Harper sat up in her bed with her breath caught in her throat. Dark hair framed her cheeks, and her expression was haunted. Dreams of the same man had haunted her for the past three weeks.
He had mischievous eyes and expressive eyebrows. Everything about him screamed sex, yet there was a depth to him that left Harper breathless every morning.
The man had to be her mate. Harper's eighteenth birthday was coming up, and that was when the people in her werewolf family started dreaming of their mates.
The moon goddess seemed to know Harper would be the most powerful with her true mate. Yet Harper couldn't fulfill the moon goddess's wish of finding him.
Harper's father had promised her hand to another alpha. She was about to marry a werewolf she had never met. It made her stomach churn with unhappiness.
Harper wanted to find her true mate, but sadly it wasn't what the kingdom needed. Another werewolf pack had threatened to attack the castle, and Harper needed to be mated to protect her home.
The castle was too essential for her not to defend. For generations, her family had guarded the portal leading to the human world, and she couldn't allow her enemies to enter.
The humans didn't know werewolves existed, and Harped intended to keep things that way.
Yawning, Harper swung her legs over the bed and leaned forward to pick up her clothes. She squeezed into a pair of jeans that barely fit her.
"I might have to go on a diet," Harper sighed. "Or at least buy new clothes that fit me..."
Like her mother, Harper was curvy. Short, yet gifted with thick thighs and an hourglass shape. The boys seemed interested in her at school, and Harper wasn't unhappy with how she looked. The only thing she cursed now and then was her pale skin and her pouch of a belly.
Harper bent down to pick up a t-shirt and slipped it on before walking out through her room. It was time for breakfast.
She walked down the corridor with her fingers brushing through her wavy dark hair. Harper was carefree until a sudden migraine hit her temples when she came to the end of the hall.
Harper took in her surroundings. Her feet were parked right outside the blocked door to the basement. It was like something was calling to her from the other side.
"Help me..."
Startled by the manly voice, Harper stared at the door with her heart hammering inside her chest.
Never in her entire life had Harper heard the prisoner speak. Both fear and curiosity took a wise hold of her.
Harper's father, alpha Jensen, had told her she was never to open the door to the basement. Their worst enemy was chained to the wall on the other side, and Harper's father had claimed the man was a demon.
"I'm not going to help you," Harper tried to sound brave. "You deserve to be imprisoned for all the terrible things you've done."
Silence fell until the man eventually sighed. "I think being locked up for more than ten years is too hard of a punishment."
Harper narrowed her eyes. "Ten years is nothing for a demon."
"Demon?" The man croaked. He actually sounded amused by the accusation of being something unholy. "I'm not a demon."
"That's precisely what a demon would say!"
"As I said, I'm not a demon, little wolf."
A shudder wracked Harper's body, but she wouldn't let herself be fooled by the prisoner's heavenly voice.
"I don't trust you."
"If you opened the door, I could prove that I'm not a demon."
Harper rolled her eyes. "I'm going to pretend I never heard your voice..."
"No, please don't go!" There was a loud groan. "How about you let me out of here, and I will never bother you again?"
"You're just pretending to be nice now."
The man groaned even louder than before. But Harper lifted her pert nose into the air to walk away from the door. The scorching heat spreading over her skin terrified her.
Why was she reacting like this?
Was the demon powerful enough to charm people even when he hadn't been fed in over a decade?
Harper shuddered. The demon in the basement frightened her more than anything. If her memories served her correctly, the prisoner was an immortal creature.
Nevertheless, Harper shook off her goosebumps. She had more important things to do, like eating breakfast.
