Born beneath an omen-lit sky, Layla is no ordinary wolf. She is the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy—a child blessed by the Moon Goddess with the power to heal, resurrect, and stand undefeated. But such power comes at a cost.  

Her birth shakes the foundations of the White Shen Pack, a territory ruled by treachery. Her father, Alpha Rhys, and his lover, Luna Catherine, fear what she might become. To protect their rule, they orchestrate the massacre of those who know the prophecy, leaving Layla’s mother, Maelis, cursed with a wasting sickness. Thought dead at birth, Layla is hidden away, cast into a life of cruelty and deception.  

Years later, she is nothing more than a shadow in her own pack—a girl ridiculed for her inability to shift, despised by the very people who should have protected her. The only light in her world is Kain, the Beta’s son, her first love and the boy who once saved her from years of torment. But love, too, becomes a weapon when Kain betrays her in the worst way—murdering her siblings and delivering her to her enemies.  

As punishment for crimes she did not commit, Layla is thrown into darkness, her fate sealed when she is offered as a gift to the most feared rogue in existence—the cursed Beast King.  

For two thousand years, the Beast King has sought a way to break the Moon Goddess’s wrath, his soul trapped in a monstrous body, his humanity slipping away. When Layla is thrown before him, he senses something he has never encountered before: a power strong enough to shatter his curse… or doom them both.  

But Layla is not a girl to be broken. She has her own vengeance to claim, her own past to uncover, and the Beast King may just be the key to it all.  

Bound by fate and cursed by the past, Layla and the Beast King must navigate a world that seeks to control them, betrayals that run deeper than blood, and a prophecy that threatens to consume them both.  

Will she rise as the weapon they tried to forge, or will she become the force that shatters their world?

Fourteen days until winter arrives, and with it—the debt they've owed me for nearly two decades.


When they first came crawling to my gates, desperate for peace and protection, I agreed. Not out of mercy. Not out of trust. But because the Moon still burns through my curse, and my time—what little remains of it—must count for something.


They made an oath. One of their strongest daughters in exchange for their survival.


A daughter to bear the beast. A daughter to break the curse.


But now that the time has come, they stall.


I see through their polished letters, their trembling emissaries, their cowardly silence.


As if I am too blind to see the truth in their fear.


They do not want to give me their strongest.


They hoped my hunger would be satisfied with any girl bearing their name.


They think they can throw a weak daughter at my feet and I will simply accept it.


And I already know what I'll do if they lie to me.


If they send me a girl with no wolf. No power.


If she dies beneath my touch—as so many have before her—


And this time, there will be no negotiations. No ceremonies.


And if they think they can cheat me with a broken offering… I will show them what it means to lose everything they swore to protect.


Chapter 23 - The Beast Makes His Terms