Chapter One

THE Temple of the Moon Blessed and Night Cursed.

A place Beckett had sworn he’d never step foot in again.

Yet, here he was, trekking through the darkest part of the Obel Forest in the drizzling rain. Marching toward the legendary hidden shrine for the third time in his life.

Despite the promises he made to himself, circumstances kept drawing him back. And, every time, the wolf was eager to come back. Those deep-seated instincts that came from his transformation into a shifter felt a constant call to return.

Now that Beckett was close, the anticipation and sense of homecoming staggered him.

And that overwhelming eagerness made Beckett’s skin crawl. Made him want to be contrary and stubborn. Made him want to dig his heels in and refuse to go another step closer.

But, as strong as the urge was to turn around and head for the nearest village tavern, Beckett forced himself to continue on with his mission.

A missing princess was lost somewhere in this dense, unforgiving forest. One in a great deal of danger.

And Beckett had promised to find her.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one looking for her.

The Obel Forest was inundated with Royal Guardsmen and dangerous mercenaries hoping to be the first to recover her.

Which made it imperative that Beckett find her first.

Especially since her trail was leading uncomfortably close to the Temple. To the powerful relic it protected.

So far, the various groups of searchers had avoided the deepest parts of the forest where the Temple was hidden. It seemed the Temple’s strange magic still worked to keep people away. Just as it had for millennia.

Except for the single band of treasure hunters that had been allowed within its walls.

Beckett steadfastly refused to wonder why his ragtag found family had been the single exception. Why the powerful compulsion that had protected the Temple from generations of seekers and adventurers had allowed them to find it.

He didn’t want to speculate on why they had been the only ones allowed to find their way to the obscured woods. Why they’d been allowed into the hidden sanctum where his, their, lives had been changed irrevocably.

Why the Temple called to Beckett still, no matter how determined he was to stay away.

Or why, the first time he saw the crumbling ruin, he felt a bone-deep sense of belonging. Like he was part of the place. And it was part of him.

The very idea was ludicrous.

Beckett was a nomad by nature. A wanderer, an explorer, and an adventurer at heart. One who chafed at the idea of ties and strings anchoring him to any one place.

Home was his team. His pack. The found family Beckett had created around himself in the years after he’d turned his back on the family he’d been born into.

As far as he was concerned, home never had been, and never would be, something as mundane and unchangeable as a single place.

And most definitely not this forgotten corner of Obel Forest.

Still, Beckett’s momentum ground to a halt as the familiar, unwanted sensation wrapped around him.

Ancient trees spread their branches wide overhead, filtering shadowed sunlight through the budding leaves. Even without the full, shadowing canopy summer would bring, this wild, uninhabited part of the forest remained dark and dreary.

And, if one didn’t know what they were looking for, it would be easy to overlook the obscured pile of stones in front of Beckett. Overgrown with vines and weeds and ambitious saplings that disguised its true size, it could easily be dismissed as a natural part of the unforgiving terrain.

But Beckett knew better. As much as he wished he were anywhere else, the unnaturally precise lines of each rock slab stood out clearly to him. He could see the way every rectangle of dark grey stone lined up perfectly with those around it. All of them slotting together to form a small, stepped pyramid.

The Temple of the Moon Blessed and Night Cursed.

Nothing appeared to be out of place. But the rain would have obscured any overt signs of recent occupation.

As far as Beckett could tell, though, nothing had changed since the pack had taken shelter there the previous year.

Including the complete lack of magic buzzing over his senses. The strange, ancient protection that had concealed the place for millennia still seemed to be hiding the Temple’s true nature.

The absence was eerie and disconcerting.

Especially when Beckett knew what kind of power lay hidden in the Temple’s innermost sanctum.

The Silver Disk.

One of four powerful relics left behind by a forgotten race of gods. Four ancient matrices capable of unimaginable feats of magic.

Like transforming seven daring, foolhardy treasure hunters into wolf-shifters.

The longer Beckett stood and stared at the unhappy sight, the more a demanding, disturbing sense of solace washed over his senses. The irritating, familiar draw of belonging and welcome that Beckett was determined to ignore.

Pushing the sensation down deep, he sternly reminded himself he had more important things to concentrate on.

Like finding a missing princess.

And making sure that none of the other people searching for her came anywhere near the Temple or the matrix it protected.

Especially not the Keres or their hired thugs.

Hiking his rucksack more securely onto his shoulders, Beckett marched toward the shadowed, triangular entrance of the Temple.

With no torches or fires lit, the cavern-like interior was as dark as midnight. But it wasn’t the lack of light that made Beckett pause at the threshold.

