Chapter 1

"To save her family, Zezi surrendered to the Vampire King—her fated mate. Now trapped in a gilded cage, she must defy his dark allure before his bite destroys her wolf soul. But when he threatens her daughter’s life, loyalty and desire collide in a storm of blood and forbidden fire."

"We finally found one!"

"Shhhh," Zezi said as she laid down her six-year-old daughter on the bed. Mira was a beautiful chubby girl with brown curly hair. She stirred lightly in her sleep before smiling peacefully once again. A smile that wiped away the frown that had crossed her face when her father barged into the room.

Zezi smiled then too, before she turned to her husband who still stood at the door. He was quite muscular and his gray uniform fitted a little tightly against his skin as usual. He looked tired; his brown eyes, which were usually filled with optimism, now had frustration swindling in them.

He walked across the room and hugged her, relaxing in her arms.

"We finally found a body."

"We did?" She pulled away so that she could see his face.

That was great news!

For quite a while now, werewolves had been mysteriously disappearing from different packs in Teeland. When the packs' alphas discovered that it was getting out of hand, they came to their King, Alpha Gery who was the King of all werewolves in Teeland. He had responded by sending his warriors off to these different packs to find out the unknown enemy and kill them. But things hadn't gone as planned because soon the enemy attacked the Capital and so far, they were losing.

The enemy never left a body of their warriors behind but the werewolves knew that those that disappeared were dead. Their mates in the pack had either turned insane or depressed from loss. There were even occasions when the mates had died.

If they at least were able to find a body, then it meant that they could at least know what was killing them.

"You don't look happy. What is it? You know this is great news, right?"

"It is not, my Love. I don't know which is worse. Knowing or not knowing." He sighed and stepped back a little before pacing worriedly in front of her.

She took in a deep breath, ready for whatever it was.

"Tell me."

"Vampires, those bloody bloodsuckers!"

She gasped silently, her body stilled with shock before her voice came out in a defeated whisper.

"That is impossible." She muttered to herself, allowing her brain to process everything before she finally snapped.

"But they are gone! They got wiped out! There is no way they are the one. Something must be wrong, check the body again!"

He came to her immediately and held her hands so she could calm down. Then he spoke to her softly, watching her eyes flash with different shades of worry.

"I know, I know. That was what everyone thought, too, but I swear they are the ones. The blood-drained body, the marks, everything. It's them, my love."

"That is not possible." She shook her head slowly, her voice a little shaky.

"They will kill us, they will kill everyone. Don't you remember what they did to us?"

His jaw clenched, and he wrapped his hands tightly around her; she was the one to find peace in his arms this time around.

"I will never let anything happen to you or Mira. I'd rather die than let anything happen to you."

"I'd rather too." She nodded and immediately put control over her emotions, just like she had done for many years. It had been a long time since she cracked like that.

"What did the Alpha say?"

George let her go then. He walked to the window, glanced quickly at the star-filled sky then at the room, while he avoided her gaze.

"What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing." He shrugged dismissively.

That didn't convince her one bit. She had known George for years, and she knew that he could be a good liar to everyone else, but when it came to her, he was terrible at it. She didn't waste her time to try and listen to his heartbeat to confirm it, it would be of no use anyway. He was a Beta, a highly trained and powerful one. He knew how to control those things.

"Just tell me." She sighed, feeling exhausted already.

He clenched his fists before he started talking, "He wants to send you to the First Borderline. Since we know what we are up against, he wants..."

"Me as a war general to be there." She completed his statement.

The First Borderline had the worst hits, werewolves disappeared there every minute. It was like the war front.

"He gave you my pass?"

He sighed again, pushed his hair backward, and nodded. The room was not so bright but she could see his face. When was the last time he got a good sleep? When last did any of them?

He suddenly heard a bag being unzipped, and his eyes flew open. There Zezi was, her slightly curvy self, packing clothes into a bag.

"What are you doing?"

"My duty."

Before she could say any further, he was right by her side.

"You can't leave," he said tightly.

"I am the Zeta of this pack. It is my duty, let me do it."

His eyes widened with fear.

"You will die!"

She looked at him calmly, she knew he was right.

"Then let me."

His nose flared in anger, he clenched his fists yet again. At this point, it was starting to feel like blood wasn't passing through his veins at how tightly he clenched them.

"It wasn't an order; it was a favor. He knows we have a child that needs your care, he is only asking."

"There is no difference."

She didn't stop packing; she couldn't make herself look up at him or her sleeping daughter. It would hurt too much.

