Rejected under the Blood Moon, claimed by three Lycan kings

Into The Dark

Ember's POV

The wagon wheel hit another hole, sending me crashing against the iron bars.

My wrists were raw from the shackles they'd locked on me before leaving Dread fang peak.

Three days of travel through wasteland, three days of no food and barely any water. The guard driving the wagon hadn't spoken a word to me.

"Please," I croaked, my throat dry as sand. "Just a sip of water."

The guard laughed. "Wolfless breeds don't need water. You're not really one of us anyway."

I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the pain in my empty stomach.

The white ceremonial dress was now brown with dirt and dried blood from where the shackles cut my skin. At least the physical pain distracted me, from the ache in my chest where it felt like my heart had been ripped out.

Marcus's face kept appearing in my mind. Not the cold stranger from the ceremony, but the boy who used to sneak me honey cakes from the kitchen. The one who promised we'd rule together someday.

Lies. All of it was lies.

The landscape outside changed as we climbed into the mountains. Dead trees gave way to black rocks and steam rising from cracks in the ground. The air smelled like sulfur and something else, something wild and dangerous.

"Ironhold," the guard announced as we crested a hill.

My breath caught.

I'd expected a prison, maybe some run-down shacks. But Ironhold was a city carved into the mountain itself.

Towers of black stone reached toward the sky, connected by bridges that swayed in the wind. And at the center, three massive peaks surrounded by what looked like a palace made of iron and shadows.

"Surprised?" the guard asked, noticing my expression.

"The Storm Brothers don't do anything small. They've turned this exile pit into their own kingdom. Of course, it's still a death sentence for soft nobles like you."

The Storm Brothers.

I'd heard whispers about them in Dreadfang peak. Three Lycan-wolf hybrids who'd been exiled as children for being "impure."

They'd taken over Ironhold ten years ago, turning it from a lawless wasteland into something else. Something even the Council feared.

We passed through massive iron gates that groaned as they opened. Wolves patrolled the walls, but they were bigger than any wolves I'd seen in Dreadfang peak. Their eyes glowed in the dim light -amber, green, and gold.

The wagon stopped in a courtyard where other prisoners waited in chains. Most were scarred, tattooed, and muscled from years of hard labor.

They looked at me like I was fresh meat.

"New blood!" someone shouted. "And look at that dress. We got ourselves a fallen princess!"

Rough laughter echoed off the stone walls. I kept my chin up, refusing to show fear even as my legs shook.

"Quiet!" The voice that commanded silence wasn't loud, but it carried power that made everyone freeze.

A man emerged from the shadows, and my heart stopped.

He was beautiful in a dangerous way, like a sword polished to deadly perfection.

Silver hair fell to his shoulders, unusual for someone who looked barely older than me. His skin was bronze, marked with intricate tattoos that seemed to move in the firelight. But it was his eyes that held me frozen - amber gold, like melted coins, with an inhuman glow.

"I am Dante Storm," he said, his voice smooth as silk over steel. "You stand in Ironhold, where your past means nothing. Here, you work or you die. Simple."

His eyes swept over the new arrivals, stopping when they reached me.

Something flickered in his expression.

Surprise? Recognition?

It was gone before I could tell.

"You," he pointed at me. "Step forward."

I shuffled toward him, the chains making each step difficult. Up close, he was even more intimidating.

Power radiated from him in waves that made my skin tingle. He was taller than Marcus, broader too, with scars that spoke of countless battles.

"Name," he commanded.

I lifted my chin. "Ember."

"Full name."

I hesitated. Giving my noble name here could make things worse. But lying to someone who radiated this much power seemed foolish.

"Ember Blackthorne."

Whispers erupted around us. Even here, my family name meant something.

Dante circled me slowly, like a predator studying prey. "The wolfless noble who tried to trick the Blackclaw heir." His voice held no emotion. "You've caused quite a stir. The Council sent a letter saying you're dangerous."

"I'm not dangerous," I said. "I'm just…"

"Weak?" He stopped in front of me. "Broken? Cursed?"

Each word was a slap, but I held his gaze.

"Human."

For a moment, his cold mask cracked, revealing what looked almost like... interest?

"Take her to the deep mines," he ordered the guards. "Let's see if the princess can handle real work."

"The deep mines?" one guard questioned. "But sir, that's where.."

Dante's growl cut him off. The sound wasn't human. It was pure predator, and it made everyone, including me, take a step back.

"Did I stutter?"

"No, sir. The deep mines it is."

