Chapter 1: Run Vivian
Vivian Grey’s POV
My mother’s hand was over my mouth before I was even fully awake.
"Don’t scream. Vivian, please, don’t scream." Her voice cracked on my name. In the dark I could only make out the shape of her, hair loose around her shoulders, her nightgown damp at the collar.
I nodded against her palm and she let go. Both of us breathed too fast in the silence that followed.
"What’s happening?" My voice came out small. Younger than I felt.
"He’s here. Or he will be by morning." She was already pulling clothes from my drawer, stuffing them into the bag I used for weekend trips . Her hands shook so badly she dropped half of what she picked up.
"The letter came three days ago," she said. "Your father didn’t want to scare you with it until we knew for sure."
"What letter?"
She stopped. Long enough for me to finally see her face
"From the Lupus Deus."
I’d heard that name my whole life. In warnings. In bedtime stories meant to make children behave. I never once thought I’d hear it from my own mother, in my own bedroom, with her hands shaking too hard to fold a shirt.
"He’s not himself anymore, Vivian. Word is his betrothed died carrying his child, and he blames the Moon Goddess for it, says she took one promise from him and owes him another. So now he’s going pack to pack, collecting every unmated she-wolf he can find, looking for whatever mate he thinks she owes him. The letter said every pack has to cooperate when his men arrive. Hand over our unmated daughters, or he burns the territory down and takes them anyway."
My ears were ringing. "I’m unmated."
"I know." Her voice broke completely on those two words. "I know, baby. That’s why you need to leave tonight, before anyone official has to make that choice for you."
"Where am I supposed to go?"
"Blue Moon. Gwen will take you in." She pressed something into my hand, a map, soft and worn at the folds, the kind that had clearly been kept ready for a night exactly like this one. "Don’t stop. Don’t say goodbye to anyone but me. Go now."
I didn’t argue. There wasn’t time.
She walked me down to the car herself, one hand pressed flat against my back like she could keep me upright through sheer will alone. At the door she pulled me into her arms, hard and fast, the kind of hug that says everything a person doesn’t have time to put into words.
"I love you," she said against my hair. "Drive safe. Call me when you’re past the county line, and not before."
"I love you too, Mom."
She let go first. She had to,I don’t think I would have.
I slammed the door of my rusted-out Toyota, the one I’d bought after grinding away at the pack diner for months. As I pulled out, I caught my own reflection in the rearview mirror.
No one behind me.
Just me. Me and the road.
The farther I got, the tighter my stomach knotted.
I didn’t stop much. Just enough for gas and gas-station food that made my stomach lurch with every swallow. I chewed on protein bars and gummy bears, washing it all down with too much coffee and too little water. My body was running on fumes, and my soul? That had been empty for a long time.
Two days on the road. One hour of sleep. Too many hours to think.
I forced my thought away as I looked at the wrinkled map in the passenger seat. I was close now. My fingers trembled as I traced the winding road that led into the woods. The scent of pine filled the car, and for the first time in days, my wolf stirred.
She recognized this place.
The path into Blue Moon territory wasn’t marked on any GPS—it was more of an instinctual route, hidden and protected. If you didn’t have wolf blood and purpose, you’d get lost before you ever crossed the first ridge.
Ten minutes deeper into the woods, I passed a wooden sign nailed to a tree. Bold black letters carved into the surface read:
PRIVATE PROPERTY. DO NOT ENTER. TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT.
Charming.
I kept driving.
A sudden rustle in the brush made my heart slam against my ribs. A massive gray wolf padded out onto the path, coming to a stop beside my window. I swallowed hard and rolled it down.
"Name and pack," he said flatly, eyes flicking between me and the car.
"Vivian Grey," I answered, keeping my voice steady. "Born in Blue Moon. Still registered. I was given permission to visit on family grounds."
My pulse thundered beneath my skin as I reached for my bag, pulling out a worn folder and my ID. He took them, brows furrowed, reading slowly. His eyes shifted between my face and the photo.
"Mark," he said simply.
I unzipped my hoodie, pulling the collar of my shirt aside to reveal the mark etched near my collarbone, three claw slashes crossed by a single line, with two circles underneath. Blue Moon’s mark. He looked for a moment longer, then gave a small nod and handed back my things.
The guard stared at me with a flat expression, then gave a subtle nod to the guy up front. That was it, my silent pass through the gate.
I gripped the steering wheel tighter as I eased forward. The dirt path opened into a familiar trail, trees thickened on both sides until the clearing finally came into view... and there it was.
The Blue Moon Pack House.
Almost immediately, Lily bolted down the front steps like a whirlwind, her blonde ponytail bouncing behind her. Her arms flailed in excitement as she rushed toward me.
"Took you long enough!" she yelled, her face lighting up as I stepped out of my car.
She hadn’t been lying on the phone. The security was intense. I’d expected wolves patrolling in their animal forms, but most guards were in human form, wearing tactical gear and carrying weapons. I guess they couldn’t risk being spotted by humans near the border.
"Alright, now the fun can begin!" Lily grinned and wrapped me in a warm hug.
I sighed, pretending to groan. "Can I at least shower first? Maybe eat something before you drag me into whatever ’fun’ you’ve got planned?"
She rolled her eyes and held me tighter. "Fine, fine. I’ll feed you before you call your mom and report that I’ve been starving you within your first hour here. I can already hear her screaming my name."
