CURSED: THE LUNA'S LYCAN MATE

Danielle was all smiles as she walked down the halls. She had finally succeeded in convincing her council, she couldn't wait to see Colin and surprise him with the good news. She headed straight to Colin's room, excited. As she neared his room, she noticed the door was slightly ajar and she could hear voices inside. Who could Colin be seeing? He liked to keep to himself in the castle and barely interacted with others. Unconsciously, Danielle leaned against the door and listened. "Are you sure it's safe?", a voice said from inside the room, the voice was familiar to Danielle but she couldn't place the owner. "Yes, no one comes to my room. Even the servants can't be bothered with me", a voice that was unmistakably Colin's answered. Danielle was surprised by the bitterness in his voice. "So she got the council to agree with her?", Colin asked the other person. "Yes, the council has agreed to the passing of power from her to you once you're married", the person answered. "Excellent. I knew she would be able to convince them", Colin said and Danielle's heart bubbled with pride. She was about to turn the door and enter when Colin's next words made her stop. "That's the first part of our plan accomplished", Colin said. 'Plan?', Danielle wondered. "Everything should be much easier from here on", he added. "Are you sure? There's still the problem of how you'll completely take over the pack", the other person said and Danielle's breath hitched in her throat. 'Take over the pack?', she wondered, her mind in chaos trying to understand what she was hearing. "Haha", Colin chuckled, bringing Danielle's attention back to the conversation. "My dear friend, that is the easiest part of the plan. It's actually very simple, once we are married, Danielle will have to die", Colin said coldly. Danielle froze. "A simple hunting accident will suffice, or perhaps a small attack by rogues on our way back from our honeymoon", he added, and Danielle was shocked to hear the pure ruthlessness in his tone. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. What did Colin mean by she would have to die after they were married? What was this plan? Plan for what? Danielle's mind was in chaos but then her instinct kicked in. She had to get away from here. She had to leave before Colin caught her eavesdropping. She turned around hurriedly, in her dazed shock, she hit the flower stand outside the door and the flower vase on top of it fell to the ground with a loud crash. "Next we'll have to...", the voice inside the room stopped speaking on hearing the crash. The two men looked at each other. Danielle stared at the broken vase on the floor with horror. She stood frozen in shock unsure what to do next, until her instincts kicked in telling her to run. However, before she could act on them, the door suddenly opened and she was pulled into the room. "Danielle", Colin said, staring at her wide eyed. Danielle stared back at him, scared. She looked around the room searching for the owner of the second voice but there was no sign of anyone else in the room. "What are you doing here?", Colin asked softly, a smile on his face. Danielle stared at his smile in disbelief. His sweet smile that had charmed her when they first met. Now when she remembered the conversation she had just heard she felt her stomach lurch. "I... I came to see you", Danielle stuttered in response. "Oh? For what?" "I... I just wanted to tell you... that the elders agreed to giving you the alpha position once we are married" "Really? That's good news. Although I hope you know, I don't really care about that, I just want to be with you", Colin said as he took her hand but Danielle quickly snatched her hand away, causing Colin to raise his eyebrows at her suspiciously. "Um.. yes, I know", Danielle said nervously as she stepped back under Colin's watchful gaze. "I just remembered I have something important to attend to, I have to go", Danielle said as she began to walk quickly towards the door. "Wait", Colin said suddenly, causing her to pause abruptly. She listened, her heart beating rapidly in her chest, to his footsteps coming closer. "Were you the one who broke the flower vase?", Colin asked. Danielle gulped. She turned around slowly. "Yes, I... I was so excited to tell you the good news, I accidentally bumped into the flower stand", she answered timidly. "Really?" "Yes", Danielle nodded nervously. Colin stared searchingly at her for a long time before breaking into a smile. "Alright then, I guess I'll let you go do your important things", he said and Danielle nodded before turning around hurriedly, which turned out to be a mistake, because immediately the world blacked out. The first thing Danielle realized as she slowly came to consciousness were the little rocks digging painfully into her back. She tried to turn then realized that she was tied up, this caused her eyes to fly open with alertness. She looked around her and saw that it was dark and she was in the woods. She tried to remember how she got here when she remembered Colin and the conversation she had overheard, her heart broke to a million pieces at the thought. How could Colin do this to her? "Oh you're awake", Colin said and Danielle turned around to see him leaning on a tree, watching her. "Co- Colin what is this? What is happening", Danielle asked. "Oh stop pretending, Danielle. I knew you were eavesdropping outside my door", Colin scoffed and Danielle swallowed. "Co- Colin please, I don't know what it is you're planning but please, please just let me go", Danielle began to plead. "I'll forget about it I swear, I won't do anything just please, please, let me go. If you ever felt anything for me..." "Hahaha", Colin suddenly burst out laughing. He looked at Danielle and began to lazily walk towards her. "Felt anything for you? Why would I?", Colin asked and Danielle stared at him wide eyed. "You're right, you don't know what I'm planning. So why don't I tell you? I mean it won't matter much to you anyway, but I would think it would be a bit comforting to at least know why you are dying, right?", he told her. "You remember that accident? The one you had in this same woods when I saved you? Yes, that was the beginning, the beginning of it all", Colin began to speak. "Actually, it wasn't an accident. I planned it with the intention of saving you", he told her and Danielle stared at him wide eyed. She couldn't believe what he was saying. He had planned the accident? "You see, I already carried out my research on you. You assumed the position of Luna at a young age after your parents were murdered, you are naive, innocent, in short, weak, you were the perfect target. So I came up with this plan, to get you to fall in love with me and marry me. After that I planned to somehow persuade you to give me the alpha position after which you would die leaving me the sole ruler of the pack", he told her. "And let me tell you, you made it so easy. I didn't even need to persuade you to give me the Alpha position, just a few mentions of how I felt beneath you and you were already volunteering to give me the Alpha position yourself, how stupid", Colin laughed. "But of course it was too good to be true. Even fools have a stroke of luck once in a while and today was yours, when you overheard my conversation with Cyrus", he continued and Danielle blinked in surprise. "Cyrus?", she asked. "Yes, shocking isn't it? But some of your council members recognize your incompetence and they were more than willing to side with me", he told her. "Although this does mess up my plan a little bit, I'll have to move up your death to before the wedding which is a bit of a snag but it doesn't matter" Danielle shuddered at the coldness in his eyes. "Yo- You can't kill me now. The council won't give you the alpha position unless we are married", Danielle told him. "Yes, I thought about that but like I said it doesn't matter. I just have to tell the council that we were already mated, the few members on my side will side with me as for the rest, well...", he smirked at her. "... by the time I bring in the rogue forces, they'll have no choice but to side with me as well" "The rogues?", Danielle asked wide eyed. "Bu... But you said you were no longer a part of them. You said you broke out from the rogues! You said they were after you for being a traitor!", Danielle said as she remembered the words he had used to manipulate her. "And you believed me", he answered simply. "Well, that's that. Now you know why you're dying, let's get this over with", he said, bringing out a knife. "No, wait Colin, please" "It's nothing personal, believe me. You're just a means to an end and that end is Damien Bloodmoon", he told her as he plunged the blade into her. Danielle gasped as the pain shot through her body. Colin turned around and walked away, leaving her to slowly bleed to death. Danielle tried to struggle but already she could feel life leaving her. This was how she was going to die, in the woods, stabbed by the man whom she had loved. At that moment, Danielle prayed to the moon goddess for another chance. If she could live, she would make it alright. The world slowly faded from her vision and she fell into pitch black darkness.