Chapter 2 PROLOGUE II

The tears didn’t stop until I had nothing left to cry. I didn’t even realize I’d reached the riverbend until the clearing opened before me. Without wasting time, I knelt and began sorting the clothes into piles.I didn’t own much, just a few worn pieces handed down by random packhouse members, so I couldn’t afford to let them pile up. Our pack was small, just about two hundred members. I knew that because every year, Alpha Joe oversaw a census himself.We weren’t the only supernaturals, though.At the top of the pyramid were the Lycans, monsters of monsters, descended from seven ancient bloodlines. Each ruled a different kingdom in the seven realms, and our kingdom, Khragnir’s supreme alpha, was Sargis, fair and just but ruthless and unforgiving. So, I’ve heard. He lived in the palace, and unimportant people like me weren’t privileged to meet him.Werewolves, on the other hand, were a hybrid mistake. According to legend, a Lycan king fell in love with a human woman named Liyonerida. She was the first of her kind to ever capture a Lycan’s heart, and also the first forbidden love of its kind.Against all advice and rejection, they conceived a child. Unfortunately, being human, she couldn’t carry a supernatural baby to term. It was the Great Witch Aeryna who intervened, inducing labor to save the baby, although Liyonerida died mere days later, and the Lycan king went into isolation.