Chapter 3

Zayn's pov

Every woman who stepped through those heavy oak doors knew she was walking toward her grave, Yet, they never stopped coming. 

Some were dragged here as sacrifices, while others came willingly, foolishly hoping to win the favor of a monster.

This was my life. This was my curse. It had earned me a name that whispered fear into the hearts of men: The Cursed prince of Darkness.

I didn’t choose this darkness, I inherited it. Before I was even born, my father, the Alpha before me, had turned our world into a slaughterhouse. He brutally killed thousands, enslaved children, and treated women like whores. He was a man of pure evil, and the Moon Goddess finally had enough. 

She cursed him, but I was the one who became the vessel for his punishment.

Her curse was precise and cruel. I was born with unmatched power, but I was destined to be eternally alone. She hollowed out my soul so I could never feel love. She draped me in a darkness so thick that the sun seemed to dim wherever I am. 

Worst of all, she ensured my bloodline would end with me.

My beast, the wolf inside me was a ruthless, broken thing. It was so violent that it would rip any woman to shreds before she could even conceive an heir. 

Love was a fairy tale I wasn't allowed to read.

As the years passed, I stopped fighting the curse and started becoming the monster everyone expected. Mercy died a long time ago. Now, I am simply the most powerful Alpha in the seven kingdoms, a king who rules through blood.

Other Alphas sent me their women like tribute in hopes that maybe one of them will be the chosen one to break the curse and earn their pack my protection. 

Most of them sent virgins, thinking purity was the key. They didn't realize that to my beast, purity was just a more delicate thing to destroy.

I had tried everything to break the cycle. I had begged the Moon Goddess for mercy, built massive statues in her honor and offered her the richest sacrifices. I even hunted down my own father and killed him in cold blood, hoping his death would satisfy her justice. But It changed nothing.

My beast remained a bottomless pit. Neither flesh, or blood could ever satisfy it's hunger as during every full moon, it sought out blood.

The sound of my chamber doors creaking open broke the silence. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. My Beta, Roman, was the only one brave enough to enter.

"What is it, Roman?" I asked, my voice as cold as the stone walls. I kept my back to him, staring out at the massive, mocking full moon.

"Your Majesty," he said, bowing low. "The women are ready."

"How many?"

"A dozen, my lord. But there is still a girl left from the previous batch last month."

A dozen corpses, I thought. I felt a flicker of something like guilt, but it was quickly swallowed by the rising heat in my blood. If I didn't feed the beast tonight, I would lose control and tear the entire castle apart.

"Send the first one in," I commanded. "We both know how this ends."

Roman left, and a few minutes later, he returned with a brunette woman. She was shaking so hard I could hear her teeth chattering. She looked at me like I was the devil himself and she wasn't wrong.

"I... I have been sent by Alpha Julian of the Riverhill pack," she whispered, her head bowed. "I am your sacrifice."

I didn't waste time with words. I dropped the towel from my waist, standing before her naked. She let out a sharp gasp, her eyes wide with terror as she looked at me.

"No... it's too big," she stammered, backing away. "I won't fit... It will rip me apart."

"I will make it fit," I growled, lunging forward.

I kissed her with a hunger that wasn't human. For a moment, she stopped fighting, trapped in that strange, dark hypnotizing trance that my power creates. 

But as the beast began to claw its way to the surface, the pleasure turned to pure panic.

"Please!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face. "I have a child! I don't want to die!"

The mention of a child should have moved me, but the curse had turned my heart to ash.

"You were given to me," I spat, my voice distorting as my bones began to shift. "Be grateful you die by the hand of a King."

She fell to her knees, sobbing and begging for a life I had no intention of giving her. Then, the shift took over. My body tore apart and reformed into a massive black wolf. 

She tried to run for the door, but there was no escaping a predator like me. With one blinding move, I threw her across the room. Her screams were the last thing I heard before I ripped her limb from limb and tossed her corpse to the side.

When it was over, I shifted back, standing in the middle of a room painted red.

"Roman! Clean up this mess," I called out.

My Beta entered, his face pale as he looked at the remains on the floor. He had seen this a hundred times, but it never got easier.

"Are you satisfied, Alpha?" Roman asked, his voice tight. "Or should I bring the next? The next girl is an Alpha's daughter. Her blood is strong."

I wiped a streak of blood from my forehead. "Fine. Bring in my next meal."

Roman bowed and disappeared. A few minutes later, the door opened again. But this time, something was different.

Before she even stepped into the light, a scent hit me. It wasn't the scent of fear or sweat. It was the smell of fresh roses and wet earth after a rainstorm. For the first time in my entire life, the roaring beast inside me went dead silent.

A girl with hair as white as moonlight stepped into the room. Her eyes were a piercing, crystalline blue. I had never seen anyone like her. 

But none of it mattered. Only food for my unending hunger.

A dark, twisted smile spread across my face.

"I hope you taste as good as you look, Snow White," I whispered. "Because tonight you will feed my beast."