She dragged 11 frozen bodies out of the snow one by one.
Her hands were bleeding, her lungs burning, but Andrew didn’t stop.
She thought they were just wolves, wild animals dying in the Colorado blizzard.
She didn’t know that the massive black wolf watching her with golden eyes wasn’t just an animal.
He was Roman Sterling, the ruthless alpha king of the west, and he was currently hunting the people who had exiled her.
When the storm clears, Andrew won’t just be saving a pack.
She’ll be waking up next to the most dangerous man on earth, and when he finds out who really left her to die in that cabin, the world is going to burn.
You don’t want to miss this.
The thermometer on the porch of the rusted A-frame cabin read 20 below zero, and it was still dropping.
Andrew adjusted the collar of her worn Carhartt jacket, her breath puffing out in thick white clouds against the darkening sky of Shadow Ridge.
It was Christmas Eve, though you wouldn’t know it by looking at her life.
There were no lights, no tree, and certainly no family coming to visit.
At 24, Andrew was an omega, the lowest of the low in werewolf society, but she wasn’t just any omega.
She was a wolf-less.
She couldn’t shift.
In the eyes of the high council and her former pack, the Silver Creek, that made her a genetic dead end, a waste of resources.
Three years ago, Alpha Silas, a man whose cruelty was only matched by his vanity, had banished her.
“Go live with the humans, Andrew.
If you can survive the winter, maybe fate wants you alive, but don’t come back.
” So, she had run.
She found this dilapidated cabin 10 mi outside of Aspen, Colorado, tucked deep in the San Juan Mountains where the tourists didn’t go.
She worked as a waitress at Mick’s Diner in town, hoarding every tip to buy propane and canned soup.
Tonight, however, the radio had been screaming about a category five blizzard.
The roads were closed, the power lines were down.
Andrew was alone.
She was just turning to lock the heavy oak door when she heard it.
It wasn’t the wind.
It was a sound that triggered a primal instinct buried deep in her dormant DNA.
A whimper, then a low, guttural growl that cut off abruptly, as if the throat making it had collapsed.
Andrew froze.
Wolves, real wolves, or kindred? In this part of the Rockies, it could be either, but normal timber wolves didn’t travel in weather this lethal.
They dug in.
Against her better judgment, Andrew grabbed the heavy flashlight and her dad’s old hunting rifle, mostly for show, since she could barely aim it, and stepped off the porch.
The snow was already waist deep.
The wind hit her like a physical blow, screaming through the pines.
“Hello?” she screamed, her voice snatched away instantly.
She trudged toward the tree line, about 50 yd out.
The snow was stained pink.
Her heart hammered against her ribs.
She pushed through a dense thicket of spruce and gasped.
They were scattered across the clearing like fallen soldiers, massive, much larger than natural timber wolves.
Their fur was matted with ice and blood.
She counted them quickly, panic rising in her throat.
Five, eight, 11.
11 massive wolves lying motionless in the snow.
They had been ambushed.
She could smell the metallic tang of wolfsbane laced in the air, a hunter’s poison.
It slowed the heart, dropped the body temperature, and made shifting back to human form impossible until it wore off.
In this weather, they wouldn’t last another hour.
They would freeze to death before the poison even finished the job.
Andrew fell to her knees beside the closest one, a russet-colored female.
She pulled off her glove and pressed her hand to the wolf’s flank.
Faint warmth, a thready heartbeat.
“You’re alive,” she whispered.
She looked around.
They were all massive, clearly warriors, but in the center of the carnage lay a beast that made the others look like pups.
He was jet black, blacker than the void between stars.
Even lying on his side, half buried in a drift, he was terrifying.
His muzzle was scarred, and a thick collar of silver fur ringed his neck, a mark of high lineage.
Andrew scrambled over to him.
She touched his neck.
His eyes snapped open.
They were gold, molten, terrifying gold.
They locked onto hers with an intensity that paralyzed her.
A low rumble vibrated through his chest, shaking the snow around him.
It wasn’t aggression.
It was a warning.
“Stay away.
I’m not going to hurt you,” Andrew said, her voice shaking.
“But if you stay here, you die.
All of you.
” The black wolf tried to lift his head, but it thumped back down.
The wolfsbane was too strong.
Andrew stood up, adrenaline flooding her system.
She was a wolf-less omega.
She had no strength, no authority, no pack, but she had a sled for hauling firewood, and she had stubbornness born of three years of solitude.
“I’m going to get you inside,” she told the black wolf, shouting over the wind.
“Don’t bite me.
” It took 4 hours.
By the time Andrew dragged the last wolf, a sleek gray juvenile, across the threshold of her cabin, she was nearing physical collapse.
Her fingers were blue, her muscles screamed, and she had bitten through her lip from the exertion.
The cabin was small, essentially one large room with a loft for sleeping and a wood stove in the corner.
Now, it looked like a battlefield triage center.
She had pushed her meager furniture against the walls to make room.
The 11 wolves took up almost every square inch of the floor.
The heat from the wood stove was cranked up as high as it would go, the cast iron glowing orange.
Andrew stripped off her soaked coat and got to work.
She wasn’t a healer, but she knew the basics of wolf physiology.
Wolfsbane required heat and fluids to metabolize.
She filled every pot she owned with snow and put them on the stove to melt.
She raided her pantry, pulling out her emergency stash of beef broth and Gatorade.
“Okay,” she muttered to herself, kneeling beside the russet female she had found first.
“Drink.
