1. Bella

Igripped the rare newspaper, the rough paper rubbing my callused fingers. The headline blared from the paper written in the sun goddess”s territory. I clutched it tightly as if it would disintegrate if I let go. Anything written outside our territory, much less from the rival clan, was hard to find, forbidden even.

Horrific Discovery: Six Sun Goddess Shifters Found Mutilated in Cursed Lands of Moon Goddess!

Six bodies were found outside the village, torn apart and gnawed on. All shifters that belonged to the Sun goddess were unfortunate enough to find themselves in the cursed lands of the moon goddess...

I quickly skimmed the article.

The bite marks indicated it was a wolf attack. The only shifters that belonged to the moon territory are now fighting and attacking the brothers and sisters it left behind.

A howl pulled my gaze from the words of the article I clutched. I”d found it discarded in a bin as I walked the chilly way to the bookstore. Someone was smuggling outside paraphernalia in. If they saw me with it, I”d be the next victim found in a field, dead and covered in bite marks, if I was lucky. There were worse things than death.

My breath hitched, and a plum of white formed as I exhaled sharply. I didn”t remember it being this cold this early into spring. Everything seemed stuck in winter”s embrace, as if she were reluctant to release her hold and let spring take over. The seasons were fickle like that.

Six was an ungodly number of bodies, but how they were found meant they had made a terrible decision. One that brought them directly into the forbidden forest. Legend had it that was the most straightforward path back to the sun goddess”s lands.

Rumors also said that these lands were technically a part of her territory, but the moon goddess had claimed them long ago. The wolf shifter beside me bumped my shoulder and snarled as if it were my fault. His teeth flashed as they elongated slightly, a growl reverberating deep from his chest. I wanted to glare and shout, but it would only worsen things. So I did what I knew I was supposed to do. I averted my eyes until he passed.

The wolves were once on the side of the sun, but centuries ago, they willingly let themselves be bound to the moon. Leaving the wolves no choice but to shift under her gaze when she reached her highest in the night sky. Though they still had the power to transform at all times, the full moon brought out an undeniable urge within them. As if it were a command from a higher power - and only then could their human forms be left behind.

The nearer the full moon, the more agitated they became, their suppressed rage boiling over until it was impossible to contain. They shed their human skin, transforming into a feral and relentless version of themselves, driven by instinct and hunger for power.

I prayed we didn”t have any incidents today.

The heavy wooden door creaked open as the senior man before me unlatched it and stepped aside. I walked into the dimly lit sanctuary of the small bookstore. Thanking the gods in a silent prayer that I made it in one piece.

”Morning, Bella,” said Mr. Bingsley, the elderly shopkeeper who had taken pity on me many months ago and given me a job here. Though he was a wolf shifter, his age had mellowed him so much that he seemed more like a kindly grandfather than an apex predator.

Still, I could sense the underlying tension between us—vampires and wolves, though on the same side, tended not to like one another for whatever reason. I tried not to be too offended; after all, there was some truth to the idea of rival predators. Still, I couldn”t deny feeling hurt by the prejudice. After all, I wasn”t a vampire.

Not really. Being half of something still made me the enemy, even though I had the same weaknesses as any other mortal. I could see better in the dark, be stronger, and move faster than other humans. When I compared myself to vampires and shifters, it became apparent how powerless I truly was.

”Good morning, Mr. Bingsley,” I replied, brushing past him as I made my way to the back room. My job in this shifter village was simple: keep the books organized, assist customers, and stay out of trouble. The latter was easier said than done.

”Watch yourself today, dear,” he warned, his eyes filled with a wariness that could be perceived as concern, but I knew better.” The alphas are restless, and you know how they feel about you.”

”Thanks for the reminder,” I said through a tight, stretched smile. Like I didn”t already know. It wasn”t like I needed a reminder of how much the villagers mistrusted and despised me – a half-breed, an abomination in their eyes.

The door dinged with the arrival of our first customer. I quickly put aside all my feelings and pasted on another smile, ready for a difficult day.

A gruff voice called out, asking for a book on werewolf lore. I handed him the book, but he gave me a disdainful look before leaving. The door chimed at the arrival of more customers as the day progressed.

”See?” I grumbled to myself as I returned to my duties. ”They can”t even look at me without sneering.”

”Can you blame them, though?” chimed a snide voice, and I turned to see Tessa, the local shifter gossip, leaning against a bookshelf with her arms crossed. ”You”re a half-breed blood sucker. You don”t belong here.”

”Fuck off, Tessa,” I snapped, my temper flaring. ”I don”t have time for your petty bullshit today.”

”Fine,” she huffed, flicking her long blond hair over her shoulder as she sauntered away. ”But remember, you”ll never be one of us.”

