“I was drowning in the pool, chlorine burning my lungs, but my fated mate, Jax, swam right past me. He scooped up Catalina, the swim team captain who was faking a cramp, and carried her to safety like she was made of glass. When I dragged myself out, shivering and humiliated, Jax didn't offer a hand. Instead, he glared at me with cold hazel eyes. "Stop acting like a victim, Eliana," he spat in front of the whole pack. "You're just jealous." He was the Alpha Heir, and I was the unshifted failure. He broke our bond piece by piece, culminating at the sacred Moon Tree where he slashed through our carved initials to replace them with hers. But the final blow wasn't emotional; it was lethal. Catalina threw my car keys into a pond laced with Wolfsbane. As the poison paralyzed my limbs and I sank into the dark water, unable to breathe, I saw Jax standing on the bank. "Stop playing games!" he shouted at the ripples. He turned his back and walked away, leaving me to die. I survived, but the girl who loved him didn't. I finally accepted the rejection he never had the guts to speak. Jax thought I would crawl back in a week. He thought I was nothing without the pack's protection. He was wrong. I moved to New York and walked into a dance studio, right into the arms of a True Alpha named Daryl. And when I finally shifted, I wasn't a weak Omega. I was a White Wolf. By the time Jax realized what he had thrown away, I was already a Queen.”