Chapter 1

The ground quaked as a group of large werewolves headed straight into the woods led by their Alpha, Cohen Kingsley. He commanded them to flank the two rogues who trespassed his territory a few minutes ago. The rogues were no older than in their early twenties or younger, but the speed they had was a good hint that they had always been on the move. Cohen had no intention to kill them as they didn’t commit any serious crime against his pack except for trespassing to cross the border. Instead of killing them, he planned to capture them alive. The Werewolf’s Council had implemented a new law where the rogues who committed light crime would go into a rehabilitation facility and trained them to turn their rogue life into something useful. 

Cohen’s pack, The Southern Werewolves Pack, was one of the largest packs with over two thousands of pack members. His pack had led and won countless numbers of wars against their enemy, particularly the vampires. Because of their success in wars, the pack often became a target of problems. The previous Alphas of the pack introduced a lot of strict rules to keep their pack members safe. Cohen had strengthened a lot of the rules by himself. Even if only one rogue trespassed, he would order everyone not on duty to go for a total lock down in their home while all the Enforcers began their perimeter run to hunt down the trespassers. It was mandatory for each home owned by the pack members to have their own panic room just in case the situation was too dangerous for them to move their family to the pack mansion. Cohen had led the pack since he was eighteen after his father, Eric, suffered a serious injury that caused him to recuperate for over two years. An injured Alpha means a vulnerable pack. On the same night they rushed Eric to the surgery to save his life, they swore Cohen as the new Alpha and led his pack to win the war that his father couldn't stop. Since young, Cohen never really knew the meaning of having fun without worrying about responsibility. As the only child in the family, he carried the responsibility as soon as he could learn combat skills. Now, at thirty-four years old, he had won a lot of battles and earned the title of the ruthless Alpha. But Cohen never declared war unnecessarily.

The wars he had won had caused him a great loss. Not everything was worth war for. Cohen would rather search for another solution if it means keeping his pack members alive and safe. 

"Sometimes, it is unnecessary to go to war," his father, Eric, once told him when he was young. "If you could avoid it, avoid it. The safety of your pack is on your shoulders. Let everyone else call you a coward Alpha. A great Alpha is the one who keeps their pack safe and alive. You could win all the wars but it would cost you greatly. Trust me, son. Not everything is worth war for. Remember that."

A group of twenty Enforcers ran from behind, assisting their Alpha in hunting down the rogues. This was like a daily routine for them. Killing a rogue was not always the right choice. It would mean a lot of paperwork and trials to go through to determine whether the kill was necessary. Usually, Cohen would try to catch the rogues as best as he could unless there was an inevitable threat. For him to catch the rogues, he cornered them to the edge of his territory line which ended right at the cliff on the south of his territory. The two rogues skidded on the ground, trying to stop their movement before they could fall to their death. With cautious steps, Cohen approached them while his Enforcers surrounded the area. The young rogues retreated backward to the end of the cliff and cornered. Rogues often did stupid things to prevent capture. Cohen had to make sure these two rogues wouldn’t do such a thing. Even if Cohen captured them alive, they would just be put into a rehabilitation facility. Cohen didn’t think these two rogues could do serious crimes, judging by their fear. But he didn’t go this far to catch them just to let them fall to their death. Everyone called him the ruthless Alpha, but he wasn’t as heartless as he appeared to be. An Alpha had to keep his emotion contained to prevent clouded judgement.

“Please, we don’t wish to cause any trouble,” one rogue said in fear. 

Covered by shabby clothes smelled like putrid carcasses and dried blood. The young rogues trembled in fear. A genuine fear. Despite that, the taller one protected the shorter one. The scars on their skin showed they weren’t having the best of their lives yet. 

“Surrender now and no harms come to you both.” the Alpha’s voice mixed with authority. 

“We were running from someone who wanted to kill us.”

Cohen picked a sweet scent brought by the wind breezes. He knew none of them smelled like lilac. The young rogues smelled anything but lilac. The Alpha commanded his Enforcers to keep their eyes and ears on high alert. While two Enforcers kept their eyes on the rogues, Cohen retreated to the direction they came earlier and searched the area for any sign of an uninvited guest. His wolf’s fur almost felt tingly, a sign he knew someone was watching them.

“Alpha.” Liam Blake, the Beta, came closed to his Alpha. “What is it?”

“We’re not alone,” Cohen replied.

A second later, the Alpha’s body collided with the tree behind him. He dropped to the ground with a loud thud while Liam growled, looking for the attacker. The attack alerted all the Enforcers. Cohen caught a quick glimpse of his attacker. 

A woman.

In a blink of an eye, she vanished in thin air before he could take a good look on her face. Cohen saw the woman was very familiar with his pack. She knew who to attack first. An Alpha wolf was considered the strongest. If anyone wanted to attack a pack, they would go for the Alpha first.

