ELIANA.

It was well into the dead of the night. Darkness circled me as I carried on along the streets of Oakland.

My feet were bleeding and numb, my whole body ached. There was no stopping until I got out of here completely. Even as I was sure I'd lost Jaxon, I still unconsciously threw my head over my shoulders. I was breathless from my lips, finally coming to a halt beneath a shady tree.

Across from me was the bordering signs of Oakland and Tombsdale. I couldn't believe how far I'd gotten on foot. But I knew well enough than to cross over into that town. The wind coming from Tombsdale was cold and eerily quiet, driving a chill up my spine.

I could hear the howling of hungry wolves from a distance who I was sure couldn't wait to devour me. Unlike everyone else, my wolf was still yet to rise to the surface, so I didn't stand a chance of being rogue. Turning back around was an idea that flashed in my head but alas, I continued further.

I'd rather die in this cold forest than at the hands of Jaxon.

However, when my feet crossed in Tombsdale, I perceived a dark presence lurking suddenly around me. I'd heard a lot of his dark town, so many things that people had to say preceding a warning to never step foot in it. It was ruled mercilessly by one of the most ruthless Alphas, Denver who was also a sworn enemy of my father.

I came to a sharp halt, seeing a shadow form right behind me. A bolt of panic impaled shock through my body and there was a slight rumble in the skies. I could tell a wolf was close but this was unlike anything I had ever scented.

Was this it?

Was this the end of my life?

The first thing I noticed in the darkness was a pair of silver eyes glowing back at me before a huge creature strutted from behind the trees. My heart lumped in the back of my throat as I faced him. Dark, long hair tied up in a bun. Sharp, sculpted features like his jaw. Rock hard stones for muscles with a brooding shoulder.

Alpha Denver was nothing short of what they described, his surmounting presence alone filled me with fear and dread. "What are you doing here, little one?" His voice was deep and decadent, slicing through me with an intense gaze but I couldn't dare to speak.

Behind him lunged forward an entire army of wolves growling with impatience to rip my body apart. Without much thought, I picked up my pace away from them. Maybe this was a terrible idea.

Breathing heavily from my lips, I launched myself forward as I pushed harshly through the leaves. I didn't care that I was injured, I just kept running with the primal desire to survive.

Was this my whole life now, always running from something?

I threw myself in the opposite direction but I wasn't so far off that I heard the Alpha's voice thunder behind me. "Bring her to me!" He ordered his guard of betas. My heart was pounding heavily in my chest as I ran towards the nearest place of safety.

Everywhere was pitch black ahead of me, the only time I could see somewhere was when the lightning struck but with the lightning, came the rain that immediately started to drench my entire body. I didn't stop running until I was forced to. My legs hooked behind a branch and I fell with a thud to the ground.

When I looked up, I saw him but only for a split second before my world went dark.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was in someplace warmer with a candle burning at a distance from me. I jolted up from what seemed to be a bed but I had no idea who it belonged to. I thought I was alone in the room until I heard the sound of his voice again.

"You thought you could run away from me?" Denver's words were laced with a threatening tone as he crept forward into the light. His hands were tied behind him and across his lips was a dark grimace. His mere presence filled me with so much anxiety that I backed myself into the corner.

Clutching my knees to my chest, I cowered my gaze. As much I'd heard those stories about Tombsdale, I had heard even worse about their Alpha. A blood-thirsty, war-seeking Alpha that he was, leading an army of the most dangerous troupes. Denver killed anyone that got in his way without wasting a second but he was quite patient with me.

"I'm not going to hurt you" He whispered but I jerked backward when his arms stretched out. "I can read through your mind, you're scared. You also have nowhere else to go!" He said. I pushed a hard lump down my throat as he groped my sore ankles.

His hands were just as callous yet they were warm. I could feel him inside my chest, a glow rooting from the chambers of my heart. My skin sizzled where he touched and there was a chill that went up my spine.

What was this overwhelming feeling each time I looked into his eyes?

It was as though my heart was no longer pounding and was suddenly at peace. Like I trusted him or I was supposed to, even though I didn't want to. Like he was my mate...no, I shook my head off these repulsive thoughts. Denver was as monstrous as they came.

