Chapter 1 Blood In The Alley
Rain hit the cracked pavement like shards of glass.
Lyra Hale ran through the narrow backstreets of New York, her lungs screaming for air, the taste of copper and fear thick on her tongue. The neon lights from the bar she’d just fled still burned in her memory, so did the sight of the man she’d pickpocketed crumpled on the floor with a bullet in his skull.
She hadn’t fired the gun. She hadn’t even seen who had. But she knew what she’d stumbled into, a mafia exchange gone wrong. And now they were hunting the only witness left alive…her.
Her boots slipped on rainwater mixed with blood as she sprinted past dumpsters, clutching the small leather bag that held the only thing she owned, a bottle of scent suppressants. Without them, every wolf in the city would know exactly what she was, a weak omega far from her pack and running on borrowed time.
Gunfire cracked behind her.
“Find the girl!” a man’s voice roared, rough with a Sicilian accent.
Lyra ducked behind a stack of crates, panting. Her heart hammered in her ears. She was supposed to have stayed invisible, hidden in the human world. Omegas like her weren’t meant to survive outside packs, but desperation had driven her here to debt, to danger, and now, to death’s doorstep.
A shadow moved across the alley’s mouth.
She held her breath. Three men in black suits fanned out, their silver pistols gleaming under the flickering streetlamp. The scent of gunpowder and wet asphalt mixed with something far worse,iron and wolf.
“Boss wants her alive,” one muttered.
Alive? For what? Her blood turned cold.
She pressed herself against the brick wall, inching backward toward a dumpster. Her hand trembled as she reached for the small blade strapped to her boot, useless but comforting. She’d barely unsheathed it when a boot crushed down on a puddle inches away.
“Gotcha.”
Lyra bolted.
Bullets screamed past her. One tore through her sleeve, grazing skin. Pain flared, but adrenaline drowned it out. She hurdled a trash bin, dashed across the street, and darted into another alley that dead-ended in a chain-link fence.
“No—no, no!” she gasped, clawing at the fence. Her fingers slipped.
A sharp pain ripped through her shoulder. A gunshot. She fell to her knees, choking on her own blood.
The men approached slowly, their silhouettes blurred by rain and neon.
“Pretty little rat,” one sneered, cocking his gun. “Should’ve stayed home.”
Lyra’s vision tunneled. The world dimmed to shadows and echoes. But just before the trigger clicked, another sound cut through the storm low, feral, and wrong.
A growl.
It came from the darkness at the mouth of the alley, deep enough to make the ground tremble. The gunmen froze. One of them laughed nervously.
“What the hell was that?”
The laughter died as a figure stepped out of the shadows. Tall. Broad-shouldered. His black coat soaked in rain. He moved like a predator, silent, precise, deadly.
Lyra couldn’t see his face, only the red gleam of his eyes.
“Run,” he said softly.
The gunmen turned their weapons on him instead. “Who the f…”
They didn’t finish.
A blur of motion. Steel flashed. The man in black moved faster than sight. A gun went off, but the bullet never reached him. He was already behind them, snapping necks, tearing throats. One scream, one gurgle, then silence.
Lyra watched in horror as the last man fell, his body hitting the ground with a dull thud. Blood pooled in the rain, swirling toward the drain.
The stranger turned toward her.
She tried to crawl away, but her limbs felt heavy, useless. Her vision blurred again, but she caught a glimpse….his eyes glowed brighter, burning crimson, almost wolfish.
And then she heard it, the unmistakable echo of a wolf’s growl inside her head.
Impossible. No wolf could exist this close to the human city without the Council sensing it.
“Don’t…” she whispered weakly, her voice fading. “Don’t come closer…”
The last thing she saw was his hand reaching for her, his skin cold and his voice rough as gravel.
“You shouldn’t have been here, little omega.”
Then darkness swallowed her whole.
The next time she opened her eyes, she wasn’t in the alley.
She lay on soft silk sheets that smelled of cedarwood and smoke. The pain in her shoulder was gone…bandaged, clean, but every nerve in her body screamed danger.
Lyra pushed herself upright, blinking at the unfamiliar room. It was vast, all dark marble and glass, with paintings she didn’t recognize and windows barred with silver lattice. The air felt charged of wolf scent, strong and dominant, but mixed with something darker.
A man stood by the window, his back to her. He wore a black dress shirt rolled to the elbows, sleeves revealing veins like cords of steel. His presence filled the room before he even spoke.
“You’re awake.”
His voice was smooth, cultured, and deadly.
Lyra flinched. “Where am I?”
He turned then, and she forgot how to breathe.
He was the man from the alley. The one who’d slaughtered her hunters. His eyes were no longer glowing red, but she recognized the danger in them, cold gray, sharp as blades.
“Somewhere safe,” he said, walking toward her.
She shrank back instinctively, clutching the sheet to her chest. “Safe? You killed them!”
“They were going to kill you.”
His tone was casual, but his gaze was dissecting her every movement, her posture, her breathing, the faint tremor in her hands. Like a wolf studying prey.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
He smiled faintly. “Dante Moretti.”
The name hit like a bullet. Every mafia story in the city whispered about him…the ghost who ran the Moretti syndicate, the man even rival dons feared. But none of those rumors mentioned the scent of wolf that rolled off him now.
“Why did you save me?” she asked, her voice barely steady.
“Because you interest me.”
She froze. “Interest you?”
His smile widened slightly, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “You were bleeding out in my territory. I couldn’t just let you die before I got answers.”
“Answers?”
“Like why three armed men from the Scarlatti family were chasing a powerless little omega through my city.”
Her blood went cold. “I—I don’t know—”
Dante’s hand shot out, gripping her chin and forcing her to meet his eyes. The contact sent a shiver through her entire body. His skin was warm, his scent intoxicating…cedar, blood, and something feral.
“Don’t lie to me,” he murmured. “Your heartbeat gives you away.”
Lyra’s throat constricted. The way he said it wasn’t human.
She tried to pull back, but his grip tightened,not cruel, just absolute. For a moment, her vision shimmered, and she saw the faint outline of something ancient behind his gaze… a wolf, dark and massive, pacing just beneath his skin.
He tilted his head slightly. “You’re not from any pack I know. And yet…” His eyes narrowed. “…your scent—it’s familiar.”
Panic shot through her. She couldn’t let him recognize her. Not her lineage. Not the curse.
“I’m nobody,” she whispered. “Please—just let me go.”
Dante’s lips curved in a slow, dangerous smile. “Let you go?”
He leaned in, his breath brushing her ear. “You witnessed my kill. You stepped into my world. Now you belong to me until I say otherwise.”
Lyra’s heart pounded. “I’m not yours.”
“Not yet,” he said softly.
Before she could answer, a spark of pain seared her neck. His fingers brushed the side of her throat, right where her suppressed scent glands were. The suppressant had worn off. His eyes darkened instantly, pupils dilating as his wolf surged forward.
Dante inhaled slowly, his voice a growl. “Omega.”
Her blood turned to ice. He knew.
And then his voice dropped, low and possessive. “What a dangerous little secret you’ve been hiding.”
Lyra bare
ly had time to react before his eyes bled crimson again, glowing in the dim light.
She realized too late,he wasn’t just mafia. He was something far worse.