1. Death

Chapter 1.

Blood seeped from her abdomen as she kneeled on the ground, while her pack burned.

Her people whom she swore to protect were running around and wailing. Some were gravely injured, and some were fighting, but most of them had given up.

And she was in the center of all the chaos.

Her one hand was missing from her body while the other was broken, her one leg was badly twisted and the other was in a bizarre shape. She was sure that her leg was gone while the other was the only perfect part of her body. The silver poison in her body was preventing her wound from healing.

Ashley was in pain, both mentally and physically.

A man soon came in front of her laughing maniacally as he looked down at her, "Ashley Martin... how does it feel to be so low?"

Ashley glared at him but didn't reply. Her lack of reply angered the man, and he slapped her.

Ashley growled and moved forward, she was the Alpha of her pack and not just an alpha, Alpha of the most powerful pack in the world.

Any sort of disrespect towards her would not be tolerated had she been fit and in perfect shape right now. She would have ripped this man's head off.

This man was the one she loved the most, the one that brought her down. And is the reason for the downfall of her pack.

Her mate, Dante.

Dante laughed as he saw the pathetic condition in which Ashley was, "Dearest...tell me where are the moonstone and I will let you go...you see even if I am not your mate I will still show you mercy."

Ashley thought she couldn't feel anything after going through so much, not after seeing her pack members die, not after seeing her mother die, but right now, she felt thunderstruck. Her heart clenched at the thought and her life flashed in front of her.

Ashley remembers throwing her sister out of the pack for this man, she remembers fighting with her mom for this man. She turned into a total tyrant and even punished her pack members because of this man.

She never listened to anyone in front of Dante and she remembers nearly cutting the head of the pack warlock who had predicted that Dante was not her mate and it turned out that it was actually the truth.

Guilt, so much guilt came to her. It almost killed her, she finally burst out crying. It was shameful for a true blood alpha to show weakness, let alone cry like this in front of the enemy, but here she was crying because regret was consuming her soul very painfully.

Dante laughed when he saw the miserable state in which Ashley was. He was delighted when he saw Ashley Martin, the powerful alpha that no one dared to go against, just her name was enough to scare her enemies, and there she was lying at her feet crying and wailing.

And it made him feel so powerful.

She suddenly grabbed Ashley's hair and yanked her head back, "Now tell me where is moonstone?"

Ashley was so angry that she spat on his face, "You bastard..."

Dante was so pissed that he slapped her again and this time he bought more silver and burned her skin with it. Ashley didn't make a noise. She has been through so much pain that she does not feel pain anymore.

Ashley suddenly smirked, "You want the moonstone, huh?"

Dante looked at her and gulped. The look in her eyes was maniacal, and it scared him. But this also made him mad that even in this state, she was able to scare him.

He sat in front of her and smirked, "Yes dearest, tell me where is the moonstone?"

"Tell me first, what did you do to me and why did my wolf scream you were my mate when I first saw you?"

Dante rolled his eyes and groaned while Ashley spoke, "Tell me, Dante, tell me if you want the moonstone."

Dante sighed and laughed as he got up, "Have you read Shakespeare?"

"I hope you know that I don't have much time left. The silver that you injected into my body has reached my heart..."

Dante looked at her and closed his eyes before he took a deep breath, "You know that in all mythologies and stories there is that one famous potion that can make you fall in love with the first person you saw after taking it."

"I thought that works only on humans and not on wolves. If you have given me something like that, then it should have worked on me and not on my wolf."

Dante smiled, "that's the beauty of magic and nature, there is a way for everything, I just had to do a little research and yeah I found the way to bewitch your wolf."

"You couldn't have done it alone, who helped you?"

Dante smirked, "You are smart, babe." He said as he extended his hand and another woman came into the view, Ashley saw the woman who had a sinister smile on her face as she stood beside Dante, Ashley laughed, "Sophy..."

Sophy Smith, Ashley's best friend and advisor.

Dante spoke, "Yes, Sophy Smith, my mate."

Ashley gulped, "What did you do to my mate? Where is he?"

Dante answered, "To answer your query, Ashley, you never met your mate...because this potion's effect would have vanished once you met your true mate, but you never did, maybe you are mateless."

Ashley laughed, it was a mocking laugh; she was laughing at herself, of course, she does not have a mate. Why would she?

She is a despicable and vile being, why would the moon goddess give her a mate, A mate is a divine blessing, the moon goddess must have despised hence here she is now at the mercy of her enemies.

She gave them a look, and smiled sinisterly, "You want the moonstone, huh?"

Dante nodded, while Sophy glared at Ashley, she hated Ashley because she stole her mate from her; she hated her with every inch of her body, but she had to endure smiling at her and be kind to Ashley all those days.

All those days seeing her mate with her and seeing Dante being all so lovey-dovey with her.

Ashely then laughed, her laugh was loud that it shook the ground, and then she suddenly stood up, on her two feet.

Dante's and Sophy's eyes widened, and they moved back because they felt absolutely terrified. Suddenly, the bones cracked and Ashley's broken hand was back to normal. However, the swelling was there, meaning it still hadn't healed completely, but her appearance was scary.

She suddenly stretched her neck to the right side and then to the left, before she sighed and finally looked at the two. Her face was hurt and had a huge cut on it that looked absolutely demonic.

As she took one step forward and Dante and Sophy took two steps back.

"You want the moonstone, huh?" She asked with a calm and gentle smile, the genuine smile that people usually give to other people. "Give me a knife."

She raised her hand towards Dante, who looked skeptical, but Ashley assured him, "Come on, give me a knife. I will show you the moonstone."

Sophy grabbed Dante's hand as she looked at Ashley, "That easily? You are going to give us the moonstone so easily?"

Ashley raised a brow, "Easily you say? I lost my family, my mother was killed in front of my eyes, my pack members hate me and they also died because of me, in front of me as they blamed me and curse me, my sister I don't even know if she is alive or not.

I just discovered that my mate that I loved so much that I could even fight the moon goddess is actually not my mate...I was tortured my hand was broken, my other hand was ripped from my body and I was continuously fed silver...while my leg..." she sighed, "Do I need to remind you how brutally you twisted it like a cloth?...and you say it was easy?"

Sophy looked down, seemingly convinced by her words, She slowly let go of Dante's hand, who picked up a knife and tossed it at Ashley.

"Give us the moonstone now," Dante spoke.

Ashley smirked and closed her eyes before she started chanting some unknown spells, the spells that she was chanting were in some unknown language. Suddenly, her eyes opened, and they were blue.

The wind blew harshly, and the ground shook, the clouds gathered in the sky, Sophy hugged Dante who looked scared as well, as Ashley smirked, "for someone like you, who hatched such a cosmic plan you both are dumb. Bold of you both to assume that I will ever show you the moonstone."

Dante's and Sophy's faces paled, but before they could even say or do anything, Ashley stabbed her heart with the knife.