Chapter 2 The Last Night

Lana's POV

The punishment cell had no windows, but I knew morning came when they shoved a piece of stale bread through the bars.

"Eat up, Empty," the guard laughed. "Last meal and all."

I didn't touch it. My stomach was too twisted with fear to eat anything.

The day passed in darkness. I wondered if anyone would even notice I was gone. Martha might be annoyed she'd need a new dishwasher.

That's all I was. A dishwasher. A markless nothing about to become rogue food.

The door at the top of the stairs creaked open.

"Well, well." Jace appeared at my cell, his beta girlfriend Shera beside him. "How's the cursed girl feeling?"

I stayed silent.

"My father's too kind, you know," he continued. "He wanted to seem merciful instead of chasing you out" He smiled. "The rogues won't be merciful. They like to play with their food."

Shera giggled. "Maybe they'll keep her as a pet. Wouldn't that be funny? The markless omega as a rogue's toy."

"Please," I whispered, hating myself for begging. "I've never done anything to you."

"You exist," Jace said simply. "That's enough. Your parents should have left you in the woods when you were born wrong. Would have saved everyone trouble."

They left, laughing. I pressed my face against my knees and tried not to think about what the rogues would do. Everyone knew the stories. Lone wolves who crossed into rogue territory were found in pieces. If they were found at all.

Night came too fast.

The guards returned, their faces hard. "Time to go."

My legs didn't want to work. They had to drag me up the stairs, through the pack house where everyone had gathered to watch. Pack members lined the halls, staring at me like I was already dead.

No one looked sad. Some looked relieved.

Outside, the full moon lit up the forest. Any other wolf would be feeling the pull to shift, to run. I felt nothing but terror.

They loaded me into a truck and drove off.The trees got thicker, darker. We were entering no-man's land, the space between pack territory and rogue lands.

The truck stopped.

"Out."

The border was marked by ancient stones covered in warnings. Beyond them was darkness. Rogue territory where pack law meant nothing.

They chained me to a metal post someone had hammered into the ground.

"The rogues patrol here every night," one guard said. "They'll smell you soon enough."

"Please," I tried one more time. "Please don't do this."

They got back in the truck and drove away, leaving me alone in the moonlight.

The forest was too quiet. An hour passed. Maybe two. My wrists were raw from pulling at the chains.

Then I heard it. Footsteps. Not human ones. Paws.

Three rogues emerged from the shadows. Their eyes glowed red, not the normal gold of pack wolves. Their fur was matted with dirt and something that looked like dried blood.

The biggest one shifted to human form. He was scarred everywhere, with teeth filed to points.

"Well, well. The peace offering." His voice sounded like gravel. "Pretty little thing, aren't you?"

I pressed back against the post. "Stay away from me."

He laughed. "Or what? You'll scream? Please do. We like it when they scream."

The other rogues circled closer, their growls made my bones shake.

"The pack said you're markless," the leader continued. "Useless. But we'll find uses for you."

He reached for me. I closed my eyes, waiting for pain.

It never came.

A roar shook the forest. Not just any roar. This sound made the earth itself tremble.

I opened my eyes. The rogues had frozen, their red eyes wide with fear.

"No," the leader whispered. "He doesn't come here. He never comes here."

A shadow moved between the trees. Bigger than any wolf I'd ever seen. The moonlight caught on pure black fur and eyes that burned like silver fire.

The Blood Alpha.

The rogues didn't run. They couldn't. They stood paralyzed as he stalked closer, his presence crushing like a physical weight.

"Mine," he growled, and that one word held more power than any Alpha command I'd ever heard.

The rogue leader fell to his knees. "We didn't know. The pack said they…. chained her her….we thought…."

The Blood Alpha's jaws closed around his throat. One bite. The rogue was dead before he hit the ground.

The other two tried to run. They didn't make it three steps.

Then those silver eyes turned to me, and I forgot how to breathe.

He was beautiful and terrifying. Twice the size of a normal Alpha, with scars that told stories of a hundred battles won. Power radiated from him in waves that made my skin buzz.

He shifted to human form, and I had to look away. Not because he was naked; wolves had no shame about that; but because looking at him felt like staring at the sun.

"You're late," he said, his voice deep and smooth like dark honey.

"What?" I managed to whisper.

"I've been waiting for you."

He broke the chains like they were paper. My legs gave out, but he caught me before I hit the ground. His touch burned, but not in a bad way. It was like electricity dancing on my skin.

"You don't even know me," I said.

"Don't I?" He tilted his head, studying me with those impossible eyes. "Luna. Eighteen. Born without a mark. Parents died as heroes while their pack spat on their daughter's grave."

"How…"

"I know everything that happens in all territories. Including when stupid Alphas try to throw away treasures they're too blind to see."

"I'm not a treasure. I'm nothing. I don't even have a wolf."

His hand touched my face, gentle despite the blood still on his fingers. "Who told you that lie?"

"Everyone. I'm markless…"

"Show me your back."

"What?"

"Your back. Turn around."

I don't know why I obeyed. Maybe because he'd saved me. Maybe because his voice made refusal impossible.

He pushed my torn shirt up slightly, his fingers tracing something on my lower back I couldn't see.

"Interesting," he murmured.

"What?"

"You're not markless. Your mark is just... different." He turned me to face him again. "It's black. Invisible unless you know what to look for. A moon eclipsed by shadow."

"That's impossible."

"I'm looking at it." His eyes held mine. "Do you know what an eclipse mark means?"

I shook my head.

"It means you're mine. You're coming with me”

Before I could ask what that meant, he picked me up like I weighed nothing.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Home."

"I can't…..the pack will….."

"The pack threw you away. You're under my protection now." His arms tightened around me. "And I protect what's mine."

"But why? Why would you…"

Howls erupted from the direction of my old pack. Not normal howls. These were screams of terror.

The Blood Alpha smiled, and it was all teeth. "Because your old pack is about to learn what happens when someone touches what belongs to me."

Then he carried me deeper into the darkness where my old life ended and something else began.