Chapter 1:Aria’s heart raced as she stepped into the moonlit clearing. Tonight was her eighteenth birthday—the night the bond would appear. She barely had time to feel excited before a cold voice cut through the air: “I’d rather die than mate with someone like you.” Every eye turned to her. Laughter. Shock. Disbelief. Aria’s knees buckled, not from the words, but from the sharp sting of betrayal. Her mate… had rejected her. And with that, the life she knew was over. She ran, unaware of the shadows that watched her, or the monster that waited to claim her....