Chapter 1
Everyone called Alpha Kyle Windsor a heartless tyrant.
Five years ago, the moment I realized I was nothing more than a stand-in for his beloved Selena Hart, I disappeared into a blizzard, pregnant and completely on my own.
For five years, I kept my wolf dormant and blended in as an ordinary single mom in a quiet human town.
Then came that damn full moon, when my son, Leo Bennett, shifted for the first time and unleashed a wave of powerful Alpha pheromones.
It blew our cover completely.
Kyle shoved me against the wall, his fingers clamped tight around my throat.
"Who's the bastard you took to your bed?" he demanded.
"You'll never know," I shot back.
His grip tightened for a second before he hurled me down onto the concrete floor.
"I'll track him down and rip him apart right in front of you," he snarled.
Flat on the ground, I watched his face twist with raw jealousy.
"Be my guest, Kyle."
He turned on his heel and ordered an immediate lockdown of the entire pack territory.
Little did he know, the "bastard" he was so desperate to hunt down was hiding in a cellar only a few miles away, bearing his exact same face.
*****
The helicopter's rotors whipped up a storm of snow.
Two high-ranking werewolf guards dragged me out of the cabin.
My knees struck the frozen tarmac, a dull crack echoing through my bones.
Kyle stepped out of the cabin.
The crunch of his combat boots in the snow sent a shudder straight down my spine.
"It's been five years, Ella," he said.
He loomed over me, his eyes boring into mine.
"Hiding in some filthy human slum, all to get away from me?" he sneered.
I lifted my chin and met his glare head-on.
"The air smelled a whole lot cleaner there than it ever did on your land," I retorted.
Smack!
A stinging slap cracked across my cheek.
It wasn't Kyle.
It was Selena, stepping out from behind him.
Dressed in a pristine white mink coat, she strutted forward on high heels.
"Ella, how dare you disrespect your Alpha like that?" she snapped.
She looped her arm through Kyle's, launching into her tirade. "Kyle spent five whole years searching for you, and you can't offer a single apology?"
I spat out the blood in my mouth.
"Drop the act, Selena.
"Nobody else is around. Who's the performance for?" I sneered.
Selena pressed closer against Kyle's chest.
"Kyle, look at her.
"She hates me as much as she always did," she whined.
Kyle wrapped his arm around Selena's waist.
He looked down at me without a trace of mercy.
"Throw her in the dungeon," Kyle commanded flatly.
There was zero hesitation in his voice.
"No food or water for her without my permission," he added.
The two guards grabbed my arms, hauling me up.
"Wait!" I thrashed against their iron grip.
"You can't lock me up.
"I have a shift to cover. I need to be back in town tomorrow," I shouted.
Leo was waiting for me in the cellar.
His first shift had left him weak.
I had to get the scent suppressants to him.
A mocking scoff rumbled in Kyle's chest.
"A shift?
"Bussing tables at some rundown diner?" he sneered.
He took slow steps toward me, clamping his fingers around my jaw.
"Or are you scrambling back to the mutt who knocked you up?" he hissed.
My heart shot straight into my throat.
How did he know?
"Don't play dumb, Ella," Kyle said.
He shoved my face aside with disgust.
"Your place reeked of cheap men's soap.
"Not to mention all the toys scattered around.
"You broke our bond and popped out a bastard with some nobody," he snapped.
I clenched my jaw, willing my body to stop shaking.
"None of that is your concern.
"You and I were done five years ago," I shot back.
"Done?" Kyle seized my collar, hoisting me clean off my feet.
"I'm your Alpha!
"Until I sever the bond, you belong to me, body and soul.
"Tell me who he is.
"Where is he?" he snarled.
I stared him down.
"He's dead.
"I buried him myself," I said.
Kyle let out a harsh bark of laughter that sliced through the gale.
"Good. Then that little bastard has no reason to live, either. Jack!" Kyle barked.
The head guard, Jack Stone, hurried over.
"Tear that town apart and drag the brat out.
"Once you find him, get rid of him," Kyle ordered.
A cold panic rushed through my head, turning my thoughts blank.
"No!" I screamed.
I lunged forward like a wild animal, sinking my teeth deep into Kyle's wrist.
He recoiled from the pain, yanking his arm away.
Crashing onto the snow, I scrambled forward and clung to his boots.
"Kyle, please, don't hurt him.
"He's innocent!
"Take it out on me. Kill me if you want, but leave my child alone!" I begged.
Selena gasped dramatically, pressing a hand over her mouth.
"My god, Ella, you attacked your own Alpha over a bastard?" she scoffed.
Kyle stared down at the teeth marks on his wrist.
Without a word, he drove his boot hard into my shoulder.
The force sent me skidding across the ice, a dull numbness spreading down my left side.
"Find the kid," Kyle repeated.
Then he pointed a finger down at me.
"Take her to the slave pens.
"Let her think long and hard about the cost of betraying her Alpha," he barked.
The guards dragged me back onto my feet.
I twisted around, screaming at Kyle's retreating back. "Kyle, you'll regret this. I swear, you'll regret this!"
Kyle stopped and turned around.
Something dangled from his fingers.
It was Leo's little blue dinosaur keychain.
Right before my eyes, he squeezed his fist shut.
The plastic crushed to powder, scattering in the freezing wind.