Chapter 1 & 2 (special access)

Alpha Skye's eyes burned with a brilliance unknown to mankind. Genius. Predatory. Lethal. Cruel. His blue gaze matched the sky, so I guess his eyes matched his name, while his thick black hair flowed heavy past his shoulders and a scared lip smirked in every poster of war.

Wolves ruled this planet.

Human Kind made the worst mistake landing on Genesis to start a new beginning 200 years ago. All my species knew since then, was loss and pain. There were enough species fighting for the habitable land and Human Kind thought weapons would be enough to secure a fertile patch.

No.

They had bigger weapons. The Wolf Kind.

Still a mystery to me, how they lived, they were more Masters of Death in my eyes.

I glance up now past a blazing Genesis sun, to where Alpha Skye stands; twenty stories above, looking over a polished balcony draped in his species flag; a crimson red with a black claw slashing through it. We own everything beneath us. A generous slogan.

The harsh sand washes over the human females marched in, with a strong gale that could blind you if you didn't close your eyes against it.

A young Slave Trader presents the new captured pets to another of his species, this higher rank was dressed in black and red silks, "All captured this morning, President Vice, in a cave system not far from the Dry Canyon. Human females. Possibly some of the last," The Slave Trader turns to us, "Prepare for slavery. You're stripped of every rebel affiliation from this point. You're nothing but pets to the Wolf Dominion and you must submit or face the consequences of defiance – which you know for your kind is death."

The chain tugs at my neck, the sharp links pull and scrape my skin raw as the Slave Trader jerks on the leash combining and connecting the five of us captured today.

Most were hungry starving females barely surviving; I was something different.

As we stand after kneeling in the scorching heat, I slip one broken link from the chain and I pull away from the line of slaves being led into the Fortified Solividian City owned by the Wolf Dominion.

An indestructible mirrored structure, shaped like a massive honey bee nest, where all the Wolf Kind resided within. It protected them from the scorching heat and blasting sand storms.

I had no idea what was in those walls.

Slipping from my mismanaged chain, I pretend to run away aimlessly, knowing a soldier will simply drag me back into the line. I want them to think I'm stupid.

However, I'm wrong on one account as I dash for the hundred foot colossal gates we were just marched through.

I'm not chased. I'm not held down.

I'm hit with a sharp bolt, tazed swiftly down to the compact sand, the volts clearly designed for bigger creatures on Genesis. Like the Reptilian Kind or the Bear Kind or the Cat Kind. Enemies of the Wolf Kind; but neither our friends.

When my body smashes into the ground, I tear the skin on my knees and elbows, and all limbs freeze up; I'm sure I'm half dead, but I'm still breathing.

And that's all that matters.

If I could breathe, I had a chance to complete the task I charged myself with.

The assassination of Alpha Skye.

The very bastard watching me from above. I feel his judgement and amusement baring down on me in my last moments of consciousness, as I'm burning up on the ground.

His kind? Killed half of my entire species.

The males were all dead now.

Human females remained.

That was all.

So even though my species was doomed, that didn't mean my heart wasn't bled dry.

I had feeling within my bones, and it was all directed towards vengeance for my species and for my slaughtered father.

I just had to get close to Alpha Skye.

Being enslaved?

Was simply step one.

****

The Wolf Kind were a species of humanoids who could transcend from their own bodies and become the Beast by slipping their soul into the Beast's body, a separate vessel.

I had seen the Transcended Wolves maul countless bodies of human men. The last men. Including my father. My mother took her own life from his death and the grief that followed. I had lived my life in cave systems in the ground, which connected to the different neutral Systems where all Kinds mingled… which was putting it lightly.

Everyone on this planet battled for their dominance constantly, everyone was always fighting. Humans? Were just toys. Practice. Pets. Or hunted for fun.

Now I had my vengeance planned and it was the only thing giving me a reason to wake up each sunblast.

"This one is expected to die soon from her injuries, she's weaker than the others on sale," I heard the insult well enough through the textured glass, while laying slumped in the glass prism on display for all the Wolf Kind; who came to gloat.

I'm on a raised platform, my only protection from their violence is the cage. I have oxygen to breathe filtering in through the dotted pattern of the glass. I'm slumped against one uncomfortably angled side and my toes are curled in pain. The prisms were designed so you couldn't lie down, you were best to kneel in the middle.

There was no need to stand when you were a pet on display.

My body was sore enough and they gave me no fucking medical attention.

I'm in some kind of strange metallic lobby, a majestic hall way, perhaps an art gallery for live Human Kind.

I think we'll be stuck in these small spaces forever until I see one smirking man buy a human female.

The glass lifts and she is taken, docile at this point from exhaustion.

One by one, each woman is taken, dressed in their scraps of clothing.

I'm the last one left, and no one is interested in the weak kind. I would be a useless pet if I was injured permanently and no one had bothered to check my condition.

"Kneel up if you can, human," the Slave Trader approaches me and seems disgusted that he has to speak to me directly. When I don't respond he just shakes his head, slowly in disappointment, "You'll be killed if you're deemed useless. A burden. Do you want to die?"

I guess I surprise him when I attempt to kneel, but I make the rational decision that I should be somewhat fearful for my life.

I slowly drag myself up the glass and lean on it heavily, feeling my limbs shake.

I was perpetually dehydrated and hungry.

While I tremble on my two knees, the Wolf Kind that pass by take no notice. I am of no interest to them.

"Sit straighter if you can," the Slave Trader tries to advise me.

I ignore him. I can't. My spine is tingling and sore and it wants to curl in on itself. Any moment and I would faint again.

When one arm buckles holding my weight, I collapse completely and sprain my wrist somehow on the way down. I don't cry out, I grit my teeth and breathe out my nose, pressing my forehead to the glass.

