"Son-of-a-rabid-fucking-bitch!"

Whack.

Venomously, Eden's words were followed by an outraged step back as the wolf's jaw unclamped from her forearm. She couldn't believe the animal bit her. He dropped to the floor with a wretched howl, the bronze hilt of her dagger gleaming from between her bloody fingers as the man cupped his eye.

He bit me.

The protective material over her arm had been torn by the animal's teeth, creating a deep gash that now gaped and bled generously down her wrist. And it stung like a bitch. Giving the man an incredulous look of fire, she only felt the pain for a moment before her boot was reeling back on its own and swinging hard, aimed directly at the man's face.

"Fucking cocksucker-" Whack. "Bite me?" Whack. "I'll show you what a fucking bite is-" Whack. Whack.

Her boot continued pounding into his face with unrelenting energy until the effects of her onslaught became visible and real; the bone of his nose shattered, his jaw dislocated, cheekbone crushing inwards until blood and flesh and glimmers of bone began to appear through the disfigured visage.

"Girl!"

A hand suddenly clasped her elbow and whirled her around.

Still in the throes of anger, she failed to see the large palm winding back, then colliding sharply with her cheek. Eden's head snapped to the side upon impact, stunned. The growing pain in the side of her face cleared her fog of rage just enough for her to gaze at the palace's wall, heart pounding in the silence. A metallic taste entered her mouth.

Tentatively, Eden rolled her tongue along the inside of her cheeks, then worked her jaw back and forth, testing its placement, before slowly turning back to face the man that stood before me.

A familiar pair of brown eyes stare down at her, lips drawn tight in disgust.

Behind him, the wounded wolf's wails simmered down to a whimper as two more guards appeared on both sides. Her gaze didn't waver from the man as the guards drew the wolf out of the palace hall and towards the room where the King and his council awaited them.

Electricity sparked between them as they stood there. A struggle for power; a battle of dominance.

"He bit me," Eden groused between gritted teeth.

The man's eyes narrowed and flashed dangerously as his wolf surfaced. "You will not harm him."

"I will not harm him?" She echoed whilst lifting an angry, mocking brow. "Was I supposed to cheer him on as he mauled off my arm?"

At her dry tone, the man stepped forward, instantly invading her personal bubble. His large build would have had anyone rational backing into the wall, but she remained rooted and met him head on, defiantly tilting her chin upwards at him.

Her cheek still burned where he hit, burning like the hot coals of anger inside her and the wound in her arm. She flexed her hands, then balled them into tight fists to stop herself from swinging at the Beta. How badly she wanted to punch him but she couldn't. He was the Alpha's second-in-command. The most powerful wolf in the Ithaka Kingdom, only inferior to the King.

However, Eden could only hold his piercing gaze for so long before her shoulders slumped, her neck tilting in submission at the threatening growl that vibrated from the back of his throat.

She despised her reaction but couldn't fight it. But as soon as she'd done so, her lips were twisting into a scowl and she turned and walked away, all the while conscious of the eyes that seared into the back of her head.

Making a mission to pass by the palace infirmary, Eden picked up a wad of gauze and took the opportunity to bandage the gash in her forearm. Now that the burst of adrenaline had subsided, her nerves felt on fire and her arteries spurted blood onto the torn cloth of her favourite shirt. That only angered hermore.

"Rabid dog," Eden muttered with one end of the gauze clenched between her bared teeth, and the other end meticulously being wrapped over the wound with her good hand. Once secured, she tied a proper knot, then worked the loose strands of her blonde hair back into a ponytail.

The meeting had already begun by the time she stepped into the courtroom. The building's framework circled around her, leading up to a stained glass ceiling that reminded her of churches. Light sept through the surface, a myriad of coloured patches glowing on the stone floors.

At the centre, the prisoner knelt.

His hands were bound at the wrists and angry red welts marked the circumference of his ankles, as though ropes had bitten him there too. "He almost escaped us," said one of the scouts, prodding the prisoner with the tip of his spear.

The man suppressed a whimper, though the spear had not broken his skin.

