EMIRIEL'S POV.

Monsters.

Gods.

Devils.

Those are the names we've been given and called over time. Since we were six, we've been branded as 'the mad brothers', alphas of the shadowcrest pack, the unattainable, the undetectable.

It should be something to be proud of, to revel in, to boast and shout about. 

But instead, it's a shame.

A plague. 

A curse.

A disaster. Because every good thing comes with a price, and hunger is our price to pay for whatever good we have left in us.

My eyes flicked to where Rowan was seated, a woman maid was pleasuring him, his hand on her ass as she bounced up and down on his cock, her moans mixed with pain. I looked over at Malakai, Melissa, his personal favorite, bent back as he pushed in and out of her, spanking her as she pleaded for him to go faster.

It has always been a shock how Melissa could handle him, and that's why he liked her.

I looked at Nikolai, our above-and-beyond. His hunger was insatiable, unmatched. We were all cursed, but his hunger knew no bottom.

Three women were on him, two on their knees, taking turns kissing each other, fondling each other, and sucking his dick. 

The last one was on his face, feeding him all sorts of small fruits while burying herself right in his mouth. 

This was our shame, our harem, our dirty little secret. 

Never to be told.

Never to be seen.

It was our hunger, unreached, unmatched, insatiable. 

I watched all of this with a bored expression, my eyes drooping, almost closing.  I was the only one who had grown past all of this. Our hunger knew no limit, from food to sport, to sex, we had to do it 100 times more than the average werewolf.

It was our curse and our life. 

A knock came on the door, halting every movement in the room. Malakai slid out of Melissa, spanking her one more time as she walked naked to the door before opening it. Our beta, Basil, worked in, nodding at me before pushing a woman inside the room.

"Another spy?" I asked, groaning as I did. 

When will they get the memo and stop sending them? 

"Yes, my alpha. She was fou...

He stopped as I stood up, stalking towards the whimpering woman on the floor, her hands clasped together.

"Pl...plea...please I beg you...I don't want to die...please.." 

I grabbed her jaw, my wolf coming so close to the surface of my skin. He wanted something. Anything. Even if it was this woman in front of me.

"Who sent you?"

"Pl...plea.." tears rolled down her cheeks, her lips quivering as she stared into my eyes.

"Who sent you?" I asked again, my voice low and calm.

I clenched my jaw, stopping the growl that was about to slip out.

"Ridgesaw pa..ridges...alpha Cole.." 

I released her from my grip, standing up as I stared at her, contemplating whether to kill her or not. How many of her have I killed?

Thirty?

Fifty?

Hundred?

I'd lost count at this point.

And I know exactly the moment her blood touched down, I won't be able to stop myself.

To stop my hunger.

I'd said Nikolai was the worst of us all, but I lied. I am the worst. Sex, food, sport, hunting, all those still satiated my brother.

But I needed something new. Something worth fighting for. Something that didn't kneel and beg. Something to challenge me. 

"What should I do with her, Alpha?" 

"Please, I beg you...spare me and I'll leave. I beg you...he...

In a flash, I was in front of her, my teeth sinking into her neck as her blood spilled on the floor. Her cries came to an end, life draining out of her body. 

I pulled back, wiping my jaw with my sleeve as I stared at her lazily. She was small. They were all small. And yet they still kept sending them in hopes that they'd figure out something about us. And they'll use that to destroy us, take our power.

But instead, we kept killing them or enjoying them. Some became too attached to leave, like Melissa, all in hopes that we might fall in love with her or keep her forever. Others tried to run, but most of them only ended up dead, unable to leave this place.

The minute you entered our world, it became yours too. We never forced them, so they never blamed us.

"Clean this up, and send a message to Cole. Tell him we'll be attacking in a week. Ask him to prepare." I said as I returned to where I was sitting, watching my brothers continue their actions.

"Yes, alpha. The priestess is outside. She said she has news."

At that, everyone stopped what they were doing, my brother's eyes snapping to Basil. 

Nikolai was the first to talk, "Everyone out!" 

The beta carried the dead woman off the ground, the other ladies slipping their clothes on as they exited the room. At their exit, the priestess, a middle-aged woman, walked into the room, scrunching her nose up at the smell of everything.

"Do you have news this time?" Rowan spoke first.

"Yes, your highnesses. I have come bearing news."

"Good or bad?" Malakai asked.

The priestess gulped down, her smile faltering on her face before she replied, "Bad. Very bad." 

I could already feel Rowan rolling his eyes, Malakai leaning back into a bored position, and Nikolai crossing his legs-their actions whenever they didn't want to hear anything.

"Go on Miasan." I said. 

"I have finally found her, your highnesses. Your mate. She has been found."

