EMILIA POV
“He wouldn’t kill the adopted daughter of the war general, right?” I muttered to myself as I watched everyone who had volunteered fight and win or lose. Seth and I would be the last ones to go, and I couldn’t get my mind off the threatening words he had said to me earlier.
If he killed me, he would be raising trouble with Carlos.
But, did Carlos care enough to avenge my death?
“Emilia and Beta Seth, please step into the fighting ring.”
My heart hammered in my chest as I stood up and walked towards the ring, where Seth was already in wait for me.
“You only win by submission,” the referee stated. “If your opponent is knocked out mid-fight, you win by default. No foul play.”
I watched the referee walk out of the ring and put his hand up as he blew the whistle between his lips.
“Fight!”
Before I could turn my head from the referee to Seth, I felt a kick in my stomach and was flung to a corner of the ring, where I struggled to breathe and stand up before Seth could get to me again.
It was too late to do anything else as Seth grabbed me by the hand and pulled me up.
“You are the niece of a fucking general!” He yelled at me. “You should be ashamed to be this weak!”
He slapped me across the face and kicked me in the ribs, causing me to fall on my side and groan in pain.
I was pulled by the hair, and I tried hard to pry his hand off my hair, but it only seemed to make him angrier and left with the urge to keep pulling at it.
“You are pathetic,” he spat, punching me in the face and slamming my head against the floor of the ring.
He stood up, kicking me in the gut tirelessly.
“Surrender,” he commanded. “Tap out.”
If there was one thing I had learned from Carlos, it was that the most embarrassing way to lose a fight was through surrender. He made sure to beat me until I passed out, so that I would be used to the pain and refuse to surrender whenever situations like the one I was in came up.
“Surrender!” The louder he got, the harder he kicked. The more he kicked, the more violently I coughed up blood, the warm and coppery taste flooding my mouth.
He really was going to kill me, and everybody was watching. They wouldn’t do anything about it until I either surrendered or passed out.
I could even die.
“That’s enough!” I heard the screams of the referee just as my eyes started to water and my vision got blurry. I could still feel his feet kicking me, but I couldn’t feel the pain it caused anymore. I was growing weaker by the second.
I saw the referee get into the ring and pull Seth away from me with as much force as he could.
My throat was flooded with blood, and my stomach was hot.
My eyes found Seth’s as he struggled against the arms of the referee, who was still holding him back. He looked so full of hatred, just like he did when he had seen me by the corpse of his twin brother, blood smeared all over my body.
I deserved it. I was a murderer, after all. A murderer who had killed his brother without remorse.
My eyes fluttered close as I accepted the fact that death was not very far from me.
I was soon enveloped in darkness.
*
It was dark when I opened my eyes again. My eyes scanned the unfamiliar room I found myself in. In attempts to stand up, I realized just how much pain my abdomen was in.
I looked down at my stomach and pulled up my shirt to reveal purple bruises on it.
I got off the bed and made for the door opposite the bed. Luckily, it led to the exit of the room. I walked out into the hallway until I found the staircase which led to the living room, where Carlos and Alpha James were having a discussion.
“You’re awake,” Carlos noted as soon as he saw me, drawing the Alpha’s attention to me.
“I was just talking to Carlos about letting you back out of the fight. If you’re not feeling up to it, or if you won’t be fully healed by then, you can always wait for the next Blood Moon festival,” Alpha James suggested.
“And I was just telling Alpha James that even if he begged you to back down, you wouldn’t do it,” Carlos countered. “She has a strong sense of patriotism for her pack, Alpha, and she tries so hard to prove herself. Isn’t that right, Emilia?”
Even though I wanted to go on my knees and beg Alpha James to take me off the volunteers’ list, I simply nodded in agreement with Carlos’s words.
“I will do anything for my pack. Please, let me fight during the festival,” I said.
“Very well, then,” Alpha James nodded. “Have it your way.”
In that moment, I knew just one thing – I had officially signed my own death certificate.
*
“You will be fighting tonight, Emilia,” Carlos reminded me. “There’s really no use for these flashy things. I could even say you could die in the fight due to how weak you are.”
It was the night of the Blood Moon festival, and Carlos had now told me to change my third dress for the night, making the same excuse over and over – it was too flashy for a warrior.
