ANTONELLA’S POV

it had been three days since I escaped from my father’s pack and things weren’t getting any better. The first problem was that I was tired and hungry. The second was that I was lost, and the third was that for the first time in eighteen years, my father had sent out his wolves on a hunt unannounced, a hunt for the rogue princess, Antonella. I wasn’t sure of his exact commands to them if they found me but from the whispers I overheard a few times in the woods, it wasn’t something very good. Nala wasn’t making matters any better for me. She kept sulking and complaining about how we had been better fed at the pack house and how I had ruined everything by running away, as if it wasn’t her that advised me to run! A few times, I had to resist the urge to yell at her to shut up because she was beginning to get on my nerves.

I stopped at the base of a pine tree and sat down on the floor to rest. My feet were sore from walking for days and my mouth was dry. I wondered if there were any animals lurking around in the woods and Nala seemed to be excited at the thought of a hunt.

“Yes, there are,” she screamed in my head. “A few fine gazelles. We’ve not done this before you know. This would be the perfect opportunity.”

I sighed, exhausted. I didn’t like the idea of hunting down and killing a weaker animal for food but I was beginning to run out of options. I stood up and squinted at the mass expanse of land that stretched before us and some twenty miles away, I could see light.

“We can hold on a little bit longer,” I said. “By the end of the day, we would have gotten to that pack. I can offer to be a slave.”

“And who knows if it’s one of the packs that your evil father sieged in recent years?” Nala sighed.

“Then we’d ask for a meal first,” I rolled my eyes. “Or would you rather die on an empty stomach?”

I spent the rest of the day walking, and stopping at intervals to pick berries and nuts to eat while Nala complained about my poor diet. Luckily for me, I found a lake along the way and I quickly stopped to take a drink.

It was already dusk when the lights came into full view. It was definitely another pack and from the distance where I stood, I could see two men patrolling the borders.

“It’s now or never,” I muttered to myself and started moving towards the men.

They stopped moving as soon as they sighted me and the first one shifted immediately.

“Come on. She’s just a harmless lady,” the second said to his colleague.

The first wolf growled and bared it’s sharp fangs at me, daring me to come any closer and I quickly raised my hands in the air as I approached to show him that I wasn’t a threat. He didn’t seem to be convinced by my gestures and he growled again in warning. I knew I was taking a huge risk but I didn’t have a choice. I needed food and a place to lay my head for the night. I took one step forward and immediately, the wolf bounded towards me.

I froze in fear, not knowing what to do and just as he was about to get to me, I heard a voice.

“Dan!”

The wolf abandoned me halfway and turned around immediately to the sound of the voice that had called his name. He shifted back and walked in the direction of the voice.

“What are you doing?”

It was very dark and I couldn’t quite see his face, but from the authority etched in his voice, I guessed he was either the chief scout or the Beta of the pack.

“An intruder, Alpha,” Dan replied. “She’s over there. She was about to cross the borders.”

I paused, confused. Did he just call the man Alpha? My heart skipped a beat as different thoughts began to run through my brain . What was the Alpha of the pack doing at the border? Was he among the Alphas that my father had wronged and was out for vengeance? Was he searching for me or even aware of my presence?

Suddenly, I felt like I was in danger. It would have been better for me at the pack house. At least, I got to eat good food, sleep in a comfortable bed and not have to worry about enemies finding me. I turned around to leave but his voice stopped me.

“If you take one more step, I would be the one to kill you.”

His voice sounded vaguely familiar, like I had heard it before but I couldn’t quite place a finger on where I’d heard it. I closed my eyes in anticipation of the worst as the sound of his footsteps got closer.

I shrieked as I felt his cold hand on my shoulders and I turned around to meet him. Damn! He was handsome.

His eyes were piercing blue and his hair, jet black. He had a strong, confident presence that radiated from his every move and his broad shoulders and taut muscular arms gave him an air of power. He flashed a smile that could light up the darkest of dungeons at me and I blushed, momentarily forgetting that my life was in danger.

The expression on his face changed quickly and he put his hands in his pocket stylishly as he assessed me. I stared at the ground, too afraid to meet his cold piercing gaze.

"Before I question you, I strongly advise that you tell me the truth," he breathed down my neck.

I closed my eyes as the scent of his cologne played with my nostrils. Excluding the fact that I was at the risk of death, it seemed almost like a normal romantic meeting.

"Understood?" He added.

I nodded and raised my head slightly to meet his gaze.

"Who are you?"

As much as I expected that to be the first question, nothing prepared me for it. I couldn't bring myself to tell a lie after his warning and telling the truth was equivalent to sentencing myself to death as well. Finally, I decided to tell him the truth but exclude some details.

“I’m the daughter of an Alpha…” I murmured.

“I know,” he replied staring me down. “You reek of royalty. What pack?”

Nala was screaming all the warnings in my head at that point. She obviously didn’t want me to spill the information to him that my father was Alpha Demontes of the Black Fur pack but I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t risk telling a lie. The best I could do was say the truth and plead for mercy.

“The Black Fur Pack,” I replied. “Alpha Demontes is my father.”

My confession was greeted with utter silence and I looked up at him to be sure he had heard me. His gaze was sharp enough to penetrate my soul and I quickly brought my face down before things got awkward.

He raised my chin up slowly until our eyes met again and I could see the reflection of the moon in his.

“Don’t lie to me,” he warned. “I’m not a very patient person.”

“I’m saying the truth, Alpha,” I managed to splutter.

“You can’t be Antonella!” He cried and brought his clenched fists down on a wooden table beside me.

It shattered to pieces on the floor and I stared at the blood dropping from his hand from where a sharp edge of the table had cut him. Strange as it was, I felt an attraction to the blood, to him, and even stranger, he knew my name. It was almost like we had met before.

“Don’t lie to me,” he said again, his eyes boring into mine. “Tell me who you are and I promise I would set you free.”

I could feel the hot tears begin to drop down my cheek. There was definitely no way I was going to convince him that I was the daughter of the evil Demontes. Not like I was proud of admitting to be his daughter in the first place.

“I am Antonella,” I tried one last time. “I can’t convince you but I swear I am, and I know my father has done a lot of evil, to your pack and many others. I tried to stop him but I couldn’t. That is why I ran away from…”

“Silence!”

I kept shut immediately and watched as he walked over to meet his guards. He whispered something to them and they nodded and shifted into their wolves. They ran off leaving the two of us and another of his guards who stood not too far off from him.

“Martinez!” He growled, turning to face the last guard.

“Yes Alpha.”

“Take her to the dungeons,” he commanded. “She would be my slave.”

He stressed the word ‘slave’ and my heart skipped two beats at the thought of what he meant. I clutched my dress together as his eyes ran down my body and Martinez walked over to meet me.

“Come on princess,” he whispered in my ears. “Another adventure awaits you.”

He hunched me up and threw me on his back and as he led me to my doom, I turned back to give the Alpha one quick look. Our eyes met and he quickly averted his gaze and walked away but I had seen enough to know that the handsome Alpha was crying.