It's too cold on the mountaintop, the wind and ice wrenching through my fur like knives. I am running down the mountain side, dodging trees left, right, left, right.

"Alessandra." The voice icier than the storm whispers.

I run faster.

I can't feel my legs under me.

"Alessandra, please." It's laughing now, frantic and cynical, as if it had just tasted copper and flesh.

No. I want to shout back to them, refusing to succumb to their tortures. Refusing to end up like Mother and Father.

"Come back to me."

I can feel the heat of its evil spreading across the back of my neck, as if the voice is just waiting to swallow my soul and chew my body.

"Alessandra! Wake up, now!"

I am wrenched from the dream, my dark hair pillowing messily behind me as I shoot up in bed, covered in sweat.

I look up to see my Aunt May standing over me, her eyes frantic.

"May, what's happening?" I ask, scrambling out of bed, my feet touching the cold wood of the floor.

She looks as if she has just seen a ghost.

"We're being attacked, you need to go now."

My ears are ringing, my mind flashing back to that fateful day seven years ago.

My mother screaming as I watched the enemy alpha tearing at her long, dark hair.

"Alex! You need to go now!" I stare at my aunt, her exact words finally registering to my ears. I am broken from my memories, and brought back to this cruel reality.

"But, what about you?" I ask frantically, as I watch her pull a random pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt from my closet, throwing them at me.

"I will be safe here, he is only looking for the pack members under 18."

"B-but," I ask, pulling the shirt over my head, "Why?" Confusion bubbles up through my words, ending in stuttering and mumbling that I pray is coherent enough for her to understand.

"He wants to create an army, and he needs the youth."

He. The Alpha. The man who struck fear into the hearts and minds of millions around him.

"Aunt May, just stop and explain please." I beg, trying to grab at her arm, but she just shakes her head furiously.

"Come on, we need to get you out of here, we haven't got much time, Knox is mindlinking, they have already entered the boundary lines."

She pulls me from my tiny room, and I run with her, my long legs moving faster than her's. My mind is moving too fast, as I attempt to hold back the flashbacks of that terrible day.

You need to focus. My wolf whispers to me, and I shake my head, knowing she's right.

We reach the bottom of the stairs in the pack house, and I can see mothers crying over their little pups, having nowhere to go. I see Lacy, a little six year old. She is holding her baby brother, Charlie, now, the little redheads huddled next to their father, Beta Rendal.

"Sandra!" Lacy shouts when she sees me, running to me and nearly knocking me down as I catch her, not letting her fall.

"Hey, Lace." I say, and stare into the little green eyes. She's going to be so beautiful when she's older.

Then the thought hits me.

"Aunt?" And she looks down at me, her eyes shifting. "What will happen to the rest of the pack? Where are they to go?"

She sighs and kneels down, sending Lacy back to her father and brother.

"Moonrise pack is too weak to fight, and we have nowhere to go but the mountains, and you know how dangerous those can be in this time of year."

I stare at her, my blue eyes going wide with horror.

"So we just leave them?!" I whisper-yell to her.

She begins to shift her weight from foot to foot, looking out of the windows at the front of the pack house.

"There's nothing we can do, Sandra. I just need to get you out of here, you are in too much danger."

"How am I more endangered that the rest of the pack?!" I can hear my voice rising, and I know I should calm down, but my mind is whirling too fast to stop now.

"Sandra, calm down, there are things you do not know, things that-" But I am not allowed to hear the rest of her warning, as the door to the pack house flies open, splintering at the hinges.

It has begun.

Aunt May attempts to grab my arm, but even she knows it is too late.

Everyone's eyes are on the huge man at the entrance, and the army of men behind him.

My body is begging me to run but my muscles are frozen in fear.

"Round them up." His voice is deep and menacing, booming with each syllable. I examine this man despite my fear, and allow myself to let out a small breath of relief. This man is not the alpha. Maybe a beta or a gamma, but definitely doesn't have the scent of the alpha.

He moves into the house, and his army follows, gigantic men, all of them six feet or taller, enter the main hall, grabbing the women and children and hauling the outside, and leading the men into the main foyer. One of his men reaches me, and grabs me by my hair, practically dragging me out the door, and I claw at his hands in vain.

"Let me go! Get off of me you bastard." I struggle like an animal in a trap, flailing my entire body to try and escape his hold. I spit every curse I know at this filthy piece of trash, but he is unfazed by my efforts.

He drags me through the snow outside, grunting, and throws me to the ground, my head throbbing and my nails broken and ragged. I groan, but still struggle to pick myself up. But he has other ideas, as his foot stomps down on my chest, knocking any oxygen left in my lungs out of me. He looms above me, and I look up at his face. A long scar runs the length of his nose and to the end of his lip, and it crumbles as he drags his mouth into a maniacal smile.

"You're a pretty one." He says, his voice slimy and slick, like oil that is about to be lit aflame. I scream out as he pulls me up by my hair, his sharp nails digging into my scalp. I wince but keep my arms still. Who knows that this man is capable of?

"Maybe Alpha Octavius will let me keep her?" He sneers, looking at this comrades for approval. They just grunt and continue organizing the women and children, apparently by rank.

The thought of this horror holding me, touching my body, cackling above me as I beg for mercy sends bile racing up my veins and to my throat.