I sharply pulled my legs away from him and a deep scoff escaped his lips.

"I could have hurt you by now if I wanted to, you know" He drew away to the single table in the entire room, only to pour himself a glass of wine. My mind tumultuously flashed back to Jaxon as he took a sip of it.

"You're badly injured, it's why you passed out in the forest. Your entire body is also pumping with as much wolfsbane that I wonder how you're still alive" Denver added, darting me a glare as cold as ice.

Ah, the wolfsbane that Jaxon had been poisoning me with each night over the last seven years. Sometimes, I even think it was the reason I never came fully into my wolf.

She'd been subdued and starved down my entire life.

I was weak, harmless and the pain ravaging my body was even more severe now. He abandoned his drink, walking back to my bedside. Denver's hands swept through my hair and then across my face.

"What happened?" His gaze thoroughly assessed me like I was nothing more than a thin sheet of paper to him. "Let me go" I finally brought myself to say when I finally gathered the courage but my voice was barely even a faint whisper. "A thank you would suffice" Denver scoffed.

"I'm not this very lenient with trespassers" His eyes darkened. "I know you're a Blood Hound, more so I know you're Gerald's daughter. You can't really hide anything from me, can you?" Denver gritted through his teeth.

"However, what I don't know is what you were doing in the forest at that time of the night, severely wounded and on the cusp of breathing your last—" Could I tell him the truth? Could I actually trust him?

Maybe Denver could save me from my stepbrother's wrath?

"Speak up now, little one!" He commanded a tone that sent shivers up my spine and I was so much afraid that I couldn't lie. Denver's eyes were harrowing and haunting, he was so powerful that no one dared to ever say no to him. The ones that did were rotting six feet below by now.

"I was lost" I wanted to tell him the truth but for some reason, a lie came out. "Don't lie to me!" Denver sparked with outrage. "I know when you're telling the truth, little one." He warned, running thin on patience.

"I ran away" I sharply blurted out. "I ran away from my family, I no longer belong to them—" I added and my eyes shimmered with tears. His hands slowly drew across my wounded skin with tender. "Did they do this you?" He asked and it was the most emotion I'd seen in his face.

I nodded my head slightly.

"Who?" How could I tell him it was everyone? "Doesn't matter, as long as I don't return there, I'm safe" I whispered. "Eliana" My name suddenly escaped from his lips and my whole body reverberated. "You're Eliana—the girl whose mother died when she was born." I did say the news spread like wildfire but I never expected it to reach Tombsdale.

I never expected the Alpha to ever know who I was.

"I didn't kill my mother, I swear" I suddenly trembled out of the fear that now that he knew who I was, my fate would be no different from what I had to endure back at Blood Hounds. But then, Alpha Denver rested a hand across my shoulders. "I know." He muttered.

As soon as I lifted my eyes to him, our gazes locked.

"Please don't harm me" I pleaded and a dull pain set behind my temples. But Denver reached to hold my little hands and they were nowhere near the size of his. All of a sudden, my heart started to hammer against my rib cage and my stomach started to flutter.

I could feel the mate bond, it was something inexplicable and harrowing that I wasn't sure how much longer I could turn away from the truth. It was the moment I knew Denver was my mate, it showed my wolf was not so far gone but alas, I don't think he realized it himself.

Some Alphas would've spent their whole life looking for a mate, only to find one when they aren't looking anymore. But for someone like Denver, it was clear that he had no intention to belong to another. His eyes were void of any human emotions and that showed his incapacity to love.

So of course, he didn't know. Although he was tender to me at that moment, I had to remind myself of the monster he still was. "I won't harm you" He whispered in a hoarse voice. "Rather, I'll save you. You don't have to return to your pack, little one."

"If you stay here, I'll be able to protect you from evil" My eyes widened at him. I could already tell there was a catch. "But you will owe me." He whispered. "What could I possibly have to give the Alpha?" I asked.

"Soon enough, you'll find out." He withdrew his hands to walk out of the room. "You just get better now, you're in safe hands" The door closed behind me and the room was dark and empty, was I truly in safe hands?

ELIANA.

