PROLOGUE
I stand in the court, my hands behind my back, bound in sturdy cuffs. The metal burns my skin. My skin must be red, peeling, and I know the scars it will leave behind. I stare at the council members in front of me, I am simmering with hatred. My heart burns with revenge, but I know it will all cool down eventually, at least I hope it does.
“Alpha Valdus Maynard Magnar, you are officially stripped off your title. You are no longer an Alpha and no longer fit for ruling the Magnar Kingdom of Wolves. From now on, you are condemned to a life of solitary.”
My wolf roared. I wanted to release his wrath upon these Elders sitting in front of me. Who did they think they were? Trying to reign their laws upon my primal nature. I was an Alpha, I am meant to rule. I am meant to fight for my people, my fellow wolves.
“You are thirty-three years of age, and still without a mate. Your human side is descending into madness, you are becoming feral and a serious danger to your pack and pack mates. This sentence is announced in the larger good of the werewolf society.”
I am not a werewolf; I want to scream. I am a Lycanthrope, a majestic animal from whom these pesky wolves have descended. I am a pure-blood, descendent of Lycans. I am royal, and yet a bunch of wolves sit in front of me and decide my fate.
They think they have won, but they have not. My animal will not let me live with this insult. I need blood. I need revenge. I pounce at them, but the silver cuffs and shackles stop me, they have reduced my strength. The Elders smile, I can see the malice in them. One of them, an austere female dressed in a flowing kaftan, she is billowy. The Mother. Mother Evanora, a devotee of the Moon Goddess. She was a religious woman, taking her restrictive methods to the werewolf community.
“I think that is a fine decision, Elder Waugh,” Mother Evanora spoke in her soft tone. Waugh beamed under her approval.
Mother Evanora stood up, her eyes swept across the people sitting in the court. How had I let her corrupt religion spread?
“The Moon Goddess, she speaks to me. When I surrender myself to this world, her beautiful creations. It is then that she speaks to me. As her messenger, I make sure that you listen to what she has to say.”
Everyone murmured amongst themselves. The subjects believed Evanora.
“We are cursed. You and me. We were cursed with this animal living inside us. It makes us feral and as inhumane as possible. This animal reduces us to primal instincts of killing, mating and ravaging. But we are more than that. The goddess has given us a human part for a reason. That human side is capable of love, but we don’t embrace it.”
“The erstwhile King,” Evanora speaks, pointing towards me, “has not yet found his mate. He should have had a son by now, a posterity prepared to take over after him. But that is not the case. He waits for his ‘soul-mate’, one ‘provided’ to him by the moon goddess. Why so selfish?”
I want to strangle her.
“The King has to rule with his Queen, it makes him just, and the people flourish. But the Alpha doesn’t believe in it. The Elders, including me. We have paraded numerous suitors in front of him, but he would rather be mateless than being a good king.”
“You wanted me to be mated to someone who was not my mate, that is against the laws of the werewolf world!” I snarl, “you are a phoney little bitch. Moon Goddess isn’t coming to you, you are just spouting bullshit because you want everything to be under your control. You want us to suppress who we are!”
Evanora’s smile faltered, but she didn’t let my words faze her. A soft giggle escaped her.
“Valdus. I am not suppressing anything. The monster inside us needs to be disciplined. Do you want our kind to keep running naked, covered with fur and killing each other?”
“It is our nature! That is who we are, you cannot let control our beasts!”
“Valdus, I don’t need a selfish person like you making a decision for our kind. You were fully aware that a mateless wolf slowly descends into his madness, yet you decided to wait for her. We were here with you, waiting alongside but you were so adamant upon finding her that you forgot all about the kingdom.”
“That is not true,” I spit, “my kingdom means everything to me.”
“It doesn’t. And I am not going to listen to you anymore. You and your beast are descending into madness, I will pray to the moon goddess for your health, but till then, you will be thrown out of this kingdom, and all Werewolf packs will be prohibited from offering you asylum. We don’t want a mad king on our hands!”
My eyes widened in pure rage, and I lunge past the barriers, the shackles break after me. My wolf wants to strangle Evanora, the puritan witch! I snap my teeth at her. She is shaking in fear, but before I can finish her off, I find ten men pulling my back with those shackles.
My wolf howls with pain, the silver pierces my skin. I try throwing them away, but I realise that my strength is diminishing as they wrap the silver around my body. I cannot overpower ten men armed with silver. They could shoot me in the skull, and I wouldn’t have any time to react.
“Take him away!” Evanora roared, “and kick him out of our pious kingdom. How can he control this kingdom when he cannot even control his own beast?”
I am pulled out of the court. My subjects are looking at me, the hurt pierces through my heart, and it turns into fury. The words I say next would surely be recorded in history.
“I promise Evanora, I will return. And when I do… you will be shaking in those robes of yours. I will claim whatever is mine, and that is a promise. Start counting the days, Evanora. Because they are numbered. This Kingdom is mine. Its people are mine. Hear this and register it. I will kill you, and I will drink your blood.”