Honed instinct and experienced senses shrieked loudly with vehement warning. A preternatural awareness warned him that he wasn’t alone in the darkness.

An animal scent filled the open central room of the Temple. And a low growl rumbled from a distant corner.

Another predator clearly shared the space with him.

Beckett remained still and calm in the doorway while he waited for his eyes to adjust.

It didn’t take long for him to tease out the crouched, threatening silhouette from the surrounding darkness.

He was both startled and yet very much not surprised to find a wolf inside the Temple.

With so little light, it was impossible to make out many details. But warm golden eyes glowed in the darkness. And the outline of the animal seemed smaller and lighter than any of Beckett’s pack.

Though still larger than most of the wolves Beckett had spotted within the Obel Forest.

But it wasn’t only the unusual size that threw him.

The beast’s scent was just as unsettling.

A mottled, confusing mix of conflicting impressions.

Fear and aggression. Panic and tenacity.

Most unnerving of all was the dichotomy of its scent at the most basic layer.

Because, beneath the wildness of the wolf permeating the Temple, lay something decidedly human.

Not the way a person and a wolf sharing space would smell.

More like a person and a wolf sharing one body.

Like…

Wolfkin.

But, as far as Beckett knew, the seven members of his pack were the only wolf-shifters in existence.

And this definitely wasn’t a member of his pack.

An intuitive leap swept through him and he gave it voice before truly thinking.

“Princess Delfina?”

Beckett whispered the name quietly. Reassuringly. A question, but not really.

Because there was no one else it could be.

The wolf crouched lower, her low growl sharpening into a snarl as the scent deepened into terrified fury. That was the only warning the wolf gave before she launched herself straight at Beckett with claws extended and powerful jaws snapping.

Years of experience had him sidestepping the attack automatically. Only to realize, too late, that was exactly what she wanted as she raced out of the door he’d been blocking.

He turned quickly, rushing after her. But not quickly enough.

The sleek, fast chestnut wolf was already disappearing into the dense forest surrounding the Temple.

Beckett cursed and squeezed his eyes shut, unable to believe how much he’d screwed the situation up in such a short time.

***

Footsteps had woken the wolf.

The noise was startling in how completely out of place it sounded to her after all her time alone.

She was aware of Others, of course. Out there. Far beyond her den and the small patch of forest she’d claimed as her own.

But they didn’t come close. They didn’t invade her territory.

Lifting her nose from her paws, she inhaled deeply and tasted the tang of a strange scent on the air.

She was certain that strangeness meant something important. But in the muddle between wolf and human thoughts, Delfina found it impossible to tease out the thread of meaning.

Especially when the Other drew closer and instincts took over.

A rapid-fire revolution of run/fight/hide/defend rushed through her.

Del froze as the competing impulses tried to force her body into a dozen different directions at once.

After a hard-fought moment, though, she got her paws under her and turned to run.

By then, though, it was too late.

The footsteps were at the Temple’s entrance. The strange scent was invading her den. And a terrifyingly large Other blocked the door. Cutting off her only escape route.

Fear-fueled aggression had rippled through her. Instinctively, she’d crouched low, lips peeled back, a warning growl rumbling deep in her throat.

Despite the darkness, the intruder’s head turned towards her with unsettling certainty, and her muscles clenched even tighter. Enough light filtered in around him for her to get an impression of dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin, but she was too focused on the door behind him to pay much attention.

For a long moment, the world was eerily still.

Then the man inhaled sharply, and his posture startled in surprise.

“Princess Delfina?”

He whispered her name quietly, but it felt like a detonation in her chest.

That name meant everything. And nothing.

He couldn’t know.

No one could know.

Despite the slight lilt of question, however, his tone was sure.

And his certainty unleashed her panic.

He was one of the Others looking for her. Some wanted to take her back to captivity. Some wanted to take her home.

It didn’t matter which side he came from. Because Del would not, could not, be taken by any of them.

She’d die before she ever allowed herself to become anyone’s prisoner again.

But there was no way she could go home, either. Not like this.  

Her father. The Court. They’d all considered Del a figurehead before she’d been kidnapped. Pretty, but useless.

Now, stuck in the form of a wolf, she had no hope of proving to the world she was meant to be queen one day.

Shifting her weight, Del snarled in desperate warning before launching herself straight at the stranger.

And the escape he barred.

Thankfully, he twisted out of the way, allowing her leap to carry her out into the shallow clearing beyond the door.

Del landed on all four paws. Free of the Temple and the stranger.

But, if she wanted to stay that way, she only had one choice.

Letting go of her human thoughts and her need for control, Del allowed the instincts of the wolf take over completely.

And she ran.