Hateful Bond: His Wolfless Prey

Artemis It had been eight months since my eighteenth birthday, eight months since the moon was meant to awaken my wolf and name my mate. Eight months of waiting, of pretending I don’t fear my life that I might not be able to meet my mate. By now, every unmated wolf in our age bracket had either bonded—or been marked as Prey. And Prey didn’t survive long. I had always assumed my mate would be Eric. Everyone did. He was the golden son of the South Pack, handsome and strong with his dark skin, born with his wolf by fifteen and praised by the Elders as a “future Alpha in the making.” I was his shadow growing up; his closest friend, his chosen girl, and eventually, his lover. Our bond wasn’t fated, it was his choice. But he also hasn’t met his mate yet, and he must face the purge trials as well. “The Purging Year has begun,” the Elders’ voice echoed through the pack house. “By moonrise, every mateless wolf will be taken. If you’re lucky, you’ll be chosen as a Hunter. If not… you’ll be Prey.” My blood ran cold. I didn’t wait for permission. I bolted toward the Eastern wing, toward Eric’s quarters, heart beating too fast. He’d promised. He said if I hadn’t found my wolf by now, he must mark me no matter what, to turn his back to the elders, to the council, and on his pack because we love each other—and it also means saving our life without going through the purge. Until I opened his door. “Yes… yes—don’t stop, baby—f**k—” The world stopped spinning. There he was. My Eric. In sheets with Vanessa, my best friend since we were pups. Her nails clawed at his back, her voice high and breathless. His hands gripped her hips like they were made for him. It was vulgar. Shameless. Real. I didn’t move. “Is this what you’re doing behind my back?” I calmly asked without showing any reaction. They both froze. Eric scrambled off her. “Artemis—s**t—f**k—it’s not what it looks like—” Vanessa clutched a sheet to her chest, cheeks flushed, shame written across every trembling breath she took. I let out a low, bitter laugh and shook my head. “Don’t flatter me, Eric. Just… next time, don’t f**k her in our bed.” I turned, the ache crawling up my throat like fire, but I refused to cry—not here. He ran after me down the hall, half-dressed, desperation in his voice. “Artemis—please—I didn’t want you to find out this way.” I stopped, turned, and slapped him across the face with a crack. “You didn’t want me to find out at all, right? You would’ve kept lying, would’ve kept f*****g her while telling me to wait for you.” “She’s not my mate either!” he shouted, and for a moment, he looked like a boy caught in a snare. “I—I was looking, okay? Trying to feel something. You haven’t turned. I thought—I thought the bond didn’t exist between us. I love you, Artemis, but I can’t die for a maybe. I needed to know.” “I can’t go the purge!” He yelled. “And I can’t mark anyone if they’re not my mate. I picked the pack! I can’t sacrifice everything. I don’t wanna be nothing…” “And screwing Vanessa was the answer?” I spat venomously. “You want to save yourself, Eric. That’s all you’ve ever cared about.” “I didn’t mean to hurt you.” “Well, you did.” I stepped forward until we were nearly nose to nose, and smiled—not sweetly. Not lovingly. But with the icy cruelty I’d learned from watching the world tear down girls like me. “Looks like we’re both in the Purge now. Guess we’ll see who survives.” I didn’t wait for his reply. I was already walking away, and this time, he didn’t chase me. ⸻ I stepped back into our home, I could already feel the tension rising and the scolds that I’m about to get. My parents are both standing at the center, looking at me. My little sister, Amytise, peeked from behind my mother’s skirts, her violet eyes wide and scared. Mother’s arms were crossed, her fingers digging into the fabric of her sleeves. She didn’t speak at first; just stared, jaw clenched, lips twitching with disgust. Then she stepped closer, eyes burning into mine, and hissed through her teeth, “You’ve signed your death.” “I’ll be okay,” I muttered, even though the words tasted like ash. “Okay? Okay?!” My father snarled, and a moment later, the sound of shattering porcelain rang out as he threw a ceramic vase against the wall. “You think you’re powerful just because you can talk back? You’re nothing, Artemis! Nothing but a wolfless girl who’s