<h4>Chapter 1 - Mugged, Stabbed, Humted!</h4>


    <strong>*****************</strong>


    <strong>Chapter 1</strong>


    <strong>~Valerie''s POV~</strong>


    "Hold it right there, you thief! Stop before I make you breathe yourst breath!"


    My sharp voice cut through the cold night air as I chased after the bastard who had just mugged me.


    This day could not get any worse.


    My uncle had forbidden me from leaving for Starlight City until my eighteenth birthday, when I transformed into a wolf for added protection, but I didn''t heed his warning. I ran away.


    Ten years of training, waiting, hunting—and he wanted me to stay behind like some feeble pup?


    No. Fuck that.


    But now I was here, starving, wounded, and broke if I didn''t catch this douchebag.


    The thief was quick, and I could tell he had his wolf with him, but I was swifter. However, my legs burned as I leapt over a fallen tree trunk, narrowing the gap.


    His mistake was thinking he could steal from me and get away with it.


    With a flick of my wrist, I drew a dagger and sent it soaring. The de sliced through the air, burying itself deep into his calf.


    He let out a scream, stumbled, and fell onto the dirt. A cruel smirk crept onto the side of my lips.


    <i>Bingo, bastard.</i>


    I didn''t slow down. I was on him in seconds, pinning him to the ground.


    "You think you could just stab me and blow some sleep powder in my face and steal my things? "Bad idea," I panted, tugging his head back. "Now, give me my bag."


    The guy groaned, struggling beneath me. "Girl... please, ah, my hand—" he groaned out as I yanked his hand back.


    And then I heard the sound of a machine as something flickered in my periphery—a motorcycle.


    I turned my head just in time to see a guy swing off his sleek ck bike, tying a helmet to the handlebars.


    But what caught my attention most was his hand—wrapped in a ck bandana embroidered with a nightshade thorn.


    My breath caught.


    Everything else—the thief, the pain in my ribs, the cold—faded.


    It was him. One of them.


    One of the bastards who had destroyed my home, my pack, and taken everything from me was present.


    My fingers dug into the thief''s shirt, my rage boiling over—but before I could react, he saw his chance.


    With a desperate grunt, he twisted beneath me, shoving me off with force. I stumbled back, managing to avoid the tree and catching myself on my hands and knees.


    By the time I looked up, the thief was gone.


    I cursed, but I didn''t chase him because I had found something else—something far more important. I staggered to my feet, ignoring my spinning vision, and followed him—the bike guy.


    Just a two-minute trek and he led me into the city''s underbelly, deeper into the neon-lit streets, until we reached a nondescript alleyway.


    At the end stood a hidden bar, its entrance guarded by two burly men who barely spared him a nce before stepping aside.


    <i>''A secret ce, huh? Maybe his gang was there,'' </i>I thought. My gaze darted to the injury at my side. I touched it, and my hands were stained with blood. I bit my inner lips, and I didn''t hesitate.


    Shaking my hair, I was d my all-ck outfit blended with such a ce. I slipped inside, melting into the shadows.


    The moment I stepped in, heat and music crashed into me like a wave.


    Bodies swayed on the dance floor, grinding, twisting, and shifting. The aroma of alcohol, sweat, and raw dominance thickened the air.


    And then—I saw him.


    At the far end of the bar, his face half-lit by flickering neon, the same cruel smirk I remembered from ten years ago.


    My pulse spiked. Anger coursing through me but before I could take a step, my vision blurred.


    Something was wrong.


    A slow, creeping numbness spread through my fingers and up my arms. Suddenly, my legs felt heavy and unsteady and my stomach twisted.


    I had been poisoned.


    How... the thief? Urgh! I swear he would pay, I cursed under my breath.


    All I knew was that I needed to get to the other guy now before my body gave out.


    I pushed forward, shoving through the dance floor, ignoring the bodies pressing against me.


    Toote, I realized how clumsy my movements had be as the swaying bodies shoved me from side to side till I tripped—and crashed into someone at the other end of the dance floor


    Hard.


    And then I felt him sniff and stiffen. <i>"No doubt, my blood gave me away."</i>


    A sharp, cold voice sneered above me. "Who let this dirty, dried-up little pumpkin into this club?"


    I blinked up, disoriented, with painncing through my skull.


    The man standing before me was tall and broad, exuding raw dominance. His cyan-blue eyes gleamed with amusement and disgust. He was attractive, golden-blond, and had a bad attitude.


    I attempted to push away, but then two more figures closed in, trapping me—but no one else appeared to take any notice yet.


    One possessed red hair and hazel green eyes, while the other had raven-ck hair and emerald-green eyes that zed with raw, unfiltered power.


    Fuck.


    Their aura mmed into me all at once, forcing my already weakened body lower.


    The poison was working too fast, thanks to my earlier running and my loss of blood. And now I was trapped.


    The red-haired guy tilted his head, his smirk widening. "Well, sweetheart? Got anything to say?"


    I forced my chin up, ignoring the tremor in my limbs. "Get out of my way."


    The first guy chuckled, the sound low and sharp. "Bold words for a wolf who can barely stand."


    Thest guy didn''tugh.


    He simply watched me with quiet, lethal intensity, one I would know as I gave those stares but this... it sent a shiver down my spine, like I had entered the lion''s den.


    I tried to move, but suddenly—heat.


    My scent hit me like a p.


    Fuck.


    My pheromones.


    My body was betraying me. Thebination of the poison and their suffocating aura was making me lose control.


    Instantly, their expressions shifted from amused dominance to disgust. The red-haired guy''s nose scrunched. "Trying to seduce us, little wolf?"


    The first guy scoffed. "Pathetic little slut."


    Thest guy''s jaw ticked. "Control yourself, will you, or you will get more troubleing to you."


    As he said that, his gaze drifted to the others in the club, and this time, I realized I was bing the center of attention.


    That''s when I realized it. I stilled.


    My hand flew to my chest. My ne. It was gone.


    <i>Shit</i>.


    The one thing that had helped mask my scent and helped suppress my pheromones was gone.


    "Shit," I cursed out loud.


    They just stared at me. I masked my fear. "Get out of the way, douche." I tried to push up, to force my body off the floor and escape this onught of scent, but their aura crushed me again.


    I gasped, choking on the pressure.


    The first guy crouched beside me, gripping my hair and yanking my head back, so I had no choice but to meet his cold, piercing gaze and then thest guy leaned in.


    "You''ve got quite a bad mouth on you given your situation. Apologise now," he murmured, "and maybe we''ll go easy on you."


    Never. My eyes zed with anger but that was all I could do as I felt the numbness spreading. And then, the first guy did it again, unleashing his wolf''s aura even more.


    My chest tightened as I spat blood onto the floor. "You three just made the worst mistake of your lives."


    The second guy grinned. "Oh? And why''s that?"


    I forced a weak, broken smirk. "Because you''ve just entered my death note."


    Theyughed. All three of them. Dark, cruel, and unbothered. I shook my head, trying to keep my vision clear, but things were bing blurred.


    Thest chap, the one with ck hair, leaned in, his lips just a breath away from my ear.


    "If you survive long enough, I''d love to see you try, little wolf."


    Then, just as fast as they appeared, they straightened, turned and left, leaving me copsed on the floor—humiliated, burning with rage, and promising myself one thing.


    "Oh, I''ll do more than just try, you bastards," I said through gritted teeth.


    With them gone, I could move now. Immediately, I pushed past the onught of people and dashed out of the club. I needed to be far from them—their scents—and not make myself easy prey.


    But just as I entered the forest once more, my limbs gave way and I copsed as the poison fully took effect, paralyzing me.