Draven POV

As the son of a pack leader, I didn't have the luxury of spending my teenage years playing with friends or sneaking out to go to parties.

Every moment of free time was spent on rigorous training to build my body and my mind for the position I was bound to inherit.

Unlike others my age, I realized pretty quickly that having true strength was the only way to protect the things I cared about. Which were my pack, my home, my people.

I shouldn't have had to become a pack leader before I even turned eighteen. But after a rogue attack snatched my mother from us, my father became a shadow of himself.

It was hard to see him that way. The strongest warrior I knew was slowly wasting away. The name of his dead mate never leaves his lips.

But I didn't have it for too long. Within a few months of her death, he followed her, and teenage me had to step up to the responsibility of ensuring my pack's survival.

Luckily, I soon discovered I had been blessed with an ability that helped me conquer all the packs that had tried to take over after my father's death.

Not only did I kill those Alphas and pack leaders who'd lusted after my home, but I replaced them all with new people who would be loyal to me.

Finally, I could rest. Or so I thought.

Then the whispers started. Little comments from pack leaders who tried to recommend their daughters to me at every turn.

Servants slipping into my room at night or somehow falling into my arms while walking, even when there was nothing to trip them.

After months of relentless nagging from my advisors, I finally agreed to have a mate, but on one condition.

I would only accept the one given to me by the goddess. I would search for her in all the packs under my rule, and if I failed to find her, then they would give up and never mention the matter again.

Despite knowing the chances were slim, they'd agreed. So I was now on my way to yet another pack, to search for a mate that I didn't need or want.

Goddess helping me, I wouldn't find her on this trip.

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

When we arrived at Windborne, Carter greeted me with a wide smile. "It's an honor to have you here, Alpha Draven."

My lack of a response didn't dampen his smile one bit.

"Alpha Draven, Carter called, gesturing to the highest table in his pack hall. "Please sit and allow us to entertain you for a while. The maidens will be called out shortly."

So I sat down and waited. First, the warriors came in and had sparring matches. I watched at first, but soon lost interest when I realized they were repeating the same few moves over and over again.

In a real battlefield, they would have been wiped out already.

When the unmated females were lined up before me, a few stared at me while making little movements with their bodies as if they could somehow seduce me into picking them.

I snorted with cold laughter, and they immediately withdrew their gazes and bowed their heads.

That was more like it.

I moved from one maiden to another, self-satisfaction blooming in the pit of my stomach as I confirmed my mate was not among them.

Seems like the goddess still favors me after all.

I turned to Carter and shook my head, trying to appear regretful. "None of them are my mate."

His eyes, which had been wide with hope, dimmed instantly.

I sneered inside and got up to start leaving, but he stopped me. "Alpha Draven, you may not have found your mate, but I still wish for you to enjoy your time fully here.

Wind Borne pack is known for our hospitality. How could we just let you leave so soon, just because we weren't blessed with the honor of being tied to your pack by marriage?"

I paused for a moment. He's a smooth talker, but he was right. If I left, rumors would likely spread saying I was so disappointed at not finding my mate that I immediately left angrily.

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

Carter had excused himself for a while when a woman suddenly burst into the hall. She was bruised in several places, but none of the pack members batted an eye.

I raised an eyebrow. It looks like the Wind Borne pack is worse than I thought.

She bowed to me, and I nodded, permitting her to speak. Her words surprised me. She was a small woman, but she stood boldly in the center of her pack and renounced them, despite knowing they would probably attack her for it the moment I turned my back.

Or perhaps, that's what she had been banking on. My presence here was the perfect opportunity for her to escape the pack without fear for her life. I watched her with a quiet appreciation. This one had the heart of a warrior.

However, her next words shocked me and everyone in the hall.

No, not everyone. I could see the anger instead of surprise on Sophia's face.

I looked to the woman again, when suddenly a sweet scent assaulted my nostrils. It was a blend of cinnamon, vanilla, and honey, and it was coming from her.

My wolf, Ash, was already urging me to go forward quickly and investigate.

I walked towards her, and he was smaller than I had expected. She barely reached my chest, but to her credit, she didn't step back even as I moved closer to her.

