The Unclaimed

Chapter 1

Zina was shocked, she looked at Adrian and Chloe incredulously.

On her sixteenth birthday, Zina had perceived the mouthwatering scent of her mate which made her run in the direction of the castle's main ground.

Excited, she opened the door and realized that her mate was none other than Adrian, the alpha king's son. Standing in the middle of the castle ground with his betrothed human lover.

She started to walk towards him when suddenly Adrian kissed Chloe on the lips as he glared at her with furrowed brows and clenched his teeth warning her not to come closer.

Upon seeing her blatant dismissal of his command, he deepened the kiss. Zina halted in her tracks, her stomach getting twisted into knots. Anticipation rippled in the air.

Before Zina could comprehend what was happening, Adrian sank his teeth into Chloe's neck, marking her as his mate.

Zina felt like she had been suffocated, as excruciating pain blasted into her chest. She sank to the floor, unable to believe what just happened.

The palace guards broke into applause and started cheering Adrian and Chloe, everyone congratulated Adrian and Chloe for being the future Lycan king and Luna of the pack.

A sob worked its way up, and Zina's throat choked with emotions associated with the worst kind of betrayal she had ever experienced, Zina took shaky steps back, receding into the shadows. Eyes burning with tears, she turned and ran towards the stables.

"This can't be'' Zina ran through the woods as she cried

Summoning her wolf, Abby, but Abby was so stunned by her mate's rejection that she was numb, frozen inside her.

Compared to Chloe, Zina is nothing but an orphan who hasn't shown signs of shifting into her wolf form yet and Chloe is the daughter of one of the most influential families in NYC, she is also the most beautiful and curvaceous human in the pack, they were sure they were each other's mates which was because, when Adrian turned sixteen, he met Chloe and he fell for her, they took it as a sign from the moon goddess that she was his mate and so they acted as such.

Zina was not from Black Moon Pack, she was brought to the pack by the Alpha when war broke out between the black moon pack and her pack. She was considered lucky to be brought to the black moon park, little did she know that she would be treated as an omega in the Black Moon Pack, everyone hated her because she was weak and could not even shift into her wolf form.

When Zina was eight years old, she was adopted by Sillia who was an omega but later on found her mate, Jake, after that Zina's life became a nightmare, her stepfather hated her because she was smart and he would beat her up severely when she spoke out of line.

At school she was bullied and harassed by other students, Zina was waiting to find her mate on her sixteenth birthday, hoping to be relieved of this torture because mates took care of each other, but she was not ready for this.

She ran through the woods towards the stables, when she could no longer run, she leaned against a tree trunk, sobbing and rubbing her palms against her chest to ease her pain. Her shoulders shook as loud sobs burned the back of her throat

She was an abomination that the moon goddess had created, her body was full of marks that she received from Jake but the pain she felt when she was being imprinted with those marks was pale in comparison to the pain she's feeling now

She felt as though someone was taking her heart out of her body slowly.

''why me? Why me? She looked up and asked the moon goddess, blaming her for every shit going on in her life. Zina dragged her feet inside the stables towards Minimus who was her favorite horse, she leaned against the uniform rack, trying to catch her breath, but suddenly from behind someone grabbed her throat and squeezed it hard.

"Adrian ?'' she chocked out, as he came in front of her this was her first time having direct contact with him and she could also feel her wolf begging for their mate, she grabbed his wrist and tried to wrench it away from her throat but she was no match for him.

He whispered to her as he towered over her "If you dare to speak a word to anyone that you are my mate, I will kill you and make sure no one notices your absence, you get that?

Zina stared at him with wide eyes, as tears continued to flow . "but I am your mate'' she reasoned, hoping to see compassion in his eyes, mates love each other and one can't survive without the other just like Jake is restless when Sillia is not around him.

He scowled as disgust etched all over his face, with his fingers around her throat, he slammed her against the uniform rack drawing out a cry from her. She managed to look at him through her glazed eyes because blood was dripping from her head into her eyes.

Zina knew there was nothing left for her in this pack, her only option was to live with humans and stay in hiding because the government where after the werewolves.

Being caught was not an option, she just hoped while leaving the pack she would not encounter any hunters

Zina's breath came out in harsh pants, her sides burned like they were on fire.

As she ran, sweat dripped down her temples and onto her hot neck in long rivulets. She has lost sight of the pack house, she just needed to cross the border

As she swerved a corner and dodged a tall tree, she heard the loud pounding of paws, it echoed across the forest to which all the birds fled upon its approach. Fear, horror and desperation filled her entire being and she willed her burning legs to run faster.

Zina turned her head and looked behind her, her eyes caught a tuft of midnight fur from the corner of her vision before it quickly disappeared, she panicked before she could comprehend what was happening, she was knocked unconscious.

