PROLOGUE

Excruciating pain traveled from my chest down to my underbelly as I stumbled to the floor, but I bounced back up almost immediately and lunged at my opponent, digging my claws into his neck and drawing blood. He whimpers and staggers back but doesn’t relent.

I growled ferociously, and the alpha wolf encircling me responds with a growl of his own. He is weak, I can see it, and so is his army. My wolf is bigger and stronger than his. He could have saved himself this humiliation by just surrendering, but no alpha wants to look weak in presence of their pack members.

The ruckus around us had now skyrocketed as more wolves joined in the fight, paws paddling on the floor and carrying dust as my warriors battled with his, and the painful howls of his warriors traveled through the air. We are going to win this. All I have to do is end their alpha’s life and Lakewood pack would be mine.

The wolf jumped on my back and clutched at my neck, aiming to dig his canines into them, another growl rippled through my chest and I stood on my hind legs and shook him off. The pain in my underbelly made the action a little more difficult, but it wasn’t long before he lost his grip and fell to the ground with a loud thud, whimpering in pain as his back hit the floor.

I didn’t give him any time to regain his balance, I pounced on him, ignoring the pain in my lower back, and with one swift move, I snapped his neck, ending his life.

Silence followed after that. The warriors who had been fighting off my men stared at the body of their lifeless alpha. That was it, their alpha was dead, they had lost the fight.

Slowly, they start to line up in rows in front of me. Members of the pack that had been hiding, mothers and little pups, emerged from the pack house, and one after the other, they start to bare their necks to me.

This is how I have developed my pack and grown over the years. Battling weaker packs and overtaking their lands for power, making my pack, The Dark Wolf pack, one of the largest and strongest in the world.

This particular alpha has fought a good fight. Alphas are known to be proud and confident, but the last pack I defeated, their alpha had surrendered to save his life. Right now, I feel power surge through my whole body. I can barely feel all the pains and injuries from the fight, I would heal eventually. After all, we werewolves are known for our super healing powers. I howled at the moon. Another victory.

Just then, a loud shriek sounded from behind the crowd “I will never bow to you!”  I turn my head to the figure walking towards me. Their pack witch. The Lakewood pack, whose alpha I had just murdered, and whose lands I would soon be taking over, had one of the strongest pack witches. She is old, scruffy looking and very haggard, but her powers and stories of her deeds are not new to our kind. People always wondered why such a powerful witch would choose to serve a pack like Lakewood pack, but to date, that question remains unanswered. Only a witch like her would dare stand up to me after I just defeated her alpha.

My men made to apprehend her, but I send a mind link through to them to let her speak. She is devastated, but she'll get over it. It would be a bonus to have her serve my pack, even if I have to force her.

She thrusts her hands into her garment and brings out a silver dagger, flashing it in the air. The rays of the moon bounced on the silver dagger, illuminating its shine.

“This has become a common trend for your type, but you can’t get away with it this time. You may be the strongest and most feared alpha, but I do not fear you, and I would die before I serve you. You have paved way for your own destruction.

“I curse you, Alpha Hayden Slade. For this which you have done, your life shall be cut short. May death befall you on your twenty fifth birthday. May your pack and every member of your household feel the pain you have caused Lakewood. Your pack shall be torn apart, and you’ll watch while it’s been snapped out of your fingers,” She screams, dark tears rolling off her left eye to her cheeks. The tears of a witch.

Thunder rippled through the sky, and a heavy wind carries dust around her. The witch cackled, a sound that made me uncomfortable. Her words however do not move me. The curse would not have any effect on me unless…

“Seize her,” I send a mind link to my men, but before they can grab her, the witch drives the dagger into her chest, her black blood gushing out. Several gasps emerged from the crowd as the witch falls to the ground with the dagger buried in her chest.

Shit. She spilled her blood to seal the curse, she took her own life for the curse to have its full effect. The blood of a witch was sacred, and a witch as powerful as her meant trouble. I was doomed.

Lucinda was two centuries old already, but why she would go to this extent for Lakewood is still baffling. My men surrounded her, but it was too late, I had no choice than to watch her take her last breath, while the filthy stench of doom filled the air. The last thing I want is to die anytime soon. I have a whole lot of plans for my pack dammit. I did not just gain another victory only to face this. I did this to myself. My men would have stopped her if I didn’t feel the need to keep her and have her in my pack.

I growled loudly and galloped into the woods.