1 Prologue - A Newborn
In tattered clothing, he searched the woods, for any sign of the enemy as his pack stood outside of the borders of the city defending from the massive amount of ferals that had suddenly appeared, infiltrating and attacking the town of Crescent Falls, Virginia.
He tried keeping his mind on brainstorming as to the reasoning behind the sudden attacks on the town but all the while his thoughts kept returning to the happenings before his return. Of course, one of the things at the top of the list was his mate. He couldn't help wondering where she was, what she was doing….whether she was okay...then there suddenly arose another thought...another person and immediately guilt followed. Quickly he pushed the last thought away and returned his concern to the one that he knew he should have been solely focused on in the first place.
Sometimes he felt that the gift of the beast was just a glorified curse made to make this species feel superior to others. However, none so suffered as much as his mate did during this time, driven insane with an instinct that she had no control in forming-one that needed to be satiated by the child that she lost-that they lost.
Because of such a curse, he was left without his wife and his search for her had to be paused because the attacks that would only spring up every now and again, started to become all too frequent upon the town. As strong as the alpha was, he started to feel lost because he seemed to be losing everything that meant anything to him.
He kept to his search through the woods when he heard a suspicious sound. He paused, sniffing the air, heightening his senses to feel his surroundings. He looked around, sensing that he was not alone. Almost immediately after this, a scent filled his nostrils, one sweet and familiar, enticing to his taste buds and still unusual in a sense. It smelled like….a human. Odd, considering humans were not allowed to roam about Crescent Falls without their owner.
Then suddenly did he hear a cry. It was loud and yet weak-vulnerable and in need. It was a baby-a human baby? How could this be? He needed to get to the bottom of this.
A mid-heavy snow began to fall as the baby's cry became louder. He kept to his frenetic search when he heard a c***k in the woods. There was something there; the c***k was too loud to be that of a small animal. It had to be a big one-and they were hunting. Whether it was hunting he, the infant, or both, he was adamant that he had to find the child. It would not last much longer in this cold weather in either case.
Only a moment later, did he find something of a dark velvet-like hue, lying amidst a bushel of broken sticks and patchy grass, only slightly covered in the light snow. He slowly crept nearer and nearer as there was no sign of movement-even the crying had stopped.
The alpha edged closer to the near violet fabric when he noticed it to be a blanket. Still, however, there was no movement, not even a cry.
He cursed in exclamation under his breath, as he came upon the blanket, thinking that something or someone had gotten to it before he had. It was only when he stepped a little closer, did he see the small hand that reached out from the soft velvet violet and gold blanket with a gold K embroidered on it.
He bent down to get a closer look, relieved that the infant was alright, but still hesitant in making a decision of what he should do with the little human. He started to pick the baby up when the sudden growl caught him off guard.
He looked up just in time to see a feral wolf stampeding towards him. Just as he was readying himself for the attack, the wolf knocked him headfirst into a tree, c***king it by the root.
The feral wolf started to make his way toward the alpha when the scent seemed to have called his attention away. The feral suddenly turned its gaze to the blanket in the distance. It sniffed the air, before howling into the night. It then started for the alpha again but he was ready this time.
The feral started toward him in a rush to fight when the Alpha tackled it to the ground. The sickening growl turned into a final yelp as he broke the beast's neck.
Just as he arose from the corpse of the feral, he started for the baby again when a wildling vampire appeared, watching the baby before moving to pick the little thing up.
The loud and territorial howl that escaped the alpha caused the wildling to avert its attention for but a moment. That was all the Alpha needed as within a single moment he was standing in front of the wilding.
The wildling swung at him in an attempt to knock him away, but he dodged just in time to avoid the blow.
"This is human!" The wildling hissed. "What do you care what happens to it?"
As far as he was concerned, the scent alone was reason enough for him to be interested in the little thing. However, he had other plans in mind as well, but this was not for his enemy to know.
He grabbed the wildling by the throat, his teeth elongated from his lips. "My territory-my human." He growled before he bit into the wildling's neck, nearly ripping her throat out. When he retracted, the black venom that secreted through his fangs spread through the corrupt vampire's veins, it dying a slow and painful death as he tossed her away like a limp doll before his eyes fell on the blanket again.
With haste, he picked the infant up from the ground and tucked the blanket around the child tightly so she wouldn't freeze. He looked at the beautiful almond skinned baby with a head of hair so thick and curly, a piece fell to the near top of her forehead.
He could tell that the child was very well taken care of. Her skin was noticeably clean, smelling as if she had recently been washed. Her blanket, though it was tucked between leaves, snow, and a little dirt, was clean and looked quite expensive.
She was a beautiful little sight to behold with her large and astonishingly blue eyes that practically radiated through the night. Her hair was so dark it was the color of a midnight sky. With this little one's features, it was hard to believe that the little thing came from something so mundane as a human. However, the scent told no lie in its fragility. However, there was a more important question that he had in mind as he looked at her; how on earth had she gotten here?
He walked through the woods with the infant in his arms. She was asleep now but still restless as she began to fidget in her blanket. He was so afraid that he'd crush the little thing that he was almost petrified to cradle her but so much in his warmth.
When her little hand reached out of her baby blanket, he started to cover it back up when a small part of him was tempted to touch her little outreached fingers. Just as he thought better of it, her small little hand wrapped around his big finger. The warmth and tingling feeling in the pit of his chest bayed him stop in the woods as he looked at the innocence of the beautiful child. A smile nearly crept up his features when he immediately stopped.
"This little one is going to mean trouble for us." His beastly counterpart spoke in his mind.
"What makes you think that?" The alpha said as he watched the baby.
"The little pup has stolen your heart already."
Listening to his beastly counterpart, he thought the comment was absurd. "She is not a pup. She is a simple insignificant little human." He said, though it was hard to say or think such a thing about something so pure and innocent. Not to mention innocent. However, he had to push those thoughts to the back of his mind as he had something more important planned. "I only have one plan for this little one."
"To get our mate back. What a brilliant plan. But…. when Cres is back to herself, then what will you do with it?"
He looked at the little bracelet on the infant's wrist, tilting her little hand over as it still stay wrapped around his large finger. On the platinum looking bracelet there was an engravement. It was a born day and a simple cursive K next to the date of birth. None of this would really matter in the end, though.
She was an innocent and beautiful little thing and while he always longed for a pup of his own, this would not suffice. He swore to himself at that moment that this little thing would only be a tool to bring his love back to him. And when the time was right, he'd get rid of her. He looked at the baby again, returning his thoughts to the question that his counterpart asked him beforehand.
"When the time comes…. I'll do what needs to be done."
