinth moved, Elyssa dropped, shifting immediate she hit the ground and jumped through the opening before the passage could shut her out. She slowed to a halt when she reached the field where the beasts were now locked in a fight with Lucian. Elyssa shifted back, unable to believe her eyes, as she watched Lucian fight the beasts she had thought would be too much for him. With his sharp canines, he tore out one’s throat, before knocking the other into a puddle of black dirt. Transformed, Lucian was the same size as the beasts; heavy and terrifying
Elyssa stared at her mate. All six feet of him with his short ash brown hair and full face of beard she was tempted to caress. Although his well-toned torso gleamed like precious liquid under the moonlight, his eyes were his most striking feature. They resembled amber orbs that morphed colour to match his mood, and as they narrowed at her right now, seething with anger, she pouted. “I see.” Lucian’s voice was low, steady and levelled. He was livid that she rejected him, and while she knew how devastating it could be for a wolf, she didn’t care. She didn’t want to care. “So you lured me here just to turn me down?” “I did no such thing. Your mother sent me out here, Lucian.” Elyssa shot him a frown and looked around. Lucian stared at her with an unreadable expression as a cold breeze swept by, and she heard the chilling whisper in the gust of air. Azure. A jolt of cold racked through Elyssa’s useless robe
That was his meaning? She almost rolled her eyes at it. A few people could tell by looking at her that she was an azure, but since the fire that took her pack, they believed the azures to be extinct, so most people didn't think anything of her appearance. As a child, her mother told her stories of the pack of beautiful wolves with hair as red as ruby, fur as white as snow, and eyes as blue as the azure sky overturned by savages. There were only a couple of survivors and their numbers had dwindled since, leaving just a few of them. Caitlyn Mazzeo was one of them. Her mother’s stories of her azure heritage started to make sense after her first shift, and the Ewing pack would not stop calling her a chosen. The azures were blessed with the goddess' grace and gifts, and were chosen Lunas of their packs. She didn’t even understand what it meant. Chosen for misery? To be alone, and forced to be the mate of the man who destroyed her life? “I hav
She’d been kissed before. Not a lot, but they’d been good, with men gorgeous enough to knock the breath out of you, but goddess, this was different. It was like nothing before this existed, the world was a measly grey scale and Lucian woke her from the dreadful lapse. She could taste the opening up of her soul, as his hands trailed down to her hips, and he lifted her up, Elyssa wrapped her legs around his waist. Any more, and she’d explode from the feeling she couldn’t quite put into words. Happy, joy, complete, like she was only created to kiss him. Lucian broke away, and they stared into each other’s eyes. She had no thoughts, and in that moment she knew he was hers. Then he took her lips in a soft, warm kiss and smiled against her lips. “Tell me why you despise me.” As his voice rumbled through her, she reached out her fingers to finally touch his beard. She ran them through his soft hair and traced her way upwards into his hair. Her intent
Lucian’s POV Amid the eerie darkness that followed the ungodly wind sweeping through the chamber, her soul-piercing blue eyes held his with an iciness that outdid the current cold. He was transfixed by her azure gaze, and whatever she had found out clearly upset her. “What, exactly?” he asked, turning away from her. There wasn’t anything the Callisto’s weren’t blamed for, and he was getting tired of it. Drizzles pooled in his palm as he held his hand out. There was no shelter around to wait out the impending heavy downpour, and the storm was picking up quickly. “Your mother drives the azure wolves in here as an offering to that witch.” Then he turned around and faced her. Her crimson locks dancing in the wind now, as did the short robe she had on. While his muscles tightened, he felt himself swallow; Elyssa was stunning. “What are you talking about?” He groaned. “She sent me here too, despite the fact t
Elyssa froze in his arms, her eyes fluttering as she held his unyielding gaze. It was not surprising that he wanted to know that, but she hadn’t expected that it would come up here. Meanwhile, the rain was also drowning her, and now Lucian intended to finish her off. Everything was wrong. From her glimpse into Lucian’s memories, he had nothing to do with the fire that took her family. Who was it then? Another Callisto brother or their mother? That Luna, Victoria, had shown herself to be capable of anything, and based on what she had seen from Serene’s memories, she was responsible for sending her kind here. Added to that, there was this witch who was hunting her for her gift, one she had hated since it manifested after her first shift. In the aftermath of the fire, she was left to deal with everything alone. Although Lucian had no memory of it, that did not mean his pack wasn’t responsible. “That’s for me to know.” Elyssa took another attempt to break