Aria, a wolf-girl who cannot shift, is won over by Alpha Kane's five years of devotion and risks her life to awaken her bloodline. On the day of her awakening, she gains empathic sense—and immediately perceives Kane's year-long affair with a beta. Heartbroken, Aria fakes her death, plays the betrayal video at their mate ceremony, and delivers her "corpse" to Kane before disappearing forever. She finds her birth family, renames herself Phoenix, and rises from the ashes. When Kane comes begging for forgiveness, she leaves him with only one word: Never.
