A YEAR AGO

In The Hawk's Castle

The storm blew the windows creaking while a gorgeous lady paced anxiously around the room.

"A few months from now, my son will take over my throne and he will be the new and even powerful Alpha King of The Dark Mondo Pack." As Luna Beatrice repeated the words from her Mate, the Hybrid king Rodriguez, she growled in return.

"Mother! It doesn't matter who becomes the Alpha King, I'll always have the second-best place in the pack." Gideon didn't find it interesting that his mother held so much anger towards his stepbrother, "Kaiden is powerful, the only Hybrid after my father. Obviously, he is father's first choice." Gideon closed the windows to prevent the destruction being caused by the wind as the storm got intense.

"He is younger than you and to give him more power is like a slap across yours and my face. Kaiden's mother stole Rodriguez from me, my alpha king, my mate, and your father and you are telling me that another defeat means nothing to our self-esteem?"

Beatrice was only 42 years old. The thought that Monica, a few years younger than herself and from a lowly background, had already taken her mate's attention and was now going to let her son take Gideon's place on the throne, was too much for her to bear!

"Now where are you headed to?" Beatrice didn't expect that Gideon totally didn't listening to her, and he surrendered to Kaiden so easily in this game of Thrones, and her anger piqued seeing Gideon walking towards the exit.

"I---I just remembered to check up on the guards in the dungeon." Gideon lied, he didn't plan on going down the dungeon anytime soon, he wanted to escape his mother for a while.

"Fine! Runaway all you want, I know you will be back to me, begging me to help you get into power." By the time Beatrice could finish talking, Gideon has already walked out of her room.

Noticing her son's complete uncaring attitude towards power, Beatrice was so angry that her heart felt like it was going to explode. It took her several deep breaths to calm down.

"I wonder what Rodriguez will be up to," she nervously clutched her hands together and stared at the hour clock. It had been two days that she had come to no communication with her mate whilst her rival was enjoying his company.

At this juncture, even she was aware that banishing out Monica from Rodriguez's life will be impossible, so all she wanted was a little time with him.

She thought about it over and over, then sat down to construct a very exotic letter in which she had poured her entire heart and feelings for him in words.

For the future of her son, and for her own sake, she must do something.

The world once known had changed a lot, the hierarchy had taken a huge shift, accepting the supernatural beings at the top in the tier. The new world order was deadly, the whole world consisted of one land, sharing a powerful, Hybrid king: Rodriguez.

The supernatural being had finally claimed the world and the humans in it. A perfect place for the powerful wolf pack to enjoy the luxuries of life.

But for the royal family, everything was complicated.

When the storm had taken over the entire land, a sad Luna in her blue, silk gown, walked towards her Alpha king's, her mate's chamber in the hopes of giving him the romantic letter she had just jotted down for him.

In between her fidgeting fingers, she was playing with the corners of the paper. She feared to be caught by her mate's second Luna, the woman whom he fell in love with after his marriage with Beatrice. Sadly, Beatrice had no choice but to accept this change, where she and her son got neglected for the next few years because of the powerful Hybrid son Monica gave to Lord Rodriguez.

Beatrice gave a deep sigh. She knew that winning back her mate had become an unrealistic wish. She only hoped that by handing him the letter and talking to him, he would at least give their son Gideon the status he deserved.

"Can you ask lord Rodriguez that his Luna wants to see him?" she almost pled before the knight in front of the King's chamber. It didn't appear to be the first time thing where a Luna had begged to see her mate, the knight knew it had happened before and it will continue to happen until her mate realizes how lonely his Luna had been all these years.

"He is with Lady Monica," a simple phrase from the knight's lips shattered her innocent heart.

"Oh!" Beatrice found her desires to be extremely stupid, why did she think Lord Rodriguez wouldn't be having a good time with his beloved Luna tonight?

Thud!

Suddenly, the two, who had been engulfed in the silence, peered in the direction of the commotion.

"Stand behind, my lady, I'll go check what happened!" the knight hurried away from Lady Beatrice, disappearing behind the wall.

Beatrice knew she should have left for her chambers, but an urge of seeing her Mate blossomed inside of her and with that sinful thought in her mind, she slowly sneaked inside his chambers.

If she had known that what was in front of her would break her heart so much, Beatrice would not have made such a foolish decision.

She stood behind the big curtain that would separate the bed area from the rest of the chamber and peeked inside. Monica was completely unclothed and on top of Rodriguez while he was giving her the best time of her life in bed.

Tears streamed down Beatrice's eyes. She had been left dry for years by her mate while he was pleasuring his other mate romantically.

Rodriguez had his hard di*k being shoved in and out of Monica whilst her naked boobs bounced up and down with force. Her moans could fill the air with intoxication, but it was merely a hint of how satisfied she was.

