Prologue
The attack on MoonRiver
Betrayal.
It cut deep but not deeper than when the betrayer was the person you trusted with your life.
It damn sure wasn’t a word that Luna Raines would associate with her mate. For months, she had visions of an attack that would destroy MoonRiver. The images weren’t clear at first. All she saw was death and blood. She told Royce---her betraying bastard of a mate—but he played it off, saying the den was secure and strong enough to take on whatever was coming.
But the visions never stopped. Every night, her dreams were plagued with pieces of the attack. Then that morning clarity slammed into her in the form of the most painful vision she’d had—both physically and emotionally. There was only one thing to do. And it would kill her.
Luna paced the living room of the home that no longer felt like one. It was a temple built on lies and deceit.
“So explain just how you plan to kill our father?”
She stopped her pacing and faced her two eldest sons, Hayden and Dane. Her youngest, Tanner, was on his way from his sentry post.
Tanner. It broke her heart to tell him his father had gone rogue. Like her, Tanner thought Royce hung the stars and moon. Hayden and Dane had suspected for a while that Royce had switched sides in the war against the rogues.
Fuck. “How can I be so blinded to what was under my fucking nose all along?” She sat on the sofa and blew out a breath while the images of the vision that woke her a few hours ago rolled inside her mind. Usually, she pushed them out of her mind because they were too bloody and painful. Right then, she needed that pain so she could change the fate of the future. For her boys. For her Pack.
“He has to die,” she said with a calm she didn’t feel.
A knock on the door stopped her thought process. Her heart hammered in her chest, but she was being paranoid. Royce didn’t knock on his own door or anyone else’s.
Hayden pushed off the wall he was holding up and jerked open the door. Torin gave him a tight nod with his lips pursed before moving his lethal gaze to Luna. Torin was Hayden’s best friend, and one of the strongest Enforcers MoonRiver had. He was also part of the hate Royce club.
Crossing the room to her, Torin dropped to his knees in front of her. “I am loyal to you, and the Pack is too.”
She knew what he was saying. She would become Alpha before the day was through. Luna wanted to shake her head and tell him that she wasn’t strong enough to take the Alpha power. She wasn’t a dominant wolf, so the power itself could kill her if Royce didn’t.
Pushing the latter thought out of her mind, she placed a hand on Torin’s shoulder. “Thank you. Has the Pack been evacuated?”
“Those who wished to flee have. Keegan sent some Enforcers to help move the submissives and children. The rest of the Pack refused to leave and insisted on staying to fight.” Torin stood and moved to stand next to Dane.
Keegan was the Alpha of a neighboring leopard Pack and a good friend. His parents and Luna’s were allies and fought side by side in the war. They were able to take down several rogue groups. That was until Felix rose in power to one of the larger packs, the Onyx Pack, and killed Keegan’s parents, making him Alpha.
Not long after Luna mated with Royce, her own parents met their deaths, making Royce—as the alpha male—the new Alpha of MoonRiver.
The biggest mistake of my life!
Luna stood and straightened her spine while lifting her chin. As soon as she met Hayden’s stare, a flash of a vision stole her sight. For a brief few seconds, the only thing she saw was an army of rogues and mutants storming the den with Royce directing them. Fury and lethal power rose in her. She may not have been born a dominant wolf, but she was a maternal female. No one hurt her family or her Pack.
“They are coming.” She moved to the door, and Dane’s words made her pause with her hand on the handle.
“What are you going to do?”
Luna drew in a long breath for the strength she would need. “I’m going to defend my Pack and take back what is mine.”
She would have her life back, her Pack that she was born to rule, and