I cradled her face in my hand, surprise coloring my voice as I said, "Mate."

Carter burst into the hall and tried to attack my mate. My wolf Ash bristled, ready to attack, but I held him down as I faced Carter and pushed my mate behind my back.

Sophia soon came forward to try to resolve the situation, but her words had Ash bristling even more.

He spoke to me 'Don't tell me you won't punish this woman for speaking badly about our mate?'

I released Carter's hand and asked him. "What exactly happened?"

He shifted uneasily on his feet for a while before explaining the situation to me.

I frowned. "Do you mean, no investigations were conducted, and my mate was punished just because she came out of the room?"

He tried to defend himself, "That's not all, Alpha Draven. When she came out, her hands were deeply covered in blood. She was obviously the murderer."

I stared down at him in silence. Was he stupid or just pretending to be?

"What child, upon seeing their mother lying in a pool of blood, would not try to touch her?

Are you taking me for a fool, Carter?" I finished lowly, a growl slipping out of my lips.

A low moan of discomfort came from behind me, and I turned, only to see my mate fainting.

I immediately stretched out my arms to catch her and pulled her closer to my chest as I said, "This isn't over, Carter. I'll be expecting a proper explanation."

I nodded to my beta, Lucas, who had stood silent beside me all the while. "Let's go."

Elena POV

When I opened my eyes, I was lying on a soft bed. I stretched my hand to touch the bedding below me.

Silk. I rolled on it from side to side, relishing the caress of the material on my skin. It was worlds better than what I'd used even before I became a slave in my old pack.

Old pack.

Just two words, but they sent my heart into a frenzy. It pounded fiercely against my ribs as if it were looking for an opening to leap out of.

I was free. I would no longer be called a murderer. I would no longer have to endure beatings every day. I would no longer have to pick between starving and eating moldy bread.

I was free.

My enthusiasm dampened a little as I realized Alpha Draven might not want me. Even though I'd pretended not to notice, I had seen the look in his eyes when he had walked up to me.

Surprise.

He hadn't been expecting to find a mate. Or maybe he just hadn't expected his mate to be a slave.

Even when he'd protected me from Carter, there hadn't been any softness in his eyes as he'd looked at me. It had seemed like something he would do for anyone who needed it.

But I would do everything in my power to stay here. His defense of me against Alpha Carter proved that he was not the same kind as him. He would not abuse me, even if only to keep up appearances.

I felt a mild warmth in my chest. Happiness, I thought at first. But then the heat increased, almost to the point where it felt like I was being burned alive.

I ran, barely making it to the huge mirror in the room before I crashed to my knees.

For a while, I just stared blankly at the reflection in the mirror, my eyes widened.

My glowing eyes.

I looked down at my chest, not daring to breathe as my gaze traced the faint markings on my skin. They glowed, the lines all leading to a single point on my chest where the pain was coming from.

"Help." I choked out, on my knees, barely able to force the words past the invisible hand that seemed to be clutching my throat. "Help me."

A tear rolled down my cheek as I realized I was really going to die like this, barely a few hours after getting my freedom.

The door was kicked open with a deafening crack, splinters flying everywhere as Alpha King Draven stormed in.

He scooped me into his arms in two steps and started soothing me with his pheromones. The relief was instant.

I could finally breathe, and I could feel the burning sensation at my chest begin to recede until it stopped.

I glanced at the mirror, mand y skin was back to normal.

I sighed and moved out of Alpha King Draven's arms, pushing away strands of sweaty hair from my face.

I caught a glimpse of my dirty clothes as I did so, and my lips twisted. I tried to check if I smelled discreetly when I noticed he was watching me with a dark look on his face.

"I'm sorry for dirtying your clothes, Alpha," I said, lowering my head. "If you'll give them to me, I promise to wash them clean before returning them to you."

"Is this an attempt at getting me naked?" He said, his voice cold.

"No," I said, flushing deeply when I raised my head to see that he had lifted an eyebrow and was staring intently at me.

"What was that?" He asked as he stood back up. "Why were your skin and eyes glowing like that?"

I shook my head and replied honestly, fear creeping into my voice. "I don't know, Alpha, I've never experienced anything like it before. I can't explain it."

