*Crack.* The silver-laced whip tore across my back, burning through my skin like liquid fire.
I gasped, my wrists locked tight in the magnetic cuffs against the steel pillar.
The scent of my own burning flesh filled the soundproofed training room.
“Again,” my father’s voice echoed under the fluorescent lights.
It was cold and completely unyielding.
He didn’t look like a loving father right now; he looked like the ruthless Chairman of the Blackwood Syndicate, desperate to secure his lineage.
At nineteen years old, I was supposed to be preparing to take over a multi-billion-dollar corporate empire.
Instead, I was a liability.
A late-shifter.
A wolf-less heiress.
My younger sisters had shifted effortlessly at fourteen.
But me?
I was empty.
And in our world, a pack cannot be led by a human.
“Please, Julian..” my mother wept from the glass observation deck upstairs, her hands pressing against the window.
“It’s too much!
You’ll kill her!” “If she dies, she dies a human,” my father growled, his heavy Alpha aura crushing the air in the room until it was hard to breathe.
“But if she wants to run this city when I step down, she will wake her beast today.
Hit her again!” The third strike landed.
The silver bit deep into my blood, poisoning my veins.
A white-hot explosion of pain shattered my senses.
My vision went pitch black, my head falling forward as my consciousness slipped away into a heavy coma.
I was out for three days.
The pack doctors told my family to prepare for a funeral.
But on the fourth morning, my heart didn’t just beat—it roared.
Before my eyes could even open, a raw, primal hunger tore through my soul.
With a surge of unknown power, I ripped my wrists out of the magnetic cuffs, the metal screeching against the pillar.
I didn’t look at the panicked medical staff.
I didn’t wait.
I burst through the biometric security doors of the mansion, running on pure, wild instinct.
I tore past the luxury SUVs in the driveway and sprinted straight into the thick forest bordering the Blackwood estate.
I stripped off my clothes on the run as my bones cracked, elongated, and reformed.
A deafening roar tore from my throat as a massive, midnight-black wolf took my place, her golden eyes reflecting the morning sun.
I was no longer the wolf-less disappointment.
I was Alpha Raquelle Blackwood.
And from that day on, I promised myself that no man, no wolf, and no fated bond would ever make me bow again.
Three Years Later.
She kicked him straight off the bed.
A heavy, muscular body smacked against the floor, followed by a loud, painful groan.
Raquelle leaned over the edge of the mattress, resting her chin on her hand as a smirk grew on her face.
“Raquelle!” “Yes, sweetie?” she feigned a sweet voice, staring down at him.
“Why the hell did you push me?!” Dominic snapped, rubbing his shoulder as he glared up at her from the floor.
“I don’t know,” Raquelle laughed, throwing her dark hair over her shoulder.
“Maybe because it’s time you get your ass off my bed and go get dressed.
We have a meeting in less than an hour.” “Oh, damnit,” Dominic cursed.
Scrambling up from the floor, he frantically started searching the room, grabbing the trousers he had completely thrown last night during the heat of their moment.
Raquelle laughed.
Dominic paused, catching her gaze.
He noticed her tracking his bare chest, and when she realized he was looking, she slowly licked her lips.
“You horny wolf,” he commented.
“Haha.
Get out of my room,” she said, throwing a pillow right at his head.
Grabbing his shirt and shoes, Dominic left the room, closing the door behind him.
The moment he left, Raquelle climbed down from the bed.
The blankets fell away, revealing her goddess-like body and fiery curves.
She walked straight into the bathroom to prepare for the meeting.
*** The pack building overlooked the city skyline.
Inside the top floor boardroom, the atmosphere was thick with tension.
The pack elders and high-ranking members sat around a massive dark conference table, whispering nervously among themselves.
An older wolf, Elder Vance, threw his folder onto the table with a loud thud.
“The numbers are down in the northern shipping ports, Alpha Raquelle.
The local rogue gangs are messing with our supply chains.
We need to send full warrior squads to wipe them out right now!” “And risk attracting human police investigation to our businesses?” another man countered, slamming his fist down.
“That is suicide!
We handle this through the legal system, or we lose our licenses!” In an instant, the boardroom erupted into chaos.
The traditional elders wanted blood and claws; the younger ones wanted clean business tactics.
Voices clashed, arguments boomed, and the table practically vibrated with pure tension.
Through it all, Raquelle sat perfectly still at the head of the table.
She swiveled her chair slightly, watching the chaos play out with a cold expression.
Her calm face was far more terrifying than their shouting.
Standing just behind her father’s chair, Gamma Jake casually shifted his weight.
He kept his face completely professional, staring straight ahead as if he were a loyal soldier focused entirely on security.
But as the shouting got louder, Jake stepped closer to the head of the table to pass some sheets.
As his fingers brushed past Raquelle’s arm, he discreetly dropped a tiny, folded slip of paper right onto her lap.
Raquelle didn’t look up at him.
Keeping her gaze locked on the arguing elders, her fingers calmly slid the note into the palm of her hand.
She slid it under the desk, unfolding it completely out of sight.
She read the neat lettering.
*Well done, Alpha.
You smell so much like Dominic this morning.
That guy is a lucky bastard.* A sudden, sharp wave of heat rushed up her neck, making her cheeks burn.
Her inner wolf, Roxy, let out a low rumble of amusement in her mind.
Jake’s senses were lethal; he had picked up Dominic’s scent clinging to her skin before she had even walked through the doors.
Raquelle crushed the note in her fist, hiding it inside her pocket.
She lifted her head, her burning cheeks instantly resetting into an icy glare as she slammed her hand flat against the table.
*BANG.* The sound echoed like a gunshot through the room.
The elders froze, their arguments dying instantly.
“Silence,” Raquelle commanded, her voice dropping into a dangerous tone.
She let her Alpha power pressure the room, forcing Elder Vance and the others to lower their heads.
“You are acting like wild stray dogs.
I don’t give a damn about your petty arguments.
Gamma Jake, prepare the security teams for a quiet sweep of the northern docks.
Dominic, handle the—” Before she could finish, the boardroom doors flew open.
A pack warrior rushed inside, his breathing ragged and his face completely pale with panic.
“Alpha!
Sorry for the interruption,” the warrior gasped, bowing frantically.
“But we have a problem.
Rogues have just been spotted right outside our borders.
They’re heavily armed.” Raquelle’s golden eyes flashed with a lethal light as she slowly stood up.