Chapter One
Lyra
"I heard men have snakes in their pants and it'll bite you tonight," Meli, My mate's sister said, giggling excitedly as she helped me undress for my wedding night.
"Where did you hear that from?" I groaned. Liana's mind was always so wild, it baffled me. "Stop lying, no one told you that,"
"Seriously, Ally" She said, tugging my night dress up.
I had always imagined this night. The night my mate would finally claim me. Everyone in the pack had been looking forward to the time Alpha Kaelen would finally mate with his fated mate and the pack would be blessed by the moon goddess.
I sat in the center of our bed, my white night gown pooling around me like the moonlight.
He would touch us tonight, my wolf yipped excitedly.
"Oh you look beautiful-" Meli trailed off with a cough. Her eyes widened and her small frame shook with each heavy frame that wracked her entire body. Her skin turned even paler and quickly, I rushed off the bed to hold her.
Ever since I had known Kaelen, Meli had always been sick, a heart problem. They said there was no cure and we all knew that she was slowly dying, but no one wanted to admit that.
"Are you okay?" I asked when the coughing stopped.
Meli beamed up at me. "I am fine. Thank you.”
I sighed. "I wish there was something I could do,"
She smiled sweetly at me. “You already did so much, marrying Kaelen,"
"Aww, Meli-"
The door opened and my gorgeous mate walked in. He had a tray with two glasses of wine and a bottle.
My heart thumped excitedly. Meli moved towards him and they touched their foreheads together. The first time I saw them do that, it weirded me out but now I was used to it.
"Good bye, Ally," Meli said.
"Oh come on. I'm having sex, not dying," I joked.
When Meli left, I was left with Kaelen. His face was too tight and serious. Was he as nervous as I was?
"Hey," I panted, moving towards him. The heat licked at my skin knowing my mate was just close by.
“Here,” he said, setting the tray down. “You must be nervous. Drink with me.”
I frowned but obeyed, lifting the first glass he handed me to my mouth. The wine was sweet and spiced with cloves and berries. My stomach fluttered as I drank it. Maybe this was how every mate night started.
When I finished the glass he poured another one.
“Kaelen…” I hesitated.
“Just drink.” He coaxed. “It’ll help with the nerves, Allyra. I want this to be perfect.”
I blushed. Kaelen was the only one who called me by my full name. Everyone else called me Ally.
I wanted to be perfect for him so I tipped my head back and drank. By the time the second glass was empty, my head felt strange and fuzzy, like I was floating.
Something is wrong, my wolf growled.
“Kaelen,” I whispered, “I… I feel funny.”
“Good.”
I blinked at him. “W-What?”
“Drink a little more.” He pushed another glass of wine toward me.
My wolf bared her teeth screaming in my head. Poison. It’s poison. He's poisoning us!
No, there had to be some mistake. My mate would not poison me!
“What did you do?”
Kaelen’s jaw tightened, his pretty blue eyes glaring at me. “Don’t fight it, Allyra. Please. Just… let me do this.”
My body went cold. “Do what?”
He must have answered but I couldn't hear it because the world tilted and I collapsed to the ground.
I tried to move my body, to scream, but something burned like fire in my veins and I was paralyzed.
Kaelen, no, he wouldn't... Why would he try to kill me?
He looked almost sad as he brushed a strand of hair from my face. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a scalpel.
My breath hitched, panic clawing at my throat. No, no, no.
Move, I yelled at my body. Move already!
“This is the only way I can save Meli." He said, digging the scalpel straight into my chest. I screamed, but nothing came out. “She needs a new heart. The witch doctor says it has to be a live one. She’ll die without it. She’s my mate, Allyra, I cannot let her die."
Everything inside me cracked. He was supposed to be mine. Mine. There had to be some mistake. Was I not his fated mate? Kaelen had never called Meli his sister, I just assumed based on how close they were.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered again as he cut deeper, carving a hole in my chest. “But I love her.”
White-hot pain exploded through me as the blade sank into my skin. Blood poured out of me, pooling around me. The world blackened with each cut, each slice and when he reached his hand to grab my beating heart, Meli walked into the room, smiling.
Anger bubbled as frothed in my veins. My wolf had gone quiet. She was either dying or dead. I couldn't just die like this! How could they do this to me? Both of them!
Kaelen yanked my heart out of my chest and while I passed out. Before I fainted, I heard him shout.
“Allyra has been struck down. The moon goddess rejects this union!”
Liar! Hatred roared through me as the darkness swallowed me whole.
“Moon goddess,” I prayed bitterly, sinking into darkness. “Make him pay.”
"Maybe I will, maybe I won't,"
Who... who said that?
I gasped awake. The pain was gone. I was on a bed and a woman floated above me, her white hair fanning around her. She held something in her hands.
A beating heart.
"Where," I croaked, surprised I was able to speak at all. "Where am I?"
“I was starting to think you didn’t want this second chance I’m giving you.” She said smugly, waving the beating heart in my face. "Hello Allyra, I have much use for you, so you can't die yet, honey.”
The pain of Kaelen's betrayal came rushing back. “Are you going to punish him?”
The goddess tilted her head, as though considering it, and then smiled slowly. “Oh, Kaelen will get what he deserves… but that is not your concern. Your concern is survival.”
I pushed myself up on my elbows, glaring at her. “Survival?”
“Yes. I will give you this heart, and with it you will have a second chance. But you will have to earn it.” She grinned wider, waving the beating heart around. “You will survive the Alpha Trials, or you will die, and it will be forever this time.”
The Alpha Trials? Every Alpha in the realm went through the trials whenever they found their mates to prove themselves worthy of the mate bond. Kaelen had done the trial and came out worthy.
“What does that even mean?” I demanded. "Women do not go through trials."
“Oh they do, my little guinea pig," I frowned at the name she gave me. "They're the third trial, the trial of seduction. You, Allyra, will seduce the Alpha who is currently being tested and make him choose you over his fate mate.”
The goddess’s lips curved. “If you do, you will be given further instructions. Fail, and I take back what I’ve given you.”
“This is insane,” I breathed. “You want me to seduce some stranger?”
“Not just any stranger,” the goddess purred. “The Alpha of all Alphas. The Wolf King himself. My champion."
My stomach flipped. The Wolf King was the most powerful man in the seven kingdoms, and the most feared. I had never seen or met him but everyone was terrified of him, that much was known.
“Why would you want me to seduce your champion and succeed? Why would you want him to choose me over the fated mate that you gave him?"
"Do you want to live or not?!" She snapped, looking irritated. "I'll get someone else-"
"No! Please.Deal, okay? Deal! As long as I get my revenge on Kaelen, it's a deal."
The goddess clapped excitedly. “Excellent.”
She held the heart over my chest and pressed it into me. Agonizing pain filled me instantly and it was worse than any pain than I ever felt before.
The goddess disappeared and I was falling in space for what seemed like forever until my body hit hard and water rushed through my mouth and nose.
I pushed up, swimming to the surface of the lake I had landed in, gasping and coughing. My eyes fell on a massive, golden torso, gleaming in the light. That had to be the sexiest torso I had ever seen. I was still breathing heavily, but my eyes trailed up the bare chest to look into the most gorgeous face I had ever seen.
“Oh, goddess above,” I whispered, gawking at him.
The man I was supposed to seduce was standing completely naked in front of me, looking like he could kill me with one hand or fuck the living daylights out of me.