"Alpha!" Liam rushed to him, protecting him for any threat. "Are you alright?"

"Stay alert!" he ordered them. "Someone is here with us."

Cohen got up on his legs, growling menacingly. Rage filled his black eyes. His wolf was angered by such action. His Enforcers lowered their heads but not their guard. Not longer after that, she launched another attack—rendering five of his Enforcers uncounsious. C0hen dashed to protect his down Enforcers but stopped when she threw her dagger at him. It landed a few inches from his front leg.   

Then he identified the intruder. 

Mira Red.

The same woman whose picture plastered all over the wanted list posted by the Werewolf’s Council. 

Mira Red was the most wanted rogue by the Werewolf’s Council. They devoted many resources to bring her in for trial and justice. They called her The Lone Wolf. She did everything on her own. No evidence showed she worked for someone higher up the food chain. Mira worked on her own. Gathering information was never impossible. The only problem of such information was its authenticity. Cohen doubted anyone would dare to sell worthless information to the Lone Wolf. 

Despite her regular appearance on the news, nobody knew about her history. The Werewolf’s Council owned a dedicated tv channel that broadcasted to all packs. 

Mira’s only known history was when the fourth battalion dismantled vampire’s slavery encampment fourteen years ago. By that time, Mira was merely fourteen years old. Her life prior to the rescue remained a mystery to this day. The Werewolf’s Council kept her rehabilitated in one of their most secured rehabilitation facilities. That case shook the entire world. Nobody ever expected that the vampires still practiced slaves trading. Usually, the slaves served as blood banks. Every day, the missing person case would make its way into the news. The abductee could be dead or alive. Majority, dead. Since that day, the werewolves packs had dedicated their time to hunt down vampires who ran slaves trading. Countless lives made it to safety, but in the same time, countless lives didn't make it through. That case was the first known case of vampire slavery encampment after nearly a century. 

After nearly a week there, Mira escaped and went off-grid for several years until she emerged again by making her first kill. 

Her first victim was Gregory Kincaid, one of the four royal vampire siblings. Since then, she kept making her way into the news with her profession of killing highly wanted and dangerous vampires and werewolves. 

Back to their current situation, Mira settled herself between Cohen and the young rogues. Her sweet lilac scent filled his nostrils as much as he inhaled the air. It was exhilarating. 

Mira wielded dual daggers, her signature weapons, that had red gem on the hilt. It didn’t take a genius to figure out someone used pure silver to forge the daggers. Rogues depended on weapons when they failed to take down stronger enemies. Mira’s daggers had tasted more blood than any other blade ever forged. 

An Alpha would take a longer time to die if poisoned by pure silver. But an average werewolf would die within forty-eight hours. Cohen doubted Mira's daggers only made of pure silver. For now, it seemed that way because nobody ever studied her daggers. 

Adorning a maroon leather coat and tight black jeans, Mira stood firm in front of him. Her curly red hair waved as the wind breezed around them. Her electric blue eyes remained the most striking feature. She had faint brown freckles just below her eyes and around her nose bridge. Cohen also spotted some scars on the exposed skin of her neck and cleavage—the proofs of near misses death and fights. 

She strapped five throwing knives to each of her thighs, ready when needed. Mira never covered or hid her identity, unlike other hunters who preferred to keep their identity hidden. 

"Stay where you are, boys," she said to them firmly. Her eyes remained undivided from the Alpha. "I don't want to spill any blood tonight as much as I'd prefer to do so."

Cohen growled but it didn't seem to affect her at all. The corner of her lips tugged upward slightly.

He forced himself to make a mindlink with her, but he ran against some walls. Very strong walls. An average rogue couldn't block any form of mindlink from an Alpha. But Mira just did it. The more he tried, the more walls stood against his effort. She remained unfazed by his attempts.

"Cohen, what should we do? We can take her down too. Just give the—"

"Stand down." Cohen cut off Liam's sentence. "We don't know what she's capable of."

Nobody knew what she was capable of. Cohen didn't want to take the risk. Not everything worth war for. Mira was cornered at the edge of the cliff with the two rogues.

A dark aura emanated from her skin, circling in the surrounding area. It wanted to tell him she wasn’t the person he should mess up with. Something about her was yelling to him she was far more dangerous than anything about her reported on the news. The Alpha took an intensive precaution by telling his Enforcers to get ready for anything she could cause to them, although she looked like she wouldn’t put up a fight. She looked passive but armed. 

Cohen refocused his attention to her electric blue eyes. Then it hit him. His body shuddered but his mind yelled in excitement. He felt the mating bond. 

No way.

The Moon Goddess answered the one thing he had desired for a very long time. But there was no way in the Moon Goddess’ name that Mira could be the person he had been searching for.

Mate.