We all fell silent at her words. For years, we had thought ourselves mateless, another curse to add to our hunger.

Miasan continued, "But there's a problem, my lords."

Nikolai scoffed, "What problem can there be, Miasan? This is good news. She's our mate."

She shook her head, her white eyes full of pity. It was a wonder how she always seemed to know where to look without eyeballs,  "She'll be your doom or your making. She'll have the power to liberate you from your hunger. Or she can push you further into it. It'll be challenging, riveting, you'll reach a state you've never reached before."

I felt all my brothers sit up, their ears now attentive and intrigued. I met Nikolai's eyes, a small smile dancing on his lips.

They've also been bored, grown tired of the senseless killing and sex.

"If she's your making, your highness. It'll be something to celebrate. But if she's your doom.."

She shuddered, the rest of her words dying in her throat.

"What would happen if she's our doom?" Malakai asked. 

She shook her head, a distraught look on her face, "I don't know either, my majesties. I was only shown. It'll be everyone's undoing if not taken care of."

Something rippled in my chest. Sweet. Charming. A challenge. Just like I've always wanted. 

"And when is she to arrive?" Rowan asked.

"Soon. Soon." The priestess said as she bowed and exited the room. 

I closed my eyes, savoring her words all over again. I could feel the blood of the woman I just killed trickling down my throat, tangling with my excitement. 

For years, it has been a senseless hunger, killing, maiming, claiming with nothing to look forward to.

Now there was something to look forward to. My wolf growled inside of me, whining and snarling. Red flashed in my eyes as I shut it, calming myself down.

When I opened them, I met my brothers, and I could tell we were all thinking the same: "I want every woman prepared. We're going to have lots of fun."

ANOKAI'S POV.

Two weeks had suddenly passed in a blur, with little to no word heard from Ethan. The only thing I had heard from him was the note I had gotten from the guard as he dropped me in front of the van that was to take me to the Shadowcrest pack. A van that smelled of dogs and a week's worth of sweat.

It was a simple note, "Don't fail me, Anokai." It said, 

Now I was on my way to the Shadowcrest pack with some other girls from the Pack. Some were omegas, others from the Pack's sluthouse, all of them with a mission and with their thoughts. Even in the dark hole of the van, most of them have been talking, speculating on different things they've heard from the brothers.

"I heard they're monsters." One had said.

"I heard the pack is like a fortress, beautiful and rich."

"I heard most women who go in don't make it out."

Most of them were words I had heard from Ethan, so I said nothing, listening and storing all their words inside. After listening for a while, stopping when their stories got too personal, I fell asleep. 

My eyes opened as the van stopped, and the chain rattled from outside before the door opened. The evening moonlight poured in. We've been traveling since morning, and now it is evening, yet no one has known. 

"Come out, a single line, all of you," the man who brought us said, and we all assembled out, filing into a line. 

The other man beside him was dressed in a black guard uniform with a gold plate on his right chest bearing some words that were swirling around it. I clenched my jaw at my uselessness. Only if I knew how to read, then I would at least be able to know his name.

He stalked past each of us, assessing us like a hunter assessing his prey, his black eyes cold and ruthless. I gulped down, refusing to let my fear or my fast beating heart betray me as he passed by me. He halted, his eyes squinting.

"What is your name?"

"Anokai," I replied with all the courage I could muster.

"Hmm." 

He reached out for my face, and my heart skipped a beat, tipping it back and forth with his forehead creasing. I held my breath as the lines got deeper, his eyes squinting further and further.

No...No...I can't be caught now. 

 I released my breath as he let go of my jaw and returned forward, giving a single command, "Follow me."

We were all bundled into another van, this time not as dark as the other one. My eyes scanned the thick bushes we passed through, devoid of any moonlight, and the branches as thick as the brothers.

What was I to expect?

What if the rumors were true? What if they tore me apart even before doing anything?

I pushed the thoughts out of my head, bringing Ethan's image into my head as I imagined his throat slashed for real this time, blood gushing out of it.

I will survive this.

Then I would go back and kill him no matter what it takes.

The van stopped after ten minutes, and the door to the van opened, everyone filing out again, only to be met with the most heart-shattering image.

No. 

The packhouse wasn't a house.

It was death itself.

Guards stood at every side of it, donned in black just like the other man, with hardened expressions. They didn't even blink as we walked past them and into the palace. If the outside had looked like death, the inside smelled like the devil himself.

The air inside was stale and cold, as if no one lived there. There was no guard, no maids, no omegas in sight. The only person in sight was walking towards us and, in stark contrast to the boring walls, wearing a red, tight-skinned dress that left nothing to cover and a red robe that wiped the ground she was working on.

Her face was pulled taut as she reached us, disgust and distaste written across it. "You're late, Salman."