She winked and led me up the steps.
Once inside, she helped me settle into a cozy guest room. The hot shower I took was short, but it was enough to rinse away two days of road grime and mental weight. Afterward, I threw on some clean clothes and joined Lily and Gwen in the kitchen. We shared a few laughs and updates, Gwen looking more like herself than I’d seen in years.
Lily disappeared upstairs first, something about finishing a movie, and for a moment it was just me and Gwen and the quiet hum of the refrigerator.
"Can I ask you something?" I said, picking at the edge of the placemat in front of me. "About him. The Lupus Deus."
Gwen’s smile slipped. She glanced toward the hallway, like she wanted to be sure Lily was really gone before she answered.
"What did your mom tell you?"
"Not much. Just that his betrothed died. That he’s blaming the Moon Goddess for it."
Gwen was quiet long enough that I thought she might not answer at all. Then she pulled out the chair across from me and sat down properly, the way people sit when they’re about to say something they don’t want to say standing up.
"They found her in a library," she said. "His betrothed. Pregnant with his pup, from what I heard. Someone found her on the floor in a pool of her own blood, and carved into the stone around her, moon goddess symbols. Crescents. The kind you’d see on an altar, not at a murder scene."
My stomach turned. "Who carved them?"
"Nobody knows. That’s the part that scares people most. Nobody’s ever found who did it, or why, or what those carvings were even supposed to mean. Some say the Goddess herself marked the scene, wanting him to know she’d taken something from him on purpose. Others think somebody wanted him to believe exactly that, wanted him broken and furious enough to do exactly what he’s doing now."
"Which do you believe?"
Gwen exhaled, looking down at her hands. "I don’t know. I just know that after that night, he stopped being a god anyone could reason with. He swore that whoever the Goddess gave him next, whoever she decided was his fated mate, he’d make her pay for what was taken from him. Punishing the gift to spite the giver."
The words sat heavy in my chest.
"That’s insane," I said.
"That’s grief," Gwen said quietly. "Insane just looks like that, sometimes."
But my body was screaming for sleep.
The moment I hit the mattress, I surrendered to the dark, but my mother’s voice still clung to the edges of my mind. Unmated. The letter. The list. It played over and over until exhaustion finally won.
Then I heard it.
A high-pitched scream sliced through the night, yanking me out of sleep. Before I could register what was happening, shouting followed. Chaos.
My bedroom door burst open.
Gwen stormed in, pale as ash, her brown hair wild on one side like she’d just rolled out of bed mid-panic. Her chest was rising and falling in rapid gasps, and her eyes were wide, frightened.
I jumped to my feet, heart pounding. "What’s going on?"
Before she could answer, a robotic voice echoed through a speaker overhead.
"Code Red: All women and children proceed to the nearest safe bunker. We are under attack. I repeat, go to the bunker immediately."
The words took a second to register.
"Vivian, we have to move!" Gwen shouted, grabbing my wrist.
We sprinted out of the room and down the corridor. Other pack members were already running toward the clearing, shouting to each other and forming defense lines.
Then it happened, so fast, I barely caught it.
I turned to look behind me, and saw a massive reddish-brown wolf lunge for Gwen.
"Gwen!" I screamed, but she was already tangled with the beast.
Before I could react, a blur of motion came straight at me.
A man.
Not a wolf.
He charged with terrifying speed, his green eyes locked on me, his black boots barely making a sound on the dirt. I turned to run, but my legs felt like jelly. Where was the agility we were supposed to be blessed with as werewolves?
Right when I thought I could make it, something heavy slammed into my back.
We tumbled.
He grunted as we rolled, and somehow, I landed on top of him. For a moment, we were tangled together, my wrists pinned in his huge hands like I was made of paper.
Panic surged through me. I kicked, twisted, fought to free myself. "Let me go!" I screamed, clawing at his grip. My fingernails scraped his skin, but he didn’t even flinch. His face was expressionless, calm, like this wasn’t even a struggle for him.
Terror flooded every inch of me.
I lunged forward, teeth bared, trying to bite him. My wolf snarled in my mind, a low guttural sound that vibrated through my bones. But beneath the fear, there was something strange. Something familiar.
No! wrong time, wrong place.
He shifted his hold, wrapping my arms across my chest to stop me from attacking again. I kicked at him wildly, aiming low, but he moved fast and blocked the blow before it could do damage. My heart was hammering in my chest like it wanted to rip through my ribs and escape.
Then he reached up slowly, and touched my chin.
I recoiled, trying to jerk my head away, thinking he might snap my neck. But he wasn’t rough. He tilted my face up with startling gentleness... and that’s when I saw them.
His eyes.
At first, they were green
Then—black.
Then silver.
Then—
Blue.
A stunning, soul-searing blue that pierced through everything inside me and left me frozen.
And my wolf... she whimpered.
Purred.
My limbs went limp and I felt a pull.
He blinked slowly at me, and something unreadable passed through his expression, soft awe, maybe, or confusion. Then he nodded, as if silently confirming what I was too stunned to understand.
The spell broke.
His eyes flicked back to black. Then to a cat-like green. His grip loosened, like he’d suddenly remembered where we were.
I gasped and yanked free, adrenaline taking over as I scrambled to my feet and bolted into the trees without looking back.
"Release all other she-wolves!" I heard his voice call behind me, deep and commanding.
"We found our little Luna."
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