CHAPTER 1 - DEAR MATE

ASTRID

It had been four years since I last saw the sky – four years since my parents were killed – four years since I got locked up in this bloody cell all because I wasn't able to transform.

It was mating season, and I was meant to transform and find my mate, but instead, I got locked up in a prison cell for my parents' supposed treason. I wasn't allowed to see them before they died.

I was stripped of my title as the future Luna, and of course, my supposed mate Zade cowered and rejected me. Four years had passed since then, and I was still locked up in the cell. Today it's selection day…..the day I'd escape and have my vengeance on the Pack who caused my pain and suffering. They were the only reason I was breathing – my very reason for existence: revenge.

They killed my parents, and I'd kill their pack - blood for blood.

My hands were cuffed to the wall that dug deeper each time I tried to move. The old me would have been scared, but I'm not anymore. They killed her.

The howls, which were my only connection to the outside world, increased, signifying the wolves had found their mates and were probably going to celebrate, meaning it was now or never.

It was time – the moon was setting, and my newly awakened wolf would forge a bond with me.

A tremor finally ran down my spine as my wolf, "Eliza," bonded with me.

"Eliza," I whispered.

"He's here - It's time."

She huffs happily in acknowledgment, and I stop to tell her my plan to kill him but suddenly stop when someone approaches.

Loud boots. Sharp and commanding, followed by a set of other boots.

The door creaks slowly, unleashing the moonlight which I hadn't seen in years – it got brighter, revealing the figure or figures who approached.

Among them stood him, "Kieran Thorne" – The son of Xavier Thorne - The man who killed my parents.

I felt it immediately when I saw him.... the pull to him.

The sharp, agonizing pain that made me want to hold onto him and never stop – the same way I felt when I was mated to Zade, which meant the son of the man who killed my father was my mate!

How was this possible?

"Mate!" – my wolf Eliza howled in excitement, contradicting the pain I was feeling.

It had to be a mistake. A cruel joke played by the Moon Goddess… something!

How could she do this to me? After all the pain she put on me, she decides to add more?

I looked back at Kieran who seemed to have halted but maintained his posture nevertheless.

I'm sure he felt the bond, but he surely wouldn't acknowledge me – especially in front of all these men.

The bond pulsed harder as they got closer.

Three more steps before they got here. ONE – TWO – AND THREE.

The largest of them strides towards me then grabs my hand, pulling me up.

"Astrid – Astrid Sterling," he asks as his eyes bore into him, giving a predatory gaze.

"Am I correct?"

"Why ask when you already know the answer?" My reply seemed to switch something off in him because his face twists in rage as he raised his lips to speak again.

"Look, we aren’t here for trouble – I presume nothing else can be worse than the death of your parents." His voice hardens. "We’re just here to strike a simple deal since you’ve proven yourself to be useless and un-shiftable."

Oh…if only they knew, I smirked inwardly.

"As punishments for your parents’ crime-" I stopped him immediately he mentioned that.

"I thought you wanted to strike a deal! – why must I pay for whatever crimes they committed? You bastards didn’t even let me see them, and now you come to ask for payments, huh?"

"Mind your language, girl! – you’re just making it worse," Another one of them said.

"But I thought nothing was worse than the punishments you’ve given me already – You know you’re all just cowards – staying in the dark and letting others do the dirty work for you ...killing innocent people like my parents and saying they did something wrong!"

I walk towards Kieran as the anger in me increases.

"You felt it, didn’t you?"

He walks towards me more, closing the space between us. "You think it means something? You think it changes anything? – It doesn't change the fact that you’re the child of monsters – it doesn't change the fact that you're weak and useless, does it?

I moved back – Eliza whimpering at the weight of his voice.

"Your pack locked me up when I was just seventeen! – when I hadn’t discovered who I was!" "He destroyed my life in a day – I hadn’t even met him!"

"And if my parents did do something wrong, then why must I pay for it? – why must I pay for the sins they committed?

"You were seventeen and you hadn’t even found a wolf – your mate rejected you and your parents committed atrocities – and as the saying goes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree – does it?"

"I have no wolf but here I am – your wolf is calling to me yet I’m weak and useless."

I laughed at his stupidity.

Had he really not realized or was he just acting?

He finally looked away from me and looked back at the bald man who was talking to me earlier.

"Take her to the ceremony."

"Are you sure about this, sire?…your father woul—"

"NOW LOGAN!"

I looked back at him confused – what ceremony was he talking about?

"I am not going anywhere with you – you haven’t even acknowledged the fact that I’m yo—"

"Mate?" His eyes darkened as he said the words.

"Of course, I know we’re mated, and I’m more than happy to fulfill your wolf's wishes of mating with me."

"I nev—"

"GO!"

He didn’t even let me complete my sentence as he pushed me towards Logan.

He gritted his teeth as he said, "See you soon – Dear Mate."