Chapter 2

Three years later…

(Natalia)

TONIGHT, the enemies decided to come out to play. And I was their target. My chest pounded. I yanked the steering wheel around, hit the accelerator, and drove at full speed. It was Friday night but the road that was usually bustling with humans right now was empty. There was not anyone in sight although I could hear the music blasting from the speakers in the nightclubs nearby.

Yet there was no sound coming from anyone. It was just the loud music.

And I didn’t know whether to worry or be relieved. It was either the vampires were playing a trick on me, or they did something to the humans. Even my personal guards who were following me in another car had disappeared in the dark.

This was not the first attack the vampires had launched against me. I’d experienced quite a few ambushes while I was in my kingdom although this was the first time this had happened since I arrived here in the humans’ domain a few years ago to become my kingdom’s representative to solidify the peace treaty between the humans and wolves.

The vampires and werewolves had been at war when the werewolves had chosen to protect the humans from the vampires rather than join them in turning the world into a bloody carnival. That was more than a century ago.

I gripped the steering wheel. I could hear their footsteps getting closer. They were growling, exerting their dominance. If there was one common thing about the werewolves and vampires, it was the fact that they were both hunters and monsters by nature.

The more you run, the harder they will chase.

No one enjoys the chase better than them.

I fought back the scream that almost escaped from my lips the moment three of the male vampires suddenly appeared in front of the road. There were three more behind me. In a blink of an eye, one of them was already smacking the hood of my car loud and hard enough that the engine died down.

I steeled my resolve. I refused to let them see the fear in my eyes.

Between us, these men were the real cowards. They were confident to do this knowing that I was alone.

“You have two options, little wolf,” he announced with that twisted glimmer in his red eyes. “You can either get out of this damn car and come with us quietly and peacefully or you can choose to play with us first by trying to fight back.” He ran his heated gaze over my face. And then he licked his lower lip. “After all, we love fighters. We welcome them in our beds.”

The vampires behind him smirked while looking at me with malice in their eyes.

Some of them whistled when I gave them what they wanted. I kept my expression neutral as I straightened my jacket and stepped out of my car. I walked slowly and calmly toward the man in front of me.

A huge grin spread across his face, revealing his glistening fangs. He glanced at his equally deranged friends.

“I told you to lower your expectations for tonight, brothers. This one here is a very boring puppy but it’s okay as long as she’ll prove to be very interesting when I pin her down below me and moan for me-”

My long blonde hair fell over my shoulders when I took the pin from it and stabbed it in his throat as quickly as I could before he could finish his sentence. The hair pin was a gift from my father, one of the countless weapons he had showered me with through the years. I didn’t know it would come in handy tonight.

The laughter faded as the vampire’s blood dripped down my hand. He looked shocked but as soon as he recovered, his eyes narrowed. I didn’t give him the time to spout more nonsense. I slammed his head on the hood of my car as I grabbed the dagger from my boot and pierced it through his heart when he turned to me furiously.

The dagger was laced with werewolf venom. Every weapon I possessed was laced with the same venom, including the bullets in my gun.

His whole body convulsed as he fell on the ground. I looked up and met the simmering gazes of the vampires who were still stunned as they stared at me and at the lifeless body beside me.

One down.

I pulled the dagger out from their friend. More blood splattered.

Mischief was dancing in my eyes when I asked, “Who’s next?”

They growled while I kept myself steady. You never become the alpha king’s daughter without spilling blood. My whole life, everybody thought that just because I didn’t have a beast inside me, I’d been so protected that I knew nothing about bloodshed.

And I loved proving them wrong.

I may not be able to shift but the alpha king’s strength was built into me. My senses were as sharp as his. I was also just as strong and as quick as him. I trained night and day for the past years. He made sure of that so if an emergency were to arise, I would not be defenseless, and no one could belittle me.

I believed I earned my right to be his daughter. Dad made me train so hard that I was not afraid of drawing blood, but I was sure that if he were to find out about tonight’s ambush, he would still send the entire army for me and would be on the frontline himself to protect me.

When I was a little girl, even a scrape on my knee was more than enough for the great Mikhail Larsen to freak out.

My heart warmed a bit at the memory before I focused on the men who gritted their teeth. Their nails sharpened as they advanced towards me.

I slid my precious dagger back in my boot and tugged the pistol from the back of my jeans and fired their chests and foreheads. Three more to go. They cussed as I dodged another hit but while I was firing, one of them positioned himself behind me. His nails dug into my shoulders which made me flinch as his fangs sank in my neck. It took everything in me not to scream as the pain hit me in waves.

My knees wobbled in an instant and my vision started to blur but I shook my head as I twisted the vampire’s arm. I elbowed his throat, crushing his windpipe, and when I finally managed to break free from his grip, I put the last two bullets in his head. I was panting and sweating by the time I turned to my last attacker for tonight.

I could feel my face slowly losing color as the coldness from the bite began to spread from my neck down to different parts of my body. The vampire grinned. He swept my leg out and I was knocked down. A tortured groan tore from my throat.

But I still managed to duck his fist. I gathered my remaining strength and drove my dagger in his neck until his blood pooled on my face and shirt before I pushed him away from me.

And then I forced myself to run only to stop when more vampires appeared from the shadows. Their auras were different. They were stronger than the ones I faced; I could feel it. The evil glint in their eyes and their wicked smiles made me quiver. It was as if they only tested me, that what happened earlier was just practice.

And this was the real hunt.

The real game.

I tried to fight it. The helplessness. The fear. The exhaustion. But I could no longer help it. For the first time, panic flourished in my chest.

With every step they took closer to me, I stepped back until my knees wavered and I found myself falling on the ground. The bitemark throbbed like crazy and my body was shaking until the last weapon I had, the dagger, slid down my palm.

I was foolish to think I had escaped death.

It turned out I had only delayed it for a few minutes.

When they were only a few steps away from me, I let out a desperate scream, hoping that someone out there would hear. When seconds passed and no one responded to my plea, a sense of utter failure washed over me.

I was about to lower my head when I heard a familiar growl.

It was my first time hearing it again after three long years but I would recognize the sound wherever I was.

A knot formed in my stomach when I looked up.

And there, I saw the wolf of the very man who swore to devour me the next time I met him.

Blaze.

His huge wolf was running towards me with his pack behind him. His black fur shone under the moonlight.

And when his glowing golden eyes met mine, he let out a roar, the loudest I had ever heard.