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His heart belongs to another; she has no time for love. But an accidental breach in the underworld binds their wolves together. These two could not be more different. He is the god of darkness and she is a literal light, an Alpha and a Slave, their association itself is a taboo. Dilara, a slave escaping her owners to this Alpha's pack for safety, is in for a nasty surprise. Shocking revelations about her past life and reincarnation will surface, and she will lose her mind, her body, and her very soul to feed Alpha Lev's darkness. In this world of darkness, their fates will save or destroy them.
Chapter 1 Prologue
Lev weaves his fingers through mine, as our heartbeat syncs in the darkness.
"Take." he breaths hotly beside me.
~Attention municipalities, the hunt has begun. Go ahead and hunt your marked prey with your weapon of choice. VIELES IS WATCHING.~
My eyes widen at the loud announcement that reverberates in the dark sky, a loud siren follows, echoing from overhead PA systems in the area.
I turn to Lev as we disappear fully into the forbidden woods, the moon our only source of light.
"I'm scared." I say, trying to pace my breath. "They will kill us, this is not just about the hunt anymore."
"Watch out!" Lev screams, pulling me behind a tree.
My eyes go round as a black ball flies by us. When it hurls directly into a tree branch, an explosion rocks the very floor, and tugs at my bladder.
"You have to focus, Raena." Lev's voice comes out mildly irritated as we crouch to the ground, hands around our heads.
Bright lights that remind me of the fourth of July quickly fizzle out and thick black smoke blinds us.
"Are you even trying to shift?"
I blink back tears. "It's not working." my voice returns, trembling.
Despite the adrenaline coursing through my veins and my heartbeat physically hurting my rib cage, nothing has happened.
And my fear for what those monsters would do to us.. "You killed the Alpha's son." I stare up at Lev.
"It's Ok," I feel his lips on my forehead and when he moves his head back, his hand is holding up a bottle between our faces.
My jaw drops, but he nods.
"They will not be kind. Promise me you will drink this." He says as his feverish fingers sinks the bottle down my cleavage.
"What about you?" I begin to say, but his fingers clamp around my arm again, hurling me up and we continue running.
My vision blur as raw terror takes hold of me.
I do not mind dying. I had known death was a possibility from the time we were unable to shift.
Our municipality did not tolerate weakness. Like the legendary Spartans, they killed their powerless pups. You were either a strong wolf by twenty one or you died in a hunt.
But the thought of the Alpha's family..
"Let's go together." I turn to Lev as my lungs start to burn now from running so fast.
The witch's words haunt me, ~As the sunrise paints the horizon, your breath will fade.~
"If this is my fate, I want to die honourably like the rest of the runners." My words come out almost incomprehensible between my panting.
"What.." Lev starts to say, but trails off as a gut wrenching scream not very far away rents the air.
No doubt one of the runners just got killed.
"You heard that?" Lev asks, glancing quickly at me and turning his eyes back on the road as he circles a big tree. "I have to do more damage before I join you."
"Lev.." I start to say, leaping over a dead wood on the floor, but I go quiet.
He will not listen to me.
These people bullied him all his life, and today might be his last chance to make them pay.
Besides, he has already crossed the line by killing Kaden, he will not stop now.
I suddenly feel something rushing at us, and without thinking, my hand reaches out to Lev's leather jacket and yanks him against myself.
His weight practically smothers me as we roll under a thick shrub, the sound of the arrow he just escaped, unmistakable as it whistles past us.
"Found them?" I hear one of the twins ask.
"No." His twin responds. "Come out Lev, we know you are here."
I gasp, but Lev's strong hand covers my mouth. My heart begins to beat even faster, and sweat drips down my back in the following silence.
"Come out!" The second twin screams. "I will pull your insides out while you watch."
My teeth are knocking now.
Not like this Veles, my heart whispers a prayer over and over to the underworld god. Even if the witch was right and today is my last day, I do not want to go out like this.