” She used a turkey baster to force warm broth mixed with sugar into the wolf’s mouth.
The animal choked, then swallowed.
Andrew moved to the next one, and the next.
When she finally reached the massive black wolf, she hesitated.
He had been watching her for the last 2 hours while she tended to his pack.
Those golden eyes hadn’t left her.
He was placed closest to the fire.
She had to use a system of ropes and pulleys rigged to the ceiling beam to drag him that far, because he must have weighed 300 lb.
She knelt beside him.
Up close, the power radiating off him was suffocating.
Even injured and poisoned, he smelled like authority, like pine, ozone, and old blood.
“Your turn,” she said softly.
She reached out to check the wound on his shoulder.
It was a nasty gash, likely from a silver-tipped arrow.
The black wolf snarled, curling his lip to reveal fangs the size of daggers.
Andrew didn’t flinch.
She grabbed his muzzle, a move that would have gotten any other omega killed instantly, and held it shut.
“Listen to me, Cujo,” she snapped, her fatigue making her reckless.
“I just dragged your heavy ass 200 yd through a blizzard.
I used my last tank of propane to heat this water.
I am tired, I am cold, and I am not afraid of you.
So, you can either drink this broth and live, or you can growl and die.
Your choice.
” The silence in the cabin was deafening.
The other wolves, those who were conscious, watched with wide eyes.
No one spoke to an alpha like that.
The black wolf stared at her.
The growl died in his throat.
The golden eyes narrowed, assessing her.
Then slowly, he relaxed his jaw.
Andrew let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
“Good boy.
” She fed him the broth.
He drank greedily, his rough tongue lapping at the liquid.
When he was done, he rested his massive head on her knee.
The weight of it was grounding.
She spent the rest of the night moving between them.
She cleaned the silver burns with saline, stitched up the worst gashes with a sewing kit, and covered them with every blanket, towel, and rug she owned.
By 4:30 a.
m.
, the [clears throat] storm outside was burying the cabin, but inside, the breathing of 11 wolves had created a rhythmic, warm, humidity.
Andrew sat on the floor, her back against the sofa, exhausted.
She had given her own blanket to the gray juvenile, who was shivering violently.
She pulled her knees to her chest, shivering slightly herself.
Suddenly, a weight settled over her legs.
The black wolf had dragged himself across the floor.
He draped his massive upper body over her legs, his thick fur acting as a heavy, heated blanket.
He let out a huff, resting his chin on her ankle.
Andrew froze, then slowly reached out and buried her hand in the thick ruff of fur at his neck.
“Thank you.
” she whispered.
She fell asleep like that, pinned beneath the weight of the monster she had saved.
She didn’t know that the wolf she was using as a foot warmer was Roman Sterling.
She didn’t know that he was the wealthiest, most feared alpha in the northern hemisphere.
And she certainly didn’t know that he was currently mind linking his beta, who was lying 3 ft away.
“Command.
Do not shift.
” Roman’s voice echoed in the minds of his pack.
“Not yet.
We heal first, and we watch her.
” “Beta Liam, she’s [clears throat] an omega, Roman.
” “But she smells different.
She has no pack scent.
” “Roman, she has a scent now.
She smells like us.
” Roman watched the woman sleeping.
Her face was pale, dark circles under her eyes, her hands raw and blistered from the rope.
She had saved 11 warriors single-handedly.
When he healed, he was going to give her the world.
But first, he needed to know why a woman with the heart of a luna was living alone in a shack at the end of the world.
The next morning, the blizzard had stopped, but the snow was drifted 6 ft high against the windows.
The cabin was dim, lit only by the dying embers of the stove.
Andrew woke up with a stiff neck and a numb leg.
The black wolf was still draped over her, his body heat immense.
He was asleep, or pretending to be.
She gently extracted herself, wincing as her joints popped.
“Okay, breakfast.
” she whispered.
She didn’t have enough food.
She had three cans of Campbell’s Chunky Soup, a bag of rice, and half a box of stale crackers.
For one person, it was a week’s rations.
For 11 wolves, it was an appetizer.
She made a decision.
She cooked it all, a massive pot of rice and soup.
As she stirred the pot, the wolves began to stir.
The wolfsbane was wearing off.
They were moving with more coordination.
The black wolf, Roman, sat up.
He sat on his haunches, his head nearly brushing the bottom of her kitchen table.
He watched her dump the last of the rice into the pot.
“He knows.
” Andrew thought.
“He knows this is all I have.
” She divided the food into 11 bowls.
Some were Tupperware, some were mugs.
She placed the largest portion in front of the black wolf.
“Eat.
” she said.
“I’m going to check the perimeter.
” She grabbed her rifle and opened the front door.
The wall of snow was daunting.
She would have to dig a tunnel just to get to the wood pile.
As she stepped out, she heard the distant roar of an engine, a snowmobile.
Andrew panicked.
“Hunters!” She rushed back inside.
“Someone’s coming.
” she hissed.
“You need to stay down.
If they see you the wolves immediately tensed.
The black wolf stood up, a low growl rumbling in his chest.
He moved in front of Andrew, shielding her body with his.
“No.
” Andrew pushed his flank.
“You can’t fight.
You’re still weak.
Hide in the loft.
Now.
” It was a ridiculous command.
Getting 11 wolves up a ladder? Impossible.
But the wolves seemed to understand the urgency.
The smaller ones scrambled under the bed and the table.
The larger ones, including the alpha, pressed themselves into the shadows of the back corner, behind the stack of firewood she kept inside.
