"Mate," my wolf spoke loudly in my mind. 
The smell hit me first. A smoky cedarwood, dark and heavy. My body reacted before my head even had a chance to process what was going on, and then I saw him.
Alpha Elias Beaumont. He was tall, and handsome. His full dark hair made me feel bald and emerald eyes were sharper than the edge of a knife. 
He stole the moment. The rest of the world went into oblivion.
He was mine.
I took one step closer and he retreated.
The earth beneath my feet could have turned to liquid, it was that soft.
Elias's face impossible to decipher, his jaw shut tight, his eyes burning with some feeling I had no notion how to classify.
My wolf yelped in agony, but I held strong, muzzling my own breath into a level plane, waiting…waiting for him to speak.
He felt it just like I did. I moved towards him, but he stopped me with his hand. "Don't," he warned. 
And then, his words, individually like a blade, cutting through me.
"I, Alpha Elias Beaumont of the Artemis Pack, deny you, Amara Kings, as my mate."
~
For eighteen years, Amara Kings has been nothing more than a ghost—a forgotten heir locked away in secrecy. On the night of her long-awaited debut, she senses her fated mate among the guests. But her dreams of love and freedom shatter when Alpha Elias Beaumont, the man destined to be hers, publicly rejects her and claims her sister, Kamla, instead.  
Betrayed and heartbroken, Amara swears Kamla will not get away with her deception. But when Kamla is found murdered that same night, all eyes turn to Amara. Branded a jealous killer, she is thrown into a nightmare of torture and humiliation at the hands of the mate who once denied her.  
But Amara is no ordinary wolf. As darkness rises and buried secrets unravel, she discovers a power within her that could reshape the entire werewolf world—or destroy it. With enemies lurking in the shadows, an obsessed Alpha vying for her heart, and Elias desperate for redemption, Amara must decide: will she seek vengeance, claim her rightful place, or carve a new destiny of her own?  
The truth was never meant to come to light. But now that it has, the world will never be the same.

I plunged the ritual knife into the wooden floor, not into my nephew's back as Ingrid had feared. The symbols on the blade glowed bright blue, making a circle of protection around us as Orion's attack slammed against it.


"Stay inside the circle!" I shouted as the windows shattered. "It won't hold for long, but it will give us time!"


Chaos exploded in the pack hall. Wolves scattered, some changing forms, others running for weapons. Elias pulled Amara close, protecting her with his body even as she tried to push past him toward her brother.


"What is this?" Elias demanded, looking at the glowing barrier between us and Orion's forces. "Uncle, what have you done?"


Ingrid struggled against her chains, eyes wild with fear and hate. "He's working for The Mother! Can't you see?"


"I've never worked for her," I said strongly, pulling Alexander's journal from my pocket again. "This will prove it."


Chapter 69 - Chapter 69: Shadows of the Past