I see the Slave Trader has spun, his back to me, standing taller; to attention.

Higher ranking Wolf Kind were passing through the spacious hall way.

I see a pack of them as beautiful male specimens. I wouldn't mind clawing into their blue, seemingly innocent eyes. The more dominant wolves had blue eyes, everyone else had yellow. They all wear black robes, and red collars. They look like religious leaders, but they are simply asserting dominance through specified uniform.

As they come to pass by me, one grabs the Slave Trader's arm and tugs him along, "The Alpha Skye will be Presenting an Assembly soon. Fool. Hurry."

And just like that, the nobility of Wolf Kind disappears out of the reflective lobby, and I am left all alone.

Everyone has disappeared to an inner-courtyard just off this gallery hall, but I can't see it properly from my position, only a slither of the purple plants that decorated the area. I decide the Solividian metal must suck up the heat and that's why this whole Fortified City was so chilled; cold even. I had never experienced coldness in my 22 years of life. And I hated it. Everyone wore robes outside of shelter to cover up because the Genesis sun was brutal, at it's worse in the morning.

While I am alone, I rest my cheek into one side of the glass and I try to breathe easier.

Breathe.

Due time would pass.

The moment I was within arm's reach of the Alpha, I would have a chance to rip into him anyway I could with whatever I could get my hands on – and then?

I would find a way to end my own life.

"So, you're the run-away pet."

A drawl of death, just as I'm contemplating my own.

A shadow to my left.

I turn my head and I freeze.

Within arms-reach.

With only glass separating us; I can't believe my luck.

Here was my target, so close.

Alpha Skye was on his way to his presentation.

Perhaps he was running late, but he looked pretty relaxed to me… since he was taking the time to gloat.

I try to control my enraged breaths, but I simply cannot keep the fury dripping out of every expression, including my hate filled gaze. Damn it. I was even crying with my inner uncontrolled wrath. Well, if you can count two pathetic tears as crying. I lay my palm on the glass as I stare right into his blue eyes, the only pair able to level with mine while I'm raised up so high already. I want to put my fist through his fucking face.

His face.

I let my eyes roam, quickly.

Skye's mouth was mocking, his black hair always looks the same as the posters, as if no wind can ruffle it despite its generous shoulder length.

His blue eyes do not blink, as if they do not need to, or maybe he is accepting the staring challenge.

The scar across his top lip is the imperfection that confuses me, but then again, maybe it was a birth mark. His lips… I keep looking at them… right now they are perfectly sealed and patient.

If I hated him yesterday…

I hate his health, his arrogance, his composure most of all, and the way he was scouring me with his eyes now, as if he was judging every feature and limb as inferior. My own eyes were a dull and sad brown. Like drought ridden soil. My hair was black like his but… it wasn't exactly neat… or lush… and I probably had fleas running along my scalp. I was aware of how disgusting I was right now. How I smelled.

Nothing about me was humanoid. I was just an animal on Genesis.

But Alpha Skye is still here.

Drinking up my fury.

How dare he delight in my pain?

"No one wanted you," Alpha Skye states this quietly. No shit, "Probably because you're very short in stature. Give me a reason to set you free into some comfortable chains," I do not say anything and he just raises a bored brow, "You'd rather perish, is that it? What's your name, girl?"

"My name is Ryder," I say it in a defiant whispered husk, but I say it proudly. My name was all I had left.

"A male name," Alpha Skye lifts his lip, showing proper emotion and bright blue-white teeth. He is amused, "A name won't change the set fate of your entire species… and I still have no reason to keep you alive, girl. You're breathing in our air. Should I end you in front of my assembly?" Alpha Skye drawls it with a hint of enthusiasm, he was eager to slaughter me no doubt …but more than that… he wanted to hear me beg, right now.

I want to keep glaring at the respected leader of the entire Wolf Dominion, to keep challenging his easy and lazy authority, but… I close my eyes briefly as I feel uncontrollably dizzy, and then I give into one concession, "…I need water…" I grind the words out of a dry throat, off a dry tongue, about to collapse.

If I wasn't hydrated soon, I might pass out any second.

I hear movement.

My eyes snap open even as my vision wobbles.

Alpha Skye grabs a flask from his belt, a flask of water.

He moves neither slow nor fast. He simply holds it up, offering it, pouring the water through the textured glass. It cascades like a waterfall but I don't even have time in my dehydrated mind to consider the humiliation.

I lean in and lap it up without hesitation. In my desperation, I just want the water. I don't even realise what I look like until I've licked the glass too many times, sliding my whole tongue through the waterfall against my cage like it's the milk of life.

It happens for some time, as Alpha Skye lets the water pour generously.

By the time it has dribbled down my chin, my neck, my chest, my stomach, and by the time I open my eyes and see Alpha Skye lower the flask and screw on the lid… I realise what I just did… how I must have appeared to him.

A true pet.

I only realise by the way he's staring at me now.

The slightest curve to his mouth, upwards in the right corner. A handsome dimple catches my eye, but excess saliva dribbles past my lips and he lingers a moment too long staring at that before he speaks.

"I think I'll keep you," he speaks so quietly.

Alpha Skye continues to stare into my eyes.

He doesn't stare at anything else now.

But I feel the heat of it; the promise of more to come.

When Skye leaves, I am simply left imprisoned, but totally and utterly exhausted.

I promptly curl up into a ball, and I pass out from the strong after effect of adrenaline fading out.

I had been trembling so hard, confronting him so soon.

I had nothing else left to keep me going.

The only reason I live a moment longer is the water he's fed to me.

I hate Skye for that moment more than any other, because it would be the very reason I hesitate later on…

…that hesitation would cost me everything.