As I muttered the words, ”Who said I wanted to be?” my heart felt like a caged bird beating against its prison—like the walls of this cold room, which kept me locked inside, with no escape from the crushing wave of loneliness and isolation.

My hunger twisted around me like a giant snake squeezing tight until I thought I would scream. With every breath, the fog inside me felt thicker and heavier, dragging me down as if I were standing in quicksand.

Nothing mattered more than this job and my desperate need for food. So I clamped my mouth shut, binding it tighter than a rope, and swallowed all of my pride in exchange for the cheapest scraps of sustenance. All I needed was enough to get by.

Mr. Bingsley forced a hollow smile and inquired, ”Everything all right, sweetheart?” His hand gripped my shoulder in forced familiarity.

”Fine,” I lied, swallowing the lump in my throat. ”Just another day in paradise.”

My life might be far from perfect, but I held onto the hope that one day things would change. When they did, I”d be ready to spread my wings and prove them all wrong. I was more than grateful for this job even if it came with… challenges.

We moved often, my father and me. He cared little for me, and I soon forgot the feeling of being safe and warm. We”d been in this town longer than any other—no one wanted our shack, so they let us stay. In a town full of shifters, my father could hold his own. On the other hand, things were more challenging for me.

My stomach grumbled loudly; the hunger pangs wracked my body and caused me to double over. I clenched my fists and fought hard against tears, fearing any sign of weakness would make me vulnerable. I prayed Mr. Bingsley would bring me some food. As a half-vampire, death from hunger was not easy, but the pain was relentless.

All I needed was a tiny crumb of bread to keep me alive and in constant agony without the sweet release of death. I couldn”t survive on blood; essentially, I was still mostly human. I had forgotten what it felt like to have a full belly and to be loved.

The store cleared out. I was thankful. It was in the moments when no one was in the store that I loved the most. It was me and the books and knickknacks, my favorite kind of solitary companions.

As far as curses go, I suppose there are worst ones,I thought. I stood staring at the meager library as my palms began to itch. The full moon made my skin itch and crawl, so I, too, was not unaffected, only I didn”t snap and snarl. I could just feel it.

As the full moon rose in the sky, the shifters were restless as they growled and grumbled, eyeing me with distaste as they bared their teeth and clenched their jaws against the animalistic urge to become full-on predators looking for prey. I just itched.

A blessing I supposed.

Only, I wasn”t prey. I was a predator—the ultimate predator or, well, at least, the potential predator. Even if that predator were hidden beneath my skin, waiting until the day she was awakened. I knew only part of what I was, and if it were up to me, I”d do anything not to become that creature. The dead reeked, and so did the undead.

And who wanted to never see the sun again?

I loved the sun. I guess I was already a candidate for the worst vampire. Even as a half-vampire, I had the potential to become full—if I wanted. But I didn”t. I would rather starve and die.

I glimpsed a vibrant purple book with silver letters that shimmered in the light. It was Isla and Adrian, a vampire fairytale love story. I knew it but couldn”t reach it—my short stature denied me.

I turned toward Mr. Bingsley”s chair, still pulled out and waiting for its occupant to return. I walked over to it and lifted it up with little effort despite the thick wood of the large chair. I dropped it right before the book that beckoned me from above.

I climbed onto the sturdy chair and snatched the book triumphantly, only to get hit full in the face by a massive cloud of dust. The combination of dust and the musty smell of books that had not been cleaned in a long time assaulted my heightened sense of smell, making me sneeze.

The once sturdy chair wobbled from its force, slamming my body into the shelf of books. The bookcase broke and rained down onto my now prone body as I lay on the cold, hard floor, covered in dust, books, and damaged wood. The book I”d wanted so severely clutched still in my arms in the destruction of the corner shelf of the bookstore.

I sighed loudly, feeling the weight of my situation pressing down on me. Despite the dustiness and age of the books that filled Mr. Bingsley”s store, he took such care in preserving them, almost as if they were his own children. It was why he had gradually warmed up to me.

We shared a love for books in a world where life was too hard and harsh to partake in such leisurely pleasures. At least not for peasants. Which was what I appeared to be. Which was what the whole world needed to believe I was. With as poor as we were now, I suppose there was no need to pretend— I just was.

The door chimed, and I stiffened, a book still split open atop my head. Gideon stepped through the door, his ebony hair swept back and tucked behind his ears. His piercing amber gaze traveled over my body with such intensity that I felt exposed and vulnerable under its scrutiny.

”Great, the day just keeps getting better,” I muttered. I knew he heard me. Wolf shifters had exceptional hearing. They could hear a pin drop in the house next to them. My hearing was good but not half as good as theirs.

