CHAPTER ONE.

IMOGEN’s POV.

Twelve years ago my parents were killed by the rogue Darkmoon pack during a clash war and six years old me was left alone to walk in the ruins of that life. It was at this moment when Master found me crying and weeping at my parent’s grave and he decided to take me under his wing.

He kneels beside me and gently holds onto my hand, “Will you like to come with me?”

“can I?” I ask amidst tears, “now I don’t have anywhere to go, everyone has left me and I am all alone”

His lips curls into a gentle smile as he ruffles my hair,

“Of course little one, you can come with me but you don’t have to cry anymore. You are not allowed to shed a single tear in the place where we are going, do you understand?”

With tears still streaming down my eyes, I nodded and he held out his hand. “Let us go”

Master brings me with him to Aqua blades, a small enclave of the Crescent Valley that also houses the Darkshadow pack which is one of the most powerful and ruthless wolf pack but even at that, we keep to ourselves most times. Master is not acquainted with them and he didn’t even seem interested in their business.

Aqua blade is filled with different people and wolves from different backgrounds and packs whom master has taken under his wing to train and make them into his weapon. The hierarchy that existed was such that everyone struggled to impress master. I know I am good as I am a warrior in the second upper moon rank which made it easy for me to always be near master and the man I love.

I was just six years old when I began to stay with master and the other members of the Aqua blade, now I am eighteen years old but with little or no difference in master, the man I grew up to love immensely.

Having stayed with him for twelve years, master still looks the same or should I say, he looks more handsome. This left me wondering what kind of a person he is because I am sure of the fact that he is not an alpha or some primordial person. I believe master is much more than that but I am yet to unravel that mystery.

But here I am tied up in the master's personal ice dungeon. This place is meant to keep me cold and freeze my bones, making it hard for me to even try and escape. Ever since master saved me years ago, I made a decision to stay loyal to him until my death and I have lived up to that expectation. I have been doing masters bidding for years now even though I also have a lot on my mind, the fact that I grew up to fall in love with a man who didn’t even have eyes for me.

The full moon is actually the day when relationships begin and break. The day when male and female wolves find their mates and the day when some even wolf out for the first time.

During the last full moon which was a fortnight ago, I was extremely happy because I planned on announcing to everyone that master is my mate. I have been in love with master Athan since the time I can remember and when I finally found out he is my mate, I couldn’t thank the moon goddess enough. Finally getting to be his mate was something that made me excited the most and I couldn’t hold my excitement but everything went haywire when I announce it but master rejects me, he rejected me like I am some piece of garbage and the look in his eyes when he rejected me is something I will never be able to forget. It was filled with hate and anger towards me, he hated me at that particular moment.

He grabbed my hand In front of everyone and says,

“I reject you, Imogen . I reject you today and the days ahead, you are not even fit to stand where I stand. You are nothing but a weapon I need "His harsh words cut through my soul and I can feel my dormant wolf cry out in pain deep inside of me.

“How can you even fall in love with a man who is old enough to be your father?” I hear some of them also say.

Due to the shame of his brutal rejection, I decide to run away from Aqua blade but master catches up with me faster than I can even swing a blade.

My thought is interrupted when the door pushes open and his heavy strides reach my ears. For a moment, I can the feel chills down my spine. I knew he was not here to help me but to make me suffer the consequences of my actions.

Finally I can feel his huge figure towering above me, that unique scent he always has filters through my nose. His dominating aura gives me the chills but I still like it, he is the master I am in love with after all.

Moving closer to me, he yanks my face and slams his hand hard across my face as blood splashes out of the cut on my lips.

“The only punishment for disobedience is death, Imogen ” he snarls as he yanks my hair again, “this is the only rule that guides the operations of Aqua blade” this time, his eyes travel all over my body and I can see how disappointed he is in me.

Before now, I can safely say I am one of master’s best assassins who got almost all the work done and I also helped master to train new people like me but I did the forbidden, I had a crush and fell in love with a man who has never been in the grasp of my own world and the man who is old enough to be my father.