Beatrice couldn't stand there and finish watching them, it was torture to her soul. She turned around and walked out of the door appallingly.

How could she be so stupid? Why did the hell torture her like this?

"Lady Beatrice!" the knight was standing in front of her face, his eyes showed his disapproval of her ignoring his previous warnings. If the matter was exposed, none of them could escape the brutal Alpha King's punishment.

"I---," she lowered her eyes in shame, what could she possibly say to her excuse? She was dying inside of distress as Monica never had to lower her eyes before the knights or anyone, but poor Beatrice didn't hold the same power and respect because her own Alpha didn't respect her.

Suddenly she realized how furious Rodriguez would be if he knew that she neglected his order and how proud Monica would celebrate after hearing her shameless action.

With the wind still howling outside the window, Beatrice stood in front of the upright knight, with her pale face.

How should she convince the knight to spare her? Well, as a disempowered Luna, what could she have to bribe others?

"You can go rest in your chambers before anyone sees you here," The knight, best known as Phillippe, looked away from the truth and let Beatrice walk ahead of him in respect.

Beatrice immediately raised her head with surprise and sorrow full in her eyes. Seeing the care and affection for her in Phillippe's eyes, Beatrice couldn't help for wanting to cry out. He might be the only one who had felt the unfairness towards Lady Beatrice by The Alpha King.

Beatrice quietly returned to her chambers after a quick thanks to Phillippe. Phillippe's understanding made her both grateful and sour: even a minor knight could see how much their Alpha King had neglected his Luna!

"If only my son was powerful than that Monica's hybrid son; Kaiden, I would be in that chamber with Rodriguez and not that low life Monica." she gazed out the window at the storm with a determined look, "There must be something we can do to change it!"

Gideon wasn't at all upset with his eighteen years old brother's powers, he was just disappointed in himself for not bringing peace to his mother.

Gideon was only 20 years old and dealing with crises of his own and his mother whilst his father paid little to no attention to his existence.

"Brother!" a familiar voice came to Gideon's notice while he was pacing towards the exit of the castle. He didn't have to turn around to recognize his brother's voice, they were pretty close unlike their mothers.

"Kaiden!" Gideon passed his silly little brother a huge smile when Kaiden stopped right in front of his face and pouted, looking annoyed.

"Did you forget that we take a run together every time it rains?" Kaiden was only 18, but a very strong and handsome young lad. According to heresy, he was the only young man who could make anyone fall for him with only one look at his bodily structure and striking facial features.

"I did not forget, I thought you will be celebrating the night away with your friends, you've just been announced as the future Alpha of our Kingdom. This is a big day for you, bro." Gideon sounded genuinely happy for his brother. The idea of being envious of his brother's accomplishments didn't sit well with his dignity, something his mother criticizes him heavily for.

"You are my friend; I will first celebrate it with you. The others come and go, we are family, we will always stick together." Kaiden shrugged his muscular shoulders before patting his brother's back and making him lead the way.

"How about we take a walk instead?" Gideon's suggestion was immediately accepted by Kaiden as he looked up to his brother and his suggestions like a creed.

They both began their journey towards the hills to sit down and have a conversation.

"As long as the vampires are kept under check, I don't see any other threat to the world we have created now." Gideon flopped down on a large rock in front of his brother, facing partially to the sight down.

"The vampires? I don't think they are our enemies," Kaiden swiftly defended the vampires. He knew vampires were not at all their enemies, not when he was secretly in a forbidden relationship with one of the vampire girls behind everybody's back.

"I feel like the humans could be a trouble," to divert the attention from the vampires, Kaiden focused on the humans instead.

"The humans are powerless creatures, harmless in point of fact." It was Gideon's time to shield humans for the same exact reason as his brother.

The two went back and forth until they were done discussing and it was time to part ways.

"I will need you by my side, I can't do this alone." Kaiden made sure his brother knew he will be needed by Kaiden when he becomes the new Alpha King.

"I will forever be there to back you up, little brother," Gideon hugged him back and the two parted ways finally.

***

Gideon's words were reassuring to Kaiden, who had always been proud to have such a reliable brother. But he was still feeling a little inexplicably annoyed thinking about the way Gideon had just talked about vampires.

Well, Kaiden was officially recognized as an heir today, but what his pack members didn't know was that their FUTURE Alpha was in love with a vampire who couldn't give him any offspring, and that was certainly not acceptable to his father.

The more he thought about this, the more furious he could be.

He needed to find some pleasure.

Instead of heading back home, Kaiden made a stop to the Tavern owned by the humans. The lower hierarchy was the one owning shops and Taverns, hence humans had taverns in their area, which was a hotspot for the upper hierarchy members to gather at.

Kaiden slammed the door open without any warning and looked around for a waitress. However, no one could be found. What a disappointment!

