Cold embedded in bones.

The sight of the infamous scars made me audibly gasp for air, the claw marks running across both of his eyes staring down at me.

Even though the eyes of the man looming over me were cloudy gray, it felt like he was looking right at me.

Despite feeling pain in my knees, I managed to push myself back to my feet and turned around to run in the other direction. I kept glancing behind me to see if he was following after me, but I saw nothing. I saw no one.

Maybe it was because he was not chasing after me, or maybe it was because it was too damn dark even for my wolf eyes.

I stopped, my lungs burned, my heart thundering in my chest. For a second, the whispers stopped, and I was foolish enough to think that I was in the clear.

But just as they stopped, the whispers started again, this time much louder than the last, penetrating my eardrums in the most painful way possible.

I slapped my hands over my hears to muffle the voices out, but it barely worked.

The whispers still sounded like they were in side of my head aswell as they were all around the forest. The disturbance and chaos they brought within me made me want to scream.

The fear of being found made me bite the inside of my cheeks until I tasted blood, stopping the scream from forcing its way out of my lips.

I couldn't understand what the whispers were saying, disturbing me even more.

"Stop." I finally whispered, my voice barely audible over the rest.

A twig snapped behind me, and I quickly turned around to see the man walking towards me, the Blind Alpha of the pack, the same one who has horror stories told about him in different packs to keep children's frightened enough not to venture out of their territories.

His strides were long and sure, and he walked like he knew exactly where he was going, like he knew which rockes and branches to avoid while he moved.

The mere sight of him made me chock on fear, and without thinking about my surrounding, I turned around and ran as fast as I could, only to be stopped by a tree branch I had not seen.

I ran straight into the thick branch, head first.

It knocked me off my feet. The branch caught me right on the forehead, the force darkening my vision within seconds.

I fell on my back, hitting the back of my head on a rock. The breath was instantly knocked out of my lungs, and within the next seconds, I lost consciousness with the whispers still around me and heavy footsteps approaching me.

***

A loud gasp escaped my lips as my eyes shot open, the glaring bright light making me squint.

I let out a soft groan as I pushed myself up. I thought I would be met with a hard surface from under me, but I realized that I was on something much softer than the cold, hard ground.

I looked around, my eyes taking time to adjust to the new environment. I was certainly not outside anymore, no longer in the woods of which I had blindly run into.

I looked around, taking in the bedroom I was in. I was sitting on a twin bed, the covers pulled up to my waist. There was a small nightstand to my right, and a white shelf to my left. The curtains were open, letting the sun brighten up the cold room.

The more I focused, the clearer it got that I was not in just a bedroom. I was in a hospital room. The distinct scent of the hospital attacked my nose.

Pushing the covers off of me, I swung my legs off the edge of the bed just in time to see the door getting pushed in.

"You're up." A tall, pale woman commented the moment she saw me, kicking the door shut with her leg before carrying a tray towards me.

"Where am I?"

The woman didn't answer my question right away. Instead, she took her time to place the tray on the nightstand and step in front of me.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

I threw my gaze around the room, unable to understand the situation I was in. My lack of response gave the woman an idea that I needed an answer to the question I asked her, and to those I haven't asked yet.

"You're at the clinic." She commented.

"Where exactly?" I asked.

"The Winter Snow Pack." She replied, dragging a chair closer to sit in front of me, all the while keeping a safe distance between us.

"You arrived last night. The cab you brought left you near the woods. You must have lost your way..." She said. "One of the patrol guards found you on his night shift. He brought you here right after discovering you lying in the woods."

It all came back to me.

Leaving my only home to come mate with a man meant to be my sisters mate, a man well known for having a family history of brutally murdered Lunas in every generation, the driver stopping half way into the territory because something spooked him out and abandoning me, whispers echoing in the forest and in my head, the sight of the Alpha of this pack looming over me... All of it came rushing back.

"You didn't bleed or anything, but you have a bump on your head." She added.

I reached back to touch the back of my head and felt the bump she was talking about.

It was huge, maybe the size of a golf ball, and it hurt.

"Why haven't I healed yet?" I wondered out loud.

A bump like this should have healed hours ago, but it felt like it was not going away unless it was much bigger than its current size.