Andrew slammed the door and threw the bolt just as the snowmobile engine cut off outside.
Heavy boots crunched on the porch.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
“Andrew, open up.
It’s Sheriff Miller.
” Andrew’s blood ran cold.
Sheriff Miller wasn’t a friend.
He was a human who was on the payroll of the local Silver Creek pack, the pack that had exiled her.
If he was here, it wasn’t for a wellness check.
She cracked the door, keeping the chain on.
“Sheriff, the roads are closed.
” Sheriff Miller was a thick-set man with a red face and eyes that wandered too much.
He peered through the crack.
“County mandate, Andrew.
Checking on the isolated residents.
You got power?” “I’m fine.
” she said quickly.
“I have propane.
” “You look flushed.
” Miller said, sniffing the air.
He frowned.
“And it smells like wet dog in there.
” “My heater blew back.
” Andrew lied smoothly.
“Look, Sheriff, I’m fine.
I just want to go back to sleep.
” Miller didn’t leave.
He leaned closer to the door.
“We got reports of a disturbance up on the ridge.
Some protected wildlife was poached.
You haven’t seen anything, have you?” “Big animals?” “Nothing.
” Andrew said.
“Mind if I come in and take a look? Just to be sure you’re safe.
” “I do mind.
” Andrew said, her voice hardening.
“I’m not dressed, Sheriff, and I don’t have a warrant.
” Miller’s eyes narrowed.
He put a heavy boot against the door, preventing her from closing it.
“Now, Andrew, don’t be difficult.
People go missing in these storms all the time.
Nobody would even know.
” It was a threat, a clear, veiled threat.
Andrew gripped the door handle, her knuckles white.
She was an omega.
She couldn’t fight him.
Suddenly, a low, bone-chilling sound vibrated through the floorboards.
It wasn’t a growl.
It was a snarl so deep it rattled the windowpanes.
Miller flinched, stepping back.
“What the hell is that?” “My generator.
” Andrew stammered.
From the shadows behind Andrew, a massive black shape moved.
Roman didn’t just step out, he stalked into the light.
He didn’t look like a dog, he looked like a nightmare.
He stood nearly as tall as Andrew’s hip, his lips pulled back to reveal teeth that could snap a femur.
Miller’s face went pale.
He stumbled backward off the porch, falling into the snow.
“Jesus Christ, that’s a that’s a monster.
” Roman let out a bark, a sharp, explosive sound that commanded, “Leave.
” Miller scrambled to his snowmobile.
“You’re crazy, Keeping a beast like that.
I’m calling animal control.
I’m calling the rangers.
” He revved the engine and sped off, disappearing into the whiteout.
Andrew slammed the door and locked it, her heart pounding.
She turned around.
Roman was standing there, looking at her.
He didn’t look like a monster anymore.
He looked smug.
“Great.
” Andrew sighed, sliding down the door to sit on the floor.
“Now the sheriff knows.
He’ll bring the Silver Creek pack.
They hate wolves on their territory.
” She looked up at the black wolf.
“We have to move.
As soon as the storm breaks, you have to go.
” The black wolf walked over to her, but this time he didn’t lick her hand.
He stepped back.
The air around him shimmered, distorting like heat off the pavement.
The sound of cracking bones filled the room, a wet, popping sound that made Andrew look away.
“We aren’t going anywhere, Andrew.
” a deep, rasping voice said.
Andrew’s head snapped up.
Standing in her living room, naked, glorious, and covered in fading scars, was a man.
He was over 6 ft 4, with messy black hair and the same terrifying golden eyes.
He looked like a god carved out of granite.
He reached down and offered her a hand.
“I’m Roman.
” he said.
“And nobody is taking you out of this cabin unless they go through me.
” Andrew stared at the man’s hand.
It was large, calloused, and perfectly steady.
She looked up at his face, chiseled jaw, a nose that had been broken once or twice, and those golden eyes that burned with an intelligence far beyond that of a wolf.
She didn’t take his hand.
Instead, she scrambled backward, crab walking, until her back hit the oven.
“You you shifted.
” she whispered.
“The wolfsbane.
We metabolize fast.
” Roman said, his voice deep and rough, like gravel tumbling in a dryer.
He didn’t seem bothered by his nudity.
He looked around the cabin, his gaze landing on a throw blanket on the sofa.
He grabbed it and wrapped it around his waist, more for her comfort than his own.
Behind him, the sound of popping bones filled the room again.
One by one, the other 10 wolves began to shift.
Andrew watched in stunned silence as her tiny cabin filled with naked, shivering men and women.
There were seven men and three women, all of them looking like they had been carved from the same dangerous stone as Roman.
They were warriors, elite.
“Report.
” Roman barked, his voice changing instantly from gentle to commanding.
A tall man with a shaved head and a nasty gash on his ribs stumbled forward.
This was Liam, the beta.
“All present, Alpha.
Injuries are severe, but healing.
We need food, real food.
” Roman nodded.
He turned back to Andrew.
“You saved my pack.
” “I I just did what anyone would do.
” Andrew stammered.
“No.
” Roman said, stepping closer.
He crouched down so he was eye-level with her.
The intensity of his presence was overwhelming.
“Most people would have left us to freeze or shot us for the bounty.
You dragged 11 of us through a blizzard and fed us your own rations.
” He reached out and gently took her chin in his hand.
His skin was scorching hot.
“I am Roman Sterling, Alpha of the Obsidian Shadow Pack.