"Why is this place dead at this time?" His voice echoed through the wooded structure of the tavern. It had a few rooms on the side and a bath for werewolves only since they were the ruling members of the world.

"Oh! Dear me! Why is he coming?" a beautiful olive skin girl spoke in an undertone after coming to the acknowledgment of the arrival of the future Alpha King, the one despised by the human community.

Ophelia was an eighteen-year-old girl with a responsibility of a 30-year-old human being. She was working alone in the Tavern that her mother owned that night.

She was supposed to shut down the shop and head back home early, but the cleaning took most of her time, and now she had to tolerate the grumpy Prince Kaiden.

"Excuse me, your highness. We are following the orders of the Alpha King: No entertainment after 10 at night." She spoke from behind a curtain in a worrisome tone. If he just leaves without questioning anything, it would be amazing.

"Huh!" Kaiden wasn't satisfied with her answer. First, she should have come out to properly apologize to him for not being able to serve him. Second, she shouldn't have reminded him of his father's orders.

"Since you are a clichéd submissive, I'm sure you know how to serve your future Alpha King. And I mean S-E-R-V-E." he spelled out the word letter by letter.

"I have to remind you that you have not been given the Alpha's rights for now." Hiding behind the curtain gave her a great deal of courage to resist, "and I am under no obligation to satisfy any of your nasty needs. Please leave."

Gross. She was going to say this, but you know, werewolves have the power to decide life and death...

Meanwhile, Kaiden's eyes widened. Huh? Did this bold girl just said his needs were nasty?

"You have a chance to get out on your feet before I catch you." He looked around and noticed a slim, tiny figure behind the curtain.

Gotcha...

A smirk lifted the corners of his mouth and he was about to head there. He was so curious to see what a girl who dared to talk to him like that.

"I'll tell you what, I'll report what happen tonight to your father!" She panicked, hoping her threat would work, "You don't want a scandal to spread before you inherit the throne, do you?"

Kaiden stopped in his tracks, he could almost touch the curtains, hold on, was she threatening him?

Not hearing his answer, Ophelia thought her words had worked and she continued, "If you leave now, I promise your nasty needs is safe with me."

She was really playing with fire, Kaiden thought. Then a more interesting thought popped up in his mind--

Since this strait-laced bold girl only obeyed her Alpha King, he would come to her again, when he took the crown from his father.

Things would be very interesting then.

Kaiden looked around at the neat floor and furniture, the girl must have spent hours cleaning this area so that she can depart for home.

He walked over to the jars of pickles and smashed them on the wooden floor.

"Ah!" she bit her nails when hearing the commotion outside, "what is he even doing?" she muttered under her breath whilst Kaiden turned the place upside down.

"I guess I accidentally created a mess. Anyways, goodnight!" Pleased with himself, Kaiden scrammed to find a better way to spend his night.

Once Ophelia was certain of his departure, she ran out from behind the curtain to the mess he had devised.

"Oh GOD! He is truly a monster!" she gritted and shook her head in disagreement, "And how could his father say he will be the best Alpha King?"

Being a human was devastating in today's world where everybody else around was powerful and ignorant.

Ophelia had to bow down and remain silent for the sake of what was left of her family.

But little did she know, that from the moment she met Kaiden, her nightmare had already begun.

It soon began to downpour, filling the surroundings with the scent of the earthy smell.

"How is her fever now?" Ophelia, who had just returned home after she had cleaned the mess that arrogant Prince has created, asked her mother while perching down with her fourteen-year-old sister on her bed.

Isla had been sick for two days and tonight her fever decided to go up. Emma, the single parent of the two beautiful young ladies, was dabbing a wet cloth onto Isla's forehead.

"She doesn't seem okay, if she didn't get the medicine, her fever will not go down," Emma looked older than her age. The wrinkles around her eyes and the bags under them with her dry lips would make her look even older.

She, along with the rest of the humans, was leading a hard-working life. Humans were meant to serve the vampires and the werewolves, while vampires would serve the werewolves.

As the lowest tier, humans were always assigned the least respectable jobs in the eyes of the powerful creatures. In every working job, humans would be given the lowest position.

Ophelia and her mother would work in a small tavern together, the one they had built by selling all the goods they ever had. The wages were so low that they could barely make the ends meet, let alone have savings for the future.

"I can go to the nearest pharmacy of Mr. Harrold and maybe try to rent some medicine." Ophelia watched her mother's face change expressions with every word her lips spoke. She was wearing the same white wool sweater she had been wearing for two days and a pair of blue trousers as a bottom.

"He is a miser, greedy, werewolf pet, he had forgotten about his kind. Talking to him will be a fool's errand," Emma didn't like those humans, who would torture their own kind to remain in good books of the vampires or the werewolves.

Mr. Harrold was a well-known physician and a dirtbag with no morals and decency accumulating in his blood.