He glanced at me silently for a moment. "Draven."

"What?" I asked, my brows drawn closely together.

"You can call me Draven." He replied irritably as he started walking away. "Come with me."

I tried to thank him as I followed behind him, for the honor of being able to refer to him by his first name, but he just kept on walking as if he couldn't hear me.

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

Draven led me into the woods.

We walked for a while without running into anyone else, and a tiny part of my mind wondered if he'd brought me in there to kill me.

I tried to estimate the possibility of being able to escape from him if that was his intention, but quickly gave up when I realized I was in a foreign place with no knowledge of my surroundings.

Being very weak from constant starvation was also another reason why I wouldn't be able to outrun him. Though I doubted I would have

been able to, even at my peak.

Still in the middle of my musings, I was startled when a cabin came into view. Thin curls of smoke drifted from the chimney and dissolved into the morning air.

I glanced at Draven; he was still walking forward with purpose, so I followed him. Right as we reached the entrance of the cabin, the door flung open, and a representation of what I could only call a witch doctor stood there.

She bowed deeply to Draven, and he bowed slightly in return.

This witch doctor was different from how I had expected all witch doctors to look. The one at my old pack had been half bent with age and frequently had sand in his hair.

But this one was young and in the prime of her life. Her dark hair was braided with silver and red threads, her robes loose and flowing down to the ground. I could see faint sigils running down her neck and arms, pulsing with light as she moved.

"Alpha." She greeted with a smile. "I see you've found her."

I watched Draven's face contort for a moment before he replied. "Yes, as you said I would."

Her smile widened, and she ushered us in. It smelled like herbs inside, but there was also a slight smell of smoke in the air that left a bitter taste on my tongue.

Rows and rows of bottles, jars, and strange ingredients rested on the wooden shelves. The witch doctor turned back to us. "I presume you have something you want to seek my opinion on, Alpha?"

"Yes," Draven answered solemnly, then he explained what he had seen.

The witch doctor circled me curiously, murmuring incantations. I stood still, waiting for her to finish.

When she stopped, she stretched out her hand to me. "Give me your hand, child."

I put my hand in hers, curious about what she was going to do. She covered my hand with her other hand and started murmuring incantations again.

A few seconds later, she gasped and jerked back, away from me, chanting louder as she rubbed her hands against each other.

My hand was still outstretched in her direction as I stared at her with widened eyes, but my heart had already dropped down to my stomach.

Elena POV

"What is it, witch doctor?" Draven asked as the witch doctor drew several symbols on the ground with ash before kneeling in the center.

She didn't respond.

A wave of anxiety so strong I thought it would make me faint rose inside my stomach.

Was something really wrong with me? What if it were something that couldn't be fixed? What would I do then?

She knelt for a long time, switching between chanting and singing at intervals. Her song sent shivers down my spine, and I glanced at my arm to see that goosebumps had risen on my skin.

"I can't help you, Alpha." The witch doctor said to Draven, stumbling as finally she rose to her feet, her face as white as a plain sheet of paper.

Draven frowned when she finished speaking. "What do you mean you can't help me? It's your duty to find solutions to these kinds of problems."

"It's not that I don't want to help," she said softly. "I just can't."

"Why?" Draven asked, an edge in his voice that hadn't been there previously.

"There's a seal on her." The witch doctor said. "A very powerful seal, but it's cracking under the weight of the ability it's meant to suppress."

"W-what do you mean by an ability?" My voice shook as I looked from Draven to the witch doctor and back to Draven again. He looked just as stunned as I felt. "I don't have an ability."

"Are you sure about this?" Draven turned to the witch doctor. "No mistakes?"

"I'm sure." She said, her voice growing cold. "Have you ever known me to make mistakes?"

"I don't doubt your skills, Draven said. "I just find it a bit hard to believe, considering how she was being treated at her pack."

"Child." The witch doctor turned to me again, her voice softer now. "Can you tell me when you started experiencing this?"

"I-I don't know if both situations are related., I said, sparing a glance at Draven. "B-but when I rejected the mate bond between my previous mate, it felt as if something loosened within me.

I thought it was the mate bond at the time, but now I'm not so sure." I finished with a whisper.

