Angel's POV
I woke to darkness and the smell of burning sage.
My head throbbed like someone had taken a hammer to my skull. I touched my face - my already chubby cheeks felt swollen, puffy beneath my fingertips. Had I been crying in my sleep? My eyes felt raw, crusted with dried tears.
I blinked, trying to focus on my surroundings. This wasn't the convent. This wasn't anywhere I recognized.
The cottage was small, cramped, filled with strange objects that made my skin crawl. Talismans hung from the ceiling, swaying gently though there was no breeze. Jars lined the shelves, filled with herbs stem shooting out. Animal bones were arranged in patterns on a wooden altar in the corner.
Where was I?
My heart began to race. Maybe this was still a dream. Maybe I'd wake up in my narrow bed at the convent, and my parents would be waiting downstairs, and we'd all laugh about the nightmare I'd had…
Then I heard voices outside.
Too clear and too real to be a dream.
"What happened to her is tragic, I won't deny that." The High Priestess's voice. "But she is the rightful Luna of this pack. Alpha Terrell needs someone as pure as her."
My heart started hammering as the memories came flooding back - the church, my ordination, Mother Superior's tears…
Alpha Terrell.
I felt instant pain all over my body, stealing the air from my lungs. Mama. Papa. My entire family…
"I understand the Moon Goddess's will." A man's voice now, "But you don't seem to understand Terrell. He will never accept someone like that as his Luna. You know the kind of women he beds."
Someone like that. Someone like me.
Even now, even in this nightmare, I was still the fat, ugly girl no one wanted.
"Do you want to contradict the Moon Goddess, Beta Kane?" The priestess's voice sharpened. "What's more important - finally finding his mate after a thousand years of waiting, or sleeping with every available slender girl in this village?"
A thousand years. That's the oldest I've ever heard a werewolf lived. He must've destroyed and murdered so many people in that time.
"Your point is valid," Kane said slowly. "But Terrell will be returning from battle soon. You know how dangerous he is after a war - how hot-blooded. He might snap her neck in two if you immediately present that innocent girl as his mate. He detests fat women."
"Nevertheless, he must accept his bride, or this pack will crumble."
Bride.
The word made bile rise in my throat.
I'd rather die. I'd rather throw myself off a cliff than become the bride of a monster. A man who burned my family until there was nothing left to bury. Who stole every person I'd ever loved from this world.
My hands clenched into fists, nails digging into my palms. The pain in my chest was unbearable - a howling, gnashing thing that threatened to tear me apart from the inside. Every breath hurt. Every heartbeat was agony.
But beneath all that grief, the need to survive overwhelmed me.
I had to get out of here. Now. Before the devil returned and decided my neck was easier to snap than accept.
I stood slowly, my legs trembling. My head swam, the throbbing intensifying, but I forced myself to stay upright. One hand pressed against my temple, trying to hold back the grinding pain that pulsed behind my eyes.
I can do this. I have to do this.
The voices outside continued their debate.
I tiptoed silently toward the door. The door was opened - thank God, thank God - and I peered through the gap in the curtains.
Night had fallen. The moon hung fat and bright in the sky, casting silver light across the clearing. The priestess stood to the right, her back to the cottage, conversing with a tall man beside her. Beta Kane, presumably.
This was my chance. My only chance.
I pushed the curtains aside, and immediately slipped through. The moment I was outside, I turned left and ran.
The forest swallowed me immediately, branches reaching out like grasping fingers. I didn't care. I ran as fast as my weak legs could carry me, ignoring the burning in my lungs, the ache in my muscles, the way my vision blurred with tears and exhaustion.
I couldn't go back to the convent. If Mother Superior had let them take me, then she had no power to protect me from whatever fate awaited.
So I ran deeper into the woods, branches tearing at my white ceremonial dress, roots trying to trip me, the darkness pressing in from all sides.
I'd rather die out here - alone, afraid, lost in these woods - than face that demon sent from hell.
Alpha Terrell's POV
I rode through the gates of my palace as the moon reached its peak, my horse's hooves clattering against the stone courtyard. Blood had dried on my skin, mixing with ash and dirt until I looked like something dragged from hell itself.
Which, I supposed, I was.
Beta Kane appeared immediately, and fell into step beside me as I dismounted my horse, taking the reins without being asked.
"Alpha." He bowed his head. "Welcome home."
I strode toward the entrance without a word, servants scattering from my path. The bloodlust still sang in my veins, hot and demanding. After a battle, I was at my most dangerous - my beast barely leashed, my control hanging by a thread.
"Is my bath ready?" I asked without looking at Kane.
"Yes, Alpha. The maids drew it up minutes ago. And dinner is prepared…"
"I don't want food." I stopped at the base of the stairs, finally turning to look at him. "I need a woman waiting in my bed after my bath."
Kane hesitated, "Alpha, the High Priestess is waiting…"
"It has to be a werewolf," I continued, ignoring his interruption. "I need to release this fury, and a human girl will not survive it."
It had happened before. When I'm lost in the haze of post-battle rage, I end up killing fragile human girls who couldn't handle what I needed. I didn't need the hassle of disposing of another body tonight.
"The priestess has urgent information," Kane tried again, calmly. "She's been waiting since…"
"Then she can wait a few hours longer." I started up the stairs. "I'll see her after I've bathed and found my release. Not before."
I didn't wait for his response. Kane would do as ordered.
The bath was scalding hot, exactly as I preferred. I sank into the water, watching it turn pink, then red, then dark as the blood and ash lifted from my skin. The heat did nothing to cool the fire in my veins, but at least I'd smell less like death.
Faces flashed through my mind - Olak's expression when he'd realized I'd lied about peace. The way his eyes had widened. The pathetic way he'd begged, promising anything if I'd just spare his family.
I'd killed him last, made him watch everything burn first. A fitting end for someone who'd thought they could cheat me and walk away unscathed.
The water sloshed as I stood, reaching for the towel. My muscles ached pleasantly, the kind of soreness that came from good violence. My beast purred contentedly, sated on blood and victory.
For now.
When I entered my chambers, she was already there. Waiting on my bed in a see-through nightie. Slender waist, long legs, the kind of body I loved.
I didn't look at her face. Never did. Names didn't matter. Faces didn't matter. Only one thing mattered right now - the burning need to dominate, to claim, and to release a truckload of cum.
"You understand the rules?" I asked in a rough tone.
She nodded, but I caught the tremor in her shoulders.
"If it becomes too much, you tap out. Three times, anywhere on my body." I moved closer, watching her pulse jump in her throat. "Do you understand?"
"Yes, Alpha."
I reached for her, my hand wrapping around the back of her neck.
She gasped, and the sound ignited something dark in my chest.
Tonight, I would lose myself in painful pleasure. Tomorrow, I'd deal with whatever the priestess wanted.
But this moment belonged to the beast.
And the beast was still hungry.