Gideon had been my tormentor since day one, and not in the way you would think. He decided he would make me his mate once I moved into town. Some odd idea that I was meant for him, that I was too pretty to be left in a shack with my father. He was rescuing me from my predicament and making me his mate. The only problem was that I didn”t want to be his mate, and I didn”t want his rescuing. I”d rather starve than let him claim me.

I had been weak one night, and I had wanted to feel something. Anything but loneliness and hunger and heartbreak. I had let him take the last thing I had kept as mine; my virginity. It had been the most disappointing night of my life. Now, he thought I was his because he’d bent me over like a dog. Men were so stupid.

I almost groaned aloud but instead, I put on a fake smile that showed far too many teeth. For a moment, I wished I had fangs to scare Gideon off.

”Good afternoon, Gideon.” I tried to stand as I smoothed the wrinkles from my dress and then proceeded to tame my hair. Not because I cared what I looked like to him, but to give my hands something to do rather than to wrap them around his throat. That would be suicide. Fun suicide, but it would end in death all the same.

”It looks like you need saving.” He smirked before strutting in, taking up the room with his massive size. He was a big lump of muscle; most of the women and many of the men in the town found him attractive. But his brain, the size of a pea, made me want to escape him as quickly as possible. That, and he was unbearable to be around.

A dumb alpha was a dangerous combination.

”No, I”m okay. It”s just an accident I intend to clean up.” I smiled tentatively as I reassured him, keeping my voice calm and mellow, my gaze not meeting his—anything to keep him calm. I was careful not to antagonize him or call the beast that lurked just under the surface.

Even in my peripheral vision, I could see the creature barely contained beneath his skin, a monster struggling to break free from its bonds. One that would leave carnage just as the people in the article had found themselves. This beast meant harm to me, and I knew it.

It made me want to bare my teeth and growl, but I clutched my hands tightly and forced my breathing steady. Refusing to submit to my desire to meet his challenge of dominance. I repeated in my head—Choose your battles. Live to fight another day, preferably on a day you can win. I chanted this in my head until the tension began to unspool itself.

He lifted an eyebrow, moving slowly forward while trying to catch my gaze. I backed up against the ruined shelf, slipping over a book on my way as I righted myself. His towering body boxed me in as I pressed my lips tightly together.

Do not react, Isabella,I cautioned myself before lifting my chin and glaring at him as I held his stare. I knew he would take it as a challenge, but when cornered, I had to do whatever I needed to get out of it. Even if it pissed him off.

I was doing what I swore I wouldn”t do, challenging him. It wasn”t a good idea to hold the stare of an alpha wolf, but I was tired of his bullying. His beast snarled, his eyes shining bright amber in the dimly lit shop as he leaned in to breathe in my scent.

”I can”t wait to claim you, break you, and make you mine,” he threatened as he pushed his massive body against mine.

I gritted my teeth and fought the urge to scream out of sheer disgust as he pressed his bulky frame against me. His thick hands moved to my hips, forming a vice-like grip that made me wince in pain. A wave of adrenaline surged through me, and my anger bubbled up. My arm whipped around before I could contain it, connecting squarely with the side of his jaw. He released his hold and stumbled back at the force of the blow.

”Just because we slept together once doesn”t give you the right to harass me at every turn,” I snapped, pressing my lips together as I realized what I”d said.

”On the contrary, sweetheart. It gives me all the rights.” He trailed his fingers down my jaw and then my neck as he stared at me, his eyes glowing golden from the wolf within him. He and his wolf wanted to take me, bite me, and tell the world I belonged to him, like property. ”I think we can make that claim here and now.”

Wolves had to claim their mates in a two-part ritual. They first had to mate with them physically, and while their bodies were connected, the wolf”s soul would connect to his mate”s as he bit her. Or she bit him with a mark imbued by magic on a full moon.

There would be a ritual where the mate would share with the other pack members. Usually, the female would get passed around. It was disgusting and disturbing, and I wanted no part of any of it. If I could take that night back so long ago, I would because, not only had it been short, regretful, and disappointing, it had also brought me trouble ever since.

”I”ve been patient with you,” Gideon whispered next to my ear. ”I have been good.”

I almost rolled my eyes. Good meant he had, on a few occasions, given me food when I was close to death.

I slapped him hard across the face when his lips began to caress my jaw and neck, and his hands reached around my back.

”Get off me,” I snarled, half begging. A small voice in the back of my head whispered, maybe this will be a better trade. Give him your body, and you can have food and more warmth. I shook my head, refusing to let that dark thought take credence within me.

