1. SILAS

1

SILAS

A wild grin spreads across my face as I edge toward the clearing, the sacred space between the Nightshades and the Redstone packs still covered with a thin layer of snow. The crimson rivers from my favorite night are no longer present but I still remember the pain and anguish that rang through the clearing, warming my cold dead heart.

Watching that pack fall apart as we ran through them is a memory I gleefully play over and over in my head. It's one of the few things that went right that night.

The serum runs fiercely through me, my wolf form several times larger than it used to be. Few others can weather the drug the same way I can, giving me a boost of power that is unmatched across the remaining shifter packs.

"Alpha, I don't understand why we're here." My loyal Beta accompanied me without question. I will reward him handsomely and bond him the moment he returns. Unfortunately, his blind submission will be the cause of his pain. He gently rests a hand on my head, drawing my attention to his touch before I twist around to snap at his side.

The Beta screams, struggling to pull away from my bite but to no avail. He may never understand my plan but he will be the catalyst.

It won't be long before my birthright is returned to me—my pack and that pretty Luna at my side. Until then, I will give them a small present, something to distract them from my plans. Those soft-hearted souls won't be able to resist.

"Alpha, please ," he whispers but his pleas fall on deaf ears. I need this to work. There is no more room for failure. Unlocking my jaws, Darius falls in an ungraceful heap to the ground, snow crunching beneath his body. My favorite crimson stream begins to trickle from his side, the moonlight absorbing the dark color. The Beta scoots back, his hands pressing against the wound to prolong his consciousness.

I'm not done with him just yet, though. Last time, I left them a pretty white wolf in my Luna's bed, my brother grieving over a decoy. A rare white Beta wolf died for a good cause that night. And now Darius will take her place as my brother and those other Alphas nurture him back to health, only to be fooled by his intentions.

They have grown soft and it will be their demise. This time next month, that Luna will be mine with my bite on her shoulder as she bows at my feet. Those beautiful brown eyes widen when I lock my jaws around his side again, delivering another bite deep enough to incapacitate him. Darius stops moving, the coppery taste of his blood coating my tongue. One day he will also be mine.

Today is not that day.

"Make her trust you and then bring her to me," I say, using the mindlink present in the pack of the Forbidden.

I throw my head back, letting out a thunderous howl that matches my shifted form from weeks of using that serum. Power and magic flow through my veins, the sky shaking as my howl echoes through the clearing.

Hopefully, that is enough to draw them to the present I have left them.

Or it will be Darius' last breath and I'll have to find another Beta.

That would be a shame.