Chapter 1

Berrilyl's POV 

“Where is my mate? What did you do to him?” I screamed at the top of my lungs. 

 A few hours ago, I was perfectly happy. I was married to my childhood sweetheart and brother's best friend, Owens. Although we were not true mates, we couldn't ask for anything better. 

One minute, I was in a carriage, following his to return to his pack, and the next thing, my carriage stopped suddenly, and we were surrounded by masked men.

There was no familiar face in sight and my heart was drumming wildly against my chest. 

Until they started lining up the bodies of guards before me. The sight of blood made me want to throw up, but I was more concerned about Owens.

“Answer me, dammit! Where is he?” I screamed. 

“Quiet, princess. He will be here soon,” a deep baritone snapped but since they were all in masks, I couldn't tell who was speaking. 

Owens was pulled in by two masked men, and my breath hitched. 

I tried not to panic as his blue eyes met mine. At least he was alive. That was a good thing, right?

“Is that your groom, princess?” The taunting masculine voice asked again. “It looks like it.”

“What do you want from us?” My voice came out shaky, betraying the terror I felt inside. 

“Oh, it's simple,” one of the masked men stepped forward. There was something about him that made him stand out from the rest. 

It was either the dark commanding aura surrounding him or his physique. 

He took out a pen knife and walked behind Owens. A pit of dread formed in my stomach as he lifted Owen's face from behind. 

“Please don't do this…” I sobbed. “please… I'll do anything. Just name whatever you want and if I can't do it, my brother will. I…”

“Exactly!” A humourless chuckle erupted from him. “I was hoping you'd mention your brother.”

“I… I don't understand…” I stuttered.

“Your brother and I have unfinished business but for now, you'll do.” 

My heart skipped. Was this a rival Alpha? One of William's enemies? 

Oh goddess, I am doomed!

The tears came pouring down my cheeks. I looked desperately at Owens, hoping he would at least say something in his defence. Anything to make them spare him, but the petrified look on his face suggested that he was too terrified to speak. 

“Then take me instead,” I blurted. “Take me and spare him, please… I don't know what my brother did to you but please…”

“Bold of you to offer a life that is no longer yours,” the masked man hissed and in a swift movement, he slit Owen's throat. 

“No!!!!!!”

A scream tore off my throat as I watched the man I married twenty minutes ago drop dead, his blood gushing out like a fountain.

“What have you done?!!!” I screamed, tears streaming down my cheeks in torrents as I crawled over to him immediately. 

“Baby… baby please look at me…” I sobbed. “Don't do this to me, I beg of you… please open your eyes… Owens? Owens? You can't leave me please…”

I shook him with all the strength I could muster but his blood only soaked through my dress as his once pale blue eyes went ice-cold with death. 

“No! No please… what have you done?!” I yelled at them. “He was innocent! We had nothing to do with whatever my brother did to you! How could you kill him…”

“You are quite a lousy one,” the irritation in his voice was evident. “No blood spilled is innocent. Not even yours.” 

The words managed to pierce through my grief and it made me angrier. 

“Who are you? What did I ever do to you to deserve this pain?” I charged towards him, but he simply shoved me away from him like I was dirt.

“Take her,” he ordered. 

“You will pay for this!” I yelled. “My brother will crush you to pieces when he finds out about this! You will never get away with this, I promise!” 

“Tape that running mouth of hers whilst you're at it,” he added. 

A cloth was immediately tied around my mouth and I was blindfolded. 

They forced me into my wedding carriage and tears welled up in my eyes again. Were they just going to abandon his body? Leave him on the roadside like he was a nobody?

Nobody deserved to be treated like that, no matter their crime and I was very certain that this was a mistake. 

Owens was the sweetest man I know and while my brother might be quite a character, Owens was his polar opposite and I… I could swear before anything that I had never heard that voice in my entire life. 

Why did this have to happen to me on my happiest day? Why would the goddess let this happen to me?

I burst into tears but the sobs came out as muffled because of the cloth in my mouth. 

Soon, the carriage came to a stop, and I was roughly taken out. I couldn't see a thing so they had to pull me along. 

A part of me wanted to resist but with both my hands and eyes tied, I knew I couldn't do much. 

After what seemed like forever, the cloth was taken off my eyes, and the dungeon stench became more prominent.

They threw me in without bothering to untie me or even take the cloth off my mouth. 

They dispersed leaving me with the one I assumed was their Alpha. My eyes burned with hate and rage as I glared at him. 

“Don't worry, princess. You're not going to get a quick death like your lover,” he said. “I am eager to see what your brother will do when he finds out.”

My glare darkened. I wanted to curse him badly but the cloth in my mouth made the words come out muffled. 

“I'm sorry, I don't speak muffles,” he stepped closer and pulled down the cloth. 

I spat on his stupid mask and a thunderous slap sent me to the ground. 

My cheek stung badly, triggering a fresh set of tears. He took a squat to my level and used my dress to wipe the mask. 

“The next time you do that, you will lose that hand,” he threatened and my blood ran cold. 

Yet the rage within me shut out every form of rationality I had left. 

“You killed the only man I loved. There is nothing worse than that, you monster!” I fired. 

“There's not?” Amusement laced his voice. “You should ask your brother then. He is quite creative in that aspect.” 

I was even more confused.

“Who the hell are you?” My voice broke. “Why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to you?” 

I felt empty. Worthless. Broken. 

The only thing that made sense in my life was gone! All because of something I still had no idea about. 

“Cage Milton,” he said suddenly. “Ring a bell?”

I stared blankly at him. Who the hell was that and what did he have to do with anything?

A scoff fell off his lips. 

“Wow! Not only do you betray me but you have the audacity to forget!” The harshness of his tone made me flinch. 

Without another word, he stormed out of the cell. 

The days blurred into one long nightmare as I mourned my once-happy life and the love I’d lost—Owens. The stench of the dark cell was nauseating, and the isolation crushed me. No food. No water. No human contact. I was utterly alone in this wretched hole, with no idea of what was happening beyond these walls.

My stomach ached from starvation. Time had become meaningless. Would they really leave me here to die such a cruel death? Just as despair began to consume me, I heard footsteps echoing through the hallway. Relief washed over me as I stumbled to the bars, desperate for salvation.

A masked man appeared, unlocking the cell without a word. He dragged me out with little patience for my frailty and threw me into a small crowd of emaciated people, their bodies bound in chains. They looked sickly and broken, yet their misery didn’t compare to the rage boiling within me.

"Make yourself useful," the masked man barked, signalling to a burly figure. "She’s the new slave. The Alpha wants her kept busy at all times."

Slave?

“I… I am not a slave,” I croaked, my throat raw. “I am a princess, and I will not let you treat me like anything less!”

The burly man gave me a withering smile. "Nobody cares who you are. If you don’t work, you don’t eat—and you will be punished."

“I’d rather starve than be enslaved to the man who murdered my husband!” I spat. “If your Alpha wants me dead, let him do it himself!”