Kayla's POV
I was gripped in a pair of massive arms. My heart pounded hard against my ribs. Trembles shook through my limbs. The harder I shook the tighter he gripped me.
His racing heart echoed in my ears as he pulled me close to his expansive chest. The rogue was real. He tore through the forest taking me far from my pack. Far from everything I knew. Ever giant step he leaped sent waves of agony cascading through my broken body.
It was all too much. The terror of what he would do to me, the pain, all of it. I passed out, falling into a nightmare filled sleep. The rogue was real and I was his prisoner.
***
I sighed. A blissful warmth enveloped me. Small, soft hands stroked my tattered skin. My frail body rested on soft ground. A fire crackled beside. I struggled to make sense of what was happening. Did someone rescue me from the rogue? Did he mean to keep me as his slave?
"Serena, please, enough," a rough voice pleaded. "It's too much for you. Let her own wolf heal her."
"She's trying," a young girl replied. Her voice came from right beside me. "But she's weak. Her wolf has kept her alive for 18 years."
"Serena, you know how much healing another wolf takes out of you, please, let her heal naturally. You've done enough."
"It's different with her," Serena said moving her hands to my stomach, "easier. It's like we're connected somehow."
The older male wolf inhaled. His rough, heavy hand rested on my cheek. "Do you think she's..."
"Yes," Serena interrupted him. "It's her. We're saved, gramps, we can go home."
A warm tear landed on my chest. I tried to protest. Whoever they thought I was they were wrong. I'm not important to anyone. The effort was too much. My broken body drifted back into slumber.
I woke again to the alluring scent of freshly roasted meat. A nearby fire hissed and crackled.
"Gramps, she's waking up," Serena said. I arched my back, stretching out my muscles. For the first time ever nothing ached. I wanted to run, to sing, to swim. I needed to move. I was alive. More alive than I'd ever been. I rolled to my side opened my eyes and took in my surroundings.
I was in a cave deep in the mountains. Roasted lamb rested above a roaring fire. My body was rested on a giant fluffy pillow stuffed with lambs wool and a fleece blanket covered my modesty. A young woman, probably around 18 years old perched in a large wooden log by the fire. The glow of the flames reflected in her flowing silver white hair. Her bright grey eyes were the colour of the moon and they gazed expectantly at me.
The missing Princess. And I was staring right into her eyes.
Fuck.
I dropped my chin to chest and squeezed my eyes tight.
"I-I-I'm sorry Your Highness. I did not mean to challenge you."
My limbs trembled and my stomach heaved. Now I really would die and just when I finally felt well.
"Challenge me?" She giggled. "To what? Oh please say chess. I love chess and gramps always lets me win. I want a challenge, someone who will try, but first eat."
Metal scraped across the floor. Something hit my toe and the scent of roasted meat wafted closer. My mouth watered. I'd never eaten hot roasted meat. I was only ever allowed scraps.
"I looked you in the face, Mistress, a wolf must never look a superior in the face."
A tear dripped off my chin. The growl of my stomach echoed off the painted cave walls.
"Says who?" Serena asked shuffling closer. I squeezed my eyes tighter. A fork of roasted meat hit my lips. "Open."
Desperate not to further upset the Princess I snapped my mouth open so hard my jaw clicked. Warm, melt in the mouth meat landed on my tongue and an explosion of flavour spread through my mouth. Meat tastes better than it smelled. The flavour was indescribable, like what I imagined a hug from a loved one on a warm summer morning would taste like. An involuntary moan escaped my lips. The Princess giggled softly, pushing more meat into my mouth.
"Who told you not to look at me?" She asked resting a soft hand on my knee.
"It's always been the way, Your Highness, a lesser must never look a superior in the face. If they do it is taken as a challenge and they must fight to the death to take the superiors place. A lesser has never won a challenge."
"And you were taught this by your pack Alpha?"
I nodded. Soft, quiet sobs came from beside me. Princess Serena's shoulders trembled at my side.
"What have my people become?" She gulped between cries. "Please," she begged, "tell me its not all horrible. '
"Um, I guess if you're an Omega or higher some of its OK."
"And what's lower than an Omega, dare I ask?" The rogue snarled.
"Me."
"Oh, I can't bear this," Serena cried, placing her hand under my chin. “Please look at me, please, I beg of you."
I shook my head too afraid to take the risk. Alpha Patrick tested me dozens of times a day when I was a pup, always asking me to do things I wasn't allowed and punishing me if I forgot the rules.
"I think we can trust her," a voice in my head whispered.
"My wolf?"
