Chapter One: Glitter and Ghosts
Auriella
I wasn't supposed to be here.
Technically, no wolves were.
But rules were more like guidelines when you looked this good and walked like you belonged.
The club throbbed with bass, strobe lights slicing through the haze like lightning. Bodies moved like shadows against crimson light—human, maybe some half-bloods, maybe worse. Not my business. I was here for fun. And maybe a drink that tasted like candy and rebellion.
"Rie," Luna my best friend whispered, tugging my wrist as we slid past the velvet curtain into the VIP section, "this is insane. You see that guy over there? He just tried to sniff me."
I smirked, scanning the room. "Welcome to the human side. No manners, all hormones."
I was wearing black leather, boots to kill in, and enough highlighter to blind the next man who thought grabbing was flirting. I'd already said no three times. A fourth guy bumped into me and I let my elbow speak for me. He slunk away.
I sat on a velvet couch, legs crossed, drink in hand, bored already. The music was good. The attention? Predictable. I sipped something blue and fizzy, pretending it wasn't watered down trouble.
That's when I felt him.
Not saw.
Felt.
Like cold air had just walked in and decided to sit behind my neck.
I turned—and that was my first mistake.
He was standing across the room. Not dancing. Not talking. Just watching. Still. Sharp. Unapologetically alone.
Black shirt. Silver ring.
Tattoo along his hands that looked like a whisper from a blade.
And those eyes—Hazel—but so firet they looked like they'd seen too much, like an inferno.
I held his gaze longer than I meant to. He didn't look away. He didn't even flinch.
What a prick.
I turned back around.
If anyone asked, I was having the time of my life.
The bass throbbed under my feet like a promise, smoke curled across the floor like it knew how to touch me, and neon lights painted the world in colors bold enough to forget.
I tipped my head back and downed the shot, the alcohol burning like fire down my throat. The glass hit the counter with a sharp clink, and I smirked.
"Your liver's crying," Luna shouted over the music. She tugged my wrist playfully. "Another round?"
"Only if we dance it off," I grinned.
Luna Valen, Beta's daughter, chaos in heels. Always at my side, always louder than whatever consequences we were ignoring.
"You know your father's going to kill us if he finds out we crossed into human territory again," she said, laughing.
"Then we better make it worth dying for," I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the pulsing crowd.
And for a while, I let it drown me—the beat, the bodies, the buzz. I let it scrub away the ache, the hollow place my mother used to fill, the empty seat at every council meeting where my father should've been.
The club reeked of sin and sweat and glitter. It was perfect.
Until he came.
Some overconfident frat boy with a smirk and a cologne that made my eyes water. "You're too pretty to be here alone," he said, already touching my waist.
"I'm not alone," I said without looking,
His eyes were glowing now—definitely not human, how could I not have noticed the pale skin.
Vampire.
He hopped up on bloodlust and bad ideas—stumbled toward me, half-shifted. "You smell different," he slurred, reaching for me.
" F**k off," I say, spinning way.
He followed. "C'mon, just one dance."
"No."
He grabbed my arm. I turned to him slowly, smile sugary-sweet and venomous. "If I wanted a stray mutt to hump my leg, I'd go to the kennel."
Then I poured my cup of drink on him.
Gasps. Laughter.
He flushed red. I didn't care.
He stormed off, tail between his legs.
Luna whistled. "You're going to get us killed one day."
"Then I hope I look hot in the obituary."
But beneath the glitter and defiance, something in his eyes—that dark, spiteful flash—sent a chill down my spine.
Minutes later, I told Luna I needed air and slipped out the back. The alley behind the club was empty. Quiet. The first real silence of the night.
Until it wasn't.
Footsteps. Four of them.
I turned—and there he was.
Frat Boy. And three others.
"You really thought you'd walk away after that?" he sneered.
They surrounded me.
Fear clawed up my spine. My wolf was silent. Useless. My limbs shook.
"Touch me," I whispered, "and I'll have your spine fed to hounds."
They laughed.
The frat boy grabbed me arm and I pushed him away with all the force I could muster.
I rolled my eyes and stood my ground. "Touch me again, and I'll snap something expensive."
He didn't listen.
Of course he didn't.
He grabbed my wrist, claws brushing skin.
One lunged.
And then--
Before I could react—he did.
He moved.
I didn't hear him come. I barely saw him before it happened.
Frat Boy hit the wall with a sickening thud. One by one, the others followed. Arms snapped. Bones shattered. Screams choked off by fists.
And standing in the center of it all was a shadow made flesh.
Black hair tousled like he'd just rolled out of bed. Hazel eyes glinting gold in the dark. Ink wrapped around sinewed arms, half-covered by a fitted shirt that did nothing to hide the body beneath. His movements were precise. Surgical. Beautiful and brutal.
The guy from before.
What stole my breath wasn't his face or speed—
It was the way he looked at me.
Not with lust like other boys did.
Not even curiosity.
With contempt.
Like he'd seen girls like me before. Too many of them. And he hated every one.
He didn't even look at the body he just dropped. His eyes stayed on me.
Close now. Too close.
"Try using your brain before your mouth next time, Princess," he said, voice low and cold enough to frost my drink.
My mouth fell open. "Excuse me?"
He stepped back, already turning away, like I wasn't worth the heat in the air.