My grandmother used to tell me I was different since I was young. She'd sit me down when I felt so devastated and dispirited and tell me—"You're going to be okay" I'd like to think that she sounded a lot like my mother, she was the only thing I had that linked the both of us.

Grandma Abbey told me that I had her smile though, and the green in my mother's eyes. That she lived in me. I was five when I knew what the word abuse meant and on the cusp of turning eleven, my brother touched me for the first time. My whole life had been hell, how could Grandma say I was special—if this was special, I didn't want it.

She was the only one who didn't lay a finger on me but alas, I soon lost her. Everyone claimed that my grandma had lost her mind ever since the death of her daughter who was my mother. I didn't think she was crazy, so I knew it was just one of Sienna's ploys to get her out of the pack.

She had tirelessly tried with me, accusing me of rudeness and stealth and some of the most abhorrent things. She didn't get me out but Sienna was able to convince my father to lock my grandma away.

It was more painful that I didn't lose her to death but rather she was taken from me. Up until this very moment that I sat in that chair, her words were all that echoed in my ears—that I was special.

"What?" I lifted my eyes back to Alpha Eric, Denver's father who had presented to me a document that looked like a contract. It had been three weeks since my escape and for the most of it, I was welcomed in the Black Moon Pack. I rarely ever saw Denver himself but whenever he was close, it was more than enough to fill me with fear.

I knew I was indebted to him, he made sure I never forgot that but looking up, I didn't think I would have to pay back so soon, with myself. My body.

Denver hovered behind his father as I looked back and forth between them.

"You're going to marry my son." Alpha Eric's stoic voice was much louder than his son's. He was elderly with hair full of grey and an aura that could command an entire army. I didn't dare refute or say no, even though my heart leaped into the back of my throat.

My mind was racing but all I could do was bow my head in submission. If anyone had told me that the day would come when Malik Denver would be my husband, I would have laughed in their face. Never in a million years did I think this would ever happen. Maybe I was special...

There was a sparkle in his eyes as they met mine. This was what he meant when he told me I owed him. But looking at Denver's emotionless face, I wasn't even sure this was what he wanted.

Though he never said so himself, which was a lot worse. He'd not been so bad, maybe even caring for a little while but I know better than to fall for the playboy Alpha. His promiscuous tales were usually the gossip of the entire town and I'd picked up one too many things about him. There was such a time when I was so disgusted.

But now, the idea of being his bride didn't seem so bad. After all, I owed him my life since he saved me.

"It's merely a contractual union and after three weeks of closely monitoring you, I have deemed you perfect for him. You are nothing like your father and once you get fully healed, I'd arrange for the event" His father was well-spoken, although his voice was a tad bit frail.

All I saw was a chance to rid myself of the past and start a new life. It couldn't be worse than what I'd already been through, could it?

Blood rushed into my cheeks as I nodded. I was getting better now, my skin wasn't so deathly pale and my eyes weren't as yellow. The bruises on my arms and legs were healing. This was a better life.

Denver shot me an icy glare but a smile crept to the corner of my lips as I nodded. "I'll marry him." I agreed.

A few days passed and I walked the aisle in a flowing white dress, my whole life seemed to be a fairytale, and none of it felt real.

Denver was in a shiny black suit with a lavender lapel and he took my hands in his, sliding a ring across my fourth finger. His grip was tight but I made nothing of it.

No one else knew it was a contract marriage, they all believed the Alpha had found the right woman to tame him. I was covered in a lot of makeup to hide my bruises and scars, I'm not even sure they knew where I came from. Sometimes, I thought about how it was as though this was the very reason Denver saved me that night.

He suddenly grasped my waist, drawing me out of my thoughts. My eyes fixated into his dark green ones and a dangerous aura swept through the air. Before I knew what was happening, Denver kissed me.

My heart fluttered so much that it almost escaped from my throat. I inhaled his breath and felt the warmth of his skin. Denver tasted like a bad decision, a very bad one.

When he pulled away, his lips fell to my ears. "Put on a show." He whispered and I sucked in air through my nostrils.

Denver held my hands and I plastered a grin across my face as we walked out of there. It didn't feel real but the shiny diamond ring across my finger was a reminder that it was. In three weeks, I'd gone from being a slave to my pack to a future Luna in another.

