Page 1 of Their Scarred Mate
Prologue
Three years ago
She’d met her demise.She just didn’t know it.Ruthless and power-hungry John Lewis was much more than a normal businessperson.
She’d just finished high school and dreamed of being a nurse.Her parents were a loving, hardworking couple, and she never felt less than loved.She was free, a teenager with her whole life ahead of her.
Until she inadvertently crossed paths with the demon.
A trip to the mall with her high school colleagues.That’s all it took.Granted, the mall wasn’t near a good neighborhood, but it was safe during the day, with families and students wandering about.After dark, it was a completely different story.But after dark, she was safely at home.
That day, however, danger was lurking even during the day.She and her classmates had gone for burgers to celebrate the end of the school year.They had the summer ahead of them and were planning a trip to the river for some days of camping.
Freya’s young mind was churning, wondering if her parents would allow her to go, and if not, what she could say to convince them.She was so distracted that she only saw the man after she bumped into him.She looked up at what seemed like a huge man.He was very tall, broad-shouldered, with dark hair and eyes that studied her intently.His slightly furrowed brow indicated he was deep in thought.
“Sorry...”she stammered, but he kept studying her with his dark gaze.Embarrassed and uncomfortable under his scrutiny, she blushed and walked around him, quickening her pace until she reached the bus stop.Only when she reached home and turned the key in the lock did she feel safe.
The incident was quickly forgotten as her parents arrived home and the more pressing subject of the camping trip came to mind.During dinner, she approached them and, whilst her mother had her doubts, her father was willing to allow it as long as there was an adult present.
That was the last night they dined together as a happy family.That very same night, she had the strangest dream.A wolf was howling, and, in her dreams, red eyes were searching for her in the depths of the dark forest.No, not searching for her ...hunting her.They wanted to devour her.To eat her, to mark her ...to kill her.
She woke up with a start, heart beating wildly in her chest.Sweat was dripping down her back, her mind still reeling from the nightmare.
The window was closed.She jumped out of bed and walked to the window, opening it and breathing in the fresh air with pleasure.She thought she saw movement among the bushes.A neatly trimmed hedge separated his house from his neighbor's, which was currently uninhabited.Rumor had it that it had been sold, but no one knew to whom.
There it was!The flickering of a light, like a lighter.Someone was smoking near the hedge, but because it was so dark, she couldn’t see the features.Shivering, feeling her sweat dry in the cool night air, she closed the window again.There was ...something ...in the air that gave her chills more than the frosty night ...as if evil were on the loose.
Which was true.The man smoking near the hedge had followed her home, his mind churning with possibilities, feeling enraged by what he was feeling toward what was clearly a human.A weak, feeble, human female.
She was feeling secure within those walls, feeling protected by her known environment and the comfort of her parents’ presence, sleeping two doors down.
But that was not true.Nothing would keep him from getting her.He finished his cigar, throwing it into the sewer.A movement from his head had his two cousins at his side, a cruel smile distorting their faces.
The sound of bones cracking filled the night air, followed closely by howls.Wolf howls, never heard in that part of the suburbs.
Death came swiftly that night.The couple was murdered in their own bed, and the daughter taken into the night, screaming and bloodied.
The house was burned to the ground, and three bodies were found, charred beyond any possible recognition.
The police reports stated that it was a gas leak, and that no one had survived the fire.No dental records were requested, and despite witnesses who swore up and down that they heard screams, the police never investigated, nor gave credence to the reports of wolves howling.After all, how could wild animals cause a fire?
Two years ago
She was shivering again, a dull throb between her legs.She had long lost her voice, hoarse from screaming, from the abuse, the beatings ...his rage.
She was used to it all, by now.She just needed to flee inside her head in the moments when he used her, safe in her memories.
He had been brutal that night, half transforming into his wolf, his claws causing more scratches on her already torn back, destroying the rag that had once been a dress.
He was never very gentle to start with, but in the beginning, he was at least careful not to leave any lasting damage on her.She had a room, with a bathroom attached, and a dress for modesty’s sake.She could not go very far, not with the chains she had around her ankle, but at least she could move around.
In the beginning, there were tears, pleas, and screams.She could hardly comprehend what this man, John what’s-his-name, would want with her.She was nobody.She just wanted to finish high school; she wanted to go to nursing school.
At first, she kept thinking her parents would come for her.When he told her cruelly that the three of them had died that night, she did not want to believe him.She wept for her parents, but kept thinking the police would find her and do something, free her from this man’s clutches.It took her a long time to understand he had said “three”.The police thought she had also died.
On the first full moon night, all hope died.She was taken outside, free from the chains for the first time since her kidnapping.She only saw trees wherever she turned, and hope starting rising again.
But when her captor faced the bright light of the moon and his body started to shiver, she paled.What she was seeing was beyond any movie she’d seen, and her mind struggled to understand.His bones were cracking, fur was sprouting everywhere, his teeth were elongating, his face distorted in a ...muzzle?
