The Blackwood & Associates law firm stood like a glass sentinel against the midnight sky of Manhattan, its forty-third floor windows glowing amber in the darkness. Luna Blackwood pushed a strand of silver-white hair behind her ear and squinted at the acquisition documents spread across her mahogany desk. The numbers blurred together—another sixteen-hour day defending corporate mergers that would reshape the city's financial landscape.
Silver Moon Holdings seeks to acquire Ravencrest Entertainment Group for $2.8 billion.
She'd been working this case for three months, and something about it felt wrong. The financials were too clean, the paperwork too perfect. In her seven years as a senior partner, Luna had developed an instinct for detecting lies buried in legal jargon. This deal reeked of secrets.
Her phone buzzed against the desk's surface, the vibration unnaturally loud in the empty office. Unknown number.
"Luna Blackwood."
"Ms. Blackwood." The voice was smooth, cultured, with a faint European accent she couldn't place. "I trust you're still reviewing the Silver Moon acquisition?"
Luna's grip tightened on the phone. "Who is this? How did you get my private number?"
"There are... complications with the contract that require your immediate attention. You need to come to Pier 47, Warehouse 12. Now."
"I don't take meetings at midnight with anonymous callers." Luna's voice carried the steel that had won her cases against the city's most ruthless opponents. "If you want to discuss the acquisition, schedule an appointment through my secretary."
A low chuckle rippled through the line. "Ms. Blackwood, if you don't come tonight, there won't be an acquisition to discuss. There won't be a Silver Moon Holdings. And there certainly won't be a Luna Blackwood to negotiate with."
The line went dead.
Luna stared at her phone, adrenaline coursing through her veins. Threats weren't uncommon in high-stakes corporate law, but something about this felt different. More personal. More dangerous.
She should call the police. She should go home to her penthouse apartment, pour herself a glass of wine, and pretend this conversation never happened.
Instead, she found herself grabbing her leather jacket and heading for the elevator.
Twenty minutes later, Luna's black BMW pulled up to the deserted waterfront. Pier 47 stretched into the Hudson River like a concrete finger, its warehouses dark and silent. The autumn wind carried the scent of salt and something else—something wild and metallic that made her skin prickle.
Warehouse 12 stood at the pier's end, its industrial facade broken by a single light burning in a second-story window. Luna's heels clicked against the concrete as she approached, each step echoing in the unnatural quiet.
The warehouse door stood slightly ajar.
"Hello?" Luna's voice seemed swallowed by the darkness beyond the threshold. "I'm here for the meeting about Silver Moon Holdings."
Silence.
Luna pushed the door open and stepped inside. The warehouse was vast and empty, filled with shadows that seemed to move independently of the flickering overhead lights. Shipping containers stood like metal monuments in the gloom, their surfaces covered in rust and graffiti she couldn't quite read.
"You came."
Luna spun toward the voice. A figure emerged from behind a container—tall, impeccably dressed in a charcoal suit that probably cost more than most people's cars. Even in the dim light, she could see the sharp angles of his face, the pale perfection of his skin, and eyes that seemed to glow red in the shadows.
"You're the one who called." It wasn't a question. Something about him made her pulse quicken, though she couldn't say whether it was fear or something else entirely.
"Victor Ravencrest." He stepped closer, moving with a fluid grace that seemed almost predatory. "And you're the brilliant Ms. Blackwood who's been so carefully examining my company's finances."
"Your company?" Luna's legal mind immediately began reassessing the situation. "The documents list Ravencrest Entertainment as the target company, not—"
"The Silver Moon Holdings acquisition is a front, Ms. Blackwood. The real transaction is far more... complex." Victor's smile revealed teeth that seemed sharper than they should be. "You see, what we're really negotiating tonight is a contract for your life."
Luna took a step backward, her hand already reaching for her phone. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, Mr. Ravencrest, but—"
The first gunshot exploded through the warehouse, the muzzle flash illuminating armed figures emerging from behind the containers. Luna dove behind a metal crate as bullets sparked off the concrete where she'd been standing.
"Stay down!" Victor's voice had changed, becoming something primal and commanding.
Luna pressed herself against the cold metal, her heart hammering against her ribs. This was insane. She was a lawyer, not an action hero. She negotiated contracts and reviewed depositions. She didn't dodge bullets in abandoned warehouses.
Another shot rang out, closer this time. Luna heard footsteps approaching her hiding spot, the deliberate pace of someone who knew their prey was trapped.
"Come out, little wolf." The voice was rough, amused. "We just want to have a conversation."
Little wolf? Luna's breath caught. Why would they call her that?
The footsteps stopped just on the other side of her container. Luna could hear her attacker's breathing, could smell gunpowder and something else—something rotten and wrong.
A hand appeared around the edge of the container, followed by the barrel of a gun.
Luna closed her eyes, waiting for the end.
Instead, she heard a sound like tearing silk, followed by a scream that cut off abruptly. The gun clattered to the concrete.
When Luna opened her eyes, Victor Ravencrest stood over the motionless body of her would-be killer. But something was wrong with Victor. His canine teeth had elongated into fangs, his pale skin seemed to glow with an inner light, and those red eyes now burned like coals in the darkness.
"What..." Luna's voice came out as a whisper. "What are you?"
Victor's inhuman gaze fixed on her, and when he smiled, it was beautiful and terrible. "I'm someone who's been waiting a very long time to meet you, Luna Blackwood. Or should I say..." His head tilted, as if he were listening to something she couldn't hear. "Luna Silvermoon?"
The name hit her like a physical blow. Luna Silvermoon. It meant nothing to her conscious mind, but something deep inside her chest began to burn. The warehouse seemed to spin around her, and suddenly she could smell things she'd never noticed before—the rust on the containers, the oil stains on the concrete, the wild scent of the river beyond.
And underneath it all, something that smelled like moonlight and running through forests she'd never seen.
"That's impossible," Luna breathed. "My name is Luna Blackwood. I was born in Boston. My parents died in a car accident when I was five, and I was adopted by—"
"By people who were paid very well to hide you from those who would use you." Victor stepped closer, his movement impossibly graceful. "But hiding time is over, princess. Your real family needs you."
Luna's vision blurred. The burning in her chest intensified, spreading through her limbs like liquid fire. She looked down at her hands and gasped—her nails had elongated into claws, and silver light seemed to ripple beneath her skin.
"What's happening to me?"
"You're remembering who you really are." Victor's voice was gentle now, almost tender. "You're the lost heir to the Silver Moon Pack, the most powerful werewolf bloodline in North America. And tonight, Luna Silvermoon, you're coming home."
The warehouse dissolved into silver light as Luna's world shattered and reformed around a truth she never could have imagined.
She wasn't human.
She never had been.
And the man standing before her—this beautiful, terrifying creature with fangs and eyes like burning rubies—he was supposed to be her mortal enemy.
So why did every instinct in her newly awakened wolf soul tell her to trust him?
End of Chapter 1