Ayda has been living alone as a rogue since she lost her son during his delivery. She was immediately rejected by her mate, the Alpha, who blamed her for the loss of their son and left her to die.

Dimitri is an Alpha in the middle of a pack war. His mate died in childbirth, leaving him a single father, alone, heart-broken, and with an infant son to care for. Now, nine years later, he refuses to allow his son, his only family, to be murdered by an attacking pack.

When Dimitri hides his son, Cathal, during an attack, the opposing pack finds him and begins to surround the young Alpha, ready to kill him. Ayda sees what’s happening and jumps in, unwilling to stand by while a child is murdered in front of her. She puts herself between the pup and attacking pack, nearly dying while protecting the young pup.

When he returns, Dimitri finds the woman barely alive after protecting his son. Cathal tells him how the woman saved him, and he quickly orders her and Cathal to be taken to the pack hospital while he goes after the pack who attacked his son.

The pack members, not knowing what Ayda did, scoff at her, thinking that she is a rogue that their Alpha took pity on. She leaves, sneaking away during the battle to go back to her home in the woods.

When Dimitri returns and finds her gone, he is furious and now must hunt for the woman who not only saved his son but has rekindled feelings that he hasn’t had since his mate died.

Can these two people, brought together by fate, work through the grief of their loss to find a way to happiness, a second chance for both of them.

Ayda

Pain. That’s all I feel. Pain. It’s radiating throughout my entire body. I can hear the screams of someone in pain, but it sounds far away as the voices and sounds of those around me urgently tell me to push.

I am pushing, but it’s been so long. I’m exhausted and the smell of my blood has only strengthened over time.

“Push Ayda!” my mate’s face comes into my field of vision. It’s blurry, but I want to push, I want this pain to be over. I want to hear my son take his first breath, cry out so I know he's alive and well.

“Alpha, we’re losing him,” I hear.

“Ayda, push!” he growls. I’m trying, I really am trying. I take a deep breath and I push again as pain rips through my body. Tears steam down my face as I scream, fighting against the pain that is keeping me from my child, my pup.

“That’s it, Luna. He’s coming, keep pushing,” someone says, the doctor, I think.

The moment I feel his body finally slide between my legs, I sigh in relief. My body is still aching and my vision is blurred as I watch them rush my son to a table beside me.

“Luna, Luna, stay with me,” I nurse says. I can hardly hear her over the sounds of the voices, my mate’s the loudest as he shouts that they need to save our son.

“What’s happening?” I try to ask, but no one is listening to me. I’m so tired, I can barely keep my eyes open and it isn't long before I lose the battle and fall into unconsciousness.

When I wake, my mate is sitting beside me, glaring at me.

“Masuzyo, where is he? Where is our son?” I ask.

He sneers at me. “He died while you slept. What sort of a woman, a Luna, sleeps while her son dies beside her?”

I jolt awake, panting as the dream begins to fade. I put my head in my hands and begin to sob. Two years later and I still wake up with my mate’s hateful eyes on me, accusing me of sleeping while our son died.

I found out later that Masuzyo killed the doctor who hadn’t been able to revive our son. He had dismissed the staff and waited for me to wake up. I have no idea how long I was out, but when I woke, my entire body still ached from the hours of labor I had endured. I realized that he had not allowed anyone to clean me and I was still covered in the now-dried blood and fluids of my son’s delivery.

I scrub my face with my hands willing the memories to go, but for some reason, it’s like my mind won’t stop until all the memories come out.

I remember the hateful, crazy way Masuzyo looked at me. How he told me that I wasn’t worthy of being his Luna or anyone’s Luna. He had picked me up, carrying me. I thought he was taking me to the packhouse, to our room, but he had carried through our pack lands, past or borders, to a place where our patrols wouldn’t find me.

“Masuzyo, what are you doing?” I had asked, too weak to put up a fight.

He stood up and looked down at me with hate burning in his eyes. “I, Alpha Masuzyo Malai, reject you, Luna Ayda Sandu, as my mate and my Luna. You are no longer part of our pack, and you are no longer my mate. Accept it,” he growled.