[Zina's pov]

An itch on my temple pulled me from my slumber and back to reality, I dragged myself off the bed I was currently lying on while all sorts of pain ran through my body, it felt like I had been run over by a truck.

Immediately my memories came rushing back like a film on replay, I decided to leave the pack house, then I was knocked unconscious but my head was still attached to my extremely inflamed and painful neck, so I could only assume that I was alive, but where am I?

I was currently on a bed inside a room with white curtains, there was no one in sight and the sounds of waves crashing indicated that I was somewhere near the beach.

"I am safe '' I reassured myself.

Excitedly I hopped off the bed and immediately regretted my actions, I hissed in agony and realized I probably sprained my ankle.

My excitement was short-lived when a buff-looking man appeared out of nowhere, he was wearing a black coat and black boots, he was tall and was oddly very fair. I couldn't pinpoint what he was, he wasn't a rogue nor a human or a hunter. My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach when I came to the realization that he reeked of death and decay, the disgusting scent that emitted from his body made me heave for a second or two.

As minutes trickled by, there was a more noticeable change in the man's features as he stared intently at me.

He shuffled closer to me, his features were changing to something I could not identify. The air of power and strength that radiated from him made me cower back. Behind him stood a young man merely older than me by some years, he had black hair with was left unkept but that didn't deter his look it made him look sexier.

''you said you saw the mark, Terry"? The young male with black hair came forward, and his voice was extremely menacing and dark.

"I saw the mark last night master", Terry replied

Their piercing gazes immediately settled onto my form. I trembled and fear quickly blinded my vision, but I tried not to cave and cry right in front of them.

''how the hell did the moon gods end up reincarnating my sacrifice to be this young? Are they trying to spite my master? The man who reeked of death and decay exclaimed in disbelief. His nose wrinkled in disgust.

Wait, wait a minute, what did they mean by "sacrifice'' and ''young''? I am a grown woman; in human age, I am 29, so what does he mean?

''I don't think I can get hard looking at her. There's no way '' Terry admitted as I felt my left eye twitch in annoyance.

''From the prophecy states, the sacrifice is the only way Imoogi could leave this body and create a body capable of yielding his powers and abilities", the man continued as I tried to piece together what they were saying.

''I feel bad for whoever has to breed her''. Terry snickered rather loudly and glanced at me with his eyes narrowed in a mocking look, "should we just pass her to the rogues?

"Enough!" Imoogi barked out . Frustration was evident in his handsome features. His light blue eyes narrowed as he glanced at me from the corner of his eyes, and then he turned around and showed me his muscled back as he walked toward the door.

"She will be sacrificed," he said in finality before leaving.

Terry glanced back at me, his eyes glowed red, and he smirked rather evilly at the acknowledgment of my pending future.

From what I learned so far, Imoogi was a creature, a snake to be precise who could move from one body to another while feeding on the person's soul.

He was killed by the nine-tailed fox but was said in myths that he would return and yield his powers to wreak havoc in the world.

He gives commands in the form of suggestions and controls the mind with his, right-hand man who was called the spirit of darkness who reeked of death and decay.

Now that I was left to myself, I started to dig my memories for anything I could remember about Imoogi. After a couple of minutes, I vaguely remembered something I saw in a scroll at the pack library that talked about Imoogi's sacrifice.

It was a myth that Imoogi's sacrifice was born every five hundred years with a mark that indicated her status imprinted on her forehead but this mark was only seen when touched by the full moon. The sacrifice was said to have the ability to birth a human vessel for Imoogi's soul, the human vessel's legs and hands were sunken, and the baby would be the vessel for Imoogi's soul which would yield its power to its full potential and the ability to control the other supernatural

But this was all a myth of some sort, right? Something that werewolves tell their kids as a bedtime story. Right?

I couldn't possibly be some sacrifice built with no other purpose than to lie flat on my back and wait to give birth to Imoogi's vessel.

I refuse to become a sacrifice, a mother to something that will bring about calamity. My eyes narrowed at that thought, and I was spurred into action.

With heavy and slow steps, I tried to get to the door at the front of the room. I tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

What did I do to deserve this? Maybe I was a bad person in my past life.

Glancing around the room, my eyes caught the curtains again and escape came to mind but I wasn't too sure how I was going to go about doing that without alerting Imoogi or Terry.

I frowned deeply and swept the curtain out of the way to stare at the closed window. It was sealed shut with wooden planks nailed across it.

If I tried hard enough, I could pop the plans off and make a small exit hole big enough for my body to pass through and if I were lucky, they wouldn't notice that I was gone before it was too late.

The adrenaline started to pump faster, only to extinguish the moment that I realized my situation at hand, my legs were currently in serious pain, and I was sure that what happened last night would happen again if I attempted to run.

The last thought made me tremble in remembrance of the petrifying pain that had coursed through my entire body. I didn't want a repeat of last night.

