Chapter 1

(Natalia)

‘GENERAL Blaze Kingston is not the kind of man girls like you could handle, your highness. He could corrupt you and taint your innocence. Worse, he could shred your heart to pieces.’

Nana Elena’s warning kept ringing in my ears while I was searching for a certain figure around the hall but I could not stop my feet from moving. I could not stop my heart from looking for him. After all, how could a person ever stop looking for her mate?

I knew since I was sixteen that Blaze Kingston was the one for me. I may not have a wolf, but I felt it. There was this magnetic force flowing between us, a force that he did not acknowledge back then.

I hadn’t seen Blaze for almost two years since he left the city to lead the war against the rogues. I’d been looking forward to this day. He was back in the city and right now, he was in this very castle for his victory party that my father had arranged for him and his troop.

It was finally my time to show him how much I had grown. I am eighteen now. Maybe I could change his mind about me, about us.

No. There shouldn’t be any room for maybes.

I will definitely change his mind about me tonight.

I could not even imagine another alternative.

I raised my chin and straightened my long, red gown which hugged all my curves perfectly. My confidence soared high as the alphas all looked at my direction upon seeing me and did not look away like they could not take their eyes off me.

I smiled and politely declined all the dance invitations I received. There was only one man I wanted to see and dance with. Unfortunately, that man was nowhere to be found.

I left the Great Hall when I did not see him there. Blaze had always disliked parties. I found myself in the back garden. My pulse pounded when I finally saw him, the green-eyed six feet three inches walking heartbreak, the type of man any woman would want to unravel.

With his height and with his hard, muscular body, he looked invincible in his military uniform which emphasized his broad shoulders. His sleeves were rolled to his elbows revealing his strong veiny arms.

How I missed him.

A princess should not run. A princess should never look for a man. Men should be the one looking for me. But I’d ignored the princess’s etiquette and rushed to him.

‘Your highness, this is wrong in so many ways. General Kingston is your father’s most loyal subordinate and his very best friend. His Majesty will never allow this to happen.’

I shook my head to stop myself from reminiscing Nana’s words. It will be hard, but I knew my father would understand once he found out who Blaze was in my life. Mates were sacred in our kingdom, and he was aware of that.

Besides, Blaze may be the same age as dad, but he was not getting older. In fact, as a hybrid, he was only getting hotter, and I was sure all the members of his fans club would agree with me. Even now, heat surged through me while I was staring at him. That was how much impact he had on me, especially on my body.

I was only a few steps away from Blaze and was about to call him when I saw a raven-haired woman in a black gown running to him. And when he welcomed her with a hot, fiery kiss on the lips, I froze.

The woman was taller than me, she was sexier too. She looked older than me, but she was very sophisticated, and I could feel the power of her wolf from where I stood.

She was a beta; I was sure of that.

In short, she was everything I was not.

The smile on my lips vanished. All the happiness and excitement I felt about today had flown out the window as Nana's words rang louder in my ears.

“Blaze,” I whispered, my stomach twisting painfully.

He heard me.

His eyes settled on me and as if taunting me, he didn’t stop kissing the woman. He didn’t release her. Instead, he held her tighter as his intense gaze slipped through my very being. His eyes lingered on my face, especially on my lips.

My cheeks blazed but despite the situation, my throat went dry, and my body still chose to be a traitor. I still could not help this wild need sparking inside me.

I cleared my throat to steal the woman’s attention who was too caught up in his kisses to notice my presence.

She snapped. “Who dares to disturb me and the General in our private time-“

“Me,” I replied in a cold voice, my eyes never leaving Blaze’s.

When the woman finally turned towards me, her eyes widened. Her face had turned red from embarrassment. She immediately lowered her head. “Greetings, your highness. Please pardon my words. I didn’t know that it was you-“

“Now that you know, will you leave us alone for a moment? I need to talk to General Kingston alone.”

She looked extremely annoyed although she tried to quickly mask her expression when Blaze nodded at her. She bowed her head once more and walked away until I was left face to face with him. With the alpha general’s piercing green eyes, strong jaw, straight nose, sun-kissed skin, and wavy midnight black hair which he tied in a bun, he looked like every woman’s wet dream.

But tonight, there was something in his eyes which made him appear… merciless.