I still remember his hot breath on my face as I screamed in agony, the pain of his rejection ripping through me. He grabbed my hair, pulling my face up to his. “Accept it, or die.”

“I, Luna Ayda Sandu, accept your rejection,” I said. I had seen him flinch, watched as he stood and stumbled away, his hand to his heart, while I lay dying on the damp earth, covered with leaves and moss.

As I look around the cave that has been my home for nearly two years, I remember that it was only because of those sweet nurses that I even survived. The nurses that had been in the delivery room, who knew that I nearly died giving birth, had found me. They had given me a pack of food and water, along with antibiotics and they had cleaned me so that no other scavenging animals would find me and kill me while I tried to recover.

They had wanted to help me find a safe place, but I had refused.

“Get back, before you're missed. I don’t want you punished for helping me,” I told them.

“Luna, please, you’re not well,” one nurse had said.

“I’m not your Luna any longer. He rejected me,” I say and both had wept before hugging me and finally leaving to get back to the pack.

I stand, looking around my little space, willing the ghosts of my past to leave me be. It took me a long time to find this place. Thankfully, the nurses had given me some food and water, and the antibiotics I didn’t think I would need, I had needed not two days later. I had woken from a restless sleep, freezing cold, which is unheard of for werewolves.

It took my wolf, Asena, nearly a year by my estimation to resurface. Between trying to save me, our son, and then the rejection, I was surprised when she returned to me one day. I thought I had lost her forever, but I was glad to have her back. My life as a rogue became much easier once she returned. Not only was I no longer alone, but she could hunt, so I didn’t have to survive on plants and berries.

When she first returned, we cried together, the wounds of our losses fresh as we suffered them together once again. Now, I’m not sure if my dreams, or rather my nightmares, are from her, or from me.

I look around my small little cave. It probably seems strange, but I have decorated it as best I can. After Asena returned to me, and we began hunting, I collected the furs of the animals she killed. The rabbits, in particular have multi-colored coats that I’ve attached to my walls giving some color and warmth to my little space.

I’ve used larger coats to cover myself, although most of the time, I don’t bother to cover up. It’s rare that I see or hear anyone around here. It’s like I’m alone in the world.

‘You’re not alone anymore, Ayda. But, come on, I’m hungry. Let’s go get some food,' Asena says.

‘Fine, but I want to stop and look at those flowers we saw yesterday. I think I can find a way to put them in water. It will make our place look more colorful.’

She chuckles as we shift and begin running. ‘You and your flowers.’

‘You like them, too,’ I say as she lifts her nose in the air.

I had a year to be reminded of what life was like without a wolf, so now, when Asena runs, I close my eyes, letting her take over completely and I just enjoy the feel of her strong body and heightened senses.

It’s early spring and I can smell the flowers starting to bloom, smell the grass as it starts to grow again, the leaves that have begun to sprout on the trees in the forest, maple, pine, oak. They all smell amazing with Asena’s nose.

Suddenly, Asena slows, turning her head to try and catch the sounds.

‘What is it, Asena?”

‘Fighting.’

‘Humans?’

“Wolves. Lots of them.’

‘How far away?’

‘A couple of miles.’

I’m about to tell her to turn around and run, when a blood-curdling scream comes from our right, immediately followed by the snapping and snarling of wolves.

‘Asena!’ I yell, but she’s already moving.

The scream had come from a pup, probably too young to shift. If this is a pack war…

Asena races over the mountainous terrain where we live, rushing to the sounds of a yelping pup and snarling wolves. When she gets to an overhang, I can see that below us there is a pup, probably around nine years old, surrounded by five adult wolves who look like they have every intention of killing him.

Without a thought to my own safety, I leap. My only thought is to protect this pup.

Dimitri

Fucking Masuzyo. He’s lost his mind. Well, he lost it two years ago when his mate and son died in childbirth, but now he’s truly going crazy. He’s waged war on my pack. Why? Because I have the son he never had.

He can go fuck himself. I lost a mate too and you don’t see me going all fucking nuts and starting a war. And no one…NO ONE comes after my son.