A tree branch crackles and I hear someone gasp just beside us.
My whole body goes stiff as a rod. My wide eyes meet Lev who is squinting, he heard it too.
Someone was hiding here with us.
At that moment a shout goes out, and then the sound of two screaming women follows.
A close pair of feet picks off running, and then I hear another, as it seems the twins start running towards that direction.
I feel no relief but terror as I can now hear the breath of the person hiding with us.
"Who are you?" Lev barks.
When I turn, I see a strange woman. She was obviously not one of us.
It snows too much in Volkodlak to have such a tan.
THE SLAVE
I could not speak as I stared at the silver haired woman. She had to be an angel. Only an angel could be this beautiful.
She was staring at me with piercing Nordic blue eyes that were more concerned than cautious. But her hound was seething and growling.
"Who the fuck are you? Are you mute?"
"Lev.." The woman said in a quiet plea. I wanted to speak, tell them my name and ask them what was going on, but my lips would not move.
While healthy, I often forgot how to speak, but with a bullet in my belly now, I did not have the strength for it.
"What is that smell?" The man, Lev, whispers in disgust, and when he brings his face closer I am stunned seeing him clearly for the first time.
Are these gods?
I looked from the silver haired woman to the man whose long braided hair was now caressing my skin. "That's metal," he ran his hand over his full beard as his eyes crinkled at the corners.
"She's hurt." The woman's brows raised high in her head. "Blessed Morana, were you shot out there?"
I could only nod. I had such dirty luck, didn't I?
After escaping Boyan and his men, I enter Volkodlak on the day there is chaos. The place that was supposed to protect me has now killed me.
"Sweet Morana." The woman said again, and I saw tears in her eyes.
"We have to leave," The man who had long forgotten my existence was peeking out the shrub now.
"How can we leave her here?" Alarm raised the woman's voice above a whisper for the first time, as she brought her hand close to my belly in the dim light.
But when her fingers touched my skin, something strange happened.
A high force of voltage surged through the both of us and she fell back on her butt.
"Raena, are you Ok?" The man turned at the sound of her fall, and that question proved two things.
He had no idea what just happened, and she was not a healer.
I looked down at my belly, and the gaping hole and blood confirmed that she indeed was not a healer.
Then what just happened?
"I'm Ok." She whispered as she began to back away, her butt scraping the floor.
She was looking at me strangely now as I stared at her.
It suddenly felt like I knew her, knew her as well as I knew my own mother.
I suspected she felt the same way from her frightened, confused stare.
"Who are you?" I heard her voice in my head, but her lips were not moving.
My eyes widened and hers did too.
"Dilara." my mind said, to confirm, and her eyes seemed to grow even wider as the man, oblivious to all this, finally pulled her out.
She had heard me.
I felt a sharp, sudden pain in my wound, and bit my bottom lip hard to stifle a scream.
My vision blurred.
Then I began to laugh like a maniac.
The witch was wrong. I was not special. My mother was wrong too.
How can I be destined to birth the Mīṭpar, the great saviour, to this world if I was now drawing my last breath.
RAENA
I stumble blindly beside Lev, my head whirling.
I know her. I know her.
I dreamed of her every night. It was her, it was definitely her. Was the witch right then? Am I special?
I can suddenly feel all the wolf signs now, signs I have never felt all these years.
As we leave the shrub behind we hear a loud thud like something heavy falling.
Lev and I turn to look at each other. She's dead.
I know it even if I can not see her. Dilara is dead.
Lev seems to read my thoughts as he says, "Focus Raena. There is nothing you could have done. She already smelled like death."
I am about to respond when my foot kicks something, and suddenly I can no longer feel the floor beneath me.
Lev's eyes widen and his hands reach out to grab me. But it's already too late.
I feel my body falling to my death, fast, and Lev unfortunately loses his balance trying to save me.
He grips my hand as the floor rushes to meet us.
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