From Hostage To Mistress

Aria

stinging my lungs with every ragged breath. Branches slapped my arms, le

r. That's what my aunt had always told me growing up: "The Black Hollow wo

girls do des

family left, no home, a

men chasing me were worse than the

der than thunder. My breath caught a

shooting

where I was going-just away. Away from the warehouse. Away from the men w

water soaking my jeans and numbing my ankles. Pain radiate

masked my footsteps, but not theirs. They were trained. Military? Mercenaries? All I k

rred. Until the sound of my own he

en-I h

ho

wn out.

tant but u

wo

-a shifter. My

cursed packs. The ancient bloodlines. The Alphas

ed them p

no one l

-

pha Kae

tning-sweet, sharp, wrong.

terr

shifted again. The scent was stronger now. I could taste her fear, her des

borders, rules. But tonight, I couldn't sleep. The Holl

w I kn

ible. Our land repelled outsiders, cloaked in an ancient c

was bein

sh of heat and bone. Fur replaced skin. P

st

der lingered in the air. Foreign fee

would

-

Aria

tched my side. Blood seeped through my shirt-just a gr

an. But all I

I sa

rough the trees-h

ing golden eye

hu

ven c

massive wolf, easily the size of a horse, fu

fr

scream.

ike he knew me. Like he

t not from him. It was all around

d stopped. I heard sh

saw h

re er

ck wolf

-

pha Kae

't hes

idn't stop. The first man barely had time to scream before I

swiped it away with a clawe

turned

wa

landing as a man-nak

ve.

wide. One pissed himself. The

't cha

d to th

lips were blue. She

ed slowly,

said, low and calm. "

, dazed. "You...

ither are the storie

she f

before she hi

-

Aria

e to

Dim candlelight dancing on stone walls

it hi

re

st. Dizziness c

hould

deep, gravel

urn

, a blanket over his lap, shirtless, ba

wo

re you?"

time. "Alpha Kael Tho

ard. "You...

n who had no busine

they?" I

d. "Not local. And n

re after me. They sa

he asked, v

don't

tretched

uman girl who got lost, Aria Morgan. You came

art p

you know

he forest whispered it to

-

Kael

asn't like

ould've had that scent. Something in her blood shimmere

ecade. Fought wars. Buried brot

I wasn'

eeping form. Fragile. S

t know wh

ould fi

met, something inside me s

d was f

I was r

y bed wasn't

was