"What do you think, Love? Think he'd let me keep you?" His breath is hot and humid across my face, and in my sudden fury, I make the biggest mistake.

I spit in his rancid face.

His reaction is instant. The back of his hand comes into contact with my cheek, and the ringing in my ear shrieks and screams endlessly. I gasp, and my body again comes into contact with the snow. I grasp my face, my mouth agape with shock.

"Get up, bitch." He growls as he throws me towards one of the men organizing the group.

"Damien, take the bitch, and put her into line. She's not worth my time." He states as she trudges back into the pack house.

The so-called Damien grabs me by the arm and looks into my face. His face is uneven, one side of his mouth lower than the other, giving him a eerily stupid expression.

"Name, and rank."

"Alessandra Miranda, daughter of late-alpha Miranda." His eyebrows shoot up, scanning my eyes for any sense of deception.

"Well well, looks like we found ourself a prize. Front of the line you go, Alessandra." His mouth around my name made me want to vomit, this slimy man with his hand around my arm that has probably killed thousands of innocent lives.

Damien pulls me to the first spot of the group, practically tossing me away from him, as if I am the disgusting piece of filth, and not him. I stand next to Lacy with Charlie in her hands, and Lacy has tears running down her chubby cheeks. My heart aches, and I want to grab her and hug her and tell her everything will be alright, but I can't lie to a child. So I settle for grabbing her little hand, and squeeze it tightly in mine, and I am relieved when she squeezes back.

"When will Alpha Octavius arrive?" I hear Damien ask another tall brute.

"Soon, he messaged Kane saying he was a few miles away, expect his arrival, and make sure everything runs smoothly."

I go stiff at the mention of the Alpha, confused. It was the second time I had heard someone call the Alpha "Octavius", but I know from my Aunt that the alpha who murdered my parents was called "Titan". My musings are cut off when I hear a booming voice once again.

"Silence!" The first beta appears from the pack house. The murmur around me cuts off at his voice, and all the women look down at the ground, terrified.

I sharply inhale, holding my breath.

I look down at my bare feet in the snow, for the first time realizing I didn't even have time to put on shoes before leaving the pack house. I pray that we are allowed to go out of the snow soon, or I may lose a toe to frost bite.

I shake my head slightly, disgusted at my self-absorbed worries. Our pack has been captured by the devil's pack, and all I'm worried about is my useless toes?

I can hear the thundering sound of the man's steps as he approaches the shivering group. You can almost feel the heat of his laughter as he reaches us.

"Moonrise Pack, I am Beta Kane. Anyone here, who is aged 11 to 19 please step forward."

There is a stiff silence and stillness following his words, no one daring to move in case he is playing some cruel trick on us, forcing us to move towards our deaths.

A growl escapes the man's throat, and a snarl precedes his orders.

"Do not disobey your beta!" He hisses, the sound like nails on a chalkboard. "Ages 11 to 19 step forward now."

I let go of Lacy's hand after giving it one quick squeeze and step forward, my feet burning in the snow. I shiver slightly, the wind beginning to pick up as Beta Kane scans the crowd. I look over the crowd, watching as the children who were forced to advance shake with cold and fear, many of them with tears in their eyes.

"Congratulations," Beta Kane hisses, the maniacal glee in his voice like that of a disney villain. "You are now members of Blood Moon Pack as soldiers. Any among you who wishes to decline this offer, come forward. Now." His beady eyes scan the crowd, daring any to step forward.

I turn back to look at my feet, thinking no one would step forward. Praying more than anything.

But my prayers are ignored as the sound of crunching snow hits my ears, and I gasp silently.

I see Todd, a gamma, stepping through the crowd, his blonde hair shifting through the sea of heads. In my horror, I watch as he stands a few feet away from me.

He has just committed suicide.

Todd is only 12, and skinny as a twig. The entire group gasps as he walks forward, terrified for this small boy. I want to scream at him to step back, to apologize and bow his head, to fucking run. But he just stands there, his baby-like face filled with harsh determination.

"Ah, there's always the brave one. Well, young gamma, you have given your pack mates a great gift. A lesson of what happens to those who disobey Blood Moon Pack." Kane snarls.

His hand raises, his claws appearing, as he prepares to cut into Todd's flesh.

I don't think.

I just lunge for Todd, covering him with my slim body, shutting my eyes, waiting for the end. I wrap my hands around Todd's little body, acting as a tent around him. Regret fills my mind, but it is too late. Beta Kane's claws only just begin cut into my thigh, but a great roar erupts from behind the army.

I open my eyes, confusion flooding through me.

It is so silent you can practically hear the snowflakes falling to the ground, or my blood dripping onto the now crimson snow. I raise my head, wincing as I crane to see where the roar came from.

Whose roar saved me?

Before I can see anything, my nose is met with the most addicting scent, campfires and cinnamon, and my mind is immediately soothed. My wolf claws at me to go to the source of the delicious scent, to find whoever saved me from death.

I am frozen as Beta Kane moves to the side, and I gasp.

In front of me, shirtless, is a god. Sharp features with a chiseled body, towering over the army with his great height.

Admiration and terror fill my veins as I immediately identify this beast of a man.

This is Alpha Octavius.

And this is-

"Mate." He growls under his breath.

-my mate.