CHAPTER 2: Picking up the Wolf Queen

The rainstorm raged like an angry god. Chloe stumbled out of the giant golden gates of The Blackwood Mansion. Lightning struck mercilessly, showering her frail body and her white dress which was now dirty with the mud of insults.

The tears have dried. The pain from the shattered mate's bonds still tore at his internal organs like the claws of a red-eyed devil. However, strangely, behind his painful wolf wails, a new defensive wall was being built firmly. 

Her unsteady steps stopped at the edge of the empty and pitch black asphalt road. Not a single car passed in the midst of this natural chaos. She's alone. Thrown away, destroyed, worthless. That's what Julian and the Bloodmoon sect implanted into his brain.

Suddenly, the sound of a propeller spinning cut through the roar of thunder.

Not just one. But three.

The beam of a high-powered spotlight tore through the darkness of the sky, shining sharply straight into the ground around Chloe. From the sky, three steel-armed helicopters with military maneuvers swooped down, landing in the abandoned western parking lot. A giant silver-plated logo was engraved on the side of the helicopter a diamond-eyed wolf-shaped logo: 'Vanguard'.

Before Chloe's common sense had time to digest the majestic horror, from the end of the road, blinding white lights lined up in a straight line approaching. The convoy of ten bulletproof Maybach SUVs sped through the rainstorm, and uniformly braked perfectly to form a circle around Chloe.

The main Maybach door in the middle opened. A figure of an old man in his twilight years in a pitch black suit came down without an umbrella. In his hand, he held a staff inlaid with a wolf's head made of pure gold. Even though his face had been devoured by wrinkles, his pair of eyes radiated a high level of killing aura that could make any Alpha shudder in horror. 

Dozens of bodyguards in black shirts simultaneously got out of the SUV, their bodies strong and sturdy like deadly killing machines. In one stunning movement, they all landed on one knee on the muddy ground, bowing their heads respectfully towards Chloe.

The old man with the cane stepped closer, his eyes fixed on Chloe's body, which was shaking with cold and injury. 

"Young Lady Chloe..." The old man's voice was deep and hoarse, containing a storm of anger that could destroy a country. "Eighteen years we searched all over the earth for you. Forgive this useless old servant for arriving late."

Chloe widened her eyes in disbelief. "W-who are you?"

The old man bowed politely. "I am Arthur, Chief Steward of the Vanguard Family. Your grandfather, the Grand Lord of the Vanguard, has turned over every stone in the world to find the sole heir to our pure ancestral bloodline. And tonight, the spilled blood of the Queen of the Vanguard, finally calls us."

Vanguard? An ancient wolf family that rules the shadow economy of three continents? An organization that was thousands of times bigger and more terrifying than that plebeian Bloodmoon Pack?

"From this moment on, not a single soul will dare to look down on you. Those who have scarred your skin tonight, will pay with endless bankruptcy and the blood of their descendants!" Arthur hissed, his eyes blazing with vengeance.

A guard stepped forward and draped the thickest, warmest black fox fur coat over Chloe's back, covering her humiliation. 

Chloe looked back, looking at the towering pillars of the Blackwood Mansion that were shining brightly in the distance. There, they were laughing thinking they had gotten rid of the destructive flies. Chloe took a deep breath. The cold night air filled his lungs with terrible power. All his sympathy and naivety in the past had died there. 

Three years of service like a slave dog, rewarded with betrayal and outright rejection. 

Julian Blackwood... Seraphina Thorne...

Make your days count.

"Let's go home, Arthur," Chloe said, her voice now steady and cold as eternal ice. "There's an empire I have to take over, and... a lot of faces I have to destroy."