The First Test

"Diva," Derek growled, his voice trapped between gritted teeth. "Whatever comes after that, don't run."

All of her, however, was screaming at her to do the precise opposite of what Derek said.

Derek flung himself at the shadow, paws outstretched, and slashed at it. But as he stepped forward to tear the shadow apart, it burst into oblivion—trapping Diva and Derek where they stood.

"What would that be?" Diva asked.

"I don't know," Derek growled in anger. "Go to your room, and don't even consider going out onto the grounds again," he commanded her.

Diva zombie-like stumbled back to her bedroom.

The morning following the occurrence down the hallway, Diva awoke to a dangerously quiet mansion. Her body still shook at remembrance of the red glowing eyes and fear that appeared to come from darkness.

Derek hadn't said a word to her, not even a sorry, before he was gone for the rest of the night.

Bedridden, reality was overwhelming her. Bedridden, in a rogue Alpha that she wasn't even conscious of but, and under siege by the seemingly unrelated events which kept unfolding and would have her wondering if she'd lost her body and mind as well.

She was jerked out of her reverie by a person at the door. She had not even had a chance to follow the train of thought before Caleb stood before her, his face impassive.

"The Alpha wishes to see you," he snarled.

Diva frowned, her bad mood already established. "What does he want now?"

Caleb shrugged, although his tone warned. "That you will soon enough learn. I believe that you have no longer any cause to hold him."

She followed Caleb through second-story manor halls. He brought her into a gymnasium room surrounded by heavy woods.

Ceriagos slap of cold gusts. The gentle trill of birds far away and the muted crunch of leaves underfoot gave a feeling of being surrounded by a shielding aura of protection from harm at her heels with every step Derek took.

Derek was in the center of the clearing, his wide muscular shoulders squared off. His pale gray eyes searched into hers as he stood there, and she brought her hand to the edge of his jawline.

"What's this?" Diva had her arms crossed.

"Your first test," Derek said, his voice cold.

“A test for What?”

"I did not ask to come to your world."

"And here you are," he sneered. "The bond doesn't care what you desire, in the thieves or in whatever else exists. You'll discover, if you want to live."

Diva spat at him, anger barely contained beneath her surface. "And if I don't?"

Derek's countenance was unyielding. "Then you will die.”

"You'll begin strength and endurance training, Caleb will be instructing you."

Diva balanced the workload, her stomach twisting. She did not know, she was good, she was new, and she did not even know how to be here. Her own failure haunted her like a ghost.

"Oh, please, do you think for one second this will be different?"

she mocked.

Wall climbing, then. Diva's ascent of the climbable hill.

"You call that tough?" Derek's voice cut in, hard and uncompromising.

Diva gave him an ugly look. "You do it for me," she growled.

Get up”

The rest of the training was full of exhaustion and frustration.

When they finally halted, she shrieked in pain. She was standing, or clinging, panting.

"You're not ready," growled Derek, as Caleb slammed her back with a crack. "But you will be trained until you are."

Diva seethed. "I'm not some grunt to be trained and beaten into your perfect warrior," she spat.

Derek towered over her once more, his height suffocating. "No, you're not," he growled, his possession so absurd it was almost funny. "But you're mine anyway. And you're working for me, so you'll do what you have to in order to make that a reality."

"No, you don't own me," she retorted to him.

There was a flash of swift and fighting something in his eyes for an instant. Then he did not retreat, but backed inward away into the darkness of the night and was lost, nothing whatsoever having been spoken.

Diva trembled in bed that night, her cells afire with white hot pain and bruised pride. She was alone, nobody around as always. She was somewhere she didn't know where, and other human beings spoke to her there as so much an inconvenience.

Eyelids closing over her, the whispers came back, unnatural and insistent. No longer were they what they had been—closer, on the brink of touching.

"Diva."

Too soon, her eyes snapped open, her heart pounding. The low voice, singing, murdering.

"Help me."

Diva struggled to sit up from the floor, her blood congealing in her palms as the whispers broke, ringing around the room like a bell. And began, ceased, leaving her to dampness.

She pulled the blanket around her shoulders, her thoughts in a muddle. What could Lillian have to do with anybody? And why did she have the feeling that the danger dogging her was only just beginning?.