"There is!" His voice raised from the hushed tone that they spoke in. Zezi's eyes flew to their daughter but she was still sleeping soundly. She let out a breath of relief before turning to her husband.

"The men we send out there have families too. If everyone had stayed back just because of the fear of dying then we would have been dead. Those people at all the Borderlines are out there giving their lives for us."

"And it is all the Alpha's fault! He should be the one to face the consequences. Sending off warriors to attack the enemy when we didn't even know what it was. It doesn't make sense."

Zezi furrowed her eyebrows. "You aren't making sense right now."

"Alpha Gery isn't sending the warriors to protect the borders. He is sending them out there to fight, tossing them into some forest. I have advised him countless times to cease our attacks, but he won't listen to me, and now he wants to send you off?! He knows you will be so determined to perform your duty. This is manipulation!"

A shock wave ran across Zezi's veins. That wasn't what the Alpha told the pack.

"If we were just at the borderline, we wouldn't be taking so many hits, we wouldn't be losing so many lives."

"That doesn't change anything," Zezi turned back to her bag and resumed packing. "He definitely thought it was best that we go and meet the enemy instead of wait."

"And how well has that turned out?"

"Geo..."

"My love." He held her hands, his eyes locked with hers, his voice gentle, his resolve breaking. "Please, don't go. Stay for me, for Mira."

"George, I..."

"Mummy?" A little panicked voice interrupted their conversation.

They both turned towards their daughter but they weren't ready for what they saw.

There Mira was, shaking and crying.

"Baby...? What happened?" They both ran to her, sitting on either side of her, while her small hands held theirs tightly.

"I had a dream." Tears rushed down her face.

"What is it? Don't worry, we are here. No one can hurt you." Zezi hugged her protectively while George hugged them both.

They spoke softly to her till she calmed down. When it was over, they sat by either side of her again.

"What was the dream about?"

"Mummy, are you going somewhere?"

Zezi could immediately feel George's burning gaze on her. She refused to look at him and kept her eyes focused on their daughter instead.

"Why did you ask, Sweety?"

"I dreamt that you left and never came back."

The air in the room became tense. She looked up then and just as she had thought, George was looking back at her. His chest raising and falling in a sort of fear while her eyes filled with shock. They shared an intense gaze for a while, she couldn't tell what exactly George was feeling. His eyes were filled with so many emotions.

"Are you going somewhere?" Mira's voice raised with panic and they both looked back quickly at their daughter. Mira was staring at the unpacked bag still opened loosely on the sofa.

"Are you leaving me? Are you leaving Daddy? Mommy, are you going somewhere?"

"Mira." George tried to calm her down but she burst into tears.

"Daddy, tell mummy not to go." She ran to her father and wrapped her little hands around his neck, still weeping.

"It's okay, it's okay. Mummy is not going anywhere, I promise, she is not."

He patted her slowly, his eyes on his wife.

"She is going to leave me." Mira continued to cry.

"I said she is not." He smiled lightly at her, trying really hard to convince her. "Come on, my Love, tell her yourself."

The attention was back on her and her lips parted lightly, her mind fighting an internal battle. She could hear her daughter whimpering again.

"My love?"

She smiled reassuringly and hugged Mira. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You promise?"

She looked at her husband. She knew there was more than one person that wanted her answer and whatever she said now would be it.

"I promise."

He sighed in relief, nodded then left the room.

Her daughter stopped crying and soon fell asleep. After that, Zezi joined him in the living room. He handed her a glass of water then he flopped down to the chair.

"Thank you for staying."

"Anything for the family."

He stood up and hugged her, sniffing in her heavenly scent. It did things to him...many things.

"I'm sorry if I sounded selfish a while ago, I just don't want to lose you."

"I understand." She hugged him tighter. "I really do."

"There has to be a way to stop this, a way that nobody else has to die and I promise that I am going to find out."

"You better do, because one more death and I disappear."

"You wouldn't!" He pulled her out of his embrace to watch her face; his, horrified. "You promised!"

"You selfish man." She pressed her hands against his chest, feeling the rough uniform against her palms. A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes.

Oh, how she had missed that.

"Selfish isn't the word," he said against her neck and she closed her eyes briefly from pleasure.

"It...isn't?" Her voice came out in a hushed whisper. His lips were softly grazing his mark on her neck and it sent sparks down her veins.

"No." He held her face between his hands and watched her eyes flutter open. He leaned in a little then smiled.

"The word is protective."