Chapter 1 Sacrifice

• Serena’s POV
• Death. What a simple word. All it takes is one syllable for a person’s life to end, yet even in the simplicity of the word lies an unfathomable depth. Every breath that is taken every second leads up to the moment when a person dies.
• Life gives you hope and death comes and snatches it away from you in a second. My name is Serena Darkling and I am going to die today. I almost laugh at the situation I’m in. Just yesterday morning, I was having breakfast with my parents, and in the blink of an eye, everything changed.
• It seems like it all happened in a second. The guards of the Blood Moon pack raided the little cabin my parents and I live in and they snatched me away from my parents’ grasp, no questions whatsoever.
• My parents and I belong to the small faction of rogue wolves on the outskirts of Haven Wood, the town we live in. About a hundred years ago, the alpha of the Blood Moon pack banished a group of wolves and forced them to live on the outskirts of town. They created a little faction there where they survived and my parents were descendants of the rogue wolves that were banished.
• They were the first rogue wolves to ever exist and as the years went on, it became tradition to banish werewolves if they did not adhere to the rules of their pack. Now, there are rogue wolves scattered in every part of the world, all of them once belonging to a pack that shunned them.
• No one ever talks about what happened and what exactly led to the banishment of the first rogue wolves. They all just said it was forbidden to talk about it and as the years went by the original story just turned to fiction, a nightmare that no one dares mention. The alpha forbade them from ever leaving town, forcing them to remember every day that they were only alive because he permitted it.
• The rogue wolves then started being used in the worst and most inhumane way possible in a ceremony called the Moonlit Rite of Unity. I’ve always thought the ceremony’s name was a bit ironic because nothing is unifying about the fact that I am going to be sacrificed.
• Every five years, a random rogue wolf is selected to participate in the rite as a blood sacrifice. The ceremony takes place under the full moon, the most potent phase for a werewolf. The significance of this ceremony is to strengthen the bond between members of a pack, to make them more submitted to their alpha, and to reinforce the alpha’s connection to the ancestral wolf lineage, strengthening his powers exponentially.
• This entire ceremony benefits one person and one person only and that is the alpha of the Blood Moon pack. The old man and his son are both despicable monsters and I honestly think the world would be a better place without them. I’m going to get killed and all for what? More power. What makes the ceremony vital is that after five years, the powers gotten from the previous sacrifice start diminishing, so another sacrifice is needed for more power.
• I’m only seventeen years old. I was supposed to get my wolf once I turned eighteen. I was excited for it. I looked forward to it. I have not accomplished anything important enough to be proud of and now my life will just be taken away from me without my consent.
• I want to cry, I do, but I have never been one to shed tears over spilled milk. I know I am going to die. There is no need to cry over it. My parents have always told me there must be something wrong with my tear glands. I may not cry but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel and right now I am viscerally shaking with rage at the thought of the injustice that I am about to go through.
• I am all my parents have and they are all I have. The alpha says it is a privilege to be chosen for the ceremony. I say it is bullshit. The situation is sad, pitiful, evil, and nothing more. Maybe if I had my wolf, I would have been strong enough to even try and put up a fight. I would have lost of course because they would have given me wolfsbane, a poison deadly to wolves, but at least I would have had a fighting chance.
• “Get up, rogue. It’s time to serve your purpose.” A guard suddenly walks into the small room where I have been held hostage since yesterday. My purpose, he says. They can all go to hell.
• I will not have the chance to say goodbye to my parents. Just the mere thought of it makes me want to faint. The last image I have of them in my mind is of them kneeling helplessly on the floor of our little cabin, begging the guards not to take me away.
• The guard pulls me forward by the chains that bind my hands. The chains are so tight that there is bruising around my wrists and as he pulls at my hands, the bruises burn with a throbbing pain.
• I wince and hiss in pain as I am urged to walk behind him, struggling to keep up with his pace. I’ve never been to the alpha’s mansion before. It is a massive place, almost like an estate. There are so many buildings on many different parts of the compound, you would think a lot of people even lived here.
• All I see is greed. They live lavishly and even that is not enough for them. They always want more. The guard leads me behind a tall building as we move further. I start hearing murmuring and chattering. Bright lights illuminating the backyard almost blind my eyes. I squeeze my eyes shut but I keep moving my feet, the only thing giving me direction being the pull of the chains on my wrist.
• “I have brought the girl my alpha.” The guard seems to fall on his knees as he speaks. Being in the presence of the alpha truly is a lot of pressure. He naturally holds authority over the wolves of his pack. Although I am a rogue, I still feel that authority and I am shaking in my bones as I keep my eyes shut.
• I’m surprised when I feel a sharp slap across my cheek that sends me falling to the floor. I let out a gasp as I feel the stinging pain on my face.
• “Rogue wolves truly have no manners, do they?” The entire night is as quiet as a void when the alpha speaks. Suddenly, all the chattering disappears as the alpha’s authority spans through the entire pack.
• “Stand up and look at me girl.” The alpha commands and I obey. As much as I would like to scream profanities at him, I do not want to be slapped again. I stand on wobbly feet and glance at the small crowd staring at me like the predators they are. Some of them look amused, as if there was anything funny about my situation.
• “What is your name girl?” The alpha’s voice is all I can hear. I can’t even hear my own thoughts as his authority forces my mouth open.
• "Serena Darkling.” I answer in a futile attempt to keep my voice strong. I am anything but strong right now. I am the weakest person here.
• “Do you know why you are here Serena?” The alpha asks me and all I can do is nod my head.
• “Use your words, rogue!” His words come out with so much spite, so much hate and I have this urge to ask him why he hates me so much when he doesn’t even know me. I didn’t ask to be born a rogue wolf. I didn’t choose the life that I was given. I am just a victim of unforeseen circumstances and now I have to die to help to same people that put me in this position. None of it is fair.
• “I am here to die.” I say in a weak voice, accepting my fate because trying to fight him is useless. He is the alpha and the strongest wolf in the Blood Moon pack. My destiny is in his hands right now and all I can do is wait for him to snatch my life away from me.
• For the first time since I was taken from my parents yesterday, I cry. Hot tears stain my cheeks as the alpha towers over me. No one does anything to stop him. No one is coming to help me.
• “You should feel honored to serve me girl. This is what you were born for, and as you take your last breath, I want you to know that you are nothing.” In the flash of a second, my heart lurches as the alpha draws out a dagger. I close my eyes and pray to the moon goddess to grant me peace in the afterlife. I close my eyes and think about my mother and father, wondering how they must be doing with the knowledge that I am going to be sacrificed and there is nothing they can do about it.
• I close my eyes and wait for the sharp metal to pierce my skin, and then I hear a voice.
• “Put the dagger down, father.” I open my eyes and I see a man, no older than twenty years old, holding the alpha’s hand midair, stopping him from stabbing me with the dagger. He just called the alpha his father, which means he must be Lucian Blackwood, the alpha’s son and heir to the Blood Moon pack. My eyes widen in confusion and the crowd gasps at the utter disrespect that Lucian just showed his father right now.
• “This ceremony is over.” Lucian states with a deep and cool voice, taking the dagger out of his father’s grasp in a swift movement. The alpha drops me to the ground and his eyes turn red as he turns around swiftly to face his son. I gasp for air as my body hits the ground.
• “What is the meaning of this boy!? What in the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?” The anger in the alpha’s voice emanates off his skin with so much power that you could feel it for miles.
• “What is happening father is that girl is my mate, and as you very well understand, I cannot let you kill her.”