CHAPTER ONE - BLOOD UNDER THE MOON

VALENTINA

BURNING MERCURY MOON PACK

My heart thumped harshly in my chest as I tried my best to stay in the shadows while I crawled to safety.

Screams and wails of the dying wolves pierced the air and sent constant chills running down my spine.

‘My father couldn’t have fallen…’

I recite the words over and over again in my head but I had witnessed it with my own eyes. Ryker had won the challenge, a successful coup that needed not the loss of sentry lives from both sides, a death battle for a new Alpha over my pack and he had won it right before I heard the bone snap in my fathers throat, my ex-mates eyes instantly zeroing on me through the crowd, a lust for blood in his glare.

The usurper had won.

My fingers caught on some broken shards of glass, the pain that lanced up my arms causing me to scream and that attracted the attention of the animal I was trying to escape.

Ryker! My eyes locked with his as he stepped over me.

“Told ya you can’t hide!” His silver eyes bore into mine, holding a look that only promised gore, I could see all the hairs on his arms on end, healing slashes across his chest bled crimson over his belly. His teeth were stained with blood, the blood of my parents. He had won the challenge and made sure his opponent won’t be alive to contest him again.

Rykers’ aura held a lust for blood so thick it choked with the thick soot and smoke from my burning pack house. It was like one of those nightmares where you’d wake up sweaty and gasping exactly this wasn’t a nightmare, and this was real.

“You really thought you could escape me huh, after all this time I craved for you? You’re mine Valentina and nothing would ever come between us ever again!” He growled as he neared me, blood dripping at his feet.

“You’re wrong!” I struggled out, my voice hoarse and throat weak. “The laws—”

“The laws are made by the Alpha Valentina! And guess what…” he bent so his lips were right by my ears. “I’m the ALPHA now!” He made sure to linger just so his words sunk into my ears, so he was sure I understood the nature of what was going on.

There was no more highercourt. No more sustained that governed my pack. He had torn it all down, murdered the rulers all just so he could ensure his hold over me. And I was helpless.

Tears welled up in my eyes again there had been no time to mourn before the guards my mother had ordered pulled me away from the massacre. Her last wish was to see I would be safe and yet it was all in vain.

“There is no one to blame for this but you Valentina! I made a mistake and you decided you could cast me away because of that now look what you have caused!”

He stretched out his hand and I could see the coat of blood. It was everywhere on him like a second skin, like he had taken a dip in a bath tub of blood.

“You know at first I didn’t want to kill anyone, but then I realized as long as he was alive, he’d never let me have you. And that was a chance I was not willing to take.” He said with a grin.

I said nothing, had nothing to say. I was cornered. Helpless. alone. My fate in the hands of a murderous infatuated mad man.

“Enough!” He bellowed suddenly, instantly calming the growls and howls from him wolves.

I flinched when he turned his eyes back on me. “Now how about you wipe all that blood and tears off of yourself and get into a more fitting dress. No Daddy is coming to your rescue this time!”

I gasp when he leans in on me, the cold air tainted with a strong metallic smell it filled my lungs and made me want to throw up.

He stroked my hair, slowly until he yanked my head back and I whimper in the disorienting pain. The hard lump in my throat rises and I find it difficult to breathe yet hold back my tears.

“No need to look so sad Val… turn that smile upside down as when dawn strikes tomorrow we will finally be wed”

He chuckled maniacally but stops as his expression hardens and his eyes redden again.“The next time you think you can escape me, let today serve as a friendly reminder.”

“Is that clear?” He snapped and I jolt a nod.

With a click he signals for a one of his cronies to take me out and before I can do so much as struggle, I'm being pulled my hair, my feet dragging across the floor and I scream when shards of glass cut deeply into my heels.

The pain numbs my senses but when the guard yanks on my hair, I lose my horror stricken composure and dig my claws into his leg. His howl of pain gives me some form of comfort but that was short lived.

In annoyance, he slammed my face on the floor and I feel heat rush to my face as I heard my nose break. My left eye paralyzed shut and I was sure I could feel my lips split down the middle.

I lay still, hoping the guard would take it as he had beaten the fight out of me and as soon as I felt the grip he had on my hair loose I took off, ignoring the pain that numbed my left foot and ached my back, I ran for the treeline, a desperate yet my only attempt at an escape.

Ahead was a dried oaktree stump, I knew because I had wondered shortly into these woods with Sara (my handmaid) before Rykers coup.

The moon did little to illuminate my way so I had to focus my vision in order to get a clearer look ahead and as soon as I got to the tree stump I ducked down behind it, placing my hand over mouth in a futile attempt to calm my rash breaths, peeping over the stump but ducking back down when the guard burst into view.