The guard opened his mouth to talk when she put a hand up, and he shut it, bowing as he took his leave. She turned to the rest of us, her red lips pulled into a very ugly line.

It reminded me of Aurelia and the evil she was.

"You will all be presented to the alphas tonight. The minute you are served to them, know that you belong to them. Everything that you hold dear, your body, your soul become theirs to use and do as they like." She started, stalking towards each of us.

"If they ask you to strip, you strip. If they ask you to suck them and please them, you do so. If they ask for your blood, to cut yourself and bleed to death." She paused, as if wanting her word to sink in, "You die."

Fear coursed through the air, every one of the girls inching towards each other for safety at her words, "If you have any plans of escaping or leaving this place, you should dead it tonight," she said, stopping in front of me as she eyed me down.

"And if you've been sent here to do anything stupid, then forget it."

I swallowed down nervously, my heart racing as I looked away from her, "Your life is theirs to use. Do not do anything stupid. Now follow me." 

We all followed her down the stairs, everyone's mind racing and thinking if it was a good choice to come here. She led us to a vast bathroom, bigger than anything I had ever seen.

"I'll be back in twenty minutes with your clothes. Do not delay."

******************************************

In exactly twenty minutes, according to the lady in red, we were all being led to the party room. When she had told us she would be returning with clothes, she had forgotten to specify she would come with flimsy materials that barely covered my ass and itched me as I walked.

I was dressed in sexy red pants with a matching bra that revealed all my breasts, leaving the nipples covered. She paired it with a red robe that stopped mid-thigh and red stockings, making me look exactly like her. Some girls were given black, others pink, and purple. 

The entire hallway was quiet as we all filed behind her back, following her through the staircase. We climbed three stairs before we finally reached a narrow hallway, this one filled with black-donned guards that told me we were near the alphas.

My heart skipped a beat at the thought of it.

I was close.

So close. 

Fear gnawed at my sides. Every new step I took felt more like an execution. 

What if I didn't survive? What if the alphas took one look at me, as the lady in red did, and figured I was a spy? And then I'll become their sport, hunted and torn apart?

The lady in red stopped in front of the door and spoke to the guard. She whipped her head back towards us, "The alphas are not here yet. You'll all go in and wait for them now. Do not do anything stupid."

She bowed and walked away, and the door opened as one of the guards led us inside. 

I let out a gasp at the sight in front of me, unable to stop my eyes from reaching their full socket. 

This was not a place for men. 

No-it was for gods, made to revel in and have their play. 

The room was expensively large, with a sofa running from one end to the other. A long table was in front, adorned with food, wine, and any fruits that I could think of. 

But it wasn't any of that that took my attention.

It was the bed at the back with the four gold poles holding it. It gleamed in the low light, making the entire room look like royalty.

At the sight of everything, my fear increased tenfold, pooling in my stomach.

These men weren't alphas. 

My thoughts were still spiraling in my head, leaking everywhere, when a door opened, and the sweetest, manliest smell wafted into my nose, filling my entire core. It smelled musky and heavy, bringing a flush to my skin.

And suddenly, they entered, and it felt like the world came to a stop. 

Every eye was on them.

Every girl's mouth opened wide, the fear that had once clung to our skin far away. 

They felt like a force, pulling them towards us with no regard for our well-being. 

I could not look away, not tear my eyes away from their brick muscle, from the way their jaws were so perfectly aligned and the cunning resemblance between the four of them. 

They were beautiful, made on a special day by God himself. 

If Ethan had thought he could be the king, he was wrong. 

He would be lucky if he were an ant beside them.

And now I was in their pack with no way to escape.

My heart quickened, heat flooding every part of my veins. I didn't even notice I was still gawking until one of them stopped in front of one of the girls, the other three sprawled on the sofa with nothing but their trousers on.

Every inch of fear, terror returned to my body at his words. My doom lies right in front of me,

"Kiss me." He prowled, "kiss me until you're tired of it. Kiss me and prove to me your body deserves my touch."

ANOKAI'S POV

The girl lunged at him like she had not been scared minutes ago. I remembered her as one of the girls talking before the first van went dark, scared and terrified of the alphas. His hand grabbed her throat as their lips crashed into each other, raving and moving like hungry snakes before he pulled back.

"Too predictable," he muttered, and my heart sank where I was standing.

Was this a game to them?

I looked at the other alphas sprawled on the sofa, their dark eyes following every movement of the other alpha.

What was the entire essence of all of this?

I gulped as I heard the other alpha talk to the next girl, five words: "Prove to me you're better than her."

The woman did the same, throwing herself at him. I don't know if it was the fear that was making them do it, or if they were enjoying it. She put out her tongue and shoved it down his throat, only for the alpha to pull away, his face more bored than the first. 