‘Zev, give me the status of the warriors,’ I say to my wolf. He and I work well together and right now he’s focused on the war, and I’m focused on getting our pup to safety. My son, Cathal, is only nine years old, still a year away from getting his wolf and shifting for the first time. It makes him vulnerable, and while I hate taking him from the pack, the fighting was getting too close to the packhouse. Since I know Masuzyo is coming specially to kill Cathal, I had to get him out of there, which means I had to leave my warriors fighting without me.

It goes against everything in me as an Alpha to leave my pack in this time of need. But as a father, I can’t risk my son’s safety.

“Dad, where are you taking me?” Cathal asks from where he’s riding on Zev’s back. Since he doesn’t have a wolf, I can’t mind link him. And since I’m in wolf form, he knows I can’t answer, so his question is more about nerves than wanting to know.

‘The warriors are holding. But your son’s question is a good one. Where are we taking him?’ Zev asks.

‘The mountain. It’s far enough away that hopefully none of Masuzyo’s men will find him.’

‘Make it quick. Our pack needs us,’ he says.

‘So does our son,’ I growl at him. I don’t like feeling torn any more than Zev does. I need to get back and I need to take Masuzyo out, so we can end this war. ‘Let’s find someplace where he can be hidden and safe and then we can get back to the pack.’

Zev focuses on the landscape around us, sniffing the air. ‘There,’ he says, moving us in the direction of a thicket that a man our size couldn’t fit into, but a child could. A wolf would struggle and possibly get tangled in the undergrowth, so it’s the best place to put him until we can get Masuzyo’s warriors off our pack lands, or until I can kill Masuzyo.

I shift quickly, pulling my son off my back as I stand.

“Get inside the thicket, Cathal. Stay hidden until I come back for you.

“But dad…”

“No buts. I need you safe and I need to go protect the pack. Stay here. I’ll be back. And stay quiet son. I love you,” I say, hugging him quickly, then pushing him toward the thicket, using precious seconds to wait while he gets inside before turning and racing back to our pack.

‘Update, Zev,’ I say as we run.

‘They’ve pushed our warriors to the back of the packhouse. They need us, Dimitri.’

Zev pushes harder, racing back to the pack. We pass our borders, leaping over the dead of our pack members and Masuzyo’s pack, pushing hard to keep his pack from getting to our safe rooms. When I break through the forest to the opening behind our packhouse, it’s chaos, mayhem. There are dead lying everywhere and everywhere I look wolves and men are fighting.

I find Masuzyo’s wolf, Alrik. He’s fighting four of my warriors at once. Zev snarls and we leap, slashing another of Masuzyo’s warriors before landing on Alrik’s back. The force of our body pushes his to the ground and Zev snaps his jaws, trying to break Alrik’s neck. My warriors move to fight against others, leaving the two Alphas to battle it out, trusting that I will win.

Alrik recovers quickly, moving just as Zev’s teeth sink into his neck, missing the spine. Zev uses the weight of his body to hold Alrik down while shaking his head back and forth violently, tearing the skin and flesh on the back of his neck.

Alrik jerks, ripping his flesh off, leaving a chuck of it in Zev’s mouth as he scurries out from underneath us. Zev spits out the flesh, lowering his head and giving a menacing snarl as he faces off against Alrik.

Blood is quickly soaking into his coat, the wound on his neck is deep and will take Alrik time to heal. I can see the moment Masuzyo realizes that he’s too weak to fight me.

He turns, taking off for the borders, howling for his pack to join him. I take off right behind him, snarling my fury that after all that, he’s running away. I want him dead. The taste of his blood in my mouth has only made me even more blood-thirsty for him.

I howl for the pack to attack as the others begin to retreat. I can still hear a lot of fighting behind me as the other pack tries to make it out before they are surrounded by my pack members and killed.

I’m hard on Masuzyo’s heels when I realize that some of his pack members are diverting toward the mountain to get away from my men.

‘Zev?’

He snarls, knowing that this is our best chance to catch Masuzyo, but also knowing that our pup is at risk if any of these warriors find him.

He diverts, heading to the mountain pushing hard and taking out a couple of the warriors who are trying to escape in the process.

