CHAPTER 1

There was not a single man in the big room who was not repulsed by her appearance. Bound in shackles, dressed in nothing but rags, it was not just that she smelled like a sewer, it was also as if her skin was literally peeling from multiple places. As the men around her looked at her, even if with a disgusted look, they realized her whole body was covered with black mud and it was this mud that was dripping all around.

She was sitting with her head down. Her long, red hair was filthy just like her body and she was least interested in what was happening around her.

"I smell it," her nose twitched forcefully. "What the hell is this smell?" a growl echoed in her head. She squinted her eyes to compose herself.

"Mila," a man spoke from her front. Ever since she had been dragged inside the room, she had not lifted her head. She just didn't care...

"You will answer when you are spoken to," another man growled angrily.

Finally, she looked up but didn't lift her face. Her eyes, forget-me-not-blue irises floating in a pool of white sclera, looked horrifying. But the men around her knew better than to flinch from a little girl in terror. The whites of her eyes were in contrast with the black mud peeling from her face.

She observed her surroundings with slight twitches of her neck. A huge man was sitting up ahead on a dome-shaped throne. Two men stood behind him, one had a big book opened in front of him on a large dais, while another was in full-body armour and had one hand on the hilt of a sword dangling from his waist. The man on the throne was bare-chested, had a very long mane of hair and had a big scar running from his left cheek to his chest.

"You are Mila?" the man on the throne asked again.

She nodded once.

"What is your full name?" the man demanded.

"Don't," the voice in her head shouted.

Mila flinched at the fierceness with which the voice in her head had spoken.

"Grace," she retorted.

"Your full name is Mila Grace?" the man asked quizzically and looked at the man who was standing behind him with a big book.

"There is no clan called 'Grace'," the man with the book spoke kindly but the man on the throne looked agitated.

"What is it? Do you smell it?" Grace spoke again in her head. Mila twitched uncomfortably. She closed her eyes to control her temper. Had Grace lost her senses? Isn't Grace aware of our surroundings? One wrong word or move and Mila could lose her head, well, both their heads!

"What is wrong with you?" the man on the throne demanded.

"What is it? It is food?" Grace insisted in her head.

Mila exhaled to bite the retort she wanted to throw at Grace, but the man in throne thought otherwise.

"Are you growling at me?" the man demanded.

"No," Mila shook her head.

"Ask him, pleaseee..." Grace begged.

"I am hungry..." Mila hesitated as she finally gave in to Grace's tantrums. "I smell something, is there any food around?"

"Food?" the man demanded.

Mila nodded, her head still low.

"This is my hearing chamber, no food is allowed in here," the man barked.

Mila sensed a droop in Grace's morale and she hoped now Grace would stay quiet and allow Mila to focus on the situation at hand.

"If it is not food, what has such tantalizing smell?" Grace continued and Mila huffed, agitated.

"Shut up, Grace," Mila moaned very quietly.

"Mila Grace," the man spoke loudly and finally she lifted her face. As she looked around properly, she observed the enormity of the room in which she was being held at present. The ceiling was at least twenty-foot high and had a marvellous chandelier hanging from it. The room was large and lavish and she was presently entertaining at least fifty men of different colours and build.

"Mila Grace," the man shouted now.

She nodded.

"What clan you belong to?" the man enraged.

Mila didn't reply. In truth she was not able to understand a word the man was saying. Grace was having a frantic tantrum in her head. It was as if Grace was unable to control herself.

"You pathetic pile of filth, answer me when I ask you a question," the man continued.

Mila just stared at him blankly.

"Do you know who I am?" the man roared, standing up.

His one action received a wild reaction from the audience. A visible panic spread through the crowd as the man stood up. But it was nothing to Mila.

"You must be an alpha," Mila replied calmly.

"An Alpha?" the man asked, laughing sarcastically. "I AM THE ALPHA, you bitch."

"You are Raul Collins?" Mila asked curiously.

The alpha looked thunderstruck. The man with the book spoke, "He is the greatest alpha ever present, you cannot insult him by calling him by his name."

Mila pouted and nodded.

"My apologies, the greatest alpha," Mila sighed.

The alpha didn't look satisfied but nodded and sat back down. The crowd exhaled audibly in unison at his action.

"You were found with Keats clan," the alpha continued. "What were you doing with them? and why were they near our boundary?"

"If I tell you the truth, will you return me to them?" Mila asked.

"Keats clan is dead," the alpha smirked and it felt like someone had punched Mila in the gut. Yes, she didn't like the people she had lived with so long, but hearing about their deaths, that too so casually, it hurt.

"You killed all of them?" Mila asked, flabbergasted.

"When they found we have captured you, they attacked us. They are quite possessive of you. They demanded your return, and well, I returned them all to their maker," the alpha sneered.

"Even women and children?" Mila couldn't believe it.

"Every last one of them, except for you. It was rumoured that the Keats clan had a weapon that made them indestructible, but I was able to kill them like this," and he flicked his fingers to show how easily he was able to kill the entire race of werewolves. "A lot of fighters of Keats clan were with you. And they were protecting you, why were they protecting you?"

"They were not there to protect me, I ran away and they were there to drag me back," Mila informed simply.

"Why would they do it?" the alpha was curious but Mila just shrugged.

"We searched every nook and cranny of the Keats clan, every house, every room, there was no weapon that would make them invincible," the man with the sword spoke.

The alpha looked even more curious now.

"Why were the man protecting you?" the alpha demanded.

"You are wrong," Mila replied.

"They were running towards you while we gutted them," the man with the sword spoke.

"I saw what you did to the men who came to take me back," Mila growled.

"Why are you so important? Why were they protecting you?" the alpha shrieked.

"Maybe they were around me for their own protection," Mila shrugged.

A murmur of laughter spread through the crowd at these words.

"And I don't belong to Keats clan or any clan for that matter," Mila added.

"So, you are an Omega? Were you there for their pleasure?" the alpha scanned Mila from top-to-toe, now wondering why Mila was covered in filth.

"No one is allowed to touch me, no man or woman," Mila threatened.

This raised alpha's eyebrows. It seemed to him that she was challenging him and he did not like it, no, he did not like it at all.

"KILL HER!"