Chapter 0005

Ares’s POV

“Your Majesty!”

The sudden call of a female voice makes me turn around. I see a girl walking away from the crowd of other ladies, her eyes wide with fear. I release Alpha Malcolm, causing him to retch and choke on the ground.

I face the woman, but I wait her to come to me.

Could this be it? Could she be my other half?

“I’m the Beta’s daughter,” the woman says, her voice gentle. She takes a step closer to me, and even though we’re still standing a couple of feet away, I’m able to catch a whiff of her scent.

And there’s nothing.

She smells like all the women in the background. They all smell ordinary. They all emanate no kind of pull.

This woman is not my Mate. None of them is my Mate.

Rage is filling my lungs like fire. A scream of pure fury is building in my throat. I motion the girl to move away before I explode, because I’m at the very end of the tether and violence is drumming inside my mind like an answer.

“King Ares,” Beta Heather calls to me through mind-link, breaking through my dark thoughts. “It must have been my fault. Perhaps I made the wrong judgment. Maybe my divination efforts have once again deceived me into thinking that your mate is in this pack--”

“Nonsense.” I cut through her. “I know your skills, and I know that the only possibility of this going wrong would be caused by this imbecile of an Alpha.”

I face Alpha Malcolm again, and this time there’s no doubt in my mind. This shit stain of a Werewolf is hiding something, and I bet it everything to do with selfish intentions as always.

I pick him up from the ground, grabbing him the collar as the woman shied away from the sight. He tries to push me off, grabbing my hands and scratching me, but I hold on. Tighter this time, in fact.

“Where is the Beta’s daughter?” I growl.

He opens his mouth to speak, but then another man enters the garden. I turn around as Alpha Malcolm scampers away from me, trying and failing to regain his composure. I shift my gaze to the newcomer, and he sinks into a bow.

“That’s the Beta Hector,” Heather tells me.

“Where’s your daughter?” I demand at him, wasting no time for formalities.

“I….” He trails off and swallows hard. “My daughter Valeria ran away, King Ares.”

“Ran away?” I mutter coldly. “Ran away?”

“Yes, your Majesty. We were having personal issues….”

I cannot believe this. I cannot believe that ordinary Werewolves in a small pack, no less, have the utter audacity to cross me this way.

“Have I not made myself clear enough in my invitations?” I ask him in a low voice, closing the distance between us in a few strides. “I said I needed all the young eligible women gathered by the time I get here. All of them. I don’t care about what personal issues you may be having. That is not what I am here for. I want you to bring your daughter to me.”

“But we don’t know where she is!” Beta Hector whines.

That makes me snap.

Before I know it, the back of my hand is already flying to his face, slapping him and sending him falling to the ground. Alpha Malcolm opens his mouth as though to protest, but I push him back into the dirt.

“Send your warriors to find her. If you do not bring her to me in one hour, I will make sure you’re banished from your own pack.”

* * *

Valeria’s POV

“He’s all ready for the Choosing Night, Beta,” the Omega servant in front of me says, seemingly unaware that she’s supposed to be saying this through mind-link.

I watch as she gathers the things in the dungeon while the other Omegas leave. I don’t know her by name, but I know for sure that she’s Naomi’s handmaiden. She’s always been mean to me. Even now, she’s smirking at me like she’s laughing at my situation.

But she doesn’t know that I’m slowly inching my way out of my restraints.

By the time she faces me again with her things in her hands, my wrists and my ankles are free. But she’s too smug to notice that.

“Have fun at the Choosing Night,” she greets me with a tone dripping in sarcasm.

“Thank you,” I say in an equal tone, then I jump out of the seat and tackle her against the wall.

Even though she’s been a terrible person to me, I still don’t want to hurt her. So I decide to make things quick by pressing on a spot in her shoulder, the area guaranteed to knock her out quickly. As I watch consciousness leave her eyes, I prepare to leave.

And the stars seem to have aligned for me.

The warriors are nowhere to be seen.

It’s a strange occurrence, but I don’t have the time or the willingness to know why. I just navigate my way out of the dungeon, but before I can get through the back door, I hear my father’s panicked voice yelling in the distance.

“Yes, she’s in the dungeons,” he’s saying to someone frantically. “I believe the Omegas prepared her for this. But I am afraid that she will not be the mate that the Lycan King is looking for, and if so, he’s going to try and find Naomi….”