"It was the human that found him," uttered the other scout.

The human.

All gazes in the courtroom shifted towards Eden as she stood at the entrance, hands loose and open at her sides. The softest touch of pride rippled through her.

She felt their glancing attention, vacant and unresponsive - all except for the Alpha's, whose molten gaze sparked in pride.

The prisoner was a strange sight: his mousy hair curled into his neck and out again, and if it had ever been oiled, it was unapparent now. Locks matted with the mud that covered so much of his bare skin, he wore a loin-cloth but nothing else. Even his feet were bare. And yet, around his temples, bright ribbons had been tied.

The markings of an Alpha.

The prisoner let forth a piteous howl. "What was meant to kill me then is the cause of my death now!′

Eden couldn't hide her disgust at the filthy, pathetic mess before her: an Alpha diminished to a sobbing, snot-filled infant.

Fucking child, she thought while faintly rubbing at her throbbing forearm. Why hadn't she killed him when she found him?

Because if you did, Alexu would have been disappointed in you, another voice inside her whispered.

Eden's gaze flashed towards the Alpha, Alexu, as he raised two fingers of his left hand.

"Silence," he ordered. His voice was dark and distinct as it cast a shadow of authority across the room. The crowd stilled, and even the prisoner's racking sobs diminished. King Alexu studied the prisoner with a tilt of his head. "Alpha Priam, is it?"

"Yes, my lord, my King-"

"Where is your pack?"

She watched as Priam's face crumbled under the weight of unbidden memories. "Th-they died my lord... a darkness f-found them and-" His words left in hiccups, tears collecting along his ragged jawline and dripping onto his dirtied skin.

"The whole pack?"

Priam nodded, his chin wobbling.

A ripple passed through the crowd. Eden shifted her weight onto the next foot and idly rubbed the hilt of her sword, not entirely surprised.

His had not been the first pack to be attacked for in the past five years, kingdoms and nations had fallen victim to an encroaching darkness; one so sudden and swift, they would never have time to react. The force was a storm, a storm of death and gore beyond compare, and far more than she would have liked to witness.

Only one victim would be allowed to survive: the Alpha. It was a message to the King of Ithaka, the strongest pack in the nation, that the enemy would not stop until they reached Alexu's kingdom. They granted life. And they took it just as well.

Eden had tried not to think about it but every day, something new would occur either within the kingdom or outside of it: the recruitment of more soldiers; the filling of weaponries; the rise of walls that spanned eight hundred kilometers on either side, twenty feet thick.

The darkness, as most people called it, was a pack of rogue wolves that none had seen and lived to tell the story. When they attacked, they did so with skilled precision. No bodies were left behind, only bones and lolling heads - a pledge to the way they would devour other wolves.

A pack of cannibals.

Scarcely did she ever feel fear, she liked to say, but the knowledge of such beasts cast a shudder of trepidation down her spine. Eden pursed her lips as her green eyes flickered from the Luna's tight face to the Alpha who stood poised and calm. Even before danger, he would never show his true feelings.

Emotions are signs of weakness, he once told her as we walked down the palace's hallway. He had stopped to press a hand on the wall. Train yourself to be like this slab of stone. Unbending, unmoving, yet powerful altogether.

"He is coming, my King." Priam's tremulous voice broke her reminiscence as he pressed his forehead to the cold floor and wept, his shoulders violently shaking like an epileptic seizure. "He-He is coming and wh-when he does, not even the walls will protect you-"

A shadow fell over the Alpha's face as he regarded his subject. Standing before her, before everyone, was no king, but a broken old man whose ancient neck could barely support the gold chains he still wore. Alexu was withering. The prisoner might have noticed the same thing, for he swallowed and when he spoke again, his voice was quieter, speaking to the King alone.

Eden had to strain to hear him, heart clenching at the words that followed.

"If you wish to survive... if you want your Luna-" The queen sat straighter in her throne, silver hair wound up into a tight bun. "Your children-" Cecil and Lekil lay on silken, purple divans. "Your people-" The council around us shifted with mutters. "You will act before He finds you... all of you."