"Mate," my wolf spoke loudly in my mind. 
The smell hit me first. A smoky cedarwood, dark and heavy. My body reacted before my head even had a chance to process what was going on, and then I saw him.
Alpha Elias Beaumont. He was tall, and handsome. His full dark hair made me feel bald and emerald eyes were sharper than the edge of a knife. 
He stole the moment. The rest of the world went into oblivion.
He was mine.
I took one step closer and he retreated.
The earth beneath my feet could have turned to liquid, it was that soft.
Elias's face impossible to decipher, his jaw shut tight, his eyes burning with some feeling I had no notion how to classify.
My wolf yelped in agony, but I held strong, muzzling my own breath into a level plane, waiting…waiting for him to speak.
He felt it just like I did. I moved towards him, but he stopped me with his hand. "Don't," he warned. 
And then, his words, individually like a blade, cutting through me.
"I, Alpha Elias Beaumont of the Artemis Pack, deny you, Amara Kings, as my mate."
~
For eighteen years, Amara Kings has been nothing more than a ghost—a forgotten heir locked away in secrecy. On the night of her long-awaited debut, she senses her fated mate among the guests. But her dreams of love and freedom shatter when Alpha Elias Beaumont, the man destined to be hers, publicly rejects her and claims her sister, Kamla, instead.  
Betrayed and heartbroken, Amara swears Kamla will not get away with her deception. But when Kamla is found murdered that same night, all eyes turn to Amara. Branded a jealous killer, she is thrown into a nightmare of torture and humiliation at the hands of the mate who once denied her.  
But Amara is no ordinary wolf. As darkness rises and buried secrets unravel, she discovers a power within her that could reshape the entire werewolf world—or destroy it. With enemies lurking in the shadows, an obsessed Alpha vying for her heart, and Elias desperate for redemption, Amara must decide: will she seek vengeance, claim her rightful place, or carve a new destiny of her own?  
The truth was never meant to come to light. But now that it has, the world will never be the same.

I screamed as my essence was pulled apart. The girl's golden light burned through me like fire, unmaking the power I had built over thousands of years. My body—no, not my body, but the form I had crafted—was vanishing.


This wasn't meant to happen. After so many ages, after so many careful plans, to be defeated by a child!


I fought against the golden light, gathering what remained of my power. I would not end this way.


"You think you've won," I hissed, my voice breaking apart like fall leaves. "You understand nothing, Amara Kings."


The girl stared at me, her golden light still flowing into the holy circle. The look in her eyes—pity!—made my rage burn hotter.


"I was the first," I said, pushing my form to solidify enough to speak. "The first to see the truth of what mate ties really are. Chains. Prison bars. I tried to free our kind!"


Elias stepped forward, putting himself between me and Amara. Always the protector. Foolish boy.


Chapter 105 - The Mother's Defeat