Chapter Three

* Alpha Zayden *

I felt my temperature rising. My blood was close to boiling. This is one of those nights again. I can't rest easy when the full wolf moon is up in the sky. My wolf is groaning; I feel him wanting to shift.

"Are you alright Alpha?"

Beta Jax who is with me in the archives, glances at me worried. We were discussing the alliance with the Crimson River pack and how it would benefit us.

"That's it for tonight Jax, tell everyone in the Alpha house not to disturb me."

He stood up and bowed. "Have a good rest Alpha Zayden."

My ears perked up, listening to the warriors outside the hallways and their footsteps. I groaned so loud, loud enough for them to feel the tension and stop talking. They heard me and kept their footsteps light and then walked away.

I watched the moon from the window; my fangs were coming out as I endured the painful shift. This is not a normal shift; I have been cursed. To stay alive from a tragic war a long time ago. My wolf suffered a lot.

The last war in the Dark Blood pack, caused me to lose my entire family. And my wolf has found a way for both of us to survive that painful evening. He borrowed extreme power from the Moon Goddess cursing his own form to become bigger more powerful and monstrous.

But every full wolf moon, my beast wolf comes out and I can't control it, the main reason why I have not taken a Luna in my life. I don't think any she-wolf would survive in the presence of my beast form every full wolf moon. It happened once; I know it will happen again.

I pushed the books off the shelves next to me and pressed the button. Then just like a door, the shelves moved, and I went into another room. My secret hiding place, a place forbidden even for the servants to enter. The only one who knows this area of the Alpha house are my grandfather and me.

The smell of pain and distress was my own. It leaked from the stone walls. Old blood, old wolfsbane, old prayers my grandfather carved into the rock when he sealed this place for me.

I stumbled into the center of the room and dropped to my knees. The shift was starting whether I wanted it or not. My claws tore through the sleeves of my shirt. My spine cracked, reformed, and cracked again.

"Not tonight," I growled to him, to my wolf. "Not tonight."

He didn't listen. He never listens on a full moon. The beast was rising. Outside, on the road below the mountain - a car I didn't recognize had stopped. Two wolves and the scent of a woman.

A scent that cut straight through the rot and pain in this room. It was Soft. Warm. Human-soft but wolf-blooded. Jasmine mixed with the night air. Afraid, but trying not to be.

My head snapped up. My fangs were fully out now, dripping. I am no longer in control. The beast in me has taken over. No one comes to the Dark Blood territory without invitation. No one is stupid enough. The Council knows better. The packs around us know better.

But tonight, I smell the scent of strangers. Someone was at my gates.

* Diane *

The air got colder the closer we got to the border.

Oscar stopped the car where the trees ended and the mountain started. There were no lights here. Just a huge black iron gate and behind it, a house even bigger than the Alpha house of the Crimson River pack.

"Miss Diane, this is as far as we go," Oscar whispered.

"The warriors of the Dark Blood pack don't allow any car inside without their Alpha's permission."

Charles got out and opened my door. His hands were shaking. But he handed me the gift for Alpha Zayden.

"Diane, listen to me. If he says no, you bow and you leave. You don't argue. You understand? He is not like Alpha Daniel. This is the most feared Alpha in the entire land."

Charles is a brave warrior but he is worried and afraid for me. I can't tell him that I am afraid too, that it's only possible to go back now. However, I have given my word to Chloe and I must help her.

"I understand Charles, I can take it from here; just wait for me."

It was a lie. I didn't understand anything. I just knew Chloe was crying in her room thinking she was going to be given to a monster who killed his last Luna. The small side gate creaked open on its own. There's no warrior. No guard around. Just wind and the full wolf Moon above.

"Go," Charles said, pushing my shawl tighter around me. "I'll mind-link you. If you don't come out in twenty minutes, I'm coming in."

I nodded and stepped through. The courtyard was empty. It was also quiet. The full moon was directly above the house, so bright it made the stones look white. I could hear something from inside. A low, pained groaning, like an animal caught in a trap.

My wolf whimpered inside me. She was only a year old, small and timid. She wanted to run away from here.

I forced my feet forward and knocked on the huge wooden door.

It opened slowly when I pushed it, trying my luck. There was no one behind it.

"Hello?" My voice was so small. "Alpha Zayden? My name is Diane, from the Blue Moon pack. I came about the betrothal - about my cousin Chloe..."

Still, there was no answer, so I carried the gift inside and walked to the hallways. Following the lights. It's almost impossible to believe that the Dark River Alpha house would be this quiet in the evening. Does Alpha Zayden send all his warriors and servants away before resting?

I took a deep breath; if this is the case then perhaps I'll find his room. My feet took me to the tiny hall and a path leading to a door. I pushed it open and then, I noticed it was an old archive. This isn't the room that I needed to be in; I turned to walk back but there was an opening that caught my eye.

Then I heard it again, a low groan. My heart started to beat faster as I followed the noise then walked into another room.

The scent hit me then. Blood and forest and something burnt, like a storm. And from the dark hallway, I saw a pair of eyes.

They were almost glowing grey and gold. Too high up. Too bright at the same time, reflecting the moonlight. He was standing there in the shadows of his own; he was half-shifted, his jacket ripped at the shoulders, his claws scraping the floor.

The monster my mother warned me about. And he was staring right at me, breathing hard, like he couldn't decide if I was prey or... something else. But I knew I couldn't run; if I did, this beast would think I was playing and would immediately chase.

My throat went dry as I stood there, asking myself if I should speak.

"Hello, I came bearing gifts and good news for the Alpha of the Dark Blood pack. Can you tell me if he is here?"

Unsure if he was a warrior or a Beta. But he definitely looks like a wolf that has no control over himself. A beast in the Alpha house, how did Alpha Zayden allow someone like this to stay in his home?

"Who are you?! And what...what did you bring for the Dark Blood pack?"

It was a question that made me tremble; my goodness his voice sounded so full, deep, and full. There was something scary about the air around him, but I wonder why I'm not scared.

"I came to see.."

"Agh!"

I wasn't finished with what I had to say when he dropped to the floor and groaned hard like he was in pain. He looked hurt and angry. His clothes were completely torn and gone. His size was almost doubled.

"Are you alright? Can I help you?"

My feet were quick to go beside him and place my hand on his massive shoulders. I gasped, feeling the blood in his veins. He was holding back; he was hurting too.

"Tell me what you need. They say a wolf who loses control just needs someone calm to talk to and something good to eat."

I said it before I thought it was so childish of me to tell him something stupid like that. He stiffined and after a few seconds I heard him groaned low like almost..a..chuckle if I'm not wrong.