” Andrew gasped.
The Obsidian Shadow.
They were legends.
They controlled the entire West Coast.
They were the wealthiest, most powerful pack in the country, and they were known for being ruthless to their enemies.
“And you?” Roman continued, his thumb brushing her cheek.
“Are Andrew, the exile of Silver “How do you know that?” “I know everything that happens in my territory.
” Roman said darkly.
“I know Silas banished you 3 years ago because you didn’t shift at 16.
I know he sent you here to die.
” He stood up, his eyes flashing with a cold fury that wasn’t directed at her.
“He made a mistake, a fatal one.
” “Alpha.
” Liam interrupted, his teeth chattering.
“The sheriff, he’ll be back and he’ll bring Silver Creek enforcers.
” Roman’s lip curled.
“Let them come.
” >> [clears throat] >> “No.
” Andrew stood up, finding her voice.
“You can’t fight them here.
You’re still weak and” She gestured to the room.
“This is my home.
If you fight here, they’ll burn it down.
I have nowhere else to go.
” Roman looked at her, really looked at her.
He saw the fraying cuffs of her jeans, the hollows of her cheeks, the desperation in her eyes.
A muscle feathered in his jaw.
“You have somewhere to go.
” he said softly.
“You’re coming with us.
” “I can’t.
” Andrew said.
“I’m wolfless.
I don’t belong in a pack like yours.
I’m an embarrassment.
” Roman stepped closer, towering over her.
“You are the only reason 11 of the strongest wolves in the world are breathing right now.
You have more wolf in you than anyone I’ve ever met.
” He turned to his pack.
“We leave tonight.
We need to get to the extraction point at the old airstrip.
It’s 10 miles north.
” “10 miles in this snow?” a female warrior asked, wincing as she held her arm.
“We run.
” Roman said.
“In human form until we hit the tree line, then we shift.
” He looked at Andrew.
“You’ll ride with me.
” “Ride with” “On my back.
” Roman said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
“Unless you want to run 10 miles in deep snow.
” “I don’t have a choice, do I?” Andrew asked.
Roman smiled, a slow, dangerous smile that made her breath hitch.
“I’m an Alpha, Andrew.
I always give choices, but I rarely take no for an answer.
” They waited until nightfall.
The storm had cleared, leaving a bright, full moon that reflected off the white landscape, turning the world silver.
They raided Andrew’s closet for clothes.
The warriors squeezed into her oversized flannel shirts and sweatpants, looking ridiculous but grateful.
Roman refused a shirt, claiming it would just rip when he shifted, but he did take a pair of her sweatpants that were comically tight.
They left the cabin in a single file line.
Andrew locked the door, a heavy pit in her stomach.
She knew she would never see this place again.
It had been a prison, but it was her prison.
They made it 2 miles before the ambush hit.
It wasn’t the sheriff.
It was the Silver Creek Pack.
Alpha Silas had sent his elites, 12 of them, shifting from the shadows of the pine trees, surrounding them in a half circle.
Silas stepped out from behind a tree in human form.
He was wearing a heavy fur coat, smoking a cigar.
He was a handsome man in a slimy way, with slicked-back blond hair and cruel blue eyes.
“Well, well.
” Silas drawled.
“Look what the cat dragged in, or should I say the bitch?” He looked at Andrew, ignoring Roman and his pack completely.
“I told you to die quietly, Andrew.
Now you’ve brought strays onto my land.
” Andrew stepped back, trembling.
The trauma of her banishment came rushing back.
The mockery, the spitting, the shame.
Roman stepped in front of her.
He didn’t speak.
He just stood there, shirtless in the freezing cold, arms crossed over his massive chest.
“Move aside, stray.
” Silas spat.
“This is pack business.
That girl is property of Silver Creek.
” “She was.
” Roman said, his voice calm but carrying effortlessly across the clearing.
“Until you threw her away.
Now, she is under the protection of the Obsidian Shadow.
” Silas laughed.
“Obsidian Shadow? You think a ragged band of trespassers scares me? I don’t care who you” Silas stopped.
He squinted at Roman.
Then his eyes went wide.
He saw the silver color of fur on Roman’s neck.
Even in human form, a faint birthmark remained.
He saw the size of him.
“Sterling.
” Silas whispered.
The color drained from his face.
“Alpha King Sterling.
You recognize me?” Roman said pleasantly.
“Good.
Then you know that I own the debt of every wolf standing behind me.
And you know that Andrew just saved all of our lives.
” Roman took a step forward.
The snow crunched loudly.
“You threw a queen into the trash, Silas, and now I’m going to make you watch while I take her home.
” Silas, realizing his mistake but too proud to back down in front of his men, snarled.
“Kill them.
They’re weak.
They’re injured.
” The Silver Creek wolves lunged.
It was a massacre, but not the way Silas intended.
Roman shifted midair.
The sound was like a cannon shot.
The massive black wolf slammed into two Silver Creek attackers, sending them flying like rag dolls.
Despite their injuries, Roman’s warriors were elites.
They fought with a precision and brutality that the local pack couldn’t match.
Andrew stood frozen near a tree, watching the chaos.
A Silver Creek wolf, spotting an easy target, broke away from the fight and charged at her.
She screamed, raising her arms to protect her face, but the blow never came.
A gray blur intercepted the attacker.
It was the juvenile wolf she had saved, the one she gave her blanket to.
He tackled the attacker, ripping into his throat with a ferocity that defied his size.
