Chapter One

It was the middle of the night; the stars were shining, not that you could see it as the clouds covered the sky completely. Alora lies on her bed hoping and wishing that she could fall asleep, however, that seemed impossible. She had a bad feeling that something bad was going to happen today, She just didn't know what sighing she rolled out of her bed and smacked the floor hard groaning she slowly made it to her knees and rubbed her head "Man I really need to stop doing that."

After the pain subsided in her head, she made her way to the ensuite in her room, flicking on the light. It momentarily blinded her, and she rubbed her eyes, hoping to bring the sight back, and growled. "Stupid" she quickly dashed to her shower and turned the water on. While waiting for the shower to heat, she stripped out of her pyjamas and underwear and placed them in her dirty hamper and jumped into the shower, hissing slightly as the now scalding water hit her freezing skin. Taking a moment, she moved her head under the running water and drenched her hair, grabbing the Moroccan oil shampoo she lathered her hair until she could sit it firmly on top of her head and grabbed her favourite body wash. It smelt like pomegranates and honey once she had pumped enough body wash onto her hand, she ran her hands up and down her body after she had cleaned every inch of her body she turned the shower off and hopped out grabbing the towel that sat on the heated towel rack she quickly wrapped it around her body and walked out of the bathroom. She walked over to the fireplace to start the fire and warm up her room because of it being in the middle of a snowstorm her room was freezing.

"Alora, my dear, are you awake?" her father's voice sounded through her door "Yes Papa, I am awake." she had finally gotten a flame burning and moved towards her dresser drawers, grabbing a pair of blue leggings and a white tank top, she also grabbed a matching set of baby blue lace underwear and she made her way back to the fireplace "I need to talk to you. When you are decent, can you please come down to breakfast?" her father's voice sounded again, "yes, father." she slipped on her clothes and moved to her vanity to brush her hair before placing it in her normal high ponytail. She grabbed her makeup and finished getting ready.

Grabbing her white flats, she made her way downstairs to find her father sitting at the table already with a plate full of bacon and eggs with a slice of toast. "Good morning, Papa." she gave him a kiss on his aging face "Good Morning, sweetheart. We need to talk pumpkin." she looked at him confused before sitting down in front of him. "What's wrong, Papa?" He slid a note across the table too her.

"To whom it may concern,

There comes a time in this life where we must choose those who will partake in the annual protection games for humanity. This year we have chosen your sector of the human's village. Please have your young adults aged 18-25 brought to the sector centre for the name drawing, We will see you in 24 hours for the choosing.

Long may we reign,

The Lycan Council."

She looked up at her father and frowned "There are at least 149 other people between the ages of 18 and 25 I doubt I will be one of the twenty picked" she tried to reassure him and turned towards the remaining plate of food on the table and eating breakfast. After washing up the dishes from breakfast, Alora stepped outside to do the chores, she fed the chickens and the pigs, she milked ol' Jessie and Daisy before letting all the mares out before bringing in Draco our Black Arabian stallion into the stables for when she would have to go into town.

By the time she finished all the chores, she realised she forgot to have lunch. "Papa! I'm going into town to pick up some supplies. Do you need anything?" She asked as she stuck her head through the front door. "No, sweetheart, I should be fine." Alora nodded before walking over to the stables and saddling up Draco and walked out and mounted Draco before starting her journey into town. Along the way, Alora liked to stop and smell the wildflowers along the side of the beaten path. This made the journey about ten minutes longer than necessary, but she now had a bunch of flowers in her right hand. dismounting Draco outside the corner store, Alora tied him to one post and gave him an apple from the saddlebag.

As Alora walked up the stairs, the door for the corner store opened and out stepped an elderly woman she looked to be in her mid-80s "Oh Good afternoon Stella." This caused Stella to look up and noticed the raven-haired beauty in front of her "Oh Alora, how are you and your father, darling?" Alora grinned "We're doing just fine, although Papa is worried about the choosing ceremony." Stella looked at Alora with a sad smile. "It has been a while since they have chosen our sector for this game, I wish you well." With that, Stella left the corner store porch and Alora went in for the groceries that were needed.

After fifteen minutes, Alora had finished shopping and ducked into a bookstore just down the road "Good afternoon Zach, do you have anything new today?" She greeted as she browsed through the shelves, looking for a book to buy or borrow. As she walked down the shelves, Alora did not realise that there was another being in the shop apart from Zach. That was until she ran into the warm wall of someone's chest. "Oh, my goodness! I'm sorry." Alora whispered as she looked up and saw the gentleman that she ran into. "That's okay, my dear, my name is Dimitri Ivanov."

"Well Dimitri, I would like to apologise once again, I would like to make this up to you however my father is waiting at home." Alora said as she turned to walk out the door "I have a feeling we will see each other soon Alora." Dimitri whispered as he watched her leave the store and climb onto the dark bay horse he saw her ride in on.