Cursed To Love The Alpha

I stumbled as I ran from the forest that clawed at my hoodie, gasping in the dark. The growls of the rogues increased from behind me as savage, bloodthirsty, closing in. “Keep running, Sienna," I told myself. “Don’t stop. Don’t look back.” The night air scorched my lungs. My legs felt leaden with fatigue. I twisted my ankle on an unseen root and then saved myself at the last minute. Somewhere deep within me, in the wolf, my wolf whimpered: weak, afraid, barely a sound. She was no help. She had not been in ages. Another howl pierced the night, nearer now — so near I could almost feel hot breath on my neck. I pushed harder. The trees thinned. I didn’t even think — I had to tear my way through the break, and I kept running in the frantic need to escape There was a low growl from in front of me. I skidded to a stop. Too late. Out of the darkness came a dozen sinister looking shadows that blocked my way. Moonlight glinted in their eyes. Uniforms. Signs embroidered onto black jackets. Not rogues. Worse. Dark Ash Pack. They created a barrier of warriors, armed and with cold eyes. Trapped. I whirled around — but the rogues had already reached me. They snarled and snapped at the border, terrified to step onto pack land A Dark Ash warrior stepped forward , chains clashing against one another. “No—” I gasped, backing away. “Seize her,” he commanded. Before I had the chance to do so, two soldiers had seized my arms. I kicked and I Struggled but I was Tared from the chase, it was like fighting Stone walls. My wrists and ankles were shackled with cold iron. My wolf whimpered in response, but it stilled itself within me. They dragged me to my knees. “Please,” I begged, my voice breaking. “I didn’t mean to cross your border I was just— I was running—” “Save your breath for the Alpha you’re going to sell them to,” the warrioress jeered. The world spun as terror and exhaustion collided. An Alpha. I’d be taken to their Alpha — whoever he was — tried, punished… perhaps even tortured. Stumbling heavy footsteps came from the shadow. The warriors went suddenly rigid, as if frozen, their heads bent respectfully. I made myself look up — and the breath backed up in my lungs. The man coming toward me was taller than any man I had ever seen. His hair was black and unkempt, obscuring the deep, almost inhuman eyes. He was dressed in a midnight-black leather jacket, and power clung to him like a second skin. Alpha Daemon Blackwood. I had already heard his name before he said it. Everyone did. He was both a legend … and a warning. A killer. A ruler. A man who trusted no one. And at that instant, his eyes meeting mine, Something impossible occurred. The air split like a bolt of lightning. There was a pull, a powerful, irresistible tug at my soul. Mate. My heart stuttered. My body froze. My wolf, who had been quiet all this time, gave a feeble stir inside me — a low, shattered moan of recognition. Daemon’s face contorted — not with pleasure, but revulsion. He knew it too. He stepped forward, seizing my chin roughly and made me look up at him. His touch seared, but it was not warmth that it radiated but pure fury. “You,” he said, a voice of iron and ice. "if ever there were rascally animals in this vale of sorrows … it had to be you.” I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak. I found myself gazing into the eyes of the man the Moon Goddess had selected for me — I the man who gazed at me as if I was his death sentence.