The Alpha and the slave princess

Elara’s POV The smell of blood was everywhere. In the air, in the mud, and on my skin, just everywhere. My lungs hurt with every breath I take. I felt like a heavy grinding stone was crushing my chest. How could this happen? This morning, everything was perfect. My pack, the Silvermoon Peak, was peaceful. My father, Alpha Gideon, had smiled at me over breakfast like he always did every morning before going about our pack duties. He was the only person I had left after my mother died. He has always been a good man and he is a great leader. He taught me everything I know, how to fight, how to lead, and how to be strong. Now, he was lying face down in the dirt, and his body was cold. The rain was coming down hard now but it didn't wash away the blood, it just turned the ground into a red swamp. I was covered in cuts and bruises and it's crazy how slow I am healing. I had spent years training to be a warrior, but none of it mattered now. I have failed. I have failed my father, and I have failed my people. "What did we do wrong, Princess? Why has the Goddess forsaken us?!" Ashanti cried out. Her voice was thin and obviously shaking in fear, just like the rest of my people. I looked at her. Ashanti had been my best friend and my maid since I was a little girl. She was covered in soot and she was trembling so hard I thought she might fall over. I didn't have an answer for her. I didn't know why this was happening. All I knew was that our home was burning and the people I loved were being slaughtered. Just as I was wondering what was happening and why it was happening, I saw him. Alpha Julian Harthorn is walking through the smoke towards me. He was the leader of the Blackwood Eclipse, the biggest and most violent pack in the world. I have only seen him once years ago, I admired him, he was beautiful! I thought it would be a shame for a woman to keep him for herself alone. He is huge, much bigger than any man in our pack. He is looking at me now and his eyes look like a strange, cold silver colour. He didn't look like a human being, he looked like a monster. He stood over my father’s body like it was nothing more than a piece of trash and I f*****g hate him for it. I can't think straight, I force myself to stand up straight, to challenge the beast. Ashanti ran in front of me in an attempt to try to hide me from his sight. But she is so small compared to him, and she was trying to save me. I couldn't let her do that. I couldn't let anyone else die for me. I reached out and pushed her to the side. My hands were shaking, but my heart was full of a hot, burning anger. I stepped toward Alpha Julian. I wanted him to see me. I wanted him to see the person whose life he had just destroyed. "You took everything!" I screamed at him. My voice was raw and full of pain. "You killed my father! You killed my people! Why? We never did anything to you!" Julian didn't look sad. He didn't even look angry. He just looked at me with those cold eyes. “Your father was not the man you think he was, princess," Alpha Julian said. His voice was deep and annoyingly calm, which made me even angrier, there was nothing at that moment that was capable of easing how angry I have become. “Your father was a liar. He made a deal with the hunters. He told them where my pack was hiding our children and our sick. He traded our lives for silver and for the safety of this small, pathetic village." "That's a lie! No! That can't be" I shouted. I felt like I was going to throw up. "My father hated the hunters! He would never do that!" "He did," Julian said. He stepped closer to me. He was so close I could feel the heat coming off his body. "He brought this war to your front door. He chose to betray us, and now, you are the one who has to pay for his choices. I am going to kill every single person in this pack because of what he did." I looked around at the ruins. I saw the bodies of the men who had taught me how to sword fight. I saw the women who had baked bread for me. Everything was gone. My father was dead, and this man was telling me it was my father's fault. I couldn't handle the pain. It was too much. I just wanted it to stop. "Then kill me!" I stepped right up to him and I bared my neck. I didn't care anymore. "If you are going to kill everyone, start with me! Kill me right now! You have already taken my soul, so just take my life too! You are a monster! You are a f*****g coward! Fighting against people who can't fight you back!" I waited for him to hit me. I waited for him to rip my throat out. I wanted the darkness to come so I wouldn't have to feel this emptiness anymore. But Julian didn't kill me. Instead, he reached out and grabbed my chin. His grip is very solid against my chin. He forced me to look up into his face. And then, he smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. It was the scariest thing I had ever seen. It was the smile of a man who enjoyed causing pain. How could someone have this angelic face and choose to be evil with it! "You are right," he whispered. "I am going to kill you. I am going to destroy everything you are. But I'm not going to do it quickly. That would be too easy for you." He leaned down so his lips were right next to my ear. “I'm going to take you back to my home. I'm going to make you watch as I erase your father's name from history. I'm going to break your spirit until you are nothing but a shell. I'm going to have so much fun watching you fall apart." I tried to pull away, but he was too strong. I felt a tear run down my cheek, and I hated myself for it. I didn't want to show him any weakness, but the grief and the fear were taking over. "Please," I whispered, though I didn't know if I was asking him to kill me or to stop. "Don't beg yet, princess," he said, pulling back to look me in the eyes. "Save your breath. You are going to need it for the screaming." He let go of my face and turned to his soldiers. "Take her," he commanded. "Chain her and put her in the wagon. If she tries to fight, break her legs. She doesn't need them to get where we are going." Two large men grabbed my arms. I tried to kick and scream, but I was exhausted and wounded. They dragged me through the mud, past my father’s body, and toward the black wagons waiting at the edge of the woods. I looked back one last time at Silvermoon Peak. The fires were growing higher. The screams of my people were getting quieter as they were silenced one by one. I saw Ashanti being pulled away by another soldier, her eyes wide with terror as she looked at me. I had been raised to be a queen. I had been raised to be proud, but as the iron chains were locked around my wrists, I realized that my life as a princess was over. I am a prisoner now. I am a toy for a man who hates my bloodline and thinks my father has done a grave wrong. The rain is still falling, it's so cold and relentless. I sat in the back of the wagon, shivering and bleeding, as the world I knew disappeared into the dark. My father is gone, my home is gone and I hate it with passion that I am at the mercy of a devil who shattered my world. I closed my eyes and tried to remember my father's voice, but all I could hear was Julian's cold, cruel laughter echoing in my head. Oh, I don't know. How am I going to survive this?