"Injuries take a while to heal around here." She replied, looking towards the window.

"What does that mean?" I whispered, too afraid to raise my voice in an unfamiliar place like this.

The woman returned her eyes to me.

"You'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, eat your food and rest. You'll need the strength." She replied, nodding at the tray on the small nightstand.

Her comment felt sinister for some reason. It sent chills running up and down my spine.

I glanced at the covered tray, wondering if the food was even safe to eat, if she hadn't tampered with it.

"I'm not hungry." I commented, looking away from the food no matter how much my gut twisted.

"Don't kid yourself..." She sighed. "I don't even know your name. All I know is that you are Alpha Feather's daughter."

"Joyce. My name is Joyce Feather." I said.

"Okay, Joyce. I'm Heaven." She replied. "I'm one of the pack doctors." She added, reaching to take the cover off the tray.

"Here. I would have made you your favorite food, but you were knocked out cold for a while, so I just made you the best that I could. Eat. Once you're done, I'll take you to the main pack house to prepare for the mating ceremony."

"It's going to be tonight?" I asked, taking the tray from her hands.

"Yes." She nodded her head. "I'll leave you to it."

Heaven stood up and walked over to the door. She stopped with her hand on the door knob and glanced at me over her right shoulder.

She looked like she wanted to say something, but she stopped herself and walked out of the room, making sure to close the door. 

I let out a sigh and looked down at the tray. I was about to reach for the bread, but I stopped when I heard the unmistakable click of the lock sliding into place.

My eyes snapped to the door. I placed the tray on the bed and rushed to it, grabbing the knob and twisting it in an attempt to open the door.

"Heaven?" I called out, banging on the door. "Heaven, why did you lock the door?"

"Heaven?" I called out again, much louder this time, but she didn't unlock it.

"It is for the best." I heard her whisper, and if it wasn't for my super senses, I wouldn't have been able to hear her.

Unease swept thought me. It felt wrong. Everything felt wrong.

My head throbbed as I walked over to the window, looking out onto the land. 

I expected to see a green land, people walking around going about their day, children running around, or maybe the pack training. I saw none of that. Instead, I saw a land that looked like it hadn't grown grass for over ten years. There was no one around except for three  people sitting in front of the hospital.

I saw no children, and I assuemed that it might be too early for them to get out, or maybe the pack hospital was far from the main town.

I stared at the window and saw that it had no locks,  so I opened it. If Heaven thought she would keep me in here, I was going to prove her wrong.

But the second I opened the window, I instantly regretted it. 

An unexpected wind blew into the room. It was freezing cold to the point that it instantly settled into my bones, making me shiver. My breath fogged in front of me right away, and I pushed the window shut.

I stepped away, wrapping my arms around myself to keep myself warm, but it didn't work.

I have never in my life felt this kind of cold, never knew I would feel it in my lifetime. Being a werewolf meant that I would never get cold, not in such a normal environment during this time of the year.

Everything about this place felt off. Nothing about it was normal, and it only managed to make my guts twist even more.

I paced around the room, the tray untouched on the bed as I waited for my fate.

The room had managed to chase the cold away after a few hours, but the unease within me only managed to grow with each passing second.

I watched as the sun disappeared and the sky darkened, only then did someone come to get me.

The door getting unlocked caught my attention. I glanced over as Heaven walked in with a man following after her.

"It's her?" The man asked, standing tall behind the doctor, his eyes dark and unimpressed.

"It is." She replied, looking a bit disappointed.

Heaven didn't even look at me. She glanced at the tray on the bed and let out a sigh when she saw that I ate nothing.

"You really should have eaten." She whispered, walking over to the tray to pick it up and leave.

The man stared at me for a few seconds, watching as I defensively crossed my arms over my chest.

"Come on. I'll take you to the pack house. We only have a few hours before the ceremony starts." He commented, turning around to leave, assuming I would follow after him.

That was exactly what I did, following a man I didn't know, to go mate with a man I didn't know, and be killed by him the second I become his Luna. The Winter Snow Pack are well known for Lunas brutally murdered on the night of their mating ceremony by none other than the Alphas themseleves.