But I still had no idea what was coming.

Denver walked up to another room this time, like a chamber—his chamber. "I have to get out of this dress" I said to him, preparing to turn around but his hands sharply groped me. "Where do you think you're going?" His voice was deep and decadent. My eyes blanked, I didn't know what to think as he pushed open his door.

The cold dry winds slapped me in the face and Denver pulled me into the room. My heart stomped once he closed the door behind me. Like I said, he drove so much fear into me and it was worse when we were alone. His eyes wandered over my body as he tugged at his tie. He proceeded to rip it off before throwing it to the floor.

"Denver, I should get back to m—"

"Take off your clothes." He whispered and a sharp sound rang through my ears. Denver stepped forward and his hands enveloped half my flustered face. "Do not be afraid, little one." He calmed me down and I heaved a deep breath.

"The purpose of all this is to birth an heir for my father." I arched my brow. "Why else did you think he wanted this?" I asked. My words were caught up in the back of my throat. I didn't even know that.

Soon, Denver's hands slipped underneath the strap of my dress and he maneuvered his way around the zip. His heated breaths crashed into my neck, raising all the hairs across my skin. There was a hollow opening in the depths of my stomach, a portion of me that yearned for him.

My dress fell loosely to the ground and for a moment, Denver halted to take a look. He licked across his lips, I wanted this but then again, I didn't actually know what this was. My relationship with sex was built around pain and torture, all the experiences of my stepbrother.

I wanted to change that but I was so afraid.

"We don't have to do this so soon" Denver regrettably muttered but I shook my head. "No." I faintly whispered.

I inched closer to Denver and his woodsy scent trickled up my nose. "I want to do this" I nodded. "I'm better now." Slowly, he unhooked my brassiere and his mouth soon fell across the skin on my neck. I could feel his halting breaths, his desire to mark me but I knew he wouldn't.

I wasn't even sure he knew we were mates. It was also a reason why I wanted this. After tonight, I would know for certain.

"I'll be gentle" Denver lifted me into his arms and placed me across the soft mattress of his bed. Everything smelled like him, a portion of my brain was dedicated to his scent and it drove me mad. Denver kissed every portion of my body but my lips. And then he took off my panties.

My knees brushed against his hands as he leaned over. I could feel his skin against mine and it was a fiery touch. His elbows dug into the bed as he started to thrust slowly. A sharp moan escaped my lips but as he promised, Denver was gentle.

He held my hands, gliding deeper by the second into my entrance.

It was a tethering experience, a burst of passion. Yep, he was my mate.

On the verge of his climax, I readied myself and soon after, I could feel the warmth of his seed flow through me and down my inner thighs. I lay limply across the bed with my eyes fixated on the ceiling. I made a new memory of this, wiping off the ones I had with Jaxon.

And for a moment, my eyes were filled with tears.

Denver got up and almost immediately reached for his clothes. Not a single word came out of his lips nor a single emotion on his face. I sat up, even expecting to meet his eyes but he just closed the door on his way out. I held his sheets tight across my chest as I breathed heavily.

He didn't want this.

And you see, that was the first moment that I realized it was just truly just a contract marriage. Denver grew stricter and more indifferent by the day and we barely even spent any time together except every fortnight which was once every two weeks that were our mating days.

I was solely meant to be a breeder for him, to give him a child to show his father and the entire pack. But several months passed, so did the mating days and it felt like I was failing at that too.

"I'm sorry, you're not pregnant" The Pack Doctor would say each time she called after the routine check. My shoulders would flatten in disappointment and when I'd look to Denver, he'd just shake his head with a scoff.

He didn't say anything but I could tell his patience was growing thin.

I could feel his resentment grow from me each time the doctor said those words. "Oh, she's barren!" I'd even caught a few of the pack members gossiping about me. They didn't hide their disappointment, his father too.

"She's such a failure."

I cried myself to sleep every night in my empty bed. I wanted nothing more than to see my grandmother, and maybe ask her why she lied to me my entire life.

Telling me I was special when it was the exact opposite.