‘Sergi! I need you to stay with Masuzyo. I have to check on Cathal,’ I tell him in the mind link.

‘Yes, Alpha. I can’t believe the bastard ran.’

‘Zev injured Alrik pretty badly. He’ll need a night to heal. He’s bleeding profusely.’

‘He’s a shitty Alpha for leaving his warriors behind to fend for themselves.’

‘I don’t disagree, but he’s a shitty Alpha for more reasons than one. I’m taking Nico and some of the warriors with me, in case there’s a fight. I have to make sure Cathal is safe.’

‘Be safe,’ he says, cutting off the mind link.

Sergi is a strong Beta, and he’s loyal. I know he’ll follow my instructions and since his mate is pregnant and in a safe room in the packhouse, he has as much reason to want Masuzyo dead as I do.

I reach out to Nico, my Gamma, and several warriors that I can see around me, ordering them to follow me. As I get close to the place where I left my son, my heart drops. Before I even get to him, I can hear the sounds of a wolf in pain and I can smell it.

Blood. Lots of blood.

Ayda

When I leaped off the overhang, I aimed for the wolf that was right in front of the boy. I landed on him, hearing the satisfying snap of his spine as the wolf howled in pain. The other four wolves immediately turned on me.

I quicky pushed myself off the wolf and back so I was between the pup and the other wolves. They are warriors and while I may not be an Alpha wolf, I was a Luna for several years and I trained with our pack warriors.

I realize as they leap at me, that these are my previous pack members. I know these wolves. They won’t recognize me because I smell like a rogue to them, but I recognize them. I have no idea why they are attacking this pup, but I refuse to allow them to hurt or kill him.

It works in my favor that I know their fighting techniques. I may be out of practice, but I still remember my training and when one wolf leaps, I duck, turning my head away from him to counter the attack that I know will come from the other side.

It does, just as I expect and Asena snaps her jaws on the wolf’s mouth, snapping his bottom jaw as she quickly thrashes her head back and forth. I release the wolf in front of me as I feel teeth sink into my flank, yanking and ripping me to the side.

I grit my teeth as Asena rips her leg out of the wolf’s mouth, leaving a chunk of flesh behind. Another wolf, thinking he has an opening, goes for her throat. Instead, she rolls slashing her claws up under the wolf before quickly regaining her feet. The movement moved us away from the boy, but as long as the others stay focused on us, that’s okay. If I can get them far enough away from him, maybe he can run. I’m not even sure what he’s doing out here all alone. He’s too young to be on his own.

The wolf who first leaped at Asena, leaps again, and this time, two of the other wolves attack at the same time. This is new and I’m not sure if they’ve learned new skills or if they’ve modified their attack because I countered it the first time.

The wolf who leaps, gets a hold of the fur and skin on the back of Asena’s neck, holding on as he lands and just as she did, he shakes his head furiously, tearing the skin. Another wolf leaps at her, his jaws snapping on her front leg. I hear the snap of her leg and hear her howl of pain in the air and in my mind just as the pain hits me.

The wolf with her leg in his mouth gets thrown to the side as the wolf holding her neck continues to thrash us back and forth. Asena, taking quick advantage of the opportunity, sinks her teeth into the wolf’s neck, his blood filling our mouth before she is yanked off of him. One down.

Another wolf leaps at her throat, but she rips her neck out of the wolf’s mouth, dropping to the ground, letting the leaping wolf smash into the wolf that was holding her neck.

The wolf with the broken jaw attempts to pin Asena to the ground but instead, she swipes her back claws down the underside of his body, his insides spilling out on the ground. Two down.

The wolf with the broken back is still alive, but paralyzed and unable to shift. He’ll die one way or the other. Three down. We turn, focusing on the two who are left.

Asena is badly injured, one leg broken and she’s bleeding from the wound on her flank and the terrible tearing on the back of her neck. She stands her ground, holding the injured leg off the ground. She’s hurting but the adrenaline flowing through our body is keeping her on her feet.

The two wolves spread out, planning to attack us on two sides. Both of her injuries are on her left side, so she hops, trying to keep her strong side facing the wolves, but eventually, she has no choice but to leave her weak side open to one of the wolves and that’s when they attack again.

