With the strike of midnight on All Hallows Eve, Stella felt everything she knew about life be rewritten. It was a full moon. Blood moon. The most potent night for an initiation ritual in the Otherworld. Stella Blackthorn had just completed the pack's mating ritual that linked her destiny with the Alfa, Pete Morgenstern for the next three lifetimes.

It took her some time to step into the routine of her new role, as the second in command in the Morgenstern pack. Pete was ruthless with the wolves, but gentle and romantic with her, keeping the balance from sunrise to sundown.

One nightmare later, it was all snatched away from her, as she found the dismembered remains of her beloved Pete, as she returned from a hunting spree.

She yearned for the end to come, desperate for the ancient deities who looked after her pack, to come and claim her as they did Pete, but instead in the very next moment, the wolf responsible, walked in to announce his dominant presence and claim his prize - The pack.... and her!

Jasper Dawn.

The only way out of this situation was a ritual, Stella had only heard legends of. The Retreat ritual, let any wolf in a near-death situation surrender its powers to the mother moon, therefore cutting all ties, and blood links to its wolf identity and heritage, becoming a mere, mortal human.

The only setbacks were, she needed a volunteer werewolf vessel, to contain her powers within the pack and one from a pure bloodline. The ritual had to take place, no later than on the tenth day of the Samhain festivities under the supervision of a witch.

Samhain was a time when the doorways to the Otherworld opened, allowing supernatural beings and souls of the dead to come into our world. Beltane, being the festival of the living, turned Samhain, the other part, into the festival of the dead. Amongst many stories revolving around Samhain and Halloween, with the doors to the Otherworld being opened, among the creatures that come out we can find werewolves as well, thus explaining the need for collaboration between the werewolf pack, and nature witches coven. People often say opposites attract. People are also idiots who think silver bullets have special powers or you need a broom to fly. Sure, you might find someone vastly different from you interesting for a spell, but generally, your instincts give you pause about those who lack common interests. Once in a blue moon though, paths magically cross and two very different creatures bewitch one another.

That's what had accrued between Stella and her best friend, Iliana who was part of the nature witches coven, on the other side of the lake.

The voice of her despised predator forced her to snap out of it, quickly!

"By the laws of the pack, Stella you are now my right, just like our two packs will now link their paths. I have defeated your Alfa and am claiming his territory, as the Gods are to witness!"

"And, if I refuse you?!" She challenged, fearlessly.

"Then your pack will pay the price, in blood!"

With these words, he disappeared out of the room, leaving Stella a mess on the floor!

She couldn't show any weakness. It would end up being a death sentence, for her and the pack!

"Meet me at the stone circle, by the lake with your decision. Either you become my mate, a Nobel sacrifice for the sake of your wolves, and we merge our packs tonight, or you and your puppies become a feast for my wolves, and we completely wipe you off the face of this land. You decide."

At the stone circle, her entire pack stared at her with unmistakable terror, in their eyes, as the time to speak up dawned upon her.

"What is your answer, Stella?"

She was looking, straight into the eyes of the monster, who'd robbed her of everything dear, with an unbreakable spirit in her, as she spoke at last.

"My answer is....Yes ."

The ritual was going to save her, but until then her survival instincts told her to play the part...