Oh hell no.
"You could've just walked away," I snapped, trying to move but my body felt numb from the fear just moments ago. "You think saving someone gives you a free pass to insult them?"
He didn't stop
He didn't speak again. Just continued on his strides, ready to leave me there in the dirt with the men he'd broken.
"Wait," I managed, heart still hammering. "Who—what are you?"
He paused.
Then turned his head just slightly toward me.
The club noise faded in that one second. Like the space around him obeyed.
"You looked like you needed saving," he said. "Clearly, I was wrong."
My heart slammed once, hard.
"You're such an ass," I hissed.
"And you're reckless. You walk like nothing can touch you but one day maybe something will."
"F**k you, you know nothing about me,"
" Well maybe I do, I hate people like you," he said, voice low and cold enough to frost the air. "The kind who wear crowns and glitter like armor… pretending you're strong while hiding behind others."
I froze.
His eyes flicked over me one last time. Then—
Low. Harsh. Uninterested.
"Next time, don't pick fights you can't finish, You're not dangerous....just decorated"
My mouth opened. No sound came out.
I blinked.
He turned and walked away like I was beneath his notice.
I tried to stand but my knees where too weak from the shock and surprise, heat blooming in my face. "Hey! I said—what's that supposed to mean?!"
No answer.
I didn't even realize I was still kneeling on the ground until Luna grabbed me.
"Auri! There you are! We have to go! My dad's men are already sniffing around the perimeter!"
"What?" I blinked.
"Your father's guards. We have maybe two minutes before they drag us out by our hair."
Still breathless, still burning with the weight of those words—You're not dangerous, just decorated—I let Luna yank me up.
We bolted through the back streets, heels clicking, laughter bubbling out of Luna as we ran like teenagers sneaking out past curfew.
"Did you see someone weird out here?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder. "I thought I saw a guy in black... like damn."
I looked back.
Nothing.
The alley was empty.
But his voice clung to me like smoke.
Even now, running through the backstreets with Luna's hand gripping mine, I couldn't stop hearing them. Over and over, like a curse branded into my bones.
---
We slipped past the perimeter wall, Luna's agility saving us both from getting snagged by the thorns. Her ponytail bounced as she landed on her feet like a cat.
"I swear," she muttered, brushing off her leather pants, "if we get caught, I'm blaming you."
"You're Beta-born," I snapped. "They won't touch you."
She grinned over her shoulder. "Which is exactly why I can drag you into trouble with zero consequences."
I didn't answer.
I couldn't.
Because something inside me had cracked. Something I wasn't ready to look at too closely.
---
Later that night, after we'd snuck through the east wing of the manor, past the guards too lazy to question us, and split off from Luna near the guest corridors, I collapsed onto my bed fully clothed.
The silence of my room swallowed me.
High ceilings. Pale marble. Velvet drapes. Chandeliers. A palace fit for an Alpha's heir.
I hated every inch of it.
I rolled over and stared at the gold-framed photo on my dresser. My parents, before everything crumbled.
FLASHBACK – 8 Years Ago
I was nine the last time my father hugged me.
It had been raining. My mother's funeral.
She'd died protecting me during a vampire ambush. They never found her killer. Not really. Just… ashes and rage.
I remembered clutching my wolf plush in one hand, the other in my father's as he stood beside the casket.
He didn't cry.
He didn't shake.
He just whispered, "You'll have to be strong now. Stronger than she was."
And then he let go of my hand.
---
He was never the same after that.
And neither was I.
He started training warriors harder. Left more often. Came home less.
When I asked him once why he didn't spend time with me anymore, he said:
> "Because the world won't care who you are if you're weak, Aurelia. It'll eat you. So stop asking for love and start learning how to survive."
For me.
I was nine. I didn't understand what death felt like yet.
But I remember my father's hand. Gripping mine. Then releasing it.
Like I was suddenly too heavy to hold.
"She died for you," he said softly. "Don't let that be wasted."
He didn't hug me.
Didn't cry.
Just walked out.
The next day, I woke up and she was gone. But the training began for me.
I wasn't taught how to grieve.
I was taught how to command.
Taught how to keep my back straight even when my ribs cracked from a sparring blow.
Taught to give orders I didn't understand, wear heels I didn't like, and smile with the elegance of a girl meant to rule—even though I'd never even shifted.
Every scar I wasn't allowed to show became glitter. Every breakdown became a laugh too loud.
Because if I didn't shine, I'd disappear.
---
I slammed the photo frame back down, face-down again. My hands trembled.
Decorated.
Not dangerous.
He didn't even know me. He just saw through me.
And I hated him for it.
Hated him for the way he made my lungs forget how to work. For the way his words kept echoing long after his body disappeared.
What kind of man could slice someone open with nothing but a sentence?
I grabbed the edge of my vanity to steady myself. My reflection in the mirror looked back, flushed, wild-eyed. I didn't recognize her.
But just as I was about to turn away—
I felt it.
That tingle. That pull. Like a shift in the air. Like someone watching me through the silence.
I turned to the window.
And froze.
A shadow stood at the edge of the courtyard.
Still. Silent.
Just… watching.
Too far to see the face.
Too deliberate to be accidental.
My heart skipped.
Once.
Twice.
The lights flickered. My pulse roared.
But when I blinked—he was gone.