The Moonstone's Daughter

The scent came first. Wild pine and damp earth after rainfall.

Low murmurs and distant howls seemed to vibrate through the floorboards.

I opened my eyes to unfamiliar wooden beams crossing a high ceiling.

My fingers clutched sheets that weren't mine. In a room I'd never seen before.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Where was I? How did I get here?

The last thing I remembered was driving along the mountain pass, the storm, then nothing.

Sunlight streamed through tall windows, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air.

On the nightstand sat a glass of water and a small silver pendant shaped like a moon.

Something about the pendant felt familiar. Calling to me.

My mother had owned something similar, before she disappeared three years ago.

I reached for it, my fingers trembling as they closed around the cool metal.

She's awake. Not a question. A statement.

Three visitors entered, moving with an almost predatory fluid grace.

You're safe. I'm Serena, pack healer.

Pack? Where am I? What is a pack healer?

Moonridge territory. Your car crashed. Ethan found you unconscious. You're different now.

I didn't understand. Confused and disoriented, I asked them to explain.

You're not what you were before the accident. You smell different.

You're an omega now.

Omega. The word meant nothing to me. Yet something deep inside recognized it.

What happened to me? What's an omega?

The accident triggered something dormant. You have ancestral connections to our kind.

My mother's warnings flashed in my mind. Warnings about these mountains, about the full moon.

I'm saying I'm what? A werewolf?

Everyone knew Isabella. Your mother was supposed to be alpha female before she fled.

My mother, gentle and quiet, had been part of them all along.

An omega is rare. The peacekeeper, the heart of the pack.

I don't want to feel anyone's emotions. I want to go home.

That's not possible. The change is irreversible. Unmated omegas are too valuable to leave unprotected.

A presence approached like an oncoming storm, heavy and electric.

Every hair on my body stood on end as something primal inside me responded.

Who? I demanded, but I could already feel it.

Roman. The Alpha King.

The door burst open and the world seemed to stop.

Mine.

The single word reverberated through the room and settled into my bones.

I've known you were mine since the moment you crossed into my territory three days ago.

I stepped back, bumping against the bed frame.

I'm not yours. I'm not anyone's. I came looking for my mother.

That explains much. But not everything.

The floor beneath us trembled. Shouts erupted from somewhere outside.

Border breach. Northern quadrant. Blackwater pack.

They must have sensed her. They cannot have her.

Possessiveness should have angered me. But I sensed something else. Terror in the pack bonds.

What's happening?

War. And you've just become its most valuable prize.

Roman pulled me toward the door, toward chaos unfolding outside.

The pendant in my pocket seemed to pulse in time with my heartbeat.

Maybe it was time to finally face what I'd been running from all my life.