“Why?” the word escaped from my mouth before I even realized it.

“Why what, Natalia?”

I clenched my hands. I had always loved the fact that in this castle, there was one more person aside from my father who called me by my name. Yet tonight, his voice lacked the sense of familiarity as he uttered my name as if I was nothing but a mere stranger to him.

Until now, I could still see the crimson half-moon mark on his left wrist. It was exactly the same as mine. And I knew he had seen mine, too. We were the only ones who could see our marks, proof that we were meant to be together.

“You knew that we were fated mates, Blaze. Why were you kissing another woman when I’m right here? We belong to each other.”

“Belong to each other? You and I?” A cruel chuckle escaped his mouth. He closed the gap between us in an effortless stride. He stood so close that he was only a breath away. His thumb brushed over my bottom lip, making me shiver. “What kind of fantasy world do you live in, Natalia? I should talk to your father and advise him to stop buying you some useless fairytale books.”

“But it’s true,” I insisted even if my confidence was shattering. “The mark on your wrist-“

“Doesn’t mean anything. I will never belong to a girl. Much more, to someone like you. Baby, have you drunk your milk yet? It’s past ten in the evening. You shouldn’t be wandering outside like this. Go back to your room, Natalia. Didn’t anyone tell you to be wary of the monsters lurking in the dark?”

Tears rolled down my cheeks. Blaze was always distant to people, but he was never this cruel to me. In fact, he was once protective of me. He used to care until I turned sixteen and he saw my mark. Since then, I’d become invisible in his eyes.

“I’m no longer a little girl, Blaze. I’m a woman now.”

To prove my point, I tiptoed and grabbed his nape. I pulled him to me and crashed my lips on his, fulfilling another dream of mine. To kiss him. But it was like kissing a statue. The fire that he had shown as he kissed another woman was gone. Instead, the man in front of me was… ice cold.

In the end, I was the one who had to pull away.

Maybe he was right. I was trapped in a fairytale. I never thought that my first kiss would be this humiliating, this heartbreaking.

His voice was mocking when he asked, “Have you had your fun, little princess?”

I could not speak. I bit my lower lip and his gaze loitered on my lips for a moment. He swallowed hard and took a sharp breath. Before he could say another word, I turned my back on him. All the courage I plucked up for this moment had left me.

But he did not let me go.

He did not let me recover from the shame when he grabbed my arm.

“You said you are a woman now. That must mean you can handle a little pain now, right, princess?”

My heart thudded. “What are you saying?”

He looked deep into my eyes and uttered, “I, Blaze Kingston, alpha of the crescent moon pack, general of the kingdom’s army, reject you, princess Natalia Larsen, as my woman and my mate.”

My lips parted.

Before I could say another word, I felt a searing pain from my mark, it quickly spread all over my body. My mark burned in my wrist, and I had to bite my lower lip until it bled to stop myself from screaming. It was a windy night, but my entire body was hot. I felt like something was being ripped from my wrist all the way to my heart and soul.

When I staggered, Blaze caught me by the waist. I could tell that the mate bond rejection had not been easy for him as well judging from the beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

His jaw ticked when our eyes locked, and he saw the tears streaming down my eyes.

“I am not a prince from your fairytale books, Natalia. I am the monster lurking in the dark. Remember that. The next time you approach me again, princess, I will devour you.”

Blaze freed me from his grip and left me crumbling from his words.

My knees wobbled and I fell on the ground. When I looked at my wrist, pain lashed at my chest as a bitter smile formed on my lips. The mark was gone.

And so was the first man I had ever loved.

I screamed as the crippling pain grew so strong that I could not contain it anymore. The wolves responded to me and howled. In an instant, the guards were rushing to me. And so was my father. Their eyes were alert as they surrounded me protectively and scanned the area around me.

Dad scooped me up upon seeing me on the ground. In a worried expression, he asked, “What happened, Natalia?”

He looked murderous. I lied and in a low and broken voice, I whispered, “No matter what I do, I always fail, dad.”

Dad took a rough breath as he took me carefully in his arms. “That’s not true. You are my daughter. You are going to be okay.”

I did not answer. I was not sure how to respond to that. That was when I saw Nana Elena. It only took her one look at me to know what truly happened. She was wrong though.

I wasn’t just shred to pieces.

I was crushed.