The one wolf dives for her front leg, probably planning to rip it off. She leaps up, but not before the other wolf, the one who had her by the neck, grabs her right back leg and begins yanking on her leg at a bad angle.

I hear the pop a moment before Asena howls in pain. Her back leg now dislocated and unable to be used. She turns, snapping at the face of the wolf, but he lets go and backs away.

We feel the air shift as the other wolf leaps at us from behind, but she turns her head quickly, snapping her jaws and just missing his throat as she grabs hold of the side of the wolf’s neck. We’ve both just come crashing down to the ground when the boy screams.

“LOOK OUT!”

We release the wolf and turn, barely getting our paws up to push the other wolf off of us, but the pressure on the broken leg and the dislocated leg causes Asena to howl out in pain again.

She rolls on her side, scrambling to get back up onto her feet. The adrenaline isn’t enough to keep the pain from radiating through our body. Our body is aching and every time she tries to stand, pain shoots from one part of her body or another.

‘Come on, Asena. You can do it. We’re all that pup has standing between him and certain death.’

I feel my wolf pull on her inner reserves. I know she’s strong, I also know that my wolf will kill herself to try and save me or those she cares about. This time, though, if she goes, I’m going with her.

The two wolves get to their feet, recognizing that they’ve won. I’m a dead woman, but I can still try to take down at least one more of them. Then there’s only one for the boy to fight and that gives him a chance.

I need to take out the stronger one, the one I’ve barely touched in this fight. The other one is injured and will give the pup a chance to live, or wait for his parents to return. The other one, I’m pretty sure it’s Masuzyo’s Beta, Marcel, is barely scratched. He’s the one that had me by the back of my neck. He’s also probably the one who ripped the chunk out of my flank. He needs to die.

‘Focus on him, Asena. We take him down before we go down.’

‘Okay, Ayda,’ she says, and I feel her resolve blending with mine. We know we will die, but we have to do what we can to save this pup. We couldn’t save our own, but we can save this one.

The moment they leap, we do too, aiming for Marcel. I hear a yelp, but I can’t lose focus. I have to bring this Beta down. His teeth sink into our shoulder, and the two of us hit the ground, rolling end over end. When we stop, Asena is on top, and she snaps her teeth into the side of the wolf’s neck. She yanks as hard as she can, ripping flesh away from bone. Marcel howls in pain, releasing her shoulder and she quickly spits out the flesh as her pushes off of him. She scrambles to her feet as he does the same and I can see that our landing has injured him, he’s favoring his back leg. Good.

We both snarl at each other and I vaguely realize that the other wolf is gone. I hope he didn’t go after the pup. I can’t look though, I need to focus on Marcel.

I trained with him many times when I was his Luna, in both wolf and human form. He’s formidable, but he’s very predictable if you know his moves. Since he’s injured, Asena and I guess at his next move. He’s going to fake a leap and then come in low, trying to get to our throat.

The moment he looks like he’s about to leap, she does instead. As predicted, he drops low, intending to go for Asena’s throat. Instead, Asena lands on top of him, her teeth snapping into his neck and crushing his spine. He yelps before she thrashes her head back and forth, making sure the spinal column is severed completely before releasing him.

She turns, stumbling away from him, looking around to check on the boy. He steps out of the thicket, watching us closely. He has blood on his hands and arms and I look to see the other wolf lying dead on the ground, a sharp rock imbedded in his throat.

Asena drops to the ground, pulling the shift that has me screaming in pain. The boy rushes over to me, pulling me into his lap.

“Hang on, my father’s coming. Just hang on,” he says.

“You should run,” I tell him, as I feel his tears dripping onto my face. “Run, little Alpha. Get away from here,” I tell him, realizing now that he’s close to me that he’s an Alpha pup. No wonder they were after him.

He shakes his head. “No, I won’t leave you. You saved me. I won’t leave you.”

I want to tell him to go, to hurry before more wolves come, but I’ve lost too much blood. We did what we set out to do.

‘We saved him, Asena.’

‘Yes. It’s a good way to die,’ she says, as the world goes black around me.