Within minutes, it was over.
The Silver Creek wolves were scattering, yelping in pain.
Silas was on his knees in the snow, Roman’s massive jaws clamped around his thigh, just applying enough pressure to terrify, not to kill.
Roman released him and shifted back, standing naked and bloody over the defeated Alpha.
“If you ever come near her again.
” Roman said, his voice dropping to a whisper that only Silas and Andrew could hear.
“I will peel the skin from your body and use it as a rug.
Do you understand?” Silas nodded frantically.
“Run.
” Roman commanded.
Silas scrambled away, limping into the darkness.
Roman turned to Andrew.
He was covered in blood, steaming in the cold air.
He looked terrifying.
He walked up to her.
“Are you hurt?” Andrew shook her head, wide-eyed.
“Good.
” Roman said.
He scooped her up into his arms, bridal style.
“We’re done walking.
” The transition from a freezing, rusted cabin to the 45th floor of the Sterling Obsidian headquarters was violent in its luxury.
For 2 weeks, Andrew had lived in a world of soft surfaces and regulated temperatures.
Her suite was larger than her entire A-frame cabin.
One wall was entirely glass, overlooking the rain-slicked steel and gray of downtown Seattle.
The bed was a cloud of Egyptian cotton, the bathroom stocked with oils that smelled of lavender and money.
Yet, Andrew felt more cornered here than she ever had in the snow.
She stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, her forehead resting against the cool glass.
Below, the city moved like a colony of ants.
She was wearing a silk robe that had been left for her.
One of many gifts she hadn’t asked for.
Everywhere she went in the compound, heads bowed.
The staff, the guards, even the high-ranking enforcers stepped aside when she walked down the hall.
They called her the savior.
They whispered about the woman who had dragged the Alpha King from the jaws of death.
But Andrew heard the other whispers, too.
The confused murmurs of the elite.
“She has no scent.
She’s wolfless.
What is the Alpha doing with a broken Omega?” She looked at her reflection in the glass.
Pale skin, dark circles fading but still visible.
Hands healing but still scarred from the rope burns.
She wasn’t a Luna.
She was a waitress who got lucky.
And luck ran out.
She turned away from the window and walked to the closet.
She pulled out her old duffel bag, the one thing she had brought from the cabin.
It smelled like mildew and wood smoke.
“I have to go.
” She whispered to the empty room.
“Before he kicks me out.
Before I become a joke.
” She began shoving her few meager belongings into the bag.
Her old flannel shirt, her worn-out jeans, the picture of her parents.
“Leaving so soon?” The voice was deep, vibrating through the floorboards and straight into her chest.
Andrew spun around.
Roman was leaning against the door frame.
He had healed with supernatural speed.
The gash on his shoulder was gone, leaving [clears throat] only a faint silvery line against his tanned skin.
He was wearing black sweatpants and a fitted black T-shirt that strained against his chest.
He looked domestic yet utterly dangerous.
He walked into the room, closing the door behind him with a soft click.
The lock engaged.
“I asked you a question, Andrew.
” He said, his voice deceptively soft.
“Where do you think you’re going?” “Back.
” Andrew said, hugging the duffel bag to her chest like a shield.
“To Colorado.
Or maybe Montana.
Somewhere far away.
” Roman stopped a few feet from her.
His golden eyes were unreadable.
“Why?” “Because I don’t belong here, Roman.
” Andrew burst out, the stress of the last 2 weeks finally cracking her composure.
“Look at this place.
Look at you.
You’re the Alpha King.
You run an empire.
You have armies at your command.
And I I’m a genetic dead end.
” She took a shaky breath.
“I heard your council members talking.
They said you need a strong mate, a Luna who can produce heirs, a wolf who can stand beside you in a fight.
I can’t shift, Roman.
I’m defective.
I saved you, and I’m glad I did.
But I won’t stay here and be your charity case.
” The silence that followed was heavy.
Roman stared at her, his expression unmoving.
Then, he laughed.
It wasn’t a mocking laugh.
It was a low, dry sound of genuine amusement.
He shook his head and walked over to the bed, sitting on the edge of the mattress.
“Come here.
” He commanded.
“No.
” Andrew said, gripping the bag tighter.
“Andrew.
” He said, his voice dropping an octave, rumbling with the command tone of an Alpha.
“Come here.
” Her body betrayed her.
Her legs moved before her brain could protest.
She walked over and stood in front of him.
Roman reached out and gently tugged the duffel bag from her hands.
He tossed it onto the floor.
Then, he took her hands in his.
His palms were scorching hot, a stark contrast to her cold fingers.
“You think this is charity?” Roman asked, looking up at her.
“You think I brought you into my home, gave you my mother’s suite, and threatened to flay an Alpha alive for you out of gratitude?” “Yes.
” Andrew whispered.
Roman stood up.
He towered over her, his presence consuming all the oxygen in the room.
He reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear, his thumb lingering on the pulse point of her neck.
“You are a fool.
” He murmured affectionately.
“My wolf didn’t follow you because you had soup.
He followed you because you are ours.
” Andrew froze.
“What?” “The moment you touched me in the snow.
” Intense focus.
“The moment you put your hand on my flank to check for a heartbeat, my soul recognized you.
The bond snapped into place so hard it nearly knocked me unconscious.
That’s why I let you manhandle me.
That’s why I slept on your feet.
That’s why I didn’t rip Sheriff Miller’s throat out, because you told me not to.
” He leaned down, his forehead resting against hers.
