The Lord’s Desire

She was a woman with ambitions. She had a dark past but she knew there was a future to live on. So why settle for less when she knew she deserved better?

In a world where she could not escape her father unless she married, Melrose hoped to marry a man who could free her from her chains. She aimed to marry the King of their land, for she knew he was the most powerful man, but now that was impossible. She had turned her dream into a nightmare, burning her future into ashes.

What had she done?

She didn know. She didn want to know.

With the royal guards chasing her and the whole town wanting her dead, there was no place to run. There was no one to depend on.

All she could do was to try to escape, try to outrun her hunters with the hopes to meet a savior along the way.

The forest at the northern part of Kingdom of Arden – the North Ridge was the place everyone feared. It was said to be cursed, that anyone who dared invade it never went back alive. They said creatures other than humans were living there. Creatures living for darkness.

For the people of Arden, the name North Ridge meant danger. There was even one time that a physician searching for herbal plants got lost in the woods and the next morning his corpse was found at the outskirts of the town. She did not have a chance to witness the sight with her own eyes but many said it was the most horrendous thing to see.

Only a faint light from the crescent moon was guiding Melrose. She had never wanted to roam around the dark, nor had she ever thought of entering the cursed forest. But tonight, she had enough courage to.

She could end up dying in the woods if all the tales were true, but dying that way seemed to be a little more noble than being publicly executed for killing the King – the highest form of treason one could do.

She didn understand what went wrong. Yesterday she was the woman every girl in the kingdom envied as she was finally a step away from marrying the King.

Yet everything changed in just a snap.

She tripped many times but she didn stop. She ran deep down the forest, never minding what was there waiting in the shadows. All she wanted was to get away from the royal guards for she was certain being captured by them meant a painful torture before death.

She heard the crackling of dry leaves under her feet and the sound of crickets that creeped her out, but there was no turning back. It was either run or surrender everything.

However, she went still after hearing a strange noise. The disturbing low growls from the dark made her feel cold. She turned her head to both sides but saw nothing but the tall trees surrounding her.

As terrified as she was, she was about to run again but when the faint light from the horizon showed what creatures surrounded her, she froze.

A pack of black wolves with obvious hunger gleaming in their red eyes.

She swallowed hard, her puls