Ruby

My heart pounds as I run through the dark forest.

I’m not even nineteen yet, still a high school student, but I’ve been forced into a marriage to a man who I haven’t even met, and I don’t even know why.

The Lycan King.

When the King’s men came to me two weeks ago and told me that I would be married to the King, I was completely distraught.

Any girl would feel lucky to be married to the Lycan King, although I feel far from lucky. In my eyes, the Lycan King is a brute, an unlovable man whose family only ever cared for killing all of the hybrids such as myself.

The Lycan King is rumored to be ferocious, caring only for his arrogant family’s obsession with purebred wolves and killing all hybrids. I knew as soon as I saw my vision that if I were to marry the Lycan King, he would put my darling sister, Tamara, to death, because she is too human to survive in the werewolf world.

There’s no way I could be this brute’s mate, either; we’ve never even met, and everyone knows that wolves need to experience their potential mate’s scent before discovering whether they are fated mates.

Why would he want me, anyway? A common high school girl, no stunning beauty, a hybrid with no wolf form, only the scent of a wolf and scattered visions of the future that I can barely even control without excruciating migraines and weakness. I’m barely even a werewolf myself.

I much prefer the ways of humans. I love to read romance novels about choices and commitment rather than the primal mating rituals of the werewolves.

I dodge around trees, hiking the heavy skirts of my wedding gown up with my hands to help myself run, but it’s no use. I’ve been slow to move barefoot through these unknown woods, especially since I lack the werewolf ability to run expertly through the forests without a care for the pain in my feet. I can hear the Lycan King’s guards shouting far off in the distance. On my right, there is nothing but a sheer drop to the raging ocean below. To my left, a road.

I lunge into the road, waving my arms at the car. It almost seems as though the car will pass, leaving me stranded here, but then it stops just as the backseat window is adjacent to me. The window rolls down to reveal a man in a black suit and sunglasses, with an attractive angular jaw and shiny black hair that falls almost down to his shoulders. I gulp, feeling my face flush hot with a mixture of fear and attraction.

If this handsome man could steal me away from this unwanted marriage, even if he were to make me his own bride instead, I would not fight it.

The man looks me up and down, as if he is appraising me, before opening the door and stepping out. He’s tall, well over six feet, which makes me feel like a child at my small stature as I gaze up at his sharp jaw and muscular shoulders. Wordlessly, he steps out of the way with his hand on the door and gestures for me to get in. I hesitate for a moment, considering my options to run again if this man was sent from the Lycan King, but I know that he will be able to outrun me with his long legs; and, glancing at my bloodied feet, I know that I won’t be able to make it far with my pain.

I get in the car.

The handsome man slides in across from me and clicks the door shut. The car is luxurious, with two rows of leather seats facing each other in the back and a soft LED light setting the back aglow in a deep red that makes the handsome man’s black hair look even more fierce against his tanned skin.

I warily glance at the driver, who makes brief eye contact with me with bright blue eyes before looking away to stare out at the dark, winding road ahead.

“What are you doing out here all alone?” the handsome man suddenly asks. He has a deep, smooth voice that resonates like music in my ears. I can’t see his eyes through his dark sunglasses, although I know he’s looking at me.

“I’m… I’m…” I stutter, trying to come up with the right words.

“Running?” he asks, almost amusedly.

I bite my lip and look down at my lap, fiddling with the lace in my skirt, then nod apprehensively. My face flushes hot.

The man sighs softly to himself, then leans forward a little.

“Where are you running to, at this time of night, in the middle of the woods?”