THREE

Orion watched the female's eyes roll to the back of her head, her small frame going limp in his arms as she lost consciousness. Without a word, he lifted her in his arms, cradling her against his chest while keeping her face from view before turning to the other Lycans behind him.

The general had a shocked expression on his face, but when the Alpha's stern gaze met his, he quickly averted his gaze, straightened up, and cleared his throat.

"Find the boy; he went that way," Orion ordered, nodding to the other side of the woods.

"Yes, Alpha," he quickly sprang into action, barking out orders to the soldiers.

Orion turned away from the scene and started towards the village with the human girl in his arms; looking down at her, he narrowed his eyes when he noticed the red fingerprints stark against the caramel skin of her neck and sighed. He hadn't realised he was holding her too tight until she began to lose consciousness.

He knew humans were fragile and dispensable, but this was his mate. He failed to understand how a filthy little human could be his mate, could make him lose control of his beast.

He made it out of the tree line and towards the clearing in the village; his soldiers were still patrolling the perimeter when they saw the Alpha carrying a human girl. Orion noticed their shocked expressions but ignored them and slipped into the back of the awaiting black SUV.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the little boy, who his mate had risked her life to protect, being hurled into one of the vans and growled lowly. If it wasn't him and it had been another Lycan, she'd be dead; the thought of her dead didn't exactly sit well with him.

He looked down at her, pinpointing the smallest details on her face. She had some similarities to the boy—the same head of brown curls and big brown eyes. He remembered they held such fire and hatred for his kind. She didn't show fear even when he tried to strangle her to death.

She'd even killed one of his soldiers; he was a little impressed, but pigs would sooner fly before he'd ever admit that. His eyes slowly trailed down to the mark on her neck, his mark. He traced it with the pad of his thumb and watched her shudder in her sleep with a satisfied smirk.

The vehicle roared to life, and as the driver pulled away from the ruins of what was once her village, he involuntarily pulled her closer to his chest. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with her; he had lived decades without a mate and without hope of ever finding one, but now that she was here, right in his arms, he was confused, especially because she was a filthy little human.

She wasn't fit to be his, but somehow Selene paired them. He gritted his teeth in anger, knowing he now had a weak link, something his enemies could use to get to him.

He couldn't let that happen; he would sooner lock her up and throw away the key than allow that to happen.

He hadn't meant to mark her, but he'd lost control, something that had never happened in centuries; he almost felt fear at how much power the filthy little human held over his beast side. He couldn't allow that to happen again, not if he planned to keep her.

***
The loud crunch of snow made Rey look down at her brown boots as she walked the familiar trail leading to her village. Emerging from the treeline, she noticed the once-white snow had turned black.

Slowly she raised her hand to catch a falling snowflake only to find black soot staining her fingertips. Raising her head, the thick smell of smoke invaded her nostrils, causing her to gag and cough violently.

Panic surged through her at the thought of her village being raided, and as she rushed out of the tree line into her little village, she realised she was too late.

Rows and rows of cabins were set ablaze, and the bodies of her people were scattered around the burning cabins; she exhaled a shaky breath, her breath coming out in a cloud of white mist.

"Beau," came her broken voice as she trudged through crimson-covered snow in search of her little brother.

The thought of losing the only family she had left to the beasts who slaughtered their parents wrenched a hole in her already broken heart.

She continued through the devastation in search of Beau, and screaming his name, she choked on her own tears when she came up empty.

Her knees gave out, and she fell into the soot-covered snow; a heart-wrenching pain tore through her heart, and she clutched her chest as she let out a gut-wrenching scream.

"Beau!"

Her eyes snapped open as she jolted awake with a gasp; she forced herselfinto a sitting position, breathing heavily through her mouth.

"It was only a dream; Beau is fine." She chanted under my breath, trying to slow down her racing heart. Exhaling shakily, she raised her head to fully take in her unfamiliar surroundings. She was in a tiny room with a bed she was currently occupying, which took up most of the space, and a tiny wardrobe by the closed door.

This was obviously not her village; if the room wasn't a stark reminder, then the painful throb in her neck was a better reminder of what the beast had done to her.

She swung her legs over the side of the tiny bed and got off. She hissed in pain from the throbbing wound on her neck when she turned her head but ignored it and waddled towards the closed door.

She quickly turned the knob frantically, only to find it locked.

