Chapter 1 – The Outcast's Hunt
POV: Seren Thorne
The blood moon rose like a wound in the sky.
It hovered, swollen and red, casting its eerie glow over the Hollow Pines forest. The trees stretched tall and skeletal around me, branches gnarled like grasping fingers. Somewhere in the distance, a horn sounded — low and haunting. The signal. The hunt had begun.
I crouched beneath a crumbling stone ledge, pressing my palm to the damp earth, steadying my breath. My heartbeat pulsed loud in my ears, matching the rhythm of war drums echoing from the ridgeline above. I could smell the others — wolves from all five packs gathered for the Moon Hunt, their scents mingling in the crisp air like a storm brewing.
Adrenaline buzzed in my veins. My wolf clawed beneath my skin, restless. Hungry. Ready to be free.
But I couldn't afford to be reckless — not tonight.
Tonight, I wasn't just prey or predator. I was a spectacle.
The outcast daughter of a disgraced Alpha, paraded through ancient tradition like a joke the Goddess never got tired of. Every eye in that clearing would be watching me — waiting for me to fail.
"Still hiding, Thorne?" a voice sneered behind me.
I didn't turn. I didn't need to.
Talia Raventhorn.
Perfect golden hair, piercing hazel eyes, and a mouth sharp enough to slice bone. The Crimson Fang's favorite daughter. Alpha's pride. My constant shadow — not out of obsession, but opportunity. She lived to remind me of what I wasn't.
I stood slowly, brushing soil from my palms. "Still obsessing, Raventhorn? You're always the first to find me."
Her lip curled, revealing the edge of her teeth. "I just like to watch the inevitable. Thought I'd get a front-row seat when you embarrass yourself again."
I said nothing. Her words couldn't wound me — not anymore.
It had been five years since my father died, torn apart by wolves that were supposed to be allies. Five years since my mother vanished into the night, leaving only blood on the porch and a shattered pack behind. The Thorneblood name had been cursed ever since. And me? I was the broken remnant they didn't know what to do with.
But there was something they didn't know.
Something I hadn't even told my Beta guardian, or the council elders who had kept me alive out of guilt.
I wasn't broken.
Not really.
I turned away from Talia and stepped into the moonlight, my boots crunching against frost-covered grass. The air buzzed with magic — thick, ancient, and alive. The moment I crossed the boundary stone etched with the Moon Goddess's rune, it hit me like a punch to the gut.
Pain.
Fire.
Change.
The shift tore through me, white-hot and violent.
My bones cracked, realigning. Muscles stretched, fur burst through my skin. My scream dissolved into a guttural howl as I dropped to all fours. My wolf surged forward — sleek and silver-gray with a dark streak down my spine, mismatched eyes blazing in the darkness.
I didn't hesitate.
I ran.
Wind tore past me as I moved through the trees, paws silent on the ground. The scents of the forest wrapped around me — prey, moss, frost, and the wild musk of other wolves nearby. Somewhere to the east, two were already fighting over a kill. I could hear their snarls, feel the ground tremble with the force of their fury.
Let them have it. I wasn't here for sport.
I was here for survival.
But then — I stopped.
Mid-stride, a force slammed into me. Invisible. Deep. It wasn't physical, but it was real. Like a rope tugging hard around my chest. Like a hook in my soul.
My wolf skidded to a halt, breath ragged.
And I felt it.
The bond.
A low, vibrating hum beneath my ribs. A magnetic pull deep inside my gut. An electric thread connecting me to something — someone — just beyond the northern ridge.
My wolf whined softly, tail twitching. Her reaction was instant, instinctual. Recognition. Need.
A mate.
My mate.
No. No, not now.
I turned in a tight circle, scenting the air. The pull grew stronger, and then I smelled it — a wild blend of pine and smoke and something dark, something sharp and alluring. A scent that made every part of me go still.
I didn't want this.
I couldn't want this.
The Moon Goddess didn't give mates to girls like me. The abandoned. The marked. The cursed. I wasn't meant to have this kind of connection.
So why did it feel like it was breaking me apart just being near it?
A rustle to my left. A presence. Strong. Dominant. Watching.
And then a pair of glowing golden eyes met mine through the trees — fierce, burning, familiar.
Him.
Kael Draven.