wasted her bloodline and endangered this whole house.” My mother’s hand slammed against the table. “I told you to find your mate,” she snapped, her voice sharp enough to cut skin. “You had one job. One damn chance.” she emphasized. I barked a hollow laugh, the sound scraping from my throat like broken glass. “And Eric?” I threw the name like a stone through a window. “He found someone else. So what now? Should I get down on my knees for the Elders? Offer myself to the wolves and pray they decide I’m worth the trouble?” My father’s boots aggressively hit the floor. His eyes, twin embers of fury, locked onto mine. “Don’t you dare disgrace this house by running,” he growled. “If they come for you, you go. And when you die out there,” —he jabbed a calloused finger toward the door— “don’t crawl back here asking for a grave.” Blood pounded in my ears. My fists clenched at my sides. “Enough!” I roared, the walls seeming to shudder with the force of it. “I’m not running. I’m not hiding. I’ll go.” I bared my teeth in a grin that felt more like a snarl. “And I’ll survive. I’ll do what you never once believed I could.” I added with my voice shaking. “…Sister…” A fragile voice from my sister. “Pleade, don’t leave . . .” Amytise threw herself at my back, tiny arms clinging to me with a grip far too strong for someone so small. That—that broke me. I turned, kneeling down and holding her cheeks in my hands. “Amy… I have to go. But I promise you—I’m not going to die. I’ll find a way. I’ll come back stronger than they ever imagined.” She sniffled. “Can I come with you?” “No,” I said gently. “If you do, I won’t survive. And then who will braid your hair and steal your bread when you’re not looking, huh?” She smiled through her tears. I kissed her forehead. “Be brave for me. Just for a little while.” She nodded and ran back to her room. And then I felt the cold steel press against the back of my head. I didn’t need to turn to know what it was. But I did. Five warriors. Towering. Armored. Their eyes showed no emotion—just duty. Just death. “Come with us,” one said. I nodded once, not for them—but for myself. I let them bind my wrists in silver-threaded leather, not because I had no strength to fight, but because there was nothing left here for me to fight for. My feet dragged behind theirs, boots scraping against the stone path leading away from my home. I didn’t look back. I didn’t want Amy to see my face, in case this was the last she’d remember of it. They marched me to the Gathering Square. Others were already there. Dozens of wolves my age and older, corralled like livestock behind iron barriers, their eyes are moving every time they’ll see new people at the stage. Some look confident. Others were pale with fear. And a few look calm like they've been waiting for this moment and don't have time to cry anymore. The crowd swelled with the murmurs of onlookers—parents and children. No one clapped. No one cheered. This wasn’t a ceremony. It was a culling. And then I saw them. Eric and Vanessa. They f****d and betrayed me for nothing, they’re still going to the purge, but there’s still a possibility that they’ll be a hunter, given that they have a small ounce of powerful blood. I wanted to laugh. I almost did. If this wasn’t hell, it was something colder. A thick-voiced Elder dragged himself onto the dais, swathed in heavy red ceremonial robes. His words slithered through the square, poking at the crowd like unseen fingers. “Today begins the Purging. As dictated by the Old Laws and sealed by the Moon’s favor, you all stand here because you are either lessers… or late.” He let that hang, a subtle insult and a death sentence all in one. “You will each step forward and pick from the Bowl of Fate,” he continued, lifting a carved obsidian basin held by a masked acolyte. “Two paths. One marked ‘Prey.’ The other, ‘Hunter.’ No eyes. No scents. Just a chance. Or the will of the Moon.” A shuffle of fear rippled through the crowd. Someone behind me whimpered. Another began to whisper prayers to the Moon Goddess, hands shaking. “Those who try to flee,” the Elder added without emotion, “will be slaughtered before they leave the square.” And as if summoned by fate itself—someone ran. A girl, younger than me, maybe sixteen. She broke through the line with a gasp, her feet bare, her chains clanking. She didn’t make it past ten steps before a guard’s spear drove straight through her back. The crowd didn’t even flinch. Blood painted the cobblestone. She twitched once, then lay still. The Elder didn’t even pause. “Let us begin.” The line moved fast. One by one, each mateless approached the bowl. No hesitation allowed. Just reach in, pull a slip, and wait for the verdict. “HUNTER,” the acolyte announced. Cheers from the line. That boy was dragged to the left, where the Hunters gathered—tall, powerful, some already half-shifted into their alpha forms. Their eyes gleamed with magic. Those chosen as Hunters were blessed, gifted with enhanced senses, faster shifts, and weapons to match. They were the ones who would stalk us in the woods. Next slip. “PREY.” Silence. The girl was taken to the right, where no one stood straight. They huddled. Shaking. Preparing to die. Another went. “HUNTER.” “PREY.” “PREY.” “PREY.” Blood drained from my face. Eric stepped forward when his name was called. His hand hovered over the bowl like he thought he could cheat it—like he could smell the slip. I saw the panic flicker in his eyes before he reached in. He pulled a piece of parchment and unfolded it slowly. “HUNTER,” the acolyte said. Of course. Of course he was. He let out a shuddered breath and turned his back on the rest of us like we were already corpses. Vanessa went next. Her fingers trembled, her lips were moving in a silent chant as she picked her fate. “HUNTER.” The two of them didn’t even look at each other. Then came my name. “Artemis Valen.” The square went quiet. I stepped forward, my boots heavier than stone. My hands burned in the silver cuffs. My fingers twitched as I reached into the bowl. I closed my eyes. I didn’t pray. I didn’t beg. I just pulled. I handed the paper to the acolyte without looking. They unfolded it. And their voice rang across the square like a war drum. “PREY.” There it was. The confirmation. The end. I didn’t react. I didn’t cry. I turned my head just enough to meet Eric’s eyes—and his face was unreadable. Not sorrowful. Not relieved. Just blank. Bastard. I was led to the right with the others, chained in rows. One girl vomited beside me. Another was whispering her parents’ names over and over again like it was a protection spell. The Elder lifted his arms. “The Hunt begins in three days. Hunters will receive weapons. Prey will receive time.” He smiled. “Let the culling cleanse our bloodlines.” Laughter cracked through the square like thunder, arrogant and cruel. My head turned sharply toward the obsidian stage above us all like a throne of death. There he sat. Xayvier Kash Voss. Heir to the Voss Bloodline—descendants of the first Moon-Bitten. Heir to the Noctara Pack, the ruling pack of the entire continent. The Alphas of Alphas. The Wolves Who Hunt the Weak. The future Alpha King. He lounged on his onyx seat, in armor traced with blood-iron and shadowsteel, smirking as the acolytes called out our fates like we were nothing more than names on parchment. His storm-grey eyes glinted with something feral—amusement. Like watching us fall apart was the highlight of his day. To him, this was a game. To me, it was a graveyard. The crowd of Elites around him—war-born sons and daughters of the high packs—chanted like they were already tasting the blood to come. It wasn’t enough for them to hunt. They made it sport. Whoever killed the most prey during the Purge would earn a mark in the Circle of Apex, the elite inner court of the Alpha King. A place of power. Of legacy. Of monsters. They didn’t draw slips like the rest of us. They didn’t have to pray. The moment they were born under the Voss moon crest, they were guaranteed the role of Hunter. It was all rigged. All bloodlines and bones. And his family built it. I clenched my fists so tightly the silver cuffs bit into my wrists. He built it. He let it fester. He laughs while children bleed in the woods. I don’t care that he’s the strongest wolf alive. I don’t care that he’s wrapped in magic older than the stars. I don’t care that touching him could mean death. I will kill Xayvier Kash Voss. I will drag him down from his throne and show him what it means to suffer. They say it’s madness. They say it’s suicide. But I’ve looked fear in the face. And now, it looks like him. I’ll survive this Purge. I’ll survive him. For my sister. For every wolf they called prey. And when the moon is full—I’ll make him kneel.