The screams echoing.
The beastly howls.
The stench of blood thick in the air.
Claws scrapped on walls.
The sound of glass shattered on the ground.
Just how did the night soon explode into chaos?
The Elder patient lay slumped in his bed, his wounds open and bleeding again.
Fiora's hand in hers one moment and wrenched away the next. Her shriek was cut short by a massive arm covered in future, that pulled her into the shadows.
"Athena," Fiora gasped, twisting in the monster's grip. Her eyes glowed in an unnatural gold light. "Don't trust the Alpha!"
A blinding light burst from Fiora's chest and slammed into Athena's heart, knocking the air from her lungs. Her vision went white, her ears rang, and she felt something alive slip into her.
No!
Stop it!
"No!" Her eyes snapped open.
The silence was thick wherever she was. Her eyes fluttered, adjusting her vision. But her lashes felt heavy like they were made of stone.
A full ache pulsed behind her temples and every limb felt weighed down by invisible chains. She tried to shift, to rise but a sharp pain shot through her ribs and forced her flat against the bed.
She was lying in a bed she didn't know, in a room full of darkness. The only light came from a sliver of moon spilling through tall glass windows. Every muscle ached in her body. Her ribs screamed when she tried to move.
Then it hit her.
The odd job she took for money. The secluded town she visited. The cold eerie manor. The elder with wounds no human should survive. And then…
Fiona.
Panic surged within her. Her breath quickened. She bolted upright…
Mistake.
A lightning bolt of pain tore through her side, stealing the breath from her lungs.
"Wrong move," a deep voice murmured from somewhere in the dark. "Shouldn't have done that while you're still injured."
Athena froze. Her breath caught in her throat. The room was dim, shadows spilling across the wooden floor. Only a sliver of moonlight slipped through the tall glass windows behind the bed.
"Who… who said that?" She asked, her voice came out weak but sharp with fear.
A figure moved in the shadows.
From an armchair nestled in the farthest corner, a man rose. Slowly and deliberately. He stepped into the moonlight like it belonged to him.
His presence was commanding, his movements smooth as fluid, quiet as night and dangerous… just like those beasts. He was tall, dressed in black, and so strikingly handsome it made Athena's chest tightened for a reason she didn't understand.
But it wasn't his face that scared her. It was the look in his eyes. The cold eyes. The sharp look he gave. Like he is calculating what his next move should be. With her.
"Where am I?" Athena demanded. "How did I get here? Who brought me?"
He didn't answer. Not at first. He stopped a few feet from the bed, his arms crossed with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Before I answer your questions," He said, his voice cold and low, "I have one for you." He tilted his head slightly. "What was a human doing amongst all werewolves?"
Athena blinked. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You heard me."
She pushed herself up on trembling arms. "You kidnapped me and now you're interrogating me?"
"If it were up to me, I would've left you to rot in that manor," he said. "Don't mistake necessity for mercy. I don't waste my breath on humans."
The cruelty in his tone made her shrink. She didn't know why but something about him… his voice, his presence… made her want to hide.
Made her want to bow and obey.
"You… you're one of them," she whispered. "One of those… beasts?"
He stepped closer. "You mean the beasts that look like wolves?"
She nodded.
A smirk curled at his lips. "Yes," he said simply. "I am. Does that scare you?"
Athena's voice trembled. "Please tell me I'm dreaming… This must be some horrible nightmare…"
He didn't reply. Instead, he waited.
She gathered her strength, swallowing her fear. "I was there to help," she said. "The elder in that town… I was hired to treat him. I only went there because I needed the money."
That got his attention. He arched his brow in question. "You're a healer?"
"I am a surgeon. One of the best. Or at least I used to be…" She looked down at her lap closing her eyes as she's starting to have a headache.
Something shifted in his eyes. Interest, maybe. But she could still feel him calculating his thoughts.
She took a deep breath. "Why did you save me?"
His gaze returned to her face. "You were the only one still breathing when we arrived."
Athena's heart sank. "And the girl with me? What about Fiora?"
He said nothing. Not even a question.
"Fiora is the old man's granddaughter… she was with me. She was… she was being taken…"
"There was no one else around you," he said without any emotion as if talking about dead people was nothing for him. "There were others but no one around you."
Athena's stomach twisted. That couldn't be right. Fiora had… she had passed something into her. A light. No, it was a feeling. No… no…. No… maybe a voice.
Then she remembered the words.
Don't trust the Alpha.
Her thoughts spiraled. Was Fiora taken by the beasts? Did she even survive? What had she given to me?
She was so deep in her own panic she didn't notice how close he'd gotten.
He stepped beside the bed and leaned down slightly, his head tilting as if to study her. His eyes swept over her face, then lower, and a slow, deliberate inhale filled the space between them.
"What… what are you doing?" She gasped.
He stood at the edge of the bed now, towering over her. Slowly, he leaned in, one hand braced on the mattress beside her head. The other lifted… as if to touch her.
"Your scent…" he murmured. His voice became husky and curious. "You're human. But… not only human."
Before she could recoil, his fingers brushed a strand over her shoulder, slow, as if committing to his memory. His fingers hovered just above her chest, over her heart. Over where the fox spirit had entered her. The intimacy of it made her heart slam against her ribs.
"No," she said, slapping his hand away. "Don't touch me. Stay away pervert!"
His eyes widened, just for a second. Then his expression turned cold. No… furious.
"You have no idea what you just did," he growled. "Do you have any idea what you're to me?"
"I don't care!" She snapped. "I just want to go home!"
"You think you're in control here? You carry a scent that shouldn't exist. One meant for me and yet, not only for me." He gave a humorless chuckle, then leaned even closer, voice like a knife. "Too bad. From now on… your home is where I am sweetheart."
Her heart thudded in her ears.
"What do you mean?" She whispered. "Who are you to demand from me?"
His gaze darkened. "It means you are mine, little human and yet my brother will want you to. But I do have a plan for him too…"
Her chest tightened in fear. "You can't trap me here. You're insane!"
The man straightened and stepped back, his silhouette tall against the pale moon light. His eyes lingered on her like claws dragging over skin.
"Xavier Thorne," He said. "Alpha of the Blackridge Empire. And from today you will address me as Alpha." He turned away and walked to the door. Just before leaving, he glanced over his shoulder. "Sleep well human. Tomorrow, you begin your new life. With me."
The door clicked shut behind him.
And Athena, lying alone in the dark, felt a cold truth settle deep into her bones. Whatever world she had woken up in… it was not hers anymore.
Though she wanted to dismiss his words as madness, she couldn't shake the heat of his closeness or the way the air had shifted when he said mine.
Fuck! What just happened?