The Alpha King's Mate novel Chapter 12

Holding my breath, I stay as still and as quiet as possible. The men pull their swords from their sheaths and slowly approach my position. I run.

"Get him!" Someone yells.

Running, I leap over rocks and duck under low-hanging branches before falling and hitting my head on a large rock. A hot trickle of blood escapes my forehead and runs down my face. I'm disoriented, and my vision is blurry.

Three men approach me cautiously, staring at my dress, cloak, and bloody face.

"Her eyes are violet!" A man shouts.

"Who are you?" Another asks.

"My fair maiden. The gods have blessed us tonight!" A third man says, his expression one I have not seen before. This man grabs my arms and pins me against a tree, breathing heavily near my neck. He places his hand on my leg and runs it up to my thigh. I quiver and squirm.

I kick him as hard as I can between the legs, and he falls backward onto the ground holding his crotch.

He yells, and I run off again.

I don't get very far before I fall again, near a river, and a cliff-edge, with the men right behind me, their swords ready to kill. Instinctively, I throw out my hands, and a gust of wind knocks the men over. I imagine fire and fill a power surge through my body. My palms light up with a ball of flame hovering in each palm. I throw the fireballs at the men, and flames engulf them both. They jump into the river to extinguish themselves. The rest of their companions have reached us, and they watch on as their comrades heal their burns in the stream.

"She's the Forest Princess," someone shouts, and the men gasp.

"I thought it was just a fairy tale," someone says.

Over the cliff-edge surges a large river with a strong current; the drop is more than one hundred metres.

I have two options: jump and hope I don't drown in the current or be captured. I jump off the cliff and fall into the river. I'm thrown around violently by the swells and the rapids, unsuccessfully reaching for low-hanging branches to cling onto. I am slammed into a rock and instantly lose grip when the water pushes me along. Not knowing how to swim, I instinctively take breaths when I can. It isn't long before the world fades to black, and I'm unconscious, floating along with the current.

A soldier

In Mystic Pride and Darkpaw, we talk about the Forest Princess. It will be interesting to see what King Fenris has to say about her. We knock down front doors and trespass inside pack homes, slitting everyone's throats regardless of age or gender.

"Six gold for the boy - twice what slaves usually fetch,"

"Ten! He isn't just any boy. He's an Alpha's boy. He'll be much stronger than the average wolf," I explain.

"Eight. I have to make a profit too. Otherwise, you can wait here all week and sell him yourself," the auctioneer says.

"Done. Sold," I say, handing the chained boy to the auctioneer, who pushes Zayden into a cage and locks it with a key.

Beta Troy

In Shadowguard, a slave auction is about to commence. Twenty-five children between the ages of five and fourteen stand side by side in a row, with their hands tied with rope. They're bruised, dirty and malnourished. A man walks toward a small cage, and a growl emits from within it.

Excited and shocked, the crowd is divided between those who view the wolf pup as a commodity and those who view him as an animal to be feared.