My heart pounded in my chest as I sprinted through the chaotic village. Smoke filled the air, and the sounds of destruction echoed all around me. The screams of my fellow villagers pierced through the night, their cries for help haunting my every step. Fear gripped me, threatening to consume me whole. I could not believe it. My parents were dead. I had barely had time to process it.

I ran with all my might, desperate to escape this nightmare. But just as hope began to flicker in my heart, a strong grip closed around my arm. I turned to face the menacing faces of Lucas' men, their eyes filled with a twisted sense of power.

"Gotcha," one of them sneered, tightening his hold on my arm. I struggled, but their grip was unyielding. They dragged me through the wreckage, towards the heart of darkness itself, Alpha Lucas.

As we approached Lucas, his piercing gaze met mine. The Alpha exuded an aura of dominance, his presence commanding and intimidating. I could see the bloodlust in his eyes, the hunger for power that had driven him to destroy my village.

"Welcome, little lamb," Lucas growled, his voice sending shivers down my spine.

"You're mine now." He said as his men forced me to my knees.

"Please, don't kill me" I begged. Like a fucking coward but I really did not want to die. The thought frightened me.

His cruel laugh filled the air and I sucked in a breath as he reached out for me.

He grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled me up to my feet with it and I shrieked in pain.

"You don't have to beg me. I intend to keep you alive but mark my words, by the time I'm done with you, you would regret the day you begged for your life." He said, with an evil intent lurking behind his eyes.

I swallowed in fear as his men tied me to the saddle of a horse and they all settled on their individual horses.

My panic rose and my heart shattered as I took one last look at my village, my home, where I grew up and I realized this might be the last time I'll ever see it.

My heart sank as the weight of my predicament settled upon me.

The ride to the city of Albertos was bumpy and rough. I was hanging with my head upside down and by the time we got there, my face was red and I was struggling to breathe.

I was shocked when I felt a hand slap my ass hard. Tears began welling up in my eyes as I prayed it was a mistake.

"Take her to my room" I heard Lucas' order someone.

I immediately felt the knots loosen around my feet and hands and I sighed in relief as someone pulled me off forcefully.

I took a satisfying whiff of breath as I took in my surroundings.

We were at the grand palace of Albertos.

Up until then, I had never seen it in person but only heard stories about it from my father.

My heart ached at the thought of him.

"Get up" One of the men ordered and I struggled to scramble to my feet, so he yanked me up by my cloth and I groaned.

"Follow me" he further said and I hurriedly followed him.

I could barely take in the interior of the palace because I was too focused on what was going to happen to me.

We finally got to Lucas' room and the man that led me there pushed me inside, making me fall to the ground.

He glared at me in disgust.

"Touch one thing and you're dead" he simply said before slamming the door closed.

I jumped out of shock before I sighed and looked down at my fingers as I picked at my nails nervously.

I could not believe my parents were dead. Reality hit me as I knelt in the middle of the room of the person who ordered their deaths.

I could not stop the tears that streamed down my cheeks and sobs racked my body.

I had lost my mother when I was little before my father fell in love again and married someone else and she was so nice to me.

I had been so lucky to have the best parents and Alpha Lucas just took that from me like it didn't matter. I cried for my parents, friends and all other villagers.

Anger bubbled beneath my skin as hot tears streamed in waves down my cheeks. An eye for and eye, a tooth for a tooth, blood for blood.

I mentally repeated the chant just as my father had taught me.

My sobs caught in my throat when the door suddenly opened.

He towered over my small frame on the ground and closed the door and I shivered in fear.

His eyes, his build, every single thing about him was frightful.

He walked past me, eyeing me with a look I couldn't quite decipher.

He sat on his bed and looked straight at me. I didn't dare look at him.

"How old are you?" He asked and I gulped.

"Sixteen" I replied softly.

A small smirk made its way to his mouth and I shivered with fear.

"Strip" he ordered and I froze.

I must have heard wrong.

I looked up at him in shock and he repeated himself.

"Strip" he said again and I slowly started to shake my head.

I was only sixteen. What kind of monster was he?

"Do not make me repeat myself" he said and I began to beg him.

"No, please no." I begged as I sobbed.

He rolled his eyes and got off his bed.

He searched through a table and faced me again.

He was holding a whip!

I gasped in fear as he neared me and without warning, whipped me once on my back.

I shrieked in pain as I tried to touch the area but my hands couldn't reach it.

It hurt a lot and I could not stop crying.

He stooped to my level.

"Now, listen to me" he commanded and I instantly looked up at him.

"Rule number one, no screaming. No matter what I do to you, I must not hear a single noise. If I do, it would most definitely get worse" he said and my heart hammered in my chest.

"Rule number two, when I tell you to do something, you do it, or else, I will whip you repeatedly and make sure you're on the brink of death but just enough to keep you alive." He said with a wicked grin on his face.

"Rule number three, follow those two rules" he said and got up.

Out of the blue, he whipped me again and I screamed. I had never felt that much pain in my entire life.

"Tsk tsk, you're a slow one" he said and I held my breath as I awaited the next whip.

He whipped me again and I managed to stifle a scream.

"Good girl" he said and went back to sit on his bed.

"Now, strip." He ordered and I shakily got up and began to pull my clothes off my body.