The night Threxa burned, the moon was full.
Riven Thorn remembered thinking it was too bright, bright enough to turn the streets silver, bright enough to make the shadows stretch unnaturally long. He had been walking home with his mother, listening to her complain about the price of grain, when the first scream cut through the air.
It wasn't human.
Windows shattered. Fires bloomed. Something massive leapt across rooftops, its silhouette wrong, too fast, too large.
"Run," his mother whispered, gripping his hand.
They didn't make it far.
Shapes burst from the alley ahead,eyes glowing, teeth bared. Wolves, but not animals. Monsters standing upright, drenched in blood that wasn't theirs.
Tyrella shoved Riven behind her.
He barely had time to scream her name before she was torn away.
The sound of her body hitting the ground echoed louder than the flames.
Something inside Riven snapped.
He charged.
A mistake.
Pain exploded across his neck. The world tilted. He fell, choking, warmth flooding his chest as the sounds of slaughter faded.
Footsteps approached slow, heavy and deliberate.
A presence pressed down on him, ancient and crushing. The Alpha knelt, eyes like burning gold, studying him with cold curiosity.
"Interesting," the creature murmured.
Fangs pierced Riven's skin.
Agony swallowed the world.
And when the Alpha rose, leaving him for dead, fate had already been rewritten.