One: The Beginning.

LAYLA

"I've come here to take your daughter to Crescent Valley."

The words made a lump form in my throat, one that choked me and made it near impossible to breathe.

He wasn't talking about me, right? No one except my Aunty and Uncle knew of my real identity. I hardly even go out and everyone that knew me knew me as a boy, a male so what was he talking about?

From where I was hiding behind the curtain, I saw Aunty Kayla exchange glances with her husband, Uncle Nate and I saw how her hands balled into fists.

"Our daughter?" it was Uncle Nate who spoke, his voice sounding confused.

“I think you've made a mistake, we have no daughter, what we have is a son, our nephew who lost his parents a long time ago so we've raised him as ours. He's indisposed so he's always indoors."

The intruder's lips stretched into a smile, an amused smile that looked sinister and made the hair at the back of neck stand up as he leaned over on the chair he was sitting with his two hands on either of his legs.

"How brazen of you," he started slowly with that smile not leaving his eyes and lips, "to stare at your Alpha and lie to his face?”

"What? Of course not," Aunty Kayla shouted and fell to her knees, her husband following suit, "we'd never lie to you, we're telling the truth, Alpha, we don't..."

"And here you are," he interrupted her with that smile still on his lips as he leaned back to relax against the chair, "lying again without any bit of remorse."

"We're..."

"Shhhh," he interrupted my uncle by placing a finger on his lips, "I demand no words from you. I'm just here to make my intentions clear, I'll be taking your daughter to Crescent Valley and there's nothing the both of you can do about it."

The lump thickened, threatening to suffocate me with a force that felt like I'd drop dead anytime soon.

"Of course, there should be punishment for hiding her away and making her dress like she was a boy and for being responsible for making her absent at the annual maiden's ball where I get to look for my mate but you'll be pardoned because I'm benevolent and because you'll be my future in-laws."

I gasped silently, my heart going silent in my chest. I didn't know what to think, what to say. I was stunned into silence, into that absolute state of having absolutely no idea of what to say.

He wasn't my Alpha but he was Alpha Arnold of The Crystal Blood Pack, the most powerful and formidable pack in Wandercoast. He was the crown Prince of Wandercoast and because his father, Alpha Aragon was ailing, he practically rules over Wandercoast now.

He was well known all over the 12 packs that made up the place called Wandercoast and he's known to be the Alpha who has not allowed his power and strength to get into his head. He was well-loved and respected and he has qualities befitting of a great leader.

I've never seen him up close before. I've only caught glimpses of him whenever he was at the marketplace to listen to the needs and wants of people.

I'd not even have recognized him when I came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around my body and was on my way to my room when I heard a stranger's voice in our living room but he had enough Alpha aura that could only belong to the most powerful Alpha in Wandercoast.

And now, he was saying he wanted to marry me?

No! I shook my head vehemently. I'd never allow that to happen. I've never even attended his balls and I've lived my whole life disguised as a boy for reasons best known to my foster parents because whenever I ask them why I was being made to live that way, they'd only say that it was for my own good and that it was best that I didn't know.

"No!" Aunty Kayla's stern voice interrupted my thought.

"No?" Alpha Arnold quipped, staring at her with an amused grin on his face. It was like he couldn't believe that someone dared to tell him no but instead of being angry at the person, he was just amused.

Now, I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Yes, No," she repeated, her voice stern and final and I almost relaxed. She was my Aunty Kayla, she was going to make everything right and I'd have nothing to worry about.

"We indeed have a daughter but we've kept her away from the public eyes for specific reasons and she's not even eighteen yet and she won't be eighteen till in two full moons' time so she can't be married off."

"Ohh, is that your worry, mother-in-law?" He chuckled before leaning forward again, "I'm ready to wait for her, two full moons? I can surely wait that much."

"No," Uncle Nate spoke up again, "the point here is that we're not marrying our Layla off to you."

"Layla," he mussed my name as he stood to his feet, "that's a very pretty name befitting of a very beautiful girl and the future Luna of The Crystal Blood Pack and The Future Queen of Wandercoast and you're telling me that you don't want that honor and prestige on your beloved niece?"

"We prefer a more quiet life."

"How ironic!"

"Alpha, there are lots of prettier girls all over, please," My Aunty clasped her hands together as she started to beg him, "just go for one of them, Layla is..."

He wasn't listening to them and it took me a while to figure out what he was doing.

He was walking towards where I was hiding behind the curtain.

My heart jumped to my throat. Of course, foolish me! Even an ordinary wolf would have been able to smell another person in the room and he was an Alpha so he must have known that I'd been behind that curtain since after he got here.

My heartbeat increased with each step he took closer to me and I thought of making a run for it, of dashing to my room but that'd be futile because.

"Alpha Arnold!" My foster parents yelled at the same minute he pulled the curtain and I was revealed to him.

I gulped, gasped, swallowed, and my eyes widened the second our eyes met. I haven't seen him up close like this before and watching from behind the curtain when he was sitting on the chair was doing no justice to how insanely gorgeous he was.

He wasn't handsome.

He was absolutely and ridiculously gorgeous with sharp jaws, a pointed nose, pink and attractive lips, and eyes that were so attractive and captivating that I found myself getting lost in them.

They were deep brown, almost the color of dusk and there was something attention-arresting about his face, something that made it impossible not to stop and stare.

Even my wolf was unsettled by how breathtaking he was.

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips and that was when I realized that I'd been staring. I gulped again, willing my legs to move but they'd developed a kind of their own because they remain rooted to that particular spot and there was something about the way he was staring at me that made it impossible to move away.

He was staring at me with a rawness and intensity that made my skin come alive, that made me feel like someone had lighted a bulb under my skin and I was glowing.

The intensity of his look deepened and his brown eyes darkened to a darker shade of brown as his eyes left my face and it roamed over my body. That was when I realized that I was still cladded in a towel and my gold untamed hair that was due for cutting today was cascading down my back that it stopped below my butt.

He looked up at my face again and a smirk formed on his face as he reached out a hand to touch my chin just when his hand was able to graze my skin, my uncle put himself in the space between us.

"Layla, to your room now!" He commanded and I didn't think twice before rushing to my room. I opened the door and just when I was about to step in, a force beyond my control propelled me to turn back and I did.

He was still looking at me.

I bolted inside my room and locked the door firmly but that didn't stop their words from filtering into my ears.

"She'll be my bride," that was Alpha Arnold and there was so much certainty and finality in his voice that it chilled my blood.

I was going to be his bride?

Do I want to be his bride?

You're obviously attracted to him, Nena, my wolf replied to me, so maybe you do want to get married to him. Who knows if he'll end up becoming our mate?

Our mate... That was...

"No, she won't," my uncle replied firmly, "thanks for the offer of marriage but our Layla won't be getting married to you."

"Of course, she will," Alpha Arnold replied, sounding unbothered by my Uncle's vehement disapproval of his proposal, "I'll be back soon and I can assure you that by then, you won't have an option but to say yes to me. In the meantime, take care of my bride for me."

Then what followed were retreating footsteps and the door slamming opened and shut. Something propelled me to walk to the window and peep from behind the curtains to see Alpha Arnold getting on his horse and riding away with his guards riding behind him.

I'll be back soon and I can assure you that by then, you won't have an option but to say yes to me.

But why was it that my heart wouldn't stop pounding wildly since he said those words?

And why was it that I was more interested in his interest in marrying me than my foster parent's disapproval?

That was the 17 years old me who had no idea that Alpha Arnold's interest in me would trigger a whole lot of occurrences both bad and good that I had no control over.