Chapter 1

1

B lood was running down her back in steaming rivulets. Her bare feet were filthy and bruised, matching the legs visible through the tatters of her dirty satin dress. She didn't know how long she had been held in that basement room… She shook her head. Those thoughts could come later. She just had to keep running.

Left. Now, her wolf urged her. She didn't have the strength to shift, but she couldn't stop, and unlike her, the wolf's mind was sane. Its survival instincts were sharper, so she followed the wolf's guidance.

A bone-chilling howl resounded through the alleyway, and the echoing call came from all around her. They had caught on to her scent.

She’d hoped that she had a longer time to escape, but the guards must have changed their shifts. She had lost so much weight in her chained and captive state that she had managed to break the narrow basement window and just squeeze through. The glass and the wires had ripped her back to shreds, the blood leaving a trail for her monsters to follow.

"Nicola! Stop! Or it will be worse for you!" a woman's voice shouted through the darkness.

How could it be any worse than being chained in silver and treated like less than an animal for months? She'd rather take her chances to evade them or die trying.

There was no other creature in Inferno that would harbor her and risk problems with the pack. In Inferno, creatures governed themselves. They would give her back to Kaleb and not lose any sleep over it. It would be the wolves' business and not theirs. Kaleb was a fucking monster. She needed someone who wasn't afraid of pissing him off.

Bigger monster. Take the next right, her wolf said, and Nicola slid on something wet and disgusting in the alley. She pulled herself back to her torn feet and kept running. She was delirious with a fever, her whole body burning, and she had no idea where she was in this part of the city's underbelly.

She had been raised an alpha's daughter. A princess. Much fucking good it had done her. She let her wolf instincts guide her. The same instincts that had broken her own hand into a throbbing mess to pull it free of the silver cuff that had kept her bound. An animal who was willing to chew their own foot off to get free of the trap.

Nicola ran, her adrenaline fading, but she couldn't stop; her will to survive kept her going, the cold of winter pluming the air around her heavy breaths.

The buildings thinned out, and trees rose up like black sentinels ahead of her. Had she wandered into the fae district? She wasn't sure where she was now, and it didn't matter—a forest could be better cover.

Her bare feet crunched, and she realized the ground was covered in snow. It was rare to have it this thick, but she dismissed it. Maybe she was in the mage's district instead, and they had been doing ice magic for fun.

The howls of the pack got louder, and she pushed through the snow. She sobbed, too dehydrated from her captivity to cry, just making a keening noise like a wounded pup.

She didn't even see the man by the trees before she crashed into him, and she was sent tumbling to the ground. His hair and beard were as silver-white as the snow surrounding them. Pale blue eyes looked down at her, his face swimming as fever and blood loss finally started to take their toll. She didn't have the strength to get up. She was finished, and the last thing she would see was this winter wraith. She struggled, rested her busted face on his boot, and whispered, "Help."