And so it happened, two miserable years passed since the wedding, and I was still without a child and on the verge of losing all hope. But it was then my phone rang, days after a fortnight.

It was the doctor, about to deliver the news that would change my life.

"You're finally pregnant, Eliana."

ELIANA.

The ice-cold fluid splurged across my belly, numbing around the areas that the ultrasound touched. I could hear the whooshing noise echo in the quiet room. My eyes never left Dr. Giselle's face.

I knew I'd be able to tell, even before she parted her lips whether or not I was pregnant. No amount of words could describe how tense the atmosphere was. I clenched my heart with my teeth—it was as though my whole existence led up to this moment.

The final truth was whether or not I was pregnant for Denver.

I guess this is what happens when you unfortunately fall for someone you know you should never have. Denver couldn't have been any more different from me, I was an omega slave, and he was an Alpha King.

I was also a Blood Hound while he belonged to the Black Moon pack, arch-rivals since the beginning of time. We were doomed from the start.

It never seemed to be a thought for him that we could ever be anything more. Whenever I looked into his eyes, it was quite clear that he'd only ever see me as his contract wife, not capable of love. But I had a feeling everything was going to change when he found out that I was pregnant.

Immediately I saw it in the doctor's eyes, and a heavy exhale left my lips. I turned to face the machine but even though I was unable to make out a single part of the foetus, I could very much hear it's heartbeat.

"Congratulations!" Dr Giselle exclaimed and my hands clutched my lips.

"Oh" It was a surreal moment, one that the last two years had led up to. "I'm pregnant" There was a crack in my voice as I whispered. "Yes, you are" She ran her hands through my hair, roping me in for a hug, and on her shoulders, I cried.

I didn't know how much I wanted this until it happened.

"I can't wait to tell Denver! He'd lose his mind" I sharply withdrew, eyes bright with an idea. I knew how much he wanted this child and was I delusional to think that it could finally change everything. That I could capture the cold and ruthless Alpha's heart—my husband.

"I have to go" I climbed down the bed, immediately scrapping for my bags. I couldn't wait another second to see him. "I need to talk to you" I sent a text, grinning like an idiot. I felt a million things all at the same time but most of all, I was truly happy. Little did I know that was the last time in a really long time that I'd feel such way.

I arrived at the Pack Villa and sighting Denver's car parked in the driveway, I sucked in a deep breath before mounting the front porch.

The air was warm and that smile didn't leave my lips until I was faced with him. Denver was seated in the dark, like he had already been waiting for me. "Oh..." I exclaimed. "I didn't know you'd be here so fast."

"Well I have something to tell you but only after I make you your favorite meal—" I was on the cusp of hanging my coat when Denver arose. "Eliana" There was something quite harrowing about the way he called my name that caused my heart to drop into my stomach.

I turned back to him and there was barely any emotion in his eyes.

"Have you already had something to eat?" I asked softly. "No—uh yes" He pushed a hard lump down his throat. "I got your text and I have something to tell you too" Denver added. My brows immediately arched.

Did he already know before I was able to tell him?

No, it couldn't be that. There was something off about him that I couldn't quite decipher. Damned be the one that ever assumed to know who the Alpha truly was but at least for the past two years, I'd been married to him. I'd unconsciously picked up each of his mood changes and what they meant and I knew well enough that this wasn't about something good.

"Oh" This time, my voice was low and almost inaudible. "What is that?"

"It's about us." Denver broke the news. "I'm afraid I can't keep this up for much longer, this isn't working Eliana." He croaked and it felt like a knife had stabbed into my chest. I almost fell backward but I had to hold myself still. Time and everything else was frozen.

"But..." There was a loud noise that rang through my ears so much that I could barely hear myself. "It's been two years and the contract is nearly over, still you've been unable to provide with a child..." "But," I echoed.

No words came out.

Just the endless tears from my eyes as I watched him dump a stack of papers to the table. I inched closer to make sure that this was real, that it was truly happening. Just when I was about to tell him the good news, Denver had already penned down his signature to end this marriage.

I looked up at him in disbelief but his eyes were empty and void. I couldn't believe I fell victim to Malik Denver. How foolish of me to think that I could actually change him. How foolish of me to fall for him at all.

