Chapter Two

IVARA

TWO YEARS AGO

"Ivara, I need you at the palace immediately.. You're wasting time!" My father barked, grating on my last nerve. He's literally in my room, and he's shouting like he's miles away.

"I'm coming, father!" I groaned, shoving one last hairpin into my mess of a bun.

"Could you hurry up?!"

"Mind you, you're the one who told me to look my best for this parade! I'm literally trying, so can you let me be?" I snapped back, my patience wearing thin.

He huffed, his hand tightening on the doorknob. "You have ten more minutes." With that, he left, slamming the door shut with a finality that made my teeth rattle.

Fucking hell. Like I even wanted to be there. Getting married to the golden Alpha King, Lucian, sure wasn't on my list of life plans. I turned back to face my mirror, hoping that I looked a bit undone so Lucian would at least discard me. Just as I picked up another hairpin from my drawer, my eyes drifted to a small portrait on top of the drawer. I picked it up, a heavy sigh escaping my lips as I traced the jagged torn edge where a male figure used to be. My mother's smile was intact, but Silas....he was just a ghost I'd tried to rip out of my life. A frown etched into my lips as I traced the tear. I groaned and dropped the frame. This wasn't the time for ghosts. I had an arrangement to crash.

-

"I'm really glad to meet you, Ivara," Lucian said, his smile far too bright for my liking. "You're much better than your father praised."

"He barely knows me enough to even praise me, I'm sure he overreacted,"

Lucian laughed and then nodded. "Well, Patrick does have his wits. But you're indeed charming,"

"Ugh..thanks?" I muttered. He actually liked me? I guess I'd need to try harder to be repulsive.

"Look," Lucian sighed, he stopped walking, turning to face me fully. "I know this is sudden and you might not be happy," he continued, looking almost sympathetic. "But you have to understand. It benefits us all."

"I do. I know," I said, looking up at the darkening sky. "It's going to be a full moon today."

"Will you stay for the celebration?"

Looking down, I let out a tired sigh. "I don't have a choice. But for now, I need a run to clear my mind."

He smiled, oblivious. "Sure."

I stepped out of the palace building, without guards lurking around me of course. Once I was alone, I shifted into my wolf, a beast of pure white fur and violet eyes- a trait I got from my mother's side. The white wolves, a pack of healers, are now almost extinct as I'm the only female that exists among seven males. The change of shifting felt like a welcome agony, I ran until the palace walls became a distant memory. I stopped at a lake deep in neutral territory to lap up some water. Suddenly, the air shifted, I looked up to see a massive black wolf staring down at me, eyes like molten gold. I was about to prepare myself for an attack, when my wolf purred as the mate bond snapped into place like a physical blow.

Wait-what's happening?

A strange familiar heat began to creep up my skin even though I was now covered by fur. But before I could process what had just happened, an arrow hissed through the air directed at the wolf. The wolf snarled, inched back before vanishing into the bush, leaving me disoriented, yet certain of one thing.

I would find him.

And I'll be his.

There was this strange warmth and familiarity I felt with him I had never felt with anyone before.

Only one person came close to such warmth.

But he was no longer part of my life and even if he was, we could never be together.

PRESENT DAY

I woke up with a headache that felt like a slow motion car crash. When I looked around, I realized I was on a strange bed. As I attempted to sit up, I was startled when my eyes landed on Silas. He was leaning against the wall, staring daggers at me.

I attempted to move, to get the fuck away from him, but he reached over with lightening speed, his hands pinning my shoulders to the mattress.

"Don't move," he growled, his face inches from mine.

"Are you crazy?!" I spat at him "Let me go!" I yelled, struggling against his iron grip, but it was no use.

"I won't."

"I'll shift and bite your fucking perfect nose off!"

He smirked and tilted his head. "I love to see you try."

Just as those words rolled off his lips, I realized that I could barely feel my wolf, Indira. She was there, but silent and weak, only growling softly in response.

"What did you do to her?! What did you do to us?!"

"I injected a serum in you to prevent you from shifting...before..you bite my perfect nose off," He added with a sick grin that made me want to slap the smug look off his handsome face. He laughed and let go of me, but he was still standing so close, I could feel his breath on me as I sat up, facing him.

"What the fuck is this about? If my father didn't keep to his part of the deal, that's on him, not me! How do you kidnap the bride and future Luna?!"

"I didn't kidnap you, little wolf," he whispered, leaning down until his lips were inches from my ear. "I'm reclaiming what was stolen,"

"Last time I remembered, I'm not an asset!" I threw my hands in the air. "Isn't it bad enough I was being used as a peace treaty and a way for my pack to survive-" Before I could finish my rant, a physical jolt, like a bolt of lightning slammed through me, it wasn't just heat, I've felt this before..once. It was a violent long lost recognition. My wolf, Indira, who was still sick from the serum threw her head back and roared.

In that moment, as I stayed frozen on the bed, I saw the recognition in Silas eyes. Behind those piercing blue orbs was a wolf who was threatening to surface.

His eyes were shifting from their blue to a molten golden color I could never forget.

Silas stiffened, his eyes widening as the gold in them was beginning to overshadow the blue in his eyes.

"No," I breathed, inching back. "No no no...that's a mistake... You can't be him, you can't be my mate-"

"I was never your father, Ivara," he hissed as he inched closer making me move back even further until I became trapped, my back was now pressed against the wall, and his two hands were pressed above my head, preventing me from running away. "You can try to run, try to fight, but I always catch you. Always. Because from the very beginning, you were mine to begin with."

My lips parted but no words came out. I wanted to say something, I wanted to scream. But my voice remained silent, buried deep inside my throat.

This wasn't right.

It shouldn't have been him.

I had so many questions.

How come I never knew it was him then?

"Look at me, Ivara," he commanded.

I kept my gaze fixed on his chest instead. I couldn't look him in the eye. I was terrified of what I'd see there and even worse more terrified of what he'd see in mine.

The years I held myself back from yearning for him...all because he was a man that was forbidden and out of my reach.

When my father abandoned us, he stepped in, as a husband to my mother, and a father to me.

How could the gods have him be my mate?

"Ivara-"

"You were married to my mother!" I snapped, the word mother feeling like ash in my mouth. I was betraying her because my body was responding to Silas even despite the fact my words were proving otherwise. "You watched me grow! For six years! Do you have any idea how sick this idea is?"

"I never touched your mother!" He snapped back. "I was your guardian, Ivara. Never your father."

"And now?" I challenged, my heart hammering against my ribs. "What are you? My captor? My mate?" I said the word like a curse.

"I'm the man who's going to stop your father from selling you to the highest bidder," he said, his eyes narrowing as he drifted back, allowing me space to finally breathe. "If you think marrying Lucian was just the end. It was only the beginning of a merciless path for you. You weren't a bride today, Ivara. You were a walking blood bank. Not just to Lucian and his pack. But a billionaire human who needs a blood healer to heal his dying son and create an army of supernatural beings in the human realm."