Master Athan has always been ruthless and dominating. He is one man everyone in Aqua blade feared and respected a lot, he is not one to mess with. The fact that he remained the same after all these years is also a thing of worry for not only me but others. How can someone be as manly and handsome as master Athan even with his ruthless nature?

It didn’t even take long before I was captured again and here I am, in the most painful dungeon of Aqua blade with the master's huge frame hovering above me with an angry look on his face.

“I made you Imogen and I can break you” master Athan growls again, “how dare you try to run away from me?”

“I am only trying to protect my heart” I manage to answer and I can see his lips curl up in a mocking manner.

“You are nothing but a child to me” he blurts , “a child whom I have trained to do my bidding and once again, I reject you Imogen . I reject you as my mate and I will keep rejecting you, do you hear me?”

His words cut into me like my sword cuts into the flesh of my victims and I can still feel the pain in my heart again. I didn’t expect master Athan to reject me so brutally like this again for the second time. How am I to live with the pain of rejection and seeing the man I am in love with everyday?

“Why do you keep rejecting me, master?” I decide to ask, “am I…” before I can even get the words out of my mouth, he smacks me hard across the face and another fresh set of blood trickled down my nose. Yet again, he gives me another and another and another but I didn’t show any ounce of pain. He has taught us not to show our pains and I think him rejecting me is more painful than the blows he is raining on my face at the moment.

“I can make you forfeit your life anytime Imogen ” he says as he grabs me by the neck again, “you deserve to die and you will if you don’t do as I say”

With that, he pushes me away and made his way out of the dungeon with his shoulders rising in pride.

The moment master Athan is out of the room, I heave a heavy sigh and spit blood out of my room but I can see them.

Some of the low ranking female starters who followed the master into the dungeon didn’t leave. They were all gathered around me and I can see the look of disappointment on their faces and I can already feel their judgments even before they said anything.

“You disappoint master big time, Imogen ” Anna, one of them says, “none of us was expecting you to ever do this” she added with an eye roll.

“Blasphemy against the master?” Another one, Andrea scoffed, “you were master’s favourite but now you are more worse than even the people that beg you to spare their lives at the mercy of your sword”

“We can only wait and see how the master chooses to deal with you,” another added.

Their words didn’t even annoy me or make me feel uncomfortable like what my master did to me. The fact that he rejected me twice and didn’t even bat an eyelid is what saddened me the most.

It is not a hard thing for me to fight back and make them regret what they were saying to me but sadly my wolf had been dormant since I took the aerosol wolfsbane mistakenly and I have been looking for ways to remedy the situation for years but this is the least of my worries right now. Master hates me and is disappointed in me because I professed my love for him.

Maybe I shouldn’t have fallen in love with him or even allowed him to reject me during the coming of age party, maybe I should have kept my feelings to myself but no, I decided to announce to everyone that he is my mate that night and he didn’t hesitate to reject me in front of everyone who resided in Aqua blade. I was hurt and decided to run away but here I am with my life hanging on a thin thread. I can only wait for when the master will order my execution.

“Let us leave” Andrea tell the rest girls, “we don’t want master to punish us for associating with her even after disgracing herself”

I watch them walk out of the dungeon and I closed my eyes, my whole body is in pain but the ache in my heart is much more.

Haven stayed with the master for years. I have watched him do the most ruthless things but I isn’t conscious enough to notice he is like the lone moon in the sky. Wolves like me can only dream of having him but it is just meant to remain a dream forever.

As I closed my eyes again while trying to calm my aching mind and body, the image of master Athan appeared in my subconscious again and even though he has caused me so much pain, my already cracked lips curved into a bitter sweet smile. I am already wondering what the master is going to think if he saw me smiling at the thought of him right now.

“You are courting death, Imogen ” a cold hard voice filters through my ears and I throw my eyes open to see who just spoke to me but I am alone in the dungeon, the ice dungeon popularly known as the death cell.