"Izelle, you can call me Izzie. I'm sorry I haven't spoke to until now. It took all my strength just keeping us alive but I think we're safe now. Serena healed us and when she did I felt a connection, not a mate bond, something else, something ancient and powerful. I think we're supposed to be here with her."
I lifted my head slowly, my palms sweating and my stomach in knots, and slowly opened my eyes. Serena was nose to nose with me. Tears stained her delicate ivory cheeks, her lower lip trembled. She managed a small, wet smile.
"What is your name?" She asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"I-I don't have a name," I dropped my chin, my cheeks flamed, "they call me Runt."
Serena sighed, shaking her head. The rougue clenched his fists, grinding his teeth.
"I will call you Kayla," she said. "I am Princess Serena and this is my Gramps, Casper."
"Casper? Former Alpha and King? King Casper is the rogue?" My jaw dropped. My eyes locked onto his.
"Rogue," he roared. "I am no rogue. My pack was decimated. Slaughtered in front of my face. There was nothing I could do but take Serena and run. This is where we hide. This place is warded from other wolves with powerful, ancient magic. We're safe here."
"But you slaughtered the White Wolf pack," I frowned, "and you've been on a rampage ever since!"
"I did not," he yelled so hard the cave shook. I shrank back, tucking my knees to my chest.
"Kayla, are my people being slain?" Serena asked.
I nodded, "since the attack on your pack, two more packs have been wiped out and dozens of powerful Alphas. Your people are at war, Your Highness."
We sat in slience. Serena and I in a tearful embrace and Casper slamming his fist into his palm
"So, Kayla, tell me more about how my people live. I need to know everything." Serena broke our embrace and wiped our tears dry.
She listened for hours with tears rolling down her cheeks. The rougue Alpha's nostrils flared as I spoke. His face glowed red and his knuckles were white. He let out a few growls and snarls when I told him about the punishments doled out for disrepecting your superiors or insubordinance.
"Who is King?" He snarled when I'd finished speaking. "Who took the place of my son and turned my people into slaves."
"We don't have a King anymore, Sir. We have an Alpha Regal, he's kind of like a King, he rules all packs. His father refused to take the title of King until he found Serena."
"And the Alpha Regal, the monster who enslaves and brutalises our people?"
"Alpha Maddox Mason, Sir, but I've met him. He's not..."
"Mason? You're sure?" Casper interupted me. "Son of Nicholas Mason?"
"Yes, Sir."
"You know him, Gramps?"
"I knew his father. Maddox was but a pup when I fled with you but Nicholas was a good man. He'd not put up with a son who did the things Kayla desribes. What happened to him?"
"Dead, Sir, killed by the rogue."
"His son will soon join him."
Alpha Maddox's POVLena stood guard outside the ramshackle packhouse, guarding the entry, preventing anyone but Blake from entering. I've interrogated enough suspects during my military career to know I wanted the Gamma and Beta males nowhere near the rest of the pack. Something about them didn't sit right with me. Shadow didn't trust them. They refused to meet my gaze. Their shoulders hunched when they spoke to me. Alpha Patrick's repulsive flamboyance was toned down tenfold. They knew something and the Hell was I going to let them coach the rest of the pack to fill me with the same lies they were telling me."Warrior Carl," Blake announced as he shoved a sweaty, underweight adult male into Patrick's office.&nb
Many lower-ranking packs think the buck stops with me. I am the ultimate power and if they challenge me it's only my pack they need to face. They're wrong. Just as humans have their governments we have the Elders, a group of well-loved, well respected retired Alphas. They've watched over us since the dawn of time, protected us, loved us and ensured we acted fairly to those who wrong us. Even the White Wolves could have been overruled by the Elders."Thank you," I sighed. A tiny slither of tension flowed from my body. I slipped my cell phone back into my pocket and massaged my temples."The Elders will be here within the hour," I told Blake and Lena, eager to pass off responsibility for this hot mess to someone older and wiser than myself.I blinked, a desperate effort to relieve the migraine threatening to send me crashing to my knees at any moment, and stepped back surveying the dismal scene behind me. Cedar Wood pack huddled on the dusty mess hall floor. Lucil
Kayla's POVSerena sobbed quietly in the corner of the cave. Her Grandfather paced the perimeter mumbling all the ways in which he would make Maddox Mason hurt before he slaughtered him and reclaimed dominion over our people.I sat in silence on the warm, thick sleeping mat, with a heavy wool blanket wrapped around my shoulders. Izzy offered the odd comforting word, promising me it would all work out. That we'd find a new mate, one worthy of us."Mate?" I asked her."That's the connection you felt with Maddox Mason. That's what woke me. But if he's everything Casper says he is, I reject him. I want more. We deserve more."I sighed, pulled the blanket over my head and sank back into the sleeping mat. My head throbbed and my heart ached. A million questions raced through my mind.Why would the Moon Goddess match me with a monster? What connection could a Princess, a powerful White Wolf, have with me?
