Seraphina.

The cold of the dungeon had seeped so deep into my bones I wondered if I’d ever feel warmth again. Time lost meaning in the pitch black, measured only by the relentless drip… drip… drip… of water and the frantic pounding of my own heart. Exhaustion warred with terror, pulling me towards a numb oblivion I desperately fought.

Then, the iron door screeched as it opened.

Harsh torchlight blinded me. Rough hands hauled me up. My stiff, bound limbs screamed in protest. I didn’t struggle. What was the point? The faces of the warriors were grim, devoid of pity. They didn’t speak. They simply dragged me out of the cell, up the endless stone stairs.

The noise hit me first. A low, ominous rumble, like distant thunder, growing louder with every step upward. It resolved into a roar as we emerged into the main courtyard.

People. Hundreds of them. Pack members crammed together, shoulder to shoulder, their faces a blur of anger and hatred. They were chanting the moment they saw me. They wanted me to burn, and that was when I saw it.

The center of it all, towering like an obscene monument, stood the pyre. It was freshly cut timber, stacked high and doused in oil, as if waiting for the strike of match to overwhelm it with flames. A thick post rose from its center, waiting… for me.

My knees buckled. The warriors holding my arms tightened their grip, propelling me forward through the jeering crowd. Spit landed on my face. Curses rained down.

“Murderer!”

“Omega scum!”

“Burn the traitor!”

“Avenge Alpha Zen!”

“Omegas don't deserve to live!”

“Kill her already!”

“We want justice!”

“No interrogations! Kill her!”

One of the guards bent low and his grip tightened on my arm, so painful that it felt like my bone was about to be crushed from the strength.

“Can you see all that?” His breath, a tobacco filled strength, filled my nose and I couldn't help but look away in disgust. “They all want you gone! Dead! Even if you offered to bury yourself, or even kill yourself, it won't do you no good. Even if you offered your life up to servitude for eternity, no one would care. You are worthless.”

My nose crinkled with disgust and the guard caught it. He chuckled for a few seconds before his expression turned ugly and he landed a heavy slap across my face.

“You bitch! You think I'm disgusting?”

The crowd cheered him on.

“Beat her up!”

“Slap her better!!”

“Make it hurt! Make her feel the pain!”

The guard stared up into the crowd and a smile broke out on his face. I could tell he felt invincible as the crowd cheered him on to continue his assaults on me.

“Groober, what are you doing?” The other guard grabbed his hand with a frown on his face. “The Alpha wants to see her?”

“So what?” He spat out, “The Alpha would be even more grateful when he finds out that we are avenging his brother's memory.”

That was when the loss engulfed me. Alpha Zen was now a memory. The coldness of that word hit me like a storm of bricks. I bit my lower lip so hard that I could taste the blood on my tongue. My Alpha was dead… and his last words haunted me. He wanted his murderer to be forgiven, did he mean I should take the fall for it? Did he mean I should die in place of the murderer who killed him? Was that what his last words to me, meant?

“The Alpha is coming out! The Alpha is coming out!!”

People began to shout and scream, and my heart sank even further. My despair knew no bounds when I remembered the huge black wolf I had saved…I couldn't even tell how much time had passed as I say in that cold dungeon. That huge wolf was Zen's brother. Would he take pity on me and listen to my story just for the sake that I helped him?

“Where is the woman?”

A loud and thick voice commanded and the pack grounds that was rowdy with hundreds of pack member suddenly fell quiet. That was when I saw him as a human. He was beautiful and handsome at the same time. Even with the scar that ran across his well toned chest and the right side of his chin, he still looked formidable. His eyes were even more intense than that night's own and something in me stirred. Something I have never felt before… as if coming from the abyss of my heart and mind, steering it's head.

“Mate.”

It was like a whisper. Slow and silent. Only heard by me. I turned around for who could have said that, because I knew it wasn't Alpha Kael, and somehow, just somehow, I knew my wolf had surfaced. A lot of things were happening to me. First, I wasn't burned by an Alpha's touch anymore, and secondly, my wolf came? Omegas didn't have the luxury of having their own wolves. We were usually born without wolves, and we died that way too.

Surely, Alpha Kael knew we were mates, right? He wouldn't do this, right? My eyes darted to the pyre and back to him. The look in his eyes killed my hope instantly. He was far gone in his rage to care about such things as mundane as having a mate when his last living blood relative was dead.

He stood at the edge of the pyre platform, facing the crowd. Kael Vittori. The wounded wolf. The next in line to the Alpha King's throne. My accuser.

He looked… transformed. The man I’d seen weakened, vulnerable in the shack was gone. In his place stood pure, terrifying Alpha power. His jet-black hair was tied back severely, revealing the sharp angles of his face, pale and set in lines of granite. His eyes… Goddess, his eyes. Pitch black, burning with an inner fire that had nothing to do with the torches. They were the eyes of a predator who had cornered its prey. Eyes filled with a grief as deep as a homicidal rage.

His gaze swept the crowd, commanding their silence, their absolute attention. The power radiating from him was a physical pressure, making the air crackle. Then, slowly, deliberately, he turned those devastating eyes on me.

The impact was like a physical blow. Recognition flared in his gaze, sharp and immediate, cutting through the fury for a split second. Surprise? Disbelief? Then it was swallowed again by the inferno of his rage. He saw the bloodstains on my ruined uniform. He saw the mud on my face, my terrified expression, and his expression darkened even further.

“Set her on the pyre. I will light the fire myself. She will burn and her ashes will have no resting place.” His dark eyes found mine, and I knew he was dead serious. I knew this was the end… My end.