I changed into the simplest black dress I could find and walked down the stairs in hopes that he would not turn me away for looking far from flashy.
“This should do,” he approved as he saw me approaching from the stairs. “Now, hurry up. You’ve wasted enough of our time.”
It didn’t take us much time to get to the gathering court, where everyone was preparing to wine, dine, and watch the volunteers of our pack take on other packs’ volunteers.
I looked around nervously as people introduced themselves smoothly, laughing and already having wine and appetizers without a sign of nervousness in any of them.
I hid behind Carlos for most of the night, only shaking the people he shook hands with but almost never meeting their eyes.
The sound of Alpha James clearing his throat into the microphone caught our attention.
“Thank you all for coming. The Blood Moon festival has officially kicked off!” Cheers erupted as we raised our cups of red wine to the moon in its fully red hue.
As Alpha James continued his opening speech, everyone’s heads turned in the direction of the court’s entrance as the gates opened.
The energy in the air took a dramatic shift as we all turned to the gates to see a group of people file into the court. They all split into two groups, creating some sort of human portal for the man who came next.
His intimidating figure sauntered into the room with an air of nonchalance over his lateness to the event or his interruption of Alpha James’s speech.
“Alpha Lucas,” Alpha James called out to him. “I almost thought you wouldn’t come.”
“What fun would it be without the pack of Moonclaw in attendance?” Alpha Lucas responded, walking towards the designated spot for Moonclaw Pack with the soldiers he had brought behind him.
The closer he got, the wider my eyes got, and the more painful and fast my heart beat at the sight of him and the reaction of the one thing I was not expecting from the night.
A mate bond.
Alpha Lucas immediately craned his head in my direction, a cynical smile etched on his face as he realized what was happening.
He was my mate.
EMILIA POV“Emilia.”The loud boom of Alpha James’s voice made me flinch before I stepped forward until I got to the middle of the court, waiting for my challenger.“Is there anyone from another pack who would like to take on our very own Emilia here as an opponent?” Alpha James questioned, looking at the crowd of people, some of who looked down at me with mock pity or eager eyes.“I will.”The familiar voice of my mate travelled into my blood and froze everything over, making me want to run out of the court and never look back. Why would he want to fight me?“Alpha Lucas,” Alpha James cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. It almost felt as if he was nervous for me. “Why would you want to use up your strength? Your soldiers are still available—”“You know how I am, Alpha James,” Alpha Lucas interrupted, standing up. “I don’t find fun in simply sitting and drinking. I would like some action.”“Perhaps, I could find you another volunteer who could match up to your st
EMILIA POV “I don’t think I understand what you mean,” Alpha James replied to Alpha Lucas.“I’ll take her as a prize for my win. She doesn’t seem to be worth much to you all in this pack, don’t you think?” He raised my hand and shoved it from side to side to prove his point on how frail and useless I was.“I don’t think—”“Who is her guardian?” Alpha Lucas questioned, ignoring and interrupting Alpha James like he had done for most of the night.“I am,” Carlos stated, standing up. His eyes were cold and hard as he looked at me, and there was only one thing I could read from them – you have brought shame upon my name for surrendering.“Do you have any much use for her? Will you let me have her as a prize for my win?” Alpha Lucas requested.I expected Carlos to be a bit reluctant about letting someone take me to a pack I had no idea of, but he simply sighed and cleared his throat.“Unfortunately, Emilia has brought nothing but shame. She has not improved throughout the years since I hav
EMILIA POV My body froze at the strange greeting I received from the sister of my mate.What did she mean by hell? Was she just pulling my legs to see how I would react? Was it a threat of some sort?She pulled away from the hug, smiling widely at me.“You seem to overthink things a lot. What I meant was, my brother is a hellish person to deal with, so welcome to the hell I have to face everyday.”I heaved a quiet sigh of relief, smiling back at her for the clarity.“You must be tired. Should I show her to her room?” Katarina turned to Alpha Lucas, who had been standing and watching our exchange the entire time.“Not yet. Just take her bags up. I’ll show her to her room later,” he instructed her, beckoning for me to follow him.“It’s not your room just yet, and you can’t be my Luna if your fighting skills are as poor as they are. Last night, you did nothing but kick me in the shin and slap me on the face, is that seriously all you’ve got?” he questioned, and I nodded in response.“Fo