"It's over." He pressed his lips into each other. There was a stabbing pain in my chest and a crack in my voice. "I...I don't understand" I stuttered. "What's there not to understand?! I want a fucking divorce!"

"Two years that was it. That was the entire plan, I gave two years of my life to you and you have given me nothing Eliana. You know this isn't working, the truth is you've known for a long time now. There's no point in waiting anymore. This has to end now." Denver raised his voice.

"But I love you" It escaped my lips. I didn't know how neither did I know why but I blurted it out. And I guess some part of me was expecting some grand confession next, rather all that slapped me in the face was a hoarse scoff. "You can't love me." The Alpha shrugged.

"This was merely an arrangement, I've made that pretty clear from the start—" "But I do" I interrupted him and sharply, he drew back with his knuckles against his teeth. "Well I don't love you!" Denver yelled. "I don't love you, Eliana. I never have, this was never what I wanted" He said and his words kept ringing in my head.

I don't love you, I never have.

"But you're my...mate?" I whimpered, desperately wanting to hold onto him as I cried. "Then I reject you" He coldly refuted.

"I, Alpha Malik Denver hereby reject you, Eliana Jacobs, as my mate, bringing an end to this union." His voice felt like a sword that went through my chest, slicing my heart into a million tiny pieces. He looked at me with a commanding glare and I knew I didn't have much of an option.

"I, Eliana Jacobs, accept your rejection." I whispered.

There was no mending of a heart that had been broken so much like mine. There was the man who saved me two years ago but the Denver standing in front of me was different. Or perhaps, these were his truest colors. And for the first time, my eyes weren't clouded by delusions.

I broke down into tears but all he cared about was signing the papers. He tapped against the sheet and a tear of mine soaked through it. "You have until tomorrow to sign it. And come up with the next plan as to where you would stay from now. I'd grant you a leave if that's what you want"

"But besides that, I have nothing else to give you Eliana" Denver brushed into his shoulders as he walked out of the door. It closed behind him but for the most of it, his words were still in the air. So was his cologne and his presence. I heard his voice echo through the door and almost suddenly another, it was an effeminate voice chuckling alongside his.

My curiosity was what shattered me as I leaped closer to the door. I opened it slightly to peek and Denver was in the arms of another woman so quickly. She had long blonde hair and skin blemishlessly white as milk. Her clothes barely covered the right parts of her body but his hands did.

She was really beautiful and had everything I didn't.

"Come on, let's go upstairs" Her voice was all giggly as she wrapped her arms around him. Denver crashed his lips into hers, leading her to the stairs but before he left, he darted one last glare back to me. Like he knew I was watching, he knew I was shattered, but he just didn't care.

This was the moment that sparked for me—and to think I was already envisioning a future where we could be a happy family, him and I and the child in my womb who he didn't still know about. Whom he never would. Denver was a horrible person and I'd only just realized that today.

I didn't want that sort of a father for my kid, and neither did I want him to stay with me only because I was pregnant. It was clear he never felt anything for me over the past two years so it was almost a genuine fear that he might try to take the baby away from me.

He didn't deserve the child, he didn't deserve me.

I lunged myself to the table, across which were the divorce papers, and with quivering hands, I took up the pen, signing alongside his. I fought to hold back the tears in my eyes but I failed miserably. I couldn't believe this was the end. I wanted nothing more than to leave.

There was no place for me here, there hadn't been over the past two years. Even as I scavenged through my wardrobe, I realized none of the things actually belonged to me. I could set this whole place ablaze in anger but rather, I chose to walk away, leaving him his ring on the table.

I was utterly defeated and dispirited as I walked out those doors, all I knew was I never wanted to see Denver again. I wanted a fresh start, in a place outside of Oakland or Tombsdale—a place very far away from here.

I'd walked in with the brightest of smiles but here I was, leaving with a river of tears. The winds blew through my hair as I took a brave step forward. The intention was to leave everything behind, a fresh start.

A new life, just me—my hands fell to clasp my barely showing stomach—and my child.

That was the day I truly left my terrible past behind, heading towards an even more uncertain future but if there was one thing that I knew, it was that no one could ever find out about the Alpha's secret baby. No one.