The night forest pulsed with danger as Sue ran, blood trailing from a wound on her shoulder—inflicted not by a beast, but by her Alpha. Once the healer of her pack, she’d refused to be his mate, defying his claim in front of the elders. For that, he marked her a traitor. With nowhere else to turn, she crossed into the forbidden volcanic lands whispered of in old tales, where even wolves didn’t tread. As the Alpha’s shadows closed in, Sue collapsed before a jagged stone den—and the ground rumbled.

A roar split the air, ancient and furious. Flames erupted from the cave’s mouth, casting the forest in a violent red glow. From within the fire stepped Kael—a man of obsidian scales and molten eyes, a cursed dragon hidden from the world. He hadn’t spoken a word to another soul in centuries, but something about Sue—the pain in her eyes, the courage in her defiance—pulled at the embers of what he thought was long dead. He stood between her and the wolves, his body blazing like a storm. “She is under my protection now,” he growled. “Burn, if you dare.”