“Where are you little princess?” He snarled as he approached. I knew he could perceive my scent though faint in the nature of trees around us.

As his footsteps grew closer I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of a short dagger I had stowed and stashed in the lace of my torn night dress.

‘Please let him not find me…’ I cried inside, hoping he would lose track of my scent but all my hopes dropped the moment his boots came into view. A crooked smile on the guards lips.

“No!” I breathed out.

“Ryker’s gonna tear you up because of this!” He snared, stepping forward and I barely had time to react before the back of his hand slapped me so hard I fell face first into the dirt, my vision blurring and my head spinning.

“Who’s there?” The guard growled menacingly.

“I was sent by Ryker to track the girl, I’m glad you’ve found her.” A second voice said, a bold and commanding voice one that I knew I had heard somewhere before.

I pushed myself to a sitting position. my vision was still a blur but it was evident someone else was there.

“Oh, that’s good. Help me keep an eyes on her till Ryker gets—wait a minute, Ryker never knew the girl had ran off. I was the only one there when she dashed for the woods so how did you know that?”

I watched them silently, the disgusting taste of my own blood coating my tongue and all the bones in my body aching from the hours I spent futilely fighting off Ryker while he only enjoyed breaking me.

“Well you see umm—”

I shuddered when he moved. Fast. Too fast. He was merely a blur, one second he was five feet away from the first guard the next he was extracting a bloody hand from the guards chest who’s eyes had bulged so much out their sockets.

A chill ran down my spine the moment the guard fell limp to the ground and I bursted into tears when this second guard stepped forward.

“No! Please don’t kill me! Please!” My tears dissolved with the blood on my tongue. I brandished the dagger in front of me frantically hoping the blade would keep him away from me but it was like he did not care about my threat he just kept on walking. One moment he was a good distance away from me the next he had swatted away the dagger from my grip.

I looked directly at a rough bearded face that stared an inch away from mine. He had a full blonde beard with an unkempt mop of yellow hair that fell over his rough face and barely showed his eyes.

Whoever this man was, he had ripped out another man’s heart with his bare hands and he didn’t even need to shift to do it. He was more terrifying than Ryker which made me question.

“Who are you?” My voice was low, brittle over hours of screaming and crying.

But it was like he had not heard my question, no thoughts behind his eyes.

“Oh, Valentina…” he said softly, his left hand that was not covered in blood reaching for my face and I turned away on impulse but was more surprised when he actually stopped.

“I’m sorry.” He said flatly. “I shouldn’t have tried to touch you.”

A shrill howl pierced the nights sky and then I heard it, the sound of a hundred wolves stampeding through the forest, a response to the call from the guard this strange man that stared at me intensely had killed.

Ryker was coming.

I had failed to escape. I would become a slave mate in my own pack and in the hands of the usurper that killed my father.

“Say, if I save you, would you have a baby for me?”

I blinked but not because of the dust that has flown into my eyes, because I thought I had only imagined his question.

“What?” I asked, every passing second the vibrations of Ryker’s wolves trampling towards us increasing.

“You will have a baby for me once I save you!”

This time he wasn’t asking, he was telling.

My mind raced faster than the blood thirsty wolves that trampled through the forest. I had no choice either way, face being a slave mate to Ryker or risk it all with this strange murderer.

“Yes.” I said, but I could tell it wasn’t me had said it, my wolf. Somehow she trusted this man.

“Good! Can you stand?” He asked, pushing up to his feet and it was now that I truly comprehended his size. The man was a hulk, tall and broad dawning leather tactical trousers and a blood stained jacket.

“I think so…” I pushed myself up, balancing my weight on my less-sore left foot. Whoever this man was, I had no idea.

How he had found me, and why he was willing to help me were questions that plagued my mind the longer I stayed close to him.

“Your right foot is broken Valentina I may have to carry you. Give me your hand.”

He had stretched out a gloved right hand and I was about taking it before I had a second thought.

“Before I go with you, answer me this!”

His brows knitted together, he was clearly perplexed by my question.

“How do you know my name?”

“I was a friend of your fathers. We don’t have time Valentina! Give me your hand before we both get torn to pieces by a hundred blood thirsty sentries!”

Running the back of my hand over my grimy face I reached for his outstretched hand but the moment the moonlight caught on his face my heart stopped.

I gasped, horror draining the blood from my face and washing my face white.

Suddenly terrified for my own safety I took a step back but lost my balance on my broken right foot. I saw him reach for me as I fell back, his hand almost grabbing mine but I pulled my hands away from him. Anything was better, even Ryker the usurper was better than this, I would never be safe with him.

The last thing I saw before my head cracked unconscious against a thick tree bark was the murderous glower that lighted in the eyes of this rouge Alpha.