Death by Love, Alexandra Rader [summer reads .TXT] 📗

3    Prologue

5    Secrecy

I stood there in the dark shadows of the surrounding forest. I knew what was going to happen. I had been waiting for this moment to come, in fact.

I took a deep breath and stepped away from my safe haven of shadows. The soft glow of moonlight surrounded me immediately. I raised my hands above my head in a signal of surrender and spoke to the waiting pack of wolves.

"You all know why we are gathered here tonight. I know it is against the laws of the wolves to fall in love with a mortal. However, I fell in love the moment I laid eyes on one of your kind, and for some reason he felt the same. Your leader gave Ivan and I an ultimatum. My life, or Ivan's. He wanted to turn himself in, but I can't let that happen. So here I stand before you, surrendering my life in return for the guarantee of his safety and that all of this will be over. Do I have your word?"

The leader of the pack stepped out of the trees. He was large, and his silky fur was the color of steelwith slight specks of rust. In the blink of an eye, where a wolf once stood in front of me, now stood a handsome man.

He was tall. Taller even than Ivan. He had pale blue eyes and there was such an intensity in their gaze that it made me want to curl up and die. The stare he gave me was long and hard.

"We agree. You have our word," he said in a deep voice.

"Today is going to be great," I tried convincing myelf, as I rolled out of bed. I had a good feeling about the day and I didn't want it to go to waste while I lay awake in bed, even if it was warm and comfortable.

I dressed in a reasonable amount of time and applied my mascara before running a brush through my wavy, dark hair. I sighed as I regarded my reflection.

"Why is this face so easy to resist? Why am I cursed in love?" I asked the mirror. Of course, there wasn't any sign of an answer.

I walked outside to take a walk in the cool Oregon forest.

Publication Date: 01-30-2016

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Dedication:
Just wanted to thank Bookaholic for her help with picking out the title. Thanks girl!