The Luna's Conquest

I Wake Up In The Undead Land

My dreams made no sense.

First, I saw myself in a royal dining room. A family of four sat around a table, eating and laughing. The little daughter in a small pixie cut reached out to grab the bowl of marmalade. She suddenly stiffened, her hand hovering over the dining table, and her eyes went completely white: irises, pupils, and all.

"In moonlit grace, a descendant is born," the little girl chanted mechanically. "To save Wolf Kind from terrors unknown. Yet destiny's path demands sacrifices true, for her choices hold power to make or mar what's due."

Her voice slowly became muffled, and the image flickered, then changed. I saw my father in his study with none other than Kendrick and my mother. They seemed to be in a heated argument, and then my father walked to the door and gestured for my mate to see himself out.

The image flickered again, and I saw myself as I was, on the battlefield with several dead bodies around me. A horse was galloping towards me, but instead of my mate on it, I saw the pale, ghastly face of a woman...

I gasped and woke up suddenly, my heart beating erratically. I opened my eyes and saw nothing. For a moment, I thought I was blind, then my eyes readjusted to the dim light, and I saw that I was in a sort of cell. The ground beneath me was hard and cold. The cold and the stones pricked my bare cheek and arms painfully. I groaned and tried to stand up, but I fell back down ungracefully. I frowned and wriggled my hands and feet. Damn, I'd been tied up.

"s**t," I muttered under my breath. My mouth was full of blood and bitter-tasting bile. My stomach let out a growl like a hungry wolf, and I cast my mind back, trying to remember the last time I'd eaten. All I remembered eating was lunch before the m******e happened; who knew how long I had been knocked out and brought here?

I tried to cast my mind back and remember the events leading up to my kidnapping, but I couldn't remember much. I couldn't piece together the memories between my time with Kendrick on the horse and here, only bits and pieces. It felt as though I'd had a painful, irrevocable time lapse.

My hands and feet were numb and full of pins and needles. I tried to wriggle a little bit of life back into them, but my manacles were too tight to do much. And so, I lay there, limp as a ragdoll, waiting for someone to notice that I was awake.

Then I heard footsteps coming closer to me and quickly bent my head, grateful for the curtain of red hair that fell across my face. The footsteps stopped, and then my cell was bathed in glowing, amber light. The person opened the cell door, then walked in, the amber light growing brighter.

"I know you're awake, Sekinah. Look at me," the person murmured.

I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the voice and the presence to disappear. A part of my memory came back, and I remembered this same voice calling me something before I blacked out. Wolf Birth? Wolf Dawn? I couldn't remember. I kept my eyes shut and held my breath. Perhaps this was one of my nightmares, and I would wake up in my little room back at the pack.

"Look at me, Sekinah," the voice repeated, but I didn't move, hoping that the Goddess would somehow make him go away.

"Look at me," he ordered me for the last time, his voice low and deadly. When I still didn't respond, he crouched beside me and reached out to lift my hair up, exposing my face. I felt my eyelids flutter at his touch, giving myself away. A rancid stench of stale blood and days-old sweat filled my nostrils, and I retched violently.

I could almost see him smiling above me. "I should have expected that."

I slowly sat up and stared at my captor. His face was cast in the light from the flaming torch in his hand. The skin was stretched tight across it, pale and unhealthy-looking. Cheeks sunken and hollow, with pale lips shaped like a Cupid's Bow and oddly attractive-looking. His head was bald and gleaming, eerie tattoos snaking around the scalp. He had the look of a hungry, hairless bat.

I wasn't scared of his look. On the contrary, I wanted to reach out and dig my fingers into his large, black eyes with rage.

He smiled as I stared at him, revealing razor-sharp fangs. "I know, I don't look like your dark wolf prince. But you can trust me as I trust you."

"How do I know that?" I spat venomously. "You kidnapped and brought me here against my will."

"I had no other choice. Forgive me, Sekinah." He shrugged and stood to his feet, then leaned over my head to place the torch in a nearby brazier.

"Well, then. I won't force you to trust me." He muttered, then turned and walked back to the cell door.

"Wait!" I called out, scooching forward on my knees. "How long have I been here?"

He glanced back at me, lips pursed. "Seventeen hours, if I remember correctly."

I gaped. Seventeen hours.... Kendrick and my mother and the rest of our pack members would have been long gone. Even if I did escape from here, there was no way I can catch up to them in time.

The torch behind me formed long, eerie shadows that danced on the walls. Above me, I could hear the howling and screeching of something—I couldn't tell whether it was human or animal. The man stood before me, his thin eyebrows up questioningly.

"Well?" He prompted, his voice thick with impatience.

"Who are you?" I asked, fear clogging my throat. "And where am I?"

"My name is Zamir," the man responded. "And you're in the Land of the Undead."