"Sloppy." He mused on.

Fear thundered in my chest as he moved to the third girl, his expression more grave as he moved to the next. 

I glanced at the brothers again to see that their eyes were closed.

They were bored. 

They had half-naked girls in front of them, and nothing was intriguing. 

Every girl was trying so hard to prove themselves, kissing as if their lives depended on it, wanting to prove themselves yet none of it was touching them. 

My entire thoughts vanished as he got in front of me, and our eyes met. 

It felt like a pull, a force, drawing me into those magnetic brown eyes I never want to look away from. This was the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my entire life. 

Something hot flushed in my skin as he stared deep into my eyes, like I was the only thing that mattered in the room. And when the sound of his voice left his mouth, heat pooled in my lower stomach, every part of me feeling like fire.

"Please me, little orchid. Tell me you're better than the rest of them." 

I thought of all the ways the other girls have been kissing him, the way his face grew uninterested as he approached every other girl. If he was uninterested in them, then I need to make him bored and more uninterested.

The more uninterested they become, the better this goes for me.

And so I did the unthinkable. Or said the unthinkable. 

"Kiss me instead, and I'll see if my body wants you."

I'm sure my response caught him off guard as his eyes creased, his lips curving up, "What did you just say?"

I crushed all the fear beneath me, gathering more courage as I stared into those gorgeous, pitiless brown eyes, "Kiss me. And I'll see if I want to please you." 

The air in the room grew cold and dangerous, as if I had just poked a lion, and there was no turning back. He stepped closer to me, closing the distance,

"You're quite brave." 

I didn't back down, "you've been kissed by every woman here, and it doesn't thrill you. Why not try something different? Kiss me, Alpha." 

He chuckled, the sound of it sending shivers down my spine, "Do you really want me to kiss you, little orchid? Will you be able to handle it?"

He closed in on me, tipping my jaw forward. My heart was racing in my chest, and without looking away from his eyes, the words left my mouth in a sharp breath, "What's there to handle in a kiss?"

A growl escaped his lips as he gripped my jaw, his face bent so low to mine, "Ohh, little orchid..." 

I gulped down, subconsciously licking my lips, only for another growl to escape his lips, the last thing I heard before he crashed his lips on mine, stealing my entire breath.

It was hot, searing, and burning hot. I had always thought that my first kiss would be something gentle, filled with love and care, but this was anything but that.

This was harsh and consuming. He kissed me like he wanted to claim, like I was just a meal he'd been waiting decades to devour, and now that I was here, he wasn't going to stop until I was finished. 

His lips moved against mine, demanding and unrelated, and a hand came to the side of my jaw, forcing my mouth open before I could think too much about it. He pushed his tongue deeper, licking and sucking as if he had done this so many times before.

My knees felt weak, and I found myself melting against him, just letting him take control of the kiss and do it however he wanted. Not that I could've complained much.

I could barely breathe, and he wouldn't even let me breathe. It was like everything was too much but too little.

He broke the kiss himself, allowing me to breathe for a split second before he pushed me away from the line. My back met with the cold, hard wall of the room, and he caged me against it, lips capturing mine once more.

It felt like I wasn't in control of my body anymore, and I was simply here to take whatever he would give me. His hands raised my top, slipping underneath as he roamed my body like they were inspecting a new prize. 

I wasn't sure what to do with my hands; everywhere felt too hard or too hot to touch, so I settled for his hands.

My fingers curled around his wrists, and I managed a soft gasp in between kisses as he cupped one of my breasts through the thin bra I was wearing. He moved his finger over the fabric, smiling against my lips as my nipple hardened underneath his touch. He let out a soft sound of victory as he caught my nipple between his index and thumb, pinching it.

I could feel slick gathering between my legs, and I clenched my thighs as discreetly as I could to relieve myself even the slightest bit.

It was like his touch was reigniting my entire soul, pulling me in like I had just found a missing part of me, and now I never want to let it go.

If this was the monster they were, then I didn't mind dying under it. 

For his touch, I'll put myself under.

For his hot and searing kiss, I'll lay myself to him.

I wanted this.

No, I needed this. And I had no idea how much I had needed it until him.

In an instant, he pulled away, his breathing ragged, so the rational part of my brain started filtering in again. 

His eyes stared into mine, hot and hard, like he was not done with me.  "Everyone out." 

The girls scurried out immediately. I moved to leave, to escape his big arms when his lips tipped up into a smile,

"Where do you think you're going?"

His eyes were pure obsidian and filled with desire and everything malicious. Like he had found whatever he had been looking for all this time.

And it was me. 

Me, that was here to survive.

"Brothers, I think we've found our next meal for today."

And now I was going to get devoured by them.