EMILIA POV “What… What is…” I couldn’t form a fully comprehensive question. My mouth was opening and closing repeatedly, and I was trying hard to wipe the image out of my head, but it didn’t help that my mate was standing there, putting his shorts back on as if he just couldn’t care less. For a second, I wondered if my genuine surprise was validated. If my mate was cruel enough to take me to the Omegas’ quarters, why should I be surprised about him being with someone else? “Emilia…” He sighed, rubbing his eyes and walking towards me, taking me by the arm and leading me out of the room. “What are you doing?” I asked, my voice low. “What are you doing?” He countered as if I was in the wrong, taking me aback. “You should be in the Omegas’ quarters, why are you out here in the middle of the night?” “I came here because I thought you could help me.” I hoped he could hear the disappointment and hurt in my voice. I hoped it would do something to him, but it only hurt me more that he did
EMILIA POV“Oh, goddess!” Katarina exclaimed as the soldier finally led us into the town, where a lot of the pack members gathered in front of their houses, holding the bodies of their loved ones.“This…” I placed my over my mouth to mask how shocked I was by the view.There were tens of dead people we had seen so far – about twenty or more, and they all looked like they had died from the same thing.But nobody knew what had killed them.Their bodies were pale, almost gray, and the palms of their hands were completely reddened.“This is bad. Find someone to go track Lucas and bring him here this instant!” Katarina ordered the soldier, who took her word and ran off.We walked towards one of the many people who were sitting outside and bawling their eyes out over the death of their loved ones. This woman was holding a teenage boy to her chest.“Please, save my son! He was fine last night, and I found him like this when I woke up and went to check on him. Please, Jacob! Open your eyes. Y
EMILIA POVThe soldier that had been yelling at me for the laundry launched himself into one of the rooms, returning with weapons and running down the hallway and out of the house.I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t tell if I was expected to join in on the fight as I watched soldiers running from one room to another and down the hallway, and I was too scared to ask them as they all looked ready to kill anyone or anything that stood in their way.“Hey, what’s…what’s happening?” I stuttered as I got out of the house and met one of the Omegas wiping a knife with a piece of cloth.“A rogue attack. We haven’t had one of those in a long time. I wonder why they’re here,” she mumbled, seeming more concentrated on the knife she was wiping clean.“And us? Are we supposed to join the fight?” I questioned, wondering if the knife was hers and she was preparing for the battle.Her eyes shot up so that she could examine me for a moment. Then, she stood up with a sigh as a soldier rushed out of the
EMILIA POVWe all shared looks with each other, wondering if this soldier had lost his mind and was trying to trick us into believing some mindless joke that they had all planned on their way back from the war.Seeing that none of us was moving – in fear or in doubt – the soldier raised his voice and boomed at us: “I want to believe that you all have functioning wolf ears! Grab whatever you can and join us on the battlefield! Nobody will be having your back! It’s a full war. You either die alone or you assist us to win this! Orders from the Alpha!”The soldier turned around and shifted into his wolf form, racing out of the house and leaving all of us in the room to scramble and wonder what to do next.Some people had made it into the kitchen to grab knives while some of the others were sure that they could take out a few rogues with their wolf forms.Unsure of what I was going to be doing, I blindly followed. There was nothing else I could do but hope that if we reached there, they wo
EMILIA POVI looked at Katarina, confused at her words. What was there to say about me so much so that a seer would summon me and Alpha Lucas to see her.“I don’t understand. What truth about me is there?” I questioned, not liking the way Lucas was staring at me with suspicion.“I guess that’s what the seer wants you to find out. Come with me,” she said, taking my hand in hers and walking forward so that Lucas walked behind us.There was silence, and I couldn’t help but feel Lucas’s eyes burning a hole in the back of my head. I wondered what it was that this seer, who was most likely not a true one, had in mind to tell us.I had been raised not to trust seers or wolves who delved into spiritual. Carlos used to tell me they were nothing short of witches and would take the side of witches if there was ever a need to fight against werewolves with them.As we walked towards the seer’s place deep into the woods of the pack, Katarina and Lucas stopped at the same time, causing me to stop an