Maddox's POV "Lock it down," I sighed into the phone. "Lock it all down. Spread the word to other packs. Until the rogue is caught and brought to justice no wolf leaves their pack alone." "Got it," Blake said. I sank to the bed. I'd remained at Cedar Wood, refusing to leave until my mate was found. In the weeks that passed, the rogue grew bolder, upped his killing and stealing. Two of my pack were missing, presumed dead. Some smaller packs were decimated. Slaughtered while they slept and still, we were no closer to finding him. Patrick admitted nothing about his mistreatment of my mate or his pack and even with him locked away they were still too afraid to speak. Graham's testimony helped but the most he could be charged with was assaulting my mate. The elders sentenced him to five years in the dungeons and stripped him of his title. I pinched the bridge of my nose. My mate was missing. My peop
Kayla's POVBarefoot, I wriggled my toes in the soft, warm sand and inhaled letting my gaze roam over the turquoise ocean. Casper was out hunting wild boar. Serena was sleeping and I'd finally heard the words I'd waited all my life for."I'm ready."Izzie, my wolf, was ready.The sun warmed my face. All my life I wanted those words, none more so than when I turned 18 and she still didn't appear. When I was a pup, held prisoner by Alpha Patrick, forced into slavery I used to dream about my wolf rescuing me. The evening of my eighteenth birthday she would come to me. I'd let her out and she'd be the fastest, strongest, most majestic she-wolf to ever roam our lands. My pack would bow down before me in awe and together we would overthrow Alpha Patrick, rescue the missing Princess and I would live in Castle Rock, the whole Kingdom indebted to me. But it never happened. Izzy never showed and I wasn't the strongest wolf ever to liv
Maddox's POVShadow paused, lifted his snout and inhaled a huge lungful of fresh forest air. His pulse quickened. He tore through the trees at breakneck speed, following a scent only he could decipher. Branches snapped under his heavy paws, thorns tore into his skin but he didn't slow, not for a second.He came to a screeching halt at the top of a hill, the last place our mate was seen alive. I followed Shadow's gaze and my heart stopped.Before us, perched on a rock on the top of the hill, naked as the day she was born, was the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on. Her chocolate coloured hair hung in glossy waves down her back. Her body was lithe, muscular with just a hint of womanly curves. Rays of sunlight glittered off the gold specks swirling in her molten honey gaze."Mate," Shadow said inching forwards slowly."Um, Shadow, that's not Mouse," I said.He sniffed the air. "Mate." He repeat
Kayla's POVMaddox's wolf's pained yowling carried on the wind as Izzy raced through the woods, back to the safety of Casper and Serena. The howling stopped. The hammering of heavy black paws on soft, muddy ground echoed behind us."We can't go back," I begged Izzy. "He's following us. Casper will kill him.""Good," Izzy hissed. "He deserves it. We shouldn't have had to live as a slave.""But what if it wasn't him?""Wasn't him?" Izzy laughed, "he installed himself as royalty, lorded over us all like a King. Who else would it be?"I shrugged. It did kinda look like Maddox was responsible for the way we lived. I shuddered at the memory of my former. I lived in terror for as long as I could remember.Izzy careered into the cave. Casper jumped to his feet. Serena's blue eyes widened, her jaw dropped and she inhaled."Kayla," she breathed. "Your wolf...she's...beautiful."Maddox's wolf sn
Maddox's POV"Sir, a lone female is approaching our territory," Bryan, one of my warriors told me. Since the rogue increased his activity I'd had groups of scouts patrolling our land and reporting back anything strange."Show me," I demanded. Bryan handed over his phone. A photo of Mouse flickered to life. She huddled by a rock overlooking our packhouse. I ran my finger over the screen and smiled."You're sure she's alone?""Yes, sir.""Fine, watch her but do not approach her.""Yes, sir."The day carried on around me as normal but my mind, and Shadow, refused to focus on anything but Mouse. She was close. She was alone but why?"We need to go to her," Shadow demanded, fighting me for control."No, we'll frighten her."Shadow spent the day arguing with me, fighting for control and sulking. I was almost glad when supper rolled around giving me chance to focus on something else.