A snort of derision rises in my throat.

Of course I’m not the mate of the Lycan King. I’m a cursed white wolf.

Their situation is so funny to me. Why can’t they just present Naomi to the Lycan King?

It’s not my business anymore, however. They deal with that tyrant. I’m going to finally find my freedom from this hellhole.

With that, I just roll my eyes and run into the night, taking off the high heeled shoes that the omegas forced on me and speeding into the forest.

But just as I make past the border, I hear my father’s voice again.

“Where the hell is she? I thought you were supposed to take watch!”

I almost laugh at the shock in his voice, but I just keep running. It hurts to step on the small rocks scattered on the edge of the forest floor, but it’s going to be worth it, I remind myself. I’m about to change tracks into a path where no one usually takes but then I hear him mind-linking me.

“Valeria, my daughter,” he suddenly says in a gentle tone. “Where are you?”

I don’t say anything, because I know that if I say anything, he will end up knowing where I am.

But when I hear his plea, my heart stops. My body also slows down. I hide behind a tree, trying to catch my breath and make sense of all of this.

He called me his daughter. I haven’t heard that in a while. I would have been touched, but I could also sense the desperation in his tone. He only called me that so he can save Naomi. I don’t mean anything to him.

Tears brim my eyes but I wipe at them furiously, starting to walk again.

But Dad remains persistent. “If you don’t come back, he will banish us. Worse, he will kill us. He’s perfectly capable of such things. Please, Valeria, come back home. Just show yourself to the King. He would not question us any further….”

I take a deep breath. A part of me believes him, but a bigger part of me is done.

I keep walking until I find my pace again, breaking off all kinds of mind-link from that place, from anyone.

I run and run and run. My feet are hurting, but I keep going. All I want to think about is the freedom I will soon have. It will all be over….

I’m almost at the border of the pack. A couple of steps more and I will--

“Lost, are we?”

The growling voice makes me stop in my tracks. I try to swerve to the side, but it’s too late. Three tall figures loom before me, blocking my way. My heart jumps in my throat when I realize who they are.

Rogues.

Red eyes, matted hair, dirty clothes. Grins that chill you right down to your bones. Smell of blood and gunk and other unspeakable things.

I stagger back. My pulse is racing in fear. One of the Rogues look at me up and down, and soon enough, the others follow suit. They’re staring at my cleavage, which is accentuated by my dress. I lift my arms to cover myself up, but the Rogues lunge at me and pin me against the tree.

“Let me go!” I yell, trying to kick them in the crotch. “LET ME GO!”

None of them listen.

Sneering as though they hit the lottery, they begin to touch me all over. One of them take my hands and keep them glued against the tree. The other two begin to sniff me, their hands roaming along my waist, down to my butt, and up to the sides of my breasts.

Pure disgust rakes through my body. “Help me!”

The one pinning me down laughs. “No one to help you here, miss.”

With that, he tears off a chunk of his dirty clothes and shove it into my mouth, keeping it there with his palm. One of them start to rip through my dress, following the slit that shows off my legs. The other one leans into my neck and starts to kiss me there, leaving trails of pungent smelling spit all over my skin.

I close my eyes. I can’t believe this is happening. I want this to be a dream. I want to wake up. But judging by the direction of their rough hands, it’s about to get much worse--

Then there was nothing.

I can feel the pressure easing off my wrists in one go. The smell of the Rogues disappear. Grunts echo in the distance.

I open my eyes and see that a big silver Lycan has one of the Rogues between his teeth, throwing him into the cliff. He slashes at the other two with his massive claws, rendering them both motionless before tossing them off too.

I press myself against the tree. The Lycan’s cool blue eyes turn to me.

Suddenly, his body shrinks into his human form, revealing the most gorgeous man I have ever seen. He has platinum blond hair, swept over his chiseled face. His eyes are the color of clear skies, but something about them is so piercing and cold that I shiver in my ripped dress.

I let my gaze wander down his toned body, swallowing hard when I see the massive thing between his legs.

“I….” I begin to say, meaning to apologize, but my words fail me.

But that’s when the voice of my wolf Maia speaks in my head, for the first time since I felt her presence.

“Your Mate. He’s your second-chance Mate.”