The smirk that crept across his face was my first sign of danger. He grabbed my wrists and pulled me closer, using one hand to hold both together until they ached. In an instant, I snapped my head sideways, smashing his nose with a sickening crunch. His grip loosened ever so slightly as I kneed him hard in the groin, freeing myself from his tight grasp. He dropped to the ground, whimpering and then howling in outraged pain.

”I am not yours,” I spat before picking up the sizeable hardback book I”d dropped earlier and slamming it into his head repeatedly before he lay motionless on the ground. He wouldn’t remain so for long.

The door dinged again. I turned to see Mr. Bingsley with his mouth open, staring in abject horror at my violence.

”Isabella!” he exclaimed, his eyes widening as he looked around the room in disbelief. His face turned an angry red hue, and his nostrils flared as he seemed to wrestle with himself. For a moment, I thought he would defend me, but instead, he shook his head. ”Get out!” he shouted, an unfamiliar bitterness coating his words. ”I should have known better—you vamps are all the same. Cockroaches of death.”

I cringed and stepped back as if he had struck me. “Please, Mr. Bingsley. I didn’t ask to be touched. He attacked me. He did this!” I pointed at Gideon, pleading.

I couldn”t lose this job. I watched as Bingsley”s eyes softened for a fraction of a minute before his gaze flicked to the tall, imposing figure of the alpha wolf behind me. His eyes turned back to me, hard as steel.

”I said get out.” His voice rumbled through me, searing through me in a painful burn that made me almost clutch my chest to see if it were an actual wound.

”Please,” I tried one last time, hearing my voice catch as I swallowed back the sob that was forming. ”This was a misunderstanding, I”m sorry.”

”You heard him, little viper. Get out,” Gideon demanded, a deadly edge to his words. ”Wolves will always be loyal to wolves first.”

I turned to him, baring my own slightly pointed canines. For the first time ever, I wished I was a full vampire so I could rip his throat out. So I could bleed him to death and watch as the life left his eyes. I wasn”t. I was the least powerful person in this room.

”Leave,” Mr. Bingley said again, more firmly but with a little less venom in his tone.

”Yes, little cockroach, scatter off,” Gideon added. Mr. Bingsley did not correct him, come to my defense, or deny his slurs. He had called me the same.

The pain of his words hit me harder than I had expected, and I almost opened my mouth to defend myself. I sighed, realizing there was no use. This feeling of betrayal was worse because, for once, I had actually thought I had made a friend in this strange world. It was foolish to think differently; there were no friends for people like me. Grabbing onto the book tightly, I marched toward the door and cast one last glance over my shoulder. He recoiled and stepped back, turning away from me.

It was like a punch to my gut. I had heard these words and seen these reactions countless times before, but this time it felt different. I thought I had finally found someone who would understand me and accept me enough that I could feel less alone. But I was wrong. There was no one for me in this cruel world. With a heavy sigh, I marched toward the door, but not before clutching ahold of the blood-covered book that I”d risked so much for.

”Fine, if you don”t want to hear me out, then I”m keeping this.” I shook the book at his back as droplets of blood splattered his way. Snatching up my cloak as it toppled the coat hanger, I snarled loud like the vampire they expected me to be. Mr. Bingsley tensed, his back still facing me as a show of disrespect.

As if it were I who dared to cast him out with nothing more than a few books falling off a shelf. Gideon, who I wanted to kick all over again, wore a pleased smile on his pretty face.

I clenched my jaw, struggling not to reveal the pain that gnawed at my gut as I clenched my fists and marched out of the door. The sound of glass shattering into pieces around me surrounded me like a chorus of angry screams as I slammed the door hard enough to break it, mirroring the rage that coursed through me.

Any chance of him allowing me back was now gone. My rage boiled over, and I roared to the heavens, letting the punishing downpour wash away my fury like a heavenly offering.

I should have kept my mouth shut.

I should have groveled.

I should have begged.

I should have...

The wind and rain pelted my face, echoing the conflict inside me. Matching my anger with its own, drenching me to my very soul. I wanted nothing more than to remain human, to keep living life as an ordinary mortal until I was old and feeble.

But with every step I took on this journey, something stood in my way. I had no control over the rage that coursed through my veins or the way my stomach ached and my steps faulted as they felt like lead with the lack of fuel I”d had. My thoughts fell into a morose tailspin. I was starving. Only my half-vampire nature kept me from dying.

I had a sinking feeling in my gut that tonight would be a night where my stomach growled until it ached. My bones gnawed in an entirely different way as the cold crept upon me in my sleep.

However hard fate pushed against me, I would refuse to surrender, determined to take back control and make this road mine.

I just had to survive first. Which was infinitely easier said than done.