2

“Unworthy.”

My whole world crumbled before me, not entirely sure what I expected. Except I had lived my whole life for this moment. I never thought I would be his second chance, not once did it cross my mind. All I cared about was being accepted like the few random women who saw beautiful enough to his bride. Just so that my family and my people would be save.

Now I feel like a failure, it was all in vain.

“Kill her Zayn” the average man ordered as if I was nothing.

“No!”

My father lunges toward me, a desperate growl tearing from his throat, but before he can reach me, he’s tackled to the ground by the monster they called Zayn.

Instinct takes me before thought does, I reach for the sword strapped to his back. It feels heavy in my hand.

I leap in the air, jumping right on his back as I pressed the blade against his thick neck.

My voice breaks, yet loud enough to resound in the hall.

“Let go of him!”

Never have I done anything as reckless as this. Who am I to threaten a man like Zayn? A man who was second in command to Alpha Lennox, it felt like I was pointing the sword straight at Alpha Lennox.

Do I cower? No. I would boldly kill him If he dares lay a hand on my family.

“How dare you?” The man in the black robe scoffs, unpleased with my defiance.

Before i could think of what I had done and its consequences, Zayn moved quick.

He spun and stepped backwards, crashing my body against the wall.

I could feel the pain from the impact, it makes me whimper.

My father reached for me, punching him square in the face with all his strength. But Zayn doesn’t even flinch. His eyes darken, the blow made his lips curl into a smirk, and then, just like that, my father is thrown against the wall, his body crumpling with an odd sound.

Then he pulls his attention back to me, his hands, strong as they were, reached for my neck, as he lifted my feet off the ground.

My feet kick uselessly against the ground as his grip tightens.

I was beginning to lose consciousness as everything turned into a blur. I could feel my lungs clawing for air that will not come. My nails tearing into his arms, seeking a weak point.

Thirty more seconds I would be dead.

My mother immediately came to my rescue, shattering a vase on his head.

She couldn’t stand there and watch her daughter die, blood oozed out of Zayn’s head, dropping to the floor.

That’s when it happened, his grip loosened. I slip free, dropping harshly to the ground, gasping for air. My legs tremble, but I force myself to move, sliding between his legs, to reach for the sword before he recovers.

Before I could touch him, the doors opened and more men stormed the hall.

I am yanked away from my parents, thrown to my knees on the cold floor. My mother cries out, my father groans in pain, and both are forced down beside me.

“How dare you resist!” The robed man’s palm slaps my face, hard enough to leave a cut with his nails. My head whips to the side, blood filling my mouth. He then spits the words. “Because of you, your whole family will die. And so will this pack.”

What was the point of my life anyways, even if I was accepted, I would be still be considered a walking corpse.

I have heard of several girls who were accepted but weren’t able to meet the desires of Alpha Lennox, so he killed them and sent their severed head back to their families.

I was pulled away from my parents, Zayn stood in front of me, not an ounce of pity in his eyes as he raised his sword in the air.

I braced myself ready to die when we heard a voice.

“Stop.”

The command freezes everything.

Zayn retracts instantly, sword lowering. His body stiffens, his eyes flick to the doorway, and the robed man bows so low his forehead nearly touches the blood-stained ground.

Then I hear footsteps.

A shadow in the midst of a white smoke, long strides into perfection. And then he appears.

A man so tall he seems to scrape the ceiling itself. Six and a half feet of raw dominance. His hair is long, silver-white, swaying like strings of moonlight over his broad shoulders. His jaw sharp, carved as if the gods themselves shaped him into perfection. His robe, white yet smeared with blood, clings to a body built like a weapon.

And his eyes, green like meadows.

Alpha Lennox Steele.

The room feels little around him. Everyone lowers their heads, even Zayn, even the man in black robes. My fear doubles as I try to catch my breath, my body shivers from his presence.

If he weren’t the monster of nightmares, I would be lost in him. I would be staring, shameless, at the god cloaked in man’s skin. He walks like the world belongs to him, and maybe it does. He is beauty carved from horror, divinity drowned in blood.

His eyes lock onto mine, and I dared not look away. As if he has claimed me already, not with words, not with touch, but with a single glance.

Closer, closer, closer, until I can smell him, the sharpness of steel, the smoke of fire, the copper scent of blood.

My heart beats so loud I fear the room feels small enough that everyone could hear it.

And when he finally stops in front of me, towering over me with his magnificent figure.

His firm hands reached my jaw, “Look at me” he commanded.

It was like staring at falling stars that glitters.

Death is not what I should fear.

No.

It is him.

It has always been him.

Then he turns towards the man in the black robes and stabs him in the neck with his knife,

Blood spluttering from it as he gurgled, Alpha Lennox stared cold into his eyes.

“How dare you touch what’s MINE”