Under the shrouded moon

Chapter 1

Under the shrouded moonlight, the silence of the night was shattered by the guttural howls of a werewolf pack, their eyes gleaming with malevolence and hunger. At the forefront was Troas, the alpha of the pack, his presence a storm of power and terror.

"Make sure no one escapes," He ordered, his eyes consumed with rage.

For centuries, the humans and werewolves had coexisted and never had werewolves attacked the humans, not even on the night of a full moon. But everything changed when Troas became an Alpha. Not only had he dominated other werewolf packs, he had laid siege on every human village near his territory in search of the lady who had been prophesied about to put an end to his reign of terror.

As Troas and his pack descended upon the village, doors were torn from their hinges and walls splintered under their salvage assault. The villagers tried to flee in panic, their screams echoing in the night.

Amidst the chaos, Ynamora's mother, Luciana, took her by the hand, hoping to get away before the assailants get to them.

"Run, Yna," she urged, pushing Yna towards the safety of the woods.

They darted through the village, narrowly avoiding the snapping jaws and slashing claws of the werewolves. They reached the edge of the forest where the trees loomed like the silent sentinels. But Troas' pack was relentless, hot on their trail.

Luciana knew she couldn't outrun them forever and so, she turned facing the snarling half humans and half beasts that approached them.

"What are you doing mother?" Yna's blue eyes fought the tears that tried to force their way down.

"Protecting you, my daughter," Luciana replied, her voice filled with warmth and affection even at the face of death. "Run Yna and make sure you survive."

With a cry of defiance, Luciana threw herself at the werewolves, giving Yna precious seconds to escape into the woods.

Yna glanced back, tears streaming down her face as she saw her mother fall beneath the onslaught. As she ran into the woods, she noticed that the werewolves didn't go after her but not minding, she still kept running until she was sure she had escaped.

Yna cried and shivered as she plunged alone in the woods, with images of her mother's brutal fate earlier playing in her head. She couldn't believe that her mother was dead. But why did the werewolves attack her village? What or who were they looking for? She thought.

She hugged herself as the nights cold bit into her tender flesh. Her clothes had been torn while trying to escape into the woods and even if she was sure she had lost her pursuers, she couldn't help but feel that she wasn't completely out of danger yet.

She heard footsteps approaching and quickly hid herself in the open root of tree.

"I smell a human nearby," she heard one of the men say.

"I do too," another man replied.

Yna could feel her heart pound in her chest. She covered her mouth with one of her hands so she wouldn't be tempted to scream. She thought she had escaped but from what she was hearing, it was obvious that whosoever the men who were talking were, they were werewolves.

"I think it's a girl. I smell her so close," the first man said, sniffing into the air.

"I think it's time to return to the pack. The moon is retracting already." Another voice broke through the cold night.

The first man nodded. “I know, but this night, I just need a human – a petite, beautiful human female to cuddle with this night, to take my mind off the nightmares.”

They started discussing something about nightmares, but Yna could barely hear them. They wanted a petite human female!!! She was a petite human female.

Yna tried processing what they had said and it immediately occured to her that even if the voices she was hearing belonged to Werewolves, they didn't belong to the pack that had attacked her village.

These one were not blood thirsty and only wanted intimacy. Her heart slammed in her chest once again, as a fear she had never known before slammed against her heart. She had never known what it was like to sleep next to a male before, let alone a Werewolf male. She had never even been kissed before!

Tears stung her eyes at an awful thought . . . what if they find her and decide to force themselves on her. She didn't have what it takes to stand there werewolf men, so she thought was their number, judging from the voices she had heard.

Suddenly, she heard a howl.

"Alpha Marcus is calling. Let's head back and join the pack." One of the men said.

Alpha Marcus! Yna's heart slammed against her chest for the second time that night as her pulse quickened. Alpha Marcus was the one of the most powerful and ruthless Werewolf of all the Alphas of the entire Werewolf clan. There was only one Alpha whom he feared and that was Alpha Troas.

Yna listened as the footsteps faded away, causing a sigh of relief to escape her lips.

She finally crept out from the open root of the tree she rested her back on it's huge trunk. She suppressed a sneeze, fearing that it might make the werewolves return if they heard it. She wasn't ready to be a slave to any werewolf.

With her back still rested to the trunk of the tree, tears began to stream down her eyes. She tried to hold them back but she couldn't. It was just too much to take in as the realisation dawned on her that her entire village had fallen in one night to a ruthless Alpha.

"Here she is," a voice spoke, jolting her up on her feet. Before she could process what was going on, she was already circled around by a pack of werewolf men.

Could this be the end for me? Yna asked herself.

"She's a spy," one of the men said.

Yna felt like protesting and to let them know that she wasn't a spy but she couldn't find the courage to speak.

Pouncing upon her, they bundled her up, after knocking her out as she became unconscious.

"Alpha Marcus will decide what to do with you," one of the men said,

lifting her up on his shoulder to take her to Marcus, their Alpha.