“You are my mate, Andrew.
My fated mate.
” Andrew’s heart hammered against her ribs.
“But the bond it only happens between wolves.
I’m wolfless.
” “Are you?” Roman pulled back slightly, reaching into his pocket.
He pulled out a folded piece of medical paper.
“I had the pack doctor run your blood work while you were sleeping.
” He handed her the paper.
It was a mess of charts and numbers she didn’t understand.
But one line was highlighted in yellow.
Lycanthrope gene variant.
Dormant.
Latent.
Class A.
“You aren’t wolfless.
” Roman explained, his eyes shining with pride.
“You are a late bloomer.
It’s incredibly rare.
Your wolf isn’t missing.
She’s in a deep hibernation.
Usually, it takes a massive trauma or a massive surge of power to wake a wolf like that.
” “Trauma?” Andrew asked.
“I was exiled.
I lived in a freezer for 3 years.
Is that not trauma?” “It was survival.
” Roman corrected.
“But to wake a class A dormant wolf, you need a catalyst.
You need the connection to a mate.
” He ran his hands down her arms, sending shivers through her body.
“Since we’ve been here, have you felt it? The heat, the aches in your bones, the way your hearing is sharper?” Andrew blinked.
She had felt it.
She thought it was the flu or the change in altitude.
Her skin felt too tight for her body.
Her temper was shorter.
She could hear the elevator dinging three floors down.
“She’s waking up, Andrew.
” Roman whispered.
“Your wolf.
She senses me.
And she is fighting to get to the surface.
” “I I can shift?” Andrew asked, her voice trembling with hope she hadn’t dared to feel in years.
“You will.
” Roman promised.
“And when you do, you will be magnificent.
” “But even if you never shifted, even if you stayed human for the rest of your life, it wouldn’t change a thing.
You are the other half of my soul.
I would burn this entire tower to the ground before I let you leave.
” He kissed her forehead.
A chaste, powerful seal of his promise.
“Tonight is the Winter Solstice Gala.
” Roman said, stepping back.
“The entire werewolf world will be there.
Silas will be there.
” Andrew stiffened.
“I can’t go.
They’ll laugh at me.
” “Let them laugh.
” Roman said, a dangerous smirk curling his lip.
“Because by the end of the night, they will be bowing.
” He gestured to a garment bag hanging on the closet door that Andrew hadn’t noticed.
“I picked this out for you.
Wear it.
Wear the necklace on the vanity and stand beside me.
” “And if I trip?” Andrew asked weakly.
“Then I catch you.
” Roman said simply.
“I will always catch you.
” He turned to the door.
“Be ready in an hour.
Tonight, we introduce the world to the queen of the Obsidian Shadow.
” When the door clicked shut, Andrew stood alone in the silence.
But she didn’t feel cornered anymore.
She felt a strange, burning heat in the center of her chest, like a pilot light flickering to life.
She looked at the garment bag.
She walked over and unzipped it.
The gold silk shimmered in the dim light.
Andrew took a deep breath.
And for the first time in her life, she didn’t just feel like a survivor.
She felt like a predator.
The mirror in the dressing room of the Sterling penthouse reflected a woman Andrew didn’t recognize.
The dress Roman had chosen for her was a weapon disguised as clothing.
It was made of liquid gold silk, a custom creation by a designer in Milan who only dressed royalty.
It clung to her curves like a second skin featuring a plunging back that stopped dangerously low and a slit that ran up to her thigh.
A team of three stylists had spent the last two hours polishing her.
Her skin glowed with essential oils.
Her hair was swept up in an intricate messy bun that highlighted the long line of her neck and her makeup was smoky and fierce.
But underneath the layers of expensive fabric and diamond dust, Andrew was shaking.
“I can’t do this.
” She whispered to her reflection.
“I’m a waitress from Mix Diner.
I’m a wolfless exile.
” The door behind her opened.
The chatter of the stylists died instantly and they bowed their heads scurrying out of the room like frightened mice.
Roman filled the doorway.
He was wearing a bespoke tuxedo cut from midnight blue velvet that made his shoulders look impossibly broad.
He had foregone a tie leaving the top buttons of his crisp white shirt undone exposing the tanned skin of his throat.
He looked predatory, regal, and devastatingly handsome.
He didn’t say a word.
He just walked up behind her, his golden eyes locking onto hers in the mirror.
He placed his large warm hands on her bare shoulders.
The heat of his skin seeped into her bones steadying her trembling.
“You are terrified.
” Roman murmured, his nose brushing against her ear.
“There are 300 alphas downstairs.
” Andrew’s voice wavered.
“The High Council is there.
Silas is there.
They’re going to smell me, Roman.
They’re going to smell that I’m nothing.
That I’m human.
” Roman’s grip tightened slightly, possessive and grounding.
“They won’t smell a human, Andrew.
They will smell my scent on you.
And that alone is enough to bring them to their knees.
” He turned her around to face him.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace.
It wasn’t a delicate thing.
It was a heavy, ancient piece.
Rough-cut emeralds set in dark iron.
It looked barbaric and beautiful.
“This was my mother’s.
” Roman said fastening it around her neck.
The cold metal made her shiver.
“She was the fiercest Luna the West has ever known.
She didn’t shift until she was 21.
She told me the wolf doesn’t wake up until the soul is ready to fight.
” He stepped back looking her up and down with a hunger that made her knees weak.
“You fought the winter.
You fought death.
You are ready.
” He offered her his arm.
