CHAPTER 1

Aiden’s POV

“Gather the survivors!” I shouted as I stepped around the body of a dead wolf.

I looked around and smirked. Another pack had fallen under our feet. Another pathetic Alpha had crumbled and admitted his defeat. My smirk widened when I saw his mangled body lying a few feet away from me.

I walked closer and crouched next to him.

“You got what you deserved, Patrick,” I said, glancing at his mate’s dead body that was lying next to his. “You were a horrible man and a horrible wolf.”

Patrick was pathetic. His pack was weak and there were rumors of him abusing the members of his pack. There were rumors of him punishing his wolves by tying them to poles and starving them for days. We did the world a favor by getting rid of him.

A scream made me look toward the packhouse. Flames engulfed it and a few survivors were running out, trying to escape the flames. My heart skipped a beat when I saw my brother walking out of there. Why the fuck was he in there?! Why did he go inside a burning building?! What the fuck was he thinking?!

“Elijah!” I screamed as I jumped to my feet. “What the fuck are you doing?!”

He looked up at me and rolled his eyes.

“Please, Alpha,” the girl he dragged out sobbed as she fell to his feet. “I will do everything.”

I looked at the girl with disgust.

“Who is that?” I asked my brother as I approached them.

“Peter’s mate,” Elijah said, smirking a little. “She begged me to let her live after I killed him.”

I raised my eyebrow and looked at the girl.

“Really?” I asked as I crouched so I could get a better look at her. “Most mates don’t want to live after their mate dies. You didn’t love him?”

She looked at me and gulped.

“He was a bastard just like his father,” she mumbled quietly. “He was cheating on me. I don’t care that he is dead.”

I looked up at Elijah and he shrugged. We still hadn’t found our mate so we didn’t know how it felt when a mate cheated on you or when you lost your mate. The girl seemed like she didn’t really care that she just lost her mate, but who were we to judge?

“I will do everything,” she said, making me look back at her. “I know that you never found your mate. You need a Luna. I can be your Luna. Peter was going to take over his father soon. I know what to do. I know how to be a good Luna.”

I looked her up and down and smirked. She looked like she would be a good fuck.

“We will see about that,” Elijah said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

I stood back up, keeping my eyes on the girl.

“What’s your name?” I asked her.

“Jessica,” she said quietly.

I looked at Elijah and raised an eyebrow. We were almost 26 years old and we didn’t have a mate. She looked like she could be of some use to us. Elijah rolled his eyes at me.

‘Don’t start, Aiden.’ He mind-linked me. ‘We can fuck her, but that’s all that she will be good for. She isn’t going to be our Luna.’

Elijah was still holding onto hope that we would find our mate. I was realistic. She died a long time ago. I knew it and Elijah knew it. The girl that was supposed to belong to us died. We had proof. She was gone.

“Please, Alpha,” Jessica said, drawing our attention back to her. “I will be a good Luna.”

She looked up at us and licked her lips.

“I will be a perfect little fuck toy,” she added quietly.

My dick twitched and a small smirk spread across my lips. She did look like she would be a perfect fuck toy. I could already imagine my dick spreading those lips open. I could imagine squeezing her full tits and…

“Elijah!” our Beta’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

Elijah and I turned around. Ian was standing by the entrance to the dungeons. He had a pissed-off look on his face.

“There is a prisoner in here,” he said and I could see furry blazing in his eyes.

“You can kill her,” Jessica said, making us look at her. “She is the pack slut. She is a whore.”

Ian growled.

“She is a child!” he shouted as he started approaching us. “Are you telling me that your pack members have been abusing a child?!”

Rage boiled inside me. Elijah and I growled at the same time.

“She isn’t a child,” Jessica said, sighing loudly. “She turned 18 a couple of months ago. That’s when she started sleeping with men for money.”

I looked at Ian and saw a confused look on his face. He looked at me and shrugged.

“She is small,” he said. “She looks like she isn’t a day over 16.”

“Kill her,” Jessica repeated a little bit louder. “She won’t be missed. She is an Omega Patrick found abandoned in the forest. She never even turned. She is useless.”

I looked back at Ian and nodded.

“Bring her out and let one of the warriors take care of her,” I said.

Ian looked at Jessica and tightened his jaw. He looked hesitant. What the fuck was that about?

“Now, Ian,” Elijah ordered.

Ian clenched his fists and walked back toward the dungeons. I looked around and smiled. Our warriors were almost done gathering the survivors. Each survivor was always offered a chance to join our pack. Those who refused were killed, those who didn’t were brought back to our pack and they were assigned suitable roles for them. I saw a handful of survivors standing close by, looking at our warrior. I saw fear in their eyes.

I sighed and looked back at Elijah. He was staring at Jessica with an unreadable expression on his face. I furrowed my eyebrows. I couldn't tell what he was thinking and that freaked me out a little bit. He was my twin and I always knew what he was thinking.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw him flinch a little. I furrowed my eyebrows and tensed up. Was he hurt? Was he in pain?

‘Elijah…’ I started mind-linking him, but I stopped abruptly when the most amazing scent filled my nostrils.

It was a scent of apples and cinnamon. It was a scent that reminded me of home. It was a scent that made me feel safe and loved. I wanted to embrace it. I wanted to bathe in it. I wanted to glue the scent to my skin.

But the apples and cinnamon were also mixed with a metallic scent of blood and every muscle in my body tensed up. I wanted to tear everything apart. I wanted to kill. I wanted to destroy.

Why was my home tainted in blood?

My eyes fell on Ian and a small girl in his arms. She was unconscious and completely covered in blood.

My vision blackened and the anger made my blood boil. I couldn’t even look at Elijah, but I knew he felt the same. I knew that he wanted to kill them all just as much as I did.

“That’s the whore,” Jessica’s voice made me flinch. “Feel free to kill her.”