I didn't want a repeat of last night but what could I do at this point kill myself before they did? I'd never bestowed bodily harm on myself before, and I didn't want to start.

Glancing around the room again I noted that there was a metal folding chair in the corner. I hobbled over to the chair and picked it up before hobbling back over to the window. Then I slowly started to pry at the wood as quietly as I could.

My hands shook from the strain, and sweat dripped down the back of my neck, but I didn't give up. As minutes trickled by, there was a more noticeable loosening of the boards, it took me almost thirty minutes before I finally managed to tear off a small spot big enough for me to crawl through For once, I was glad that my frame was a lot more petite and delicate than others.

I lodged myself into the small hole and ignored all the splinters that were attached to my clothes. After several minutes of wiggling, I landed outside with my head on the grass. When I finally got my legs out, I madly limped away from the house as if the devil was on my heels.

Looking at my surroundings, I noted that to the front of me was a big grove of trees and to the back of me was the pack house.

I decided to go through the grove of trees. As I limped, I could hear my blood roaring in my ears along with the rapidly palpating beats of my heart.

The only thing on my mind right now was survival I had to survive.

Although I was limping as fast as I could, I knew that I wasn't covering ground fast enough. My legs felt like there were bricks attached to them. And my body was failing in the moments that I needed it most. Yet I could do absolutely nothing about it. Why couldn't I trade my werewolf abilities for super speed or something, since I haven't shifted yet, I don't have super speed or super hearing.

I panted for breath and continued to push myself further until panic and anxiety colored my entire face. As I stumbled out of the area and nearly tripped

I saw a big apartment building surrounded by small houses in front of the man.

I was saved?

A wide smile spread onto my face. I limped to the houses only to stop in my tracks when the oxygen finally reached my deprived brain.

No human would build a gigantic house in the middle of nowhere, especially inside of a forest where dangerous animals lurked ............. Unless they were predators themselves.

A pack house

I stumbled onto a pack house.

Great; note my sarcasm.

Before I could take another step forward a vicious growl from behind made me stumble two steps ahead. My legs gave out on me, and I plummeted onto the floor beneath my limbs from there.

I rolled down on the uneven ground until I came to a complete halt on the grass I could barely roll myself onto my stomach because I was too dizzy to even stand properly.

But another rumbling growl echoed throughout the entire forest and spurred me back onto my feet faster than anything

I hurriedly trudged forward and relied on my werewolf instincts to guide me only to come to a stop when I ran straight into a line of overly built werewolves.

I found myself on my butt while both exits were completely blocked off.

''please let me through " I whispered with a strained and hoarse voice from yesterday's near-death experience.

The three werewolves continued to stare at me before a shriek broke out from me.

At the shriek, the werewolf guards became further enraged. They bared their canines. My head whipped around to spot four rogues and enraged Terry.

He barreled through the grove and came to a standstill behind me. Terry and one rogue right behind his tail.

"Master Terry, you have crossed our borders" one of the guards with light brown hair and stern green eyes voiced in a rather annoyed tone of voice. His eyes narrowed into a glare at Terry and the rogue behind him, but it felt like he was glaring at me.

"It was not planned, Beta Gin, I have only come to collect something of mine '' Terry stated with an annoyed frown on his lips.

I attempted to flee through the gap of men only to hear the slight growl beneath the rogue's growl. His eyes were glaring into my frightened ones, and the glare managed to freeze me in my spot.

"no matter Master Terry, you have breached our peace treaty, and this must be reported to Alpha Damien "

The two guards wolves by Beta Gin's side pulled me up by my forearms with a seriously painful grip that brought tears to my eyes.

I was dragged into the apartment building with Terry and the rogues tailing right behind us. I soon found myself, once again, captive.

If this alpha sided with Terry then I might as well kill myself, but I pray that they would be so pissed off at Terry that they would let me go before they realize that I abandoned my pack as well as the sacrifice.

I was scared of what was to come. I bowed my head so that I wouldn't want any of the pack members to look at me, I was so miserable first my mate abandoned me and now I am being pulled like a rag doll.

The two males led me up onto a staircase by the arm and into a large hall. After promptly depositing me onto the floor they left me alone.

I paid them no attention and turned my face to the front to look at the largely lit, hall, at the end of the hall there was a life-like statue looking at me, it felt creepy so I had to lower my gaze.

My eyes trailed from the windows to the double doors, and my head was thinking about the possible escape routes that didn't seem possible.

"Alpha Damien will be here soon" Beta Gin voiced out coldly, he was watching me carefully as if he knew the thoughts that were on my mind.

"If u hadn't run away, this wouldn't have been a problem" Terry informed with annoyance.

"as if I am going to just sit and let you have your way with me" I shouted in anger, but my actions didn't faze him.

