The Luna's Curse: The Twisted Bargain

Author's POV

Birds chirped sweetly in the woods. The fresh leaves around shone yellowish green with the setting of the evening sun. The woods seemed so peaceful, but not so peaceful for Naya.

The panicked cry of the young girl could be heard as she made her way through the fresh leaves that covered the woods. It had just finished raining, and the soil was muddy, while the atmosphere was filled with the chilling cold that came with the rain.

She rubbed her freezing palms together, if that would offer some warmth to her already numb fingers.

A guttural roar, laced with bloodthirsty glee, echoed through the trees. "Fan out, you fools! Don't let the she-devil escape!" Came the voice of a man who was very muscular and scary-looking.

Naya scanned the unfamiliar environment. She had been running for a while now and lost track of the familiar paths she was used to.

She hastened her steps as she ran further into the woods, not knowing which way to go. Her heart twisted with fear and panic.

Her usually beautiful emerald eyes darted a terrified glance at her wrist, where a crimson tide flowed freely from the wound inflicted by a wickedly barbed arrow that had been shot at her.

The vile concoction coursing through her veins rendered her magic inactive.

Naya, a charming young girl, ruthless, vicious, and a devoted Luna to her pack, has fought side by side with her Alpha. Together, they have conquered territories, won wars, and built a legacy. She was one of the most powerful witches of her time. No one dared cross paths with her.

She leaned behind a huge Elm tree, her long, red hair already a tangled mess falling around her shoulders.

Her lips parted as she tried to catch her breath, which came in short, rasped gasps.

"This isn't a good way to die, Naya," she heard the familiar voice of her wolf, Ria, slither at the back of her mind. "Fight back, you venomous serpent!"

She tried mind-linking her mate, but to no avail. She was in this alone.

A sickening thud tore her from her thoughts. Another spear, aimed at her with practiced malice, hit the tree she leaned on.

A cruel laugh, dripping with sadistic pleasure, echoed through the woods. "Come on, Naya, you can't win this time around," came a familiar voice, but she couldn't tell whom it belonged to. She was too busy fighting for her life. She can deal with that later. Right now, survival demanded her attention.

She tried shifting into her wolf, but the poison from the arrow was beginning to take effect, and she was losing contact with her wolf.

Her lips moved in a slow rhythm as she chanted something in a strange language, but she winced in frustration as she felt totally empty. She had no connection to even the tiniest part of her magic.

She felt a bitter taste on her tongue as panic clawed at her throat.

She was in so much agony. "I can fight this," she rasped, her voice hoarse with exhaustion and pain, trying to encourage herself.

She summoned up courage and hastened deeper into the woods. They were closer. She could feel them everywhere around her. The masked men… The witches with them... They were encircling her.

A twig snapped under Naya's foot. The sickening crack ripped through the quietness of the forest, shattering the fragile hope of safety she had, as her pursuers surely knew what direction to look.

A strangled cry escaped her lips when her ankle twisted, sending a white-hot spike of pain lancing up her leg. She crumpled onto the damp forest floor.

"Over there!" One of the men said in a deep baritone voice, and they all ran in the direction where the noise came from. There, they found her lying helplessly on the ground.

Her breath hitched in ragged gasps. Tears, hot and unexpected, spilled down her cheeks, blurring the figures emerging from the shadows.

Naya turned slowly and watched in horror as she was being surrounded.

She pushed herself up on one arm. Her emerald eyes, usually blazing with the ferocity of a lioness, now pleaded for pardon, "Please, don't kill me." Her voice rasped with a vulnerability she never knew she possessed.

"What do you want from me? I haven't done anything wrong," Naya said between sobs. She thought about everything: her mate, life, and legacy she had fought so hard to build. Everything came flooding her mind with tears flooding her eyes.

The silence that followed stretched for an eternity, broken only by the ragged gasps escaping Naya's blood-stained lips.

The silence was followed by the low chuckle of one of the masked men, who seemed to be the leader, as he moved two steps forward, so that he was directly facing her. "We want nothing from you, Naya. You have bitten more than you ought to. And your death is all I want," he hissed, his words dripping with evil satisfaction.

A glint of cold steel flashed in the fading light when the leader drew his sword, the polished surface reflecting the dying embers of the sun.

Her whole life came flashing through her eyes.

Memories flickered through her mind - stolen kisses under a canopy of stars, the clang of steel against steel in the heat of battle as she fought side by side with her mate, the echo of Cezar's laughter, the wish to have a pup that looked just like him.

Her life, which was once perfect and full-blooded, was threatened with an abrupt and brutal end without even a chance to fight.

"Slit!" The sword sliced right through her throat, a choked gasp escaping her lips.

Her eyes stared in horror as the menacing face of her killer came into view. "No! It can't be..." Her thoughts were cut short by the silent darkness that enveloped her, and her eyes closed in death.