Gritting her teeth in anger, she kicked the door, banging repeatedly on the door with a closed fist in hopes that someone would hear and finally unlock the door.

The pain from her wound made her stop the banging, and she leaned back against the door, trying to catch her breath and calm the flaring pain on her neck.

When her breathing evened out, she walked towards the small wardrobe that was almost her height and pulled it open, finding one brown dress hanging and nothing else. She frowned at the ugly dress and searched the two inner compartments, only to find a shard of broken mirror in one.

She picked it up and held it over the area on her neck to examine the bite wound. She gasped at the state of it; the area surrounding the puncture marks was red and looked painfully raw. She attempted to prod it, but it was too painful to touch.

"Fuck!" she cursed, turning away from the wardrobe and marching towards the door. She stashed the shard of mirror into the waistband of her pants and adjusted her shirt over it so it wasn't visible.

Just as she made a move to bang against the door again, it was swiftly pushed open. A tall woman stood there, a sneer decorating her thin lips coated in red lipstick as her blue eyes looked Rey up and down condescendingly. Rey could tell she was a she-wolf from her size and the sheer arrogance she exuded.

"You're finally awake," the she-wolf spoke up first in a condescending tone, but Rey remained quiet, choosing to stare back at the woman with a calculating gaze.

"Do not waste my time, slave; get changed and come with me," she sneered when she got no reaction from Rey, but Rey only glared back, her fist clenching in anger at the term the She-wolf used to address her.

"No," Rey responded through gritted teeth, her gaze unwavering from the she-wolf's.

"What did you say?," she sneered, her glare almost laser like but Rey glared back in defiance.

"I said no," she enunciated each syllable through clenched teeth.

One thing the beasts hated most was disrespect, and she planned on using that to her advantage. She wasn't going to sit on her hands and let them do as they pleased with her; she'd rather die than let that happen.

Her eyes narrowed, but instead of anger, there was a malicious glint in them.

"Good. I break rebellious human trash like you for sport," she grinned, marching into the room with a sickening smile stretched across her thin lips.

Rey stood her ground, and as soon as the she-wolf approached, she raised her fist and struck her, the force of it sending her flying literally across the room. She crashed against the wardrobe and felt warm liquid run down her nose and mouth.

Before she could get her bearings, the she-wolf was already in front of her and gripping a fistful of her hair and dragging her towards the door as Rey tried to resist, kicking and scratching at her forearms.
She dragged Rey to her feet by her hair and slammed her back against the wall beside the door, her fist immediately closing around her neck.

Rey gasped as the familiar pain of being choked registered. She kicked and scratched, but the she-wolf wasn't fazed, her sickening smile still in place while she continued to choke the life out of her.

What was it with these damned beasts trying to choke her to death, she thought grimly.

Rey reached into the waistband of her pants in desperation when she started to see black dots swirl across her vision. Gripping the sharp shard of glass tightly in her right hand, she stopped struggling and waited. When the she-wolf saw that Rey was about to lose consciousness, she quickly released her grip around her neck, and in that vulnerable moment, Rey saw an opening and swung the sharp glass, slitting her throat open within seconds.

The she-wolf gasped in horror and clutched her bleeding throat as blood rapidly slipped through her fingers. She continued to choke on her own blood, her eyes wide with shock as she staggered and lost her balance, falling to the ground.

She tried to reach a bloody hand towards Rey's foot with her dying breath, but before she could touch the material of her pants, she fell limp on her back, her lifeless eyes wide open, stuck in a mixture of shock and horror.

Rey was breathing hard, clutching her throat as she watched the life leave her eyes. She stood there, still reeling from what she'd done, but the thought of what the other beasts would do to her when they found the body snapped her back to reality.

She inched towards the open door but stopped halfway when she saw a bunch of keys on the floor beside the dead She-wolf slowly crouched down, grabbing the bunch of keys off the floor.

She turned away from the dead She-wolf and walked out the door. She'd taken another life, but she practically felt nothing. There was no guilt, and the thought bothered her, but nothing mattered because she'd have been killed had she not fought back.

They had killed her parents in the past; she wasn't going to allow the same thing to happen to her or Beau, not if she had a say in it. She didn't know if Beau had been found by human hunters, but she hoped to God that was the case.

Although she'd never met one but she knew they were the only ones that stood a chance against the beasts.