“Do not look down.
Do not apologize.
You are with me.
” Andrew took a deep breath inhaling the scent of him.
Pine, rain, and raw power.
She took his arm.
>> [clears throat] >> “Okay.
” She whispered.
“Let’s go.
” The grand ballroom of the Sterling Hotel was a cavern of opulence.
Crystal chandeliers the size of cars hung from the vaulted ceiling.
A 20-piece orchestra played soft waltzes on a stage flanked by ice sculptures.
The air was thick with the scent of money, champagne, and the musk of a thousand apex predators.
When the elevator doors slid open, the room didn’t just go quiet.
It froze.
The master of ceremonies, a nervous man in a red sash, tapped his microphone.
“Presenting the Alpha King of the Obsidian Shadow, Roman Sterling, and his guest.
” Andrew felt the weight of 300 pairs of eyes hit her physical body.
She felt the judgment.
The confusion.
Who is she? She smells faint.
Is she a human? Why is he bringing a pet to the solstice? Roman didn’t rush.
He walked her down the grand staircase with a slow, deliberate pace.
He was parading her.
>> [clears throat] >> Every step was a challenge to the room.
Look at her.
Try to say something.
They reached the floor and the crowd parted like the Red Sea.
Alphas from other packs, men who ruled cities and states, bowed their heads as Roman passed.
But their eyes lingered on Andrew.
“Drink.
” Roman said handing her a flute of champagne from a passing tray.
“It helps with the nerves.
” Andrew took a sip, the bubbles harsh against her dry throat.
“Well, if it isn’t the prodigal son.
” The voice was oily and familiar.
Andrew’s stomach dropped.
Silas emerged from the crowd.
He was surrounded by his beta and a few sycophants from the Silver Creek pack.
He held a tumbler of whiskey, his face flushed.
He looked wealthy, arrogant, and completely oblivious to the danger he was in.
Roman stopped.
The air around them grew heavy, the static electricity rising.
“Silas.
” Roman said, his voice flat.
Silas ignored Roman and looked directly at Andrew.
His eyes raked over her body with a disgusting familiarity.
He didn’t recognize her at first.
The makeup, the dress, the power radiating off Roman masked [clears throat] her.
But then he peered closer.
He froze.
A slow, cruel smile spread across his face.
“No.
” Silas laughed, a sharp barking sound.
“It can’t be.
Andrew?” The people nearby turned to listen.
“You cleaned up well, darling.
” Silas sneered stepping into her personal space.
“I barely recognized the little runt I kicked out into the snow.
What happened? Did you find a sugar daddy to pay for your heater?” Andrew felt the old shame rising, the instinct to shrink away, to hide.
She felt Roman tense beside her, a growl building in his chest that would likely end in Silas’s throat being ripped out.
But Andrew looked at the necklace Roman had given her.
>> [clears throat] >> “The wolf doesn’t wake up until the soul is ready to fight.
” She remembered the freezing cold.
She remembered the weight of the wolves she had dragged.
She remembered the look in the wolves’ eyes when she fed them.
She wasn’t that girl anymore.
Andrew stepped out from behind Roman.
“I didn’t find a sugar daddy, Silas.
” Andrew said.
Her voice was clear, ringing like a bell through the silent zone of the party.
“I found the bodies you left behind.
” The smile dropped from Silas’s face.
“Excuse me?” “The 11 wolves.
” Andrew said louder now.
“The ones you poisoned.
The ones you left to die in the storm on my doorstep.
I didn’t just survive the winter, Silas.
I cleaned up your mess.
” Murmurs broke out in the crowd.
Poisoning? Leaving wolves to rot? It was dishonorable.
It was a crime against the nature of the species.
Silas’s face turned purple.
“You lying little He raised his hand, an instinctive reaction to strike an insubordinate omega.
Before his hand could move an inch, Roman’s hand shot out.
He caught Silas’s wrist in a grip that cracked bone.
Crack.
Silas screamed dropping his whiskey glass.
It shattered on the marble floor.
“Touch her.
” Roman whispered, his voice vibrating with the dual tones of man and wolf.
“And you lose the arm.
” He shoved Silas backward.
The disgraced alpha stumbled into a waiter sending a tray of hors d’oeuvres crashing.
Roman turned to the room.
The music had stopped.
Every eye was on them.
“Cut the music.
” Roman roared.
The orchestra fell silent.
The room was deathly quiet.
Roman took Andrew’s hand and pulled her toward the center of the room under the largest chandelier.
“You all wonder who she is.
” Roman addressed the crowd, his voice booming.
“You smell the lack of wolf.
You see the hesitation.
You think I have brought a human pet to the High Council.
” He looked at Andrew, his expression softening into something raw and open.
“Three weeks ago, my personal guard and I were ambushed by mercenaries using illegal neurotoxins.
We were paralyzed.
We were dying in a drift at 20 below zero.
” Gasps rippled through the room.
The Alpha King vulnerable? “We were found.
” Roman continued.
“Not by a warrior.
Not by a healer.
But by a woman who had been exiled by her own pack for being weak.
A woman who had nothing.
No heat.
No food.
No hope.
” Roman scanned the room, his glare daring anyone to look away.
She dragged 11 of us to safety.
She fed us the food out of her own mouth.
She kept me warm with her own body while I healed.
She faced down an armed sheriff to protect us.
He turned back to Silas, who was clutching his broken wrist, pale and sweating.
She has more honor in her little finger than you have in your entire bloodline, Silas.
