Prologue + Chapter 1

Prologue

"So, Derek, do you want to sit at this table? Are you prepared to lose tonight's poker game?" Derek was mocked by the men sitting around the poker table. Derek, like the majority of the players at the table, was a gambling addict, but he was no longer wealthy. He doesn't have enough money to pay off his gambling debts.

Derek sat on one of the chairs, raised his head, and said, "I used to be the best poker player in the moonlight pack, and I think I can win tonight."

"Oh, were you? So, how much money can you afford to bid with?" A frightening sound came from behind Derek.

Derek, like the rest of the pack, was familiar with this sound. He was the moonlight pack's alpha and the one from whom Derek borrowed a large sum of money.

Derek gulped nervously and turned to face the alpha, saying, "I have about $5,000."

"Not enough," said the alpha, shaking his head. "Your sister..."

Derek blinked, perplexed, "alpha! What does this imply? What exactly do you mean by my sister?"

"If you win, I will not ask for my money," the alpha stated. If you lose you will send your sister to my castle tonight. You can pay off all your debts in one night."

Derek had three hours of poker, round after round, loss after loss.

The alpha let out a hysterical laugh as he looked at Derek with a look of triumph on his face. After that, he threw the cards in front of Derek and raised his hand in front of him while saying, "Send me your sister by tonight to my Castel."

Eva

As soon as I opened my eyes, my brother yelled my name, so I bounded off of the bed as quickly as I could. My life descended into complete and utter chaos whenever I was with him. Due to the fact that he was so uncooperative, he refused to either give me my inheritance or permit me to live anywhere other than in his house. And no, he was not the kind of brother who looked out for his sisters; in fact, I was not even sure that we were biologically related to each other. He treated me like a toy or even more so as a fortune; he always said: "you're the most beautiful she-wolf in the pack and maybe in the whole werewolves kingdom, I can find you a very wealthy Alpha to be your mate." in addition to the absolute certainty that he was only interested in advancing his own interests for his own benefit.

After Derek learned how much I cared about Russell, he almost made it impossible for me to leave the house by closing and locking all of the windows and doors. When I turned 18, Russell and I were finally able to come to terms with the fact that he was my real MATE. I haven't turned 21 yet, and I'm still trying to convince my brother to let me legally marry Russell. Although he was not wealthy, Russell was a middle-ranked wolf.

The mid-rank wolves are not quite as powerful as the alpha wolves, but they are also not as helpless as the omega wolves. They fall somewhere in the middle. This is where the vast majority of wolves can be found, and it also contains a good number of elders. These wolves will assist in taking care of wolf pups as well as providing protection for them.

It would appear that Russell was the most gentle member of his species throughout its entire history. It had been three years since we had first started dating, and during that time, he had proven to be everything I could have wished for in a soul mate.

I cared about nothing other than being in his company and that was all that mattered to me.

"Evaaaaa, it's time for you to wake up now," Derek called out my name once more.

It's possible that he's been drinking too much, or even worse, that he gambled away a significant portion of his life savings at casinos. Either way, he needs to get some help. There is no doubt that he had a poor record of gambling. Many debts weighed heavily on him.

Derek stormed into my room without knocking and demanded to know what I had been doing up to this point in time. " Sleeping?"

After taking a quick look at my watch, I noticed that it was still six o'clock in the morning. 

He smelled like alcohol and was getting closer to me, so I dared not move an inch for fear of being hit. While I was simultaneously making an effort to divert my attention away from him, I took a tense breath in and out. He scratched his chin and stared at me as if I were his rival, not his younger sister, and not as if my deceased parents had asked him to take care of me after they passed away.

After catching a glimpse of his eyes, I couldn't help but feel a shiver run down my spine. I turned to Derek and asked, "Do you demand anything from me?"

He nodded as he examined me in an animalistic manner, as if he were going to eat my body; despite this, I knew he would never touch my body, but I always knew he would do something stupid someday.

In the end, Derek was the one to break the awkward silence by saying, "yes, the alpha wants you tonight. Please take a shower and get ready for the night by nine o'clock. To put it another way, I'll be right over to pick you up."

I made a slight facial expression of concentration and asked, "Can you please elaborate on what you mean by that?" The thought, "What am I going to do with him?" pops into my head at this point.

Derek furrowed his brow and stated with a raised eyebrow, "no more questions." 

Derek furrowed his brow and stated with a raised eyebrow, "no more questions." I made an effort to object, but Derek quickly smacked me across the face, which caused me to keep my mouth shut after that.

As soon as Derek exited my room, I immediately closed and locked the door, then I dialed Russell's number.

As I tried to say, "R-Russell, please, we need to meet up after one hour," my voice was stuttering and I couldn't get the words out. It's extremely important."

Russell, on the other hand, was outside of the pack because he was in another country selling medical products. Yes, after the attack that took the lives of his parents when he was eight years old, one of his father's friends raised him and later asked for his help in his work. Russell became his partner when he was 22 years old, and today, Russell is 27 years old and earns a really good amount of money each and every month.

"Eva, what in the world could possibly be the issue? Unfortunately, I am currently out of the country on business, but I will do my best to return in time for dinner tonight." It seemed as though Russell's nerves were starting to get the better of him when he heard my voice.

And I had no idea what I was going to do; but I made an effort to hide my fear.

It's not a problem, but I'd be thankful if you could be here by seven o'clock at the latest. Without you, I would be completely lost. My brother has informed me that he is going to drop me off at the alpha's house by nine o'clock this evening." I couldn't help but let him know the truth.

“what? Why? I'll do everything in my power to get there early. I told you we needed to get away from here and mate before we did anything else. I was conscious of the fact that your brother was behaving in a manner that was not looking out for your best interests!" In the middle of our conversation, Derek started coughing, and I could even hear the raggedness in his breathing through the phone.

"I am ready to run away with you if we have to. Tonight, I am completely prepared to flee with you. Tonight at seven o'clock, I will be there waiting for you to come and get me."

As soon as I recognized my brother's voice, I terminated the call immediately.

Derek pounded frantically with all of his strength on the door, yelling angrily, "Open up this fucking door!  Otherwise, I will destroy it."

Derek grabbed the cellphone out of my hand and looked at the last name that was dialed on the phone before continuing. The following words came out of his mouth: "so, you called your idiot Russell! Ha? Then it's decided: let's see if if he can take down the alpha first or if he can get you first."

“What!” My hands were shaking, and I asked him, "What the heck do you mean?" with eyes that were anxious and unable to focus properly on what he was saying. " You are aware that Russell and I are true soul mates and that we are head over heels in love with each other."

But Derek smacked me again before locking me in the room and taking the key, and then he said in a commanding tone, "tonight, you will give your virginity to the alpha of the moonlight pack. Because I have a lot of financial debts, I could really use you  in clearing them all up. Be ready to go by seven o'clock."

“noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.”