"It was most likely the seal." She said, raising a hand to her chin. When she dropped it, a little bit of ash was left in its place. "What I don't understand is why it chose that moment to crack."

I swallowed dryly. "It's not supposed to do that?"

"No." She said. "It's not."

I swallowed thickly but couldn't stop myself from asking. "What kind of power do I have, witch doctor? When you held my hand, what did you see?"

The witch doctor visibly stiffened at my question, her lips parted for a while, but no sound came out.

Then she let out a long breath. "I saw darkness, child. It was like I had come face-to-face with an abyss that wanted to swallow me whole. It was nothing like any ability I'd ever seen."

She shuddered and continued. "Only the oddess knows how much stronger it would be once the seal finally wears off completely."

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

The walk back to the palace was silent, with Draven and me both lost in our thoughts.

I glanced down at the charms the witch doctor had made into a bracelet and given to me.

'It won't do much," she'd said. "But it will reduce the pain when the seal loosens again. Come to me immediately if you notice any cracks on the charms.'

I clutched the bracelet tightly, still reeling from the knowledge that I wasn't as ordinary as I'd believed.

Abilities used to be common in the old days, but they are rare now. Excluding me, there were probably only around ten people who had abilities, with Draven being one of them.

Draven stopped walking, and I bumped into his back. I looked up at him resentfully, but he was still facing forward,d so he couldn't see the expression on my face.

"W-why did you stop?" I asked when he just stood there without saying anything.

"You were sighing." He said coldly, turning to face me.

I blinked up at him, not knowing how to respond.

After a moment of quietly watching me, he turned around and continued walking, his pace much faster this time.

My thoughts were pushed to the back of my mind as I hurried to catch up with him, panting heavily.

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

I clutched my nose as I almost bumped into him again. Fortunately, I'd kept a small distance between us, so I wasn't caught unawares when he stopped in front of a door without any warning.

His face was colder than the wind on early winter mornings as he turned to me.

"Do you need something else? The pain has stopped now, hasn't it?"

I looked down at the bracelet. "No, I don't..."

"If you don't need anything," he cut in before I could finish my sentence. "Then go back to your room."

He gave me a once-over as he leaned against a wall. "You don't need me to carry you there, do you?"

Heat traveled from my toes to my spine before finding its way to my cheeks.

"No. I whispered. "I don't."

"Good." He said. "I've already accepted you as my mate, so you can stay for now. Whatever you want, you can ask the servants.

But that's all you get. Do not hope for anything more; there is nothing more."

I swallowed past the lump that had formed in my throat.

For now.

"What is it?" He asked impatiently when I opened and closed my mouth several times without a single word coming out.

"D-do you have someone else you love, Draven?"

His face turned dark, and he straightened up, towering over me in his full height. "That's none of your business.

I did not wish for this. I never wanted a mate. I never wanted you. I don't care what you do here as long as you don't overstep, but my rooms are off limits. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Alpha." I whimpered, suppressing the urge to fall to my knees.

He opened the door and stalked in, slamming it closed.

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

My thighs burned as I walked. For some reason, walking back to my room seemed to take much more time than when I'd been walking with Draven.

I wiped a line of sweat that had dribbled its way down my chin.

"Excuse me." I approached a man and a woman who were walking in my direction.

They stopped and looked me over. The man asks, "What is it?"

"I'm sorry to bother you," I said. "But can you lead me to my room?"

A crease formed between his brows. "And who are you?"

"I'm the Luna," I said. "The palace is so huge, and I haven't figured out how to get to my room yet, so could you lead me there?"

The look in his eyes changed, then he laughed. "You're the Luna. Right. Then I'm the Alpha king."

I looked from him to the woman, only to notice her watching me as well, her gaze lingering on my clothes.

"I-I just came here yesterday," I said, curling my hands into fists to stop them from trembling. "I haven't had a chance to bathe yet.

Please, if you could just help me out."

"I'm too busy for this nonsense." The man said. "I don't know what kind of delusion you're suffering from, but Alpha does not have a Luna.

I suggest you wake up soon before you get yourself in trouble."

He walked away, then turned back when he noticed his companion wasn't following. "Jessica, aren't you coming along?"