Roman turned to Andrew.
He dropped to one knee.
The collective gasp of the room sucked the air out of the ballroom.
The Alpha King didn’t kneel.
Ever.
Andrew, Roman said, his voice thick with emotion.
I do not care about genetics.
I do not care about lineage.
I care about the heart.
You saved my life.
You saved my pack.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the velvet box.
He snapped it open.
The black diamond inside seemed to suck the light from the room.
It was massive, raw, and beautiful.
I, Roman Sterling, Alpha of the Obsidian Shadow, offer you my life.
I offer you my soul.
I claim you, Andrew, as my mate, my equal, my Luna.
He slid the ring onto her finger.
Do you accept me? Andrew looked down at him.
Tears [clears throat] spilled over her lashes.
I accept, she whispered.
And then the world exploded.
It started in her chest, a burning, searing heat that felt like she had swallowed a star.
It wasn’t the slow warmth of the fireplace.
It was the raging fire of a blast furnace.
Andrew screamed.
It was a guttural, terrifying sound.
She fell to her knees, clutching her chest.
The emerald necklace burned against her skin.
Andrew! Roman was there instantly, catching her before she hit the floor.
It hurts! She screamed.
Roman, it hurts! Breathe! Roman commanded, though panic flared in his eyes.
Fight through it! A shockwave of energy blasted out from Andrew’s body.
It was strong enough to knock the champagne glasses off the nearby tables.
The crowd scrambled back in terror.
She’s rejecting the bond, someone shouted.
No, she’s dying! Look! [clears throat] A woman screamed, pointing.
Andrew’s skin was glowing, literally glowing.
Veins of silver light were tracing their way up her arms, across her neck, illuminating her from the inside out.
The sound of bones rearranging was louder than the orchestra had been.
Snap.
Crack.
Pop.
It was agony.
It was ecstasy.
The biological dam that had held her wolf back for 24 years had shattered.
The flood was coming.
Andrew threw her head back, her spine arching unnaturally.
The gold dress ripped down the back, unable to contain the expansion of her ribcage.
White fur.
It burst through her skin, not like a normal shift, but like an explosion.
It was blindingly white, pure, untouched.
Within seconds the woman was gone.
Standing in the center of the ruined ballroom, panting heavily, was a wolf.
But not just a wolf.
She was magnificent.
Her coat was the color of fresh snow, so bright it hurt to look at.
She wasn’t as bulky as Roman, but she was tall, sleek, and built for speed.
But it was her eyes that made the room fall silent in reverence.
They weren’t gold.
They weren’t brown.
They were violet.
The color of magic, the color of the ancients.
A white wolf, an elder in the front row whispered, dropping his cane.
By the goddess! A white wolf! In werewolf lore, the white wolf appeared once every 500 years.
They were the judges, the healers, the direct conduit to the moon goddess.
They were royalty, above royalty.
Silas, still clutching his wrist, stared at the beast he had kicked out of his pack.
His mouth hung open.
Impossible, he wheezed.
You You were broken.
The white wolf turned her massive head toward Silas.
She didn’t growl.
She didn’t snarl.
She simply looked at him with those violet eyes.
The weight of her gaze was physical.
Silas fell to his knees, then onto his stomach.
He pressed his face into the marble floor, trembling violently.
It was total, involuntary submission.
One by one, the other Alphas in the room dropped.
The proud men who ruled cities, the women who commanded armies, they all sank to their knees.
It was an instinct older than time.
You bow to the queen.
Roman stood up slowly.
He looked at the magnificent creature before him.
He wasn’t afraid.
He was bursting with pride.
He stripped off his tuxedo jacket, his shirt, and kicked off his shoes.
He shifted.
The transition was smooth, practiced.
The massive black Alpha King stood beside the sleek white queen.
Darkness and light.
Roman nuzzled her neck, a gesture of infinite affection.
Andrew, the white wolf, leaned into him, licking his muzzle.
Then she stepped forward, placed a heavy paw on Silas’s trembling back, and let out a howl.
It started low, a mournful note for the suffering she had endured, then rose into a crescendo of triumph.
Roman joined her, his deep baritone weaving with her soprano.
Then the pack joined in.
Roman’s guard, scattered around the room, shifted and howled.
Then the guests, the entire hotel shook with the sound of 300 wolves acknowledging the rise of a new power.
Andrew had saved the wolves.
Now the wolves would serve her.
When the howling faded, Roman shifted back to human form, grabbing a tablecloth to wrap around his waist.
He looked down at the trembling form of Silas.
Get him out of here, Roman commanded his guards.
Take him to the dungeons.
My Luna will decide his fate when she has adjusted.
He turned to his mate, who was looking at her own paws with wonder.
Come, my love, Roman whispered, stroking her white ears.
Let’s go home.
You have a kingdom to rule.
And that, my friends, is why you never underestimate the quiet ones.
Andrew went from freezing in a cabin to ruling the most powerful pack in the world, all because she was kind enough to save a monster.
Alpha Silas, he lost everything.
His status, his pack, and eventually his mind, driven mad by the knowledge that he threw away a white wolf queen.
Roman and Andrew ruled for 60 years.
They say if you go to the Rockies in winter, you can still see two massive wolves running the ridges, one black as night, one white as snow, always together.
If you loved this story of karma, romance, and sweet revenge, smash that like button.
>> [clears throat] >> It really helps the channel.
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And tell me in the comments, would you have saved the wolves or run for your life? See you in the next video.