"I can still try, besides, he has been keeping his pharmacy open till late times these days, he has been given the privilege by the Alpha King for being a snitch. If I leave now, I'll be able to get to him before he closes the pharmacy," Ophelia knew, deep down inside that her mother wanted to stop her not because of the downpour, but because if any supernatural being spotted her out of the house in the dark, they will take advantage of her. This is how they have been living with an alpha king ruling the whole world and them suffering at the hands of everyone.

"Don't fret, I'll return the moment I get hold of the medicine," Ophelia bent down and kissed her mother's head before she pulled up a gray sweater over her body and left the house with an umbrella to prevent the rain from soaking her wet.

Ophelia had miscalculated the intensity of the rain while leaving the house, but she soon realized when her steps kept sliding down the steep before she could meet up to the small road, probably 13 feet wider, shrouded with rain and fog. The road lacked the guardrails and the steep down was more than 200 feet down, extremely deadly.

She had to keep herself close to the mountain instead of the steep. She had soon safely reached Mr. Harrold's pharmacy, where he was still perched, waiting for the rain to stop so that he could leave for his house.

This thirty-five-year-old man had no upstanding to the righteous deeds, it was told that he would sell his soul for an appreciation from the Alpha king.

He saw the beautiful Ophelia entering his shop and his eyes immediately beamed with thirst. It was no secret that Ophelia was the most gorgeous young lady known among the whole land and every kind.

She dropped the umbrella to the side and rubbed her hands together to warm them up once she noticed how red and cold they have turned during the walk she took towards the pharmacy.

"Hey, Mr. Harrold, how are you doing tonight?" she greeted him pleasantly, wearing a smile that she would fake to the people she didn't really like, but felt compelled to giggle in front of.

"I'm doing well Miss Ophelia, what brings you here at this time of the night and in this weather?" his black eyes quickly scanned her with a smile on his lips. It was a log pharmacy with herbs and medicines made by him and his wife for all kinds.

"Isla has a fever and it's not going down, I was thinking maybe you could manage to give me a medicine," she squeezed her one eye close, hoping he would be able to squeeze out medicine for her.

"You know what you would need to do to be able to get a medicine from me, right?" his lip curled a bit upward, the loud gulp he took when his eyes scanned her body over was not a secret too.

Ophelia scowled crudely at the filthy remark he made. His one-sided smile grew bigger as he shook his head immodestly.

"I mean, you need a permit princess," his tone turned bitter after she rejected his advances through the glaring of her eyes.

"How am I supposed to get a permit now? It's raining and is very late," before she could even proceed, he intervened.

"Don't state the obvious, I can see it's raining. Why do you think I'm sitting here when I can go home to my wife to please her?" his lascivious habits were public knowledge, but since he was the only human that was close to the Alpha king, he never got punished as long as he kept his lewdness towards the humans only.

"Listen, can you please help me? I'll pay you double for it whenever I've the money," She almost begged, and hated every second of it.

They could hear the rain splashing against the wood and the glass windows of the pharmacy very audibly, making things even awkward for Ophelia.

"Okay, there is only one condition," He placed his palms on the wooden table between them to lean ahead towards her, "You have to please me," his eyes traveled down to her lips and he silently gulped.

His words sent shivers down her spine, the shivers of disgust and a sudden fit of rage.

"I'll go get the permit," she raised her brow while glaring him in the eye. She was known to be rebellious but would somehow save herself from the troubles all the time.

She would only keep her mouth shut to some extent, the instant her esteem was on the line, she didn't care about the circumstances.

"Well, you better hurry up because as soon as the rain stops, I'm heading back home. I'm too hard to stay here in this empty, boring shop," He straightened his back and scoffed, a little hint of annoyance could be heard in the breath he exhaled.

There were a lot of things she could yell at him for, but she was in need and that was pretty much how humans were living now.

She picked up her umbrella and left the shop in haste.

As she had only entered the plain area where most of the parks, shops, and cafes were, she realized she wasn't alone. She was able to pick up that she had been followed by someone, someone that for sure wasn't a human.

Her body automatically shrunken as she nervously looked around in the search of the hounder.

Whoever it was, not only was he quick but also very sneaky. Ophelia was well aware of the dangers she could encounter once she left the house after dusk as a human being.

Her heartbeat kept racing with every step she took, even through the heavy rain, she could sense someone shadowing behind her.

She turned her head all the way back to observe and notice if she could see the person, and once she looked straight again, she could clearly see her stalker.

The young man had his wolf teeth sharpened and glowing with his eyes turned yellow. Before she could even react to this sudden encounter, he pulled her to the side in a quick move in one of the streets and pushed her against the wall.

A gasp escaped her lips, her umbrella flew away with the wind once her grip loosened around it.

The guy pinned her hands over her head and adjusted himself between her legs.

"Do you miss me, sweetheart?"