"with your behavior, might as well decide to treat you as an animal and chain you." He threatened.

At his exclamation. I was burning with extreme rage and hatred. I wanted to leap across the floor and smack the crap out of his mouth.

What an egoistic pig.

Before I could go through with it, one of the double doors slowly opened.

And I felt the anger deflate into nothing. Only fear built in my body that if I didn't calm down, I might just puke out, not that there would be anything to puke out.

"To what do owe this surprise visit, Terry? A deep and masculine voice reverberated into my eyes before I even saw the godly man walk into the room Immediately, all the hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I couldn't help but tremble like prey before its predator.

Alpha Damien had brown hair, a straight jaw and full lips that were pursed into a displeased frown in response to my blatant staring. His green eyes met mine and for a moment I felt my wolf stir from her sleep.

Shortly after I appraised his handsome face, I noticed his tall, aristocratic nose wrinkled in annoyance, I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat and immediately averted my eyes because of this strange need to submit, I was scared he would kill me because I stared at him

My packs alpha doesn't take it well when you stare at him in the eye, it was disrespectful and conveyed that you meant to challenge him for his title. This wasn't what I wanted to do.

Who would be stupid enough to challenge him?

I wasn't the only one affected by alpha Damien. Everyone except Terry cowered, Terry looked unaffected when he looked at Alpha Damien.

"I didn't mean to breach our contract Alpha Damien I have simply come to collect something of mine'' terry explained.

"yours? Alpha Damien repeated

A shiver ran down my spine hearing that strangely dangerous light in his voice, it sounded too dark and menacing to be real.

"yes mine" Terry replied nonchalantly.

"No" Alpha Damien's blatant reply caused Terry to look at him in confusion.

"I don't understand Alpha Damien. What do you mean? Terry's fingers clenched into a restrained fist, his teeth ground together.

"There is nothing on my lands that belongs to you, Terry" Alpha Damien seemed almost too calm for this type of confrontation with the spirit of darkness, maybe he wasn't aware of who Terry was, and they may not be aware that Terry has a master.

"This woman here___" Terry tried to say.

"belongs to me she is mine" Alpha Damien stated calmly.

At his series of statements, my fingers went slack in my lap, and my mouth fell open in disbelief.

Immediately, Terry snarled. His features changed, fog was forming around Terry, black fog before it reverted into his human features. I choked back a scream that threatened to bubble up my throat, and my eyes widened in complete horror.

By now, my mind was a jumbled mess, no longer able to hold any sort of thought because I felt numb at the turn of events I didn't even realize that I was crying.

I swallowed down a sob when I was yanked off the ground by Alpha Damien. A light breeze tossed my distraught ponytail around and caused it to stick to the sweat on my neck.

We were outside heading to the other apartment, where a tall building was situated.

I was promptly dragged out and locked up inside another room until Alpha Damien's room was ready.

I decided to rest first and then think later.

At the first sight of an elderly woman entering, I let out the breath I was holding. The old lady had short salt and paper hair and green eyes. When her gaze fell onto me, her nose wrinkled.

"you reek"? She exclaimed. Her tone almost seemed like she was reprimanding me, but I found myself not offended because what she said was true, I smoothed down what was left of my hair in a way to make myself look a little more presentable.

"We can't have you be presented to Damien like this, let's get you all cleaned up" she ordered as if I were a child of hers.

I was swiftly yanked to my feet by a hard hand that almost caused me to trip over my own feet. She practically shoved me into the bathroom with the strength of a grown man instead, for a moment I almost forgot she was also a werewolf with enhanced abilities.

The steam from the shower was fogging up the room before I finally decided to wash up. I threw my extremely dirty clothes onto the floor, hopped into the shower and rubbed my skin raw.

Afterward, I quickly wrapped a towel around my waist and walked back and forth in the bathroom after I realized that I didn't have any clothes to change into.

'' here's some clothes" the old lady called, knocking on the bathroom door.

I unlocked the door and peeked out With one hand, I grabbed the maxi dress some undergarments and a toothbrush.

I duly noted that there was this strangely knowing glint in her eye. It was as if she knew something I didn't

"thank you" I softly called and then closed the door.

After I inspected the items in my hand, I sighed.

Of course, she would choose a maxi dress with thin spaghetti straps the majority of my shoulders and neck were displayed, and though it was of decent length that ended at my knees, this dress was not my style.

I generally wore baggy shirts and crazy jeans to hide my figure, and my closet mostly consisted of black and gray. I did not own anything this girly or maxi dresses. A part of me thought this was pretty, but the other part of me hated how pretty it was.

I was full of contradiction since I couldn't wear the things that I wanted, I was always way too paranoid for my good.

Well at least it's not too revealing, I thought.

When I glanced into the mirror stationed on top of the sink, I had to contain the screech of horror that threatened to leave my lips.