As the guards grabbed my arms, Dante leaned close enough that only I could hear. "You don't smell wolfless, little princess. You smell like something else entirely. Something familiar."

Before I could ask what he meant, I was being dragged away. But I felt his eyes on me until I disappeared into the mountain's darkness.

The deep mines were worse than hell. The heat was suffocating, the air thick with iron dust that coated your lungs. They gave me a pickaxe that weighed almost as much as me and pointed to a wall of black rock.

"Twenty baskets of ore by sunset," the mine supervisor said. He was a cruel-looking man with a scar across his throat. "Or no food."

"Twenty?" I looked at the basket. It would take all day to fill just one.

"Better get started then."

The other miners ignored me as I struggled with the pickaxe. My soft hands blistered immediately.

Blood ran down the handle, making it slippery.

By noon, I'd barely filled half a basket and my entire body screamed in pain.

"You're doing it wrong."

I turned to find another Storm brother watching me. This one had shorter silver hair and the same bronze skin, but his eyes were deep emerald green. Where Dante was cold control, this one radiated barely contained violence.

"Let me guess," I panted. "Another Storm brother?"

"Kai," he said shortly. "And you're the wolfless noble making my brother act weird."

"I don't know what you mean."

He laughed, but it wasn't a pleasant sound. "Dante doesn't visit the deep mines. Ever. But he's been down here three times already, watching you from the shadows."

I glanced around but saw only darkness and other miners.

"He's good at not being seen," Kai said. "When he wants to be." He grabbed the pickaxe from my bloody hands. "You're swinging like you're fighting the rock. Work with it, not against it."

He demonstrated, his movements were fluid and efficient. The rock split easily under his strikes.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked.

"I'm not," he said, handing the pickaxe back. "I just don't want you dead on your first day. That would be boring."

But as he walked away, I caught him glancing back, and his expression wasn't as hard as he wanted it to be.

I tried his technique.

It worked better, though my muscles still screamed with every swing. As the day wore on, strange things started happening.

Miners who'd been hostile earlier began leaving water near my work area. When my lamp died, another appeared.

When I finally collapsed from exhaustion, someone had filled two of my baskets while I wasn't looking.

As the sunset bell rang, I had exactly twenty baskets.

The supervisor looked shocked. "How did you…" He cut himself off, fear flickering in his eyes as he looked at something behind me.

I turned to find the third Storm brother. He was leaner than his brothers, with eyes that were impossibly unique - one amber like Dante's, one green like Kai's. His smile was actually warm.

"Impressive first day," he said. "I'm Finn. The nice brother."

"Nice?" I couldn't help but laugh bitterly. "In this place?"

"Everything's relative." He studied me with those mismatched eyes. "You're not what we expected."

"What did you expect?"

"A broken, weak girl." He tilted his head. "But you're neither, are you? You're something else. Something that's calling to our wolves in a way that shouldn't be possible."

"I don't have a wolf," I reminded him.

"No," he agreed. "You have something else. Something older. Something that's been sleeping but is starting to wake up."

A howl echoed through the mines, primal and powerful. All three brothers appeared as if summoned, surrounding me in a loose triangle.

"What's happening?" I asked, my heart racing.

"Company," Dante said, his amber eyes now glowing bright. "Rogues testing our borders. They must have heard about our new guest."

"Why would they care about me?"

The brothers exchanged looks.

"Because," Finn said quietly, "you don't smell like prey, Ember. You smell like power. Ancient power. The kind that hasn't been seen for a hundred years."

Another howl, closer this time.

"Get her to the fortress," Dante ordered. "Now."

"I can walk by myself," I protested.

Kai snorted. "Not where we're going, princess."

Before I could ask what he meant, he shifted into a massive being, something between wolf and man.

A true Lycan.

His green eyes glowed as he lowered himself.

"Get on," Dante ordered. "Unless you'd prefer to find out what the rogues want with you."

I climbed onto Kai's back, my hands gripping his silver fur. He was warm, his heartbeat strong beneath my hands.

We ran through the mines faster than should be possible, the brothers moving like shadows. But I could hear our pursuers getting closer.

Just as we burst from the mine entrance, something slammed into Kai, sending me flying. I hit the ground hard, rolling across sharp rocks. When I looked up, a massive black wolf stood over me, its teeth bared.

"Finally," it growled in a voice that shouldn't come from a wolf. "The lost Moon Priestess."

Moon Priestess? Before I could process the words, pain exploded through my body. But this time, it wasn't like at the ceremony. This time, something inside me responded.

Purple light exploded from my skin.