Chapter One: Marise

I am tired. We are tired of running. We had to look above the shoulder all the time. Knowing that the dark hunters would get us if we dared to stop and take a breath. We have spent a year crossing the borders of Europe. We never stayed at the same place for more than a few hours, and then it was time to run again. But from whom are we running? And who am I?

My name is Marise Hyman, and I am eighteen years old. I am a werewolf. I was born in Russia into the "The Black Shadow" pack. It is the most giant pack in the world. Our pack grounds are high up in the mountains, far from society. But we don't have to worry about being seen by humans since we have a protector that keeps our ground hidden. How? Magic.

My family contains me, my mom, and my sister Edira. She's not my blood sister, but she's been living with my family since I was 5, so I consider her my sister now. Edira is part wolf, part witch. This mix is not popular amongst our kinds and is called Impure-bloods by many. To me, that's bulls*it. She's got her wolf Aesira, and on top of that, she can do magic. Come on; the girl is a total badass.

Her wolf, Aesira, is red and looks like she's on fire under the sun. She is genuinely mesmerizing. Edira herself has green eyes and is naturally redheaded with stunning curls. She looks like an angel with soft and clear facial features.

Typically, werewolves are tall and muscular, but since Edira is half-wolf, she's a bit smaller than average but solid and robust.

My wolf, Rona, has black fur at night and silver eyes glistening like two stars. It's like she was created on the darkest winter night when the stars shine bright, and the full moon brushed her fur, making it smooth and reflecting the shadows.

Rona is big, slender legs and a lithe body. My hair is long, black, and wavy. My eyes are ice blue, and I'm tall and athletically built; I look like a fucking A****n with my 6 feet high and muscle body. But it's common among us werewolves; we're huge and muscular, so we don't usually go into town together because that would attract unnecessary attention that we don't need.

Both my parents are black wolves, and we come from a solid and ancient lineage and have ruled the Dark Shadow Pack for centuries. We have won every attempt to be slaughtered in battle and pack wars with my father as the Alpha, and I was next in line.

But unfortunately, my dad was killed in an attack when I was 7. He had participated in a mission with two of our warriors on this day. And he had Beta, Birsha, by his side when they got attacked by a gang of rogues outside the borders of our pack, high in the mountains.

At least, that is what they told us.

My inner wolf, Rona, first contacted me during this period.

I guess the trauma made her break through my consciousness early because we usually don't have contact in the first ten years of our lives.

My father was a great fighter and a black wolf. It didn't make sense to my mom that he was the only one getting killed in that fight because he was undefeated in combat.

My mother broke down after Beta Birsha told us about my father's death. She was down to the point where she almost died of grief. Birsha also said my father's last wish was to have him and his family look after us. And now, Birsha would become our new Alpha.

And, his son and I would mate and marry? Even if we aren't mates?

How f*cked up is that? My mom knew that my father would never agree to such a thing. It was a sick idea Birsha and his family had mounted against our family. But my mother decided to step aside as Luna because there were underlying threats that she couldn't risk happening. She needed to be alive so she could protect me.

Being a black wolf would be an excellent addition to their family since they are dark wolves.

A dark wolf is a mix of brown and black and is known for being outstanding in combat. But also to show cruelty and lack of empathy. Dark wolves are the second toughest race after mine. In other words, they wanted me to be a f*cking breed dog for their lineage. We're ruthless wolves at the top of the food chain.

But we're protecting ours, our pack, and we have empathy for ours. Birsha's son, Orfeo, is five years older than me. He is enormous, taller than most other boys while growing up, and he has seen a reputation for being cold and ruthless. 

Orfeo told me the first time he was 16 that we were mates; he could smell it. He said he'd wait till my 16th birthday before he tried anything. 

(In trying, he meant to mark me.) I was 11 then, and I had no idea what it meant. I was inexperienced and a young, innocent girl who had lost her father. And my mom was trying to keep me safe and in the dark until she thought I was old enough to know everything.

Orfeo spent the majority of his time with me over the years. 

He controlled and scared away everyone who dared to approach me, especially the other boys. He had a possessive side and was very jealous.

He slowly transformed me into his little puppet, planning my movements, and never left me unsupervised. His obsession with me slipped out of his hands as I got older. My mother and Edira did their best to keep him away, but as he is the son of our Alpha, his words would always carry more weight than theirs. They couldn't do anything.

By the time I was 16, our relationship had taken a darker turn. 

Orfeo was unstable at the time and, one night, completely out of control.

We started arguing about the mate bond because I had told him that night that I did not feel he was my true mate; he was wrong. 

Because my mother told me how she felt when she met my father, how it all came together, and all she saw was him. 

And the feelings she felt fell upon her, nearly drowning her in perfect harmony. And I wasn't feeling this way about Orfeo; I wasn't feeling anything romantic.

It pissed me off that he was around me all the time. 

He never gave me a chance to breathe by myself. 

He was always there, across from me, telling me that he loved me, that I belonged to him, ONLY to him. Forever. 

Trying to make me feel something I was unable to do.

Since I have vital alpha blood in me, it's not really in my nature to bow down to others. And as I grew older, more other wolves were attracted by my robust and ferocious attitude and magnetic energy. 

I've started holding the ground under myself. Being like that could easily provoke Orfeo. 

I had done what he had told me to do almost my whole life. 

But I was growing up, and I started to get stronger. 

I did my first shape-shift with my wolf, Rona, at sixteen. 

That was the moment everything changed. 

I decided to set my foot down, and that night I provoked him to the point that he imposed himself on me.

 He started to force-mark me. A force mark is when a wolf attempts to mark another wolf who isn't mated to them. We all have our true mates, but some wolves can reject their mates because they love or want another wolf. But the mark isn't pure and will be painful and unbearable. 

And it was a painful experience. 

It felt like someone was piercing burning knives into my neck, and my body was burning like I was on fire.

I became paralyzed by the pain. And I got to the point where I blacked out because the pain was too excruciating to be awake.

I woke up a few hours later, learning that Orfeo had forced himself on me to complete the mate bond. That was the night he claimed my innocence.

And that night changed me completely. I was no longer my person.

I felt like I had left my body and watched a film from the outside. 

I was a bystander in my own life. My mom and Kendra were livid with rage. However, there was nothing they could do about it. 

You can't go against the Alpha's son; nobody would believe me.

It's always the victim's fault in this world. It is so fucked up.