Chapter 1 Prologue

"Time when fate made us meet was something that I felt so grateful for."

Zev Russel

***

In a crowded ballroom at night, a lot of people were gathered over there. A lot of guests came wrapped with their most glamorous clothes so they looked elegant and prestigious. The sound of musical instruments was echoed in the luxury place as some couples chose to dance at the center, meanwhile some of them chose to chatting with another guests about their businesses and companies.

Until...The whisper came into a handsome man's ears that stood while he was holding his wine glass gracefully.

'Mate'

Zev Russel saw a woman in the hall. That man seemed a little bit surprised when the woman passed him. He had never thought if there was another woman that could steal his attention instantly. Zev couldn't deny that she was so beautiful and so perfect in his eyes but at the same time, he also could sense the woman was also an extraordinarily dangerous one. He knew that woman would become someone special for him sooner or later.

At that time, Zev had an instinct that someday this woman would bring storms and dilemmas into his life as he knew the woman brought something dangerous in this kind of place. He saw a dagger silhouette from the dress slit that she wore. From his experiences, usually, the woman assassin would put the silver dagger on their thighs and it was covered under their skirt or something. Zev couldn't believe these assassins still used the same trick as if they were not learning from their mistakes in the past yet. So many years before, Zev Russel had to deal with a lot of assassins but they were handled well but it seemed it would be different with this one because...

She was his mate. He really doesn't care what she was, but from her scent, he knew that woman was a human but what kind of her species it doesn't matter to him. When their gaze collided for a moment, he could sense that woman was so nervous about something and he had to admit that the woman had a beautiful face and a fresh scent that he could smell from afar.

"Hi." That woman smiled at him but of course, he knew she targeted him but he would never let her plan happen as the woman wanted. He would turn the situation to his benefit for sure...

"Hi."

"I hope I am not disturbing you. Mr. Russel." She said confidently.

Zev just smiled because his prediction was right as that woman would approach him. She does like what he wanted but Zev was aware of all possibilities as he knew that she wanted to trap him, but a lycan man like Zev would never let that happen because he would be the one who trapped her instead. His prey and also his mate now standing in front of him so how would he let her slip away?

"Zev. You can call me Zev."

"Okay, Zev."

"Uhm, and you don't need to worry, I will always give my time to my mate." Zev stared at her because he wanted her to know he was always serious regarding his mate. Even though that was too early to talk about mate.

"Your mate? I think a successful man like you can choose anyone to be your mate." She said calmly but Zev knew that she doesn't trust him at all but Zev doesn't complain though.

"But I know my mate is you." He said to her and from her facial expression, Zev could sense that she must be shocked but he pretended to not know anything.

"Okay. Then I will be your mate." She said nonchalantly.

"I am serious about this." He insisted, and of course she was not aware about the meaning of his words.

"Then I say again. I will be your mate, Zev Russel and who can reject a man like you Mr. Russel?"

"Are you sure?" He asked her back.

"Yes, of course. It's my pleasure to be your mate, Mr. Russel." She smiled at him but her smile actually was a fake but it doesn't matter for Zev Russel.

"Ms-,"

"Athena."

"You have a beautiful name." Zev smiled at her

"Thank you, Zev," She looked at him for a while before she continued, "so Zev... can we talk at another place?" She asked.

"Sure. But I warned you that I am gonna mark you as mine and you can leave now before everything too late." Zev warned her but from her reaction, she thought that man was joking but... the fact... he doesn't joke at all.

"I am sure. Let's go. You can take me wherever you want." She said to him with a mesmerizing smile on her beautiful face.

"Athena, are you sure?"

'Don't say that I wasn't warned because I warned her over and over again but she insisted on following me and I also knew that she was an assassin that had a mission to kill me but I would show her that I am a game changer.' Zev thought

"Yes, I am sure. Just take me wherever you want."

'Okay!'

So Zev did as she said as she doesn't mind to go wherever he wanted so Zev brought her into his mansion. The place where there was no one knew it but just his pack.

All this time, Zev Russel always lived in the underworld. The humans just knew him as a successful man but actually he had a big responsibility to make sure that his pack could live in peace so they didn't need to be worried about their pups because Zev would provide everything that they needed. He also had a lot of loyal warriors that were ready to stand for him in all circumstances.

He was aware this woman must be an assassin that has a mission to kill him and she was sent by her client that knew about his real identity, but he also insisted to claim her tonight as his no matter what because he knew If she really was his mate, then she couldn't ignore him no matter what.

'You can't lie to me.' Zev sowed these words into her mind when their gaze met again. He knew what he wanted to do. He would make Athena not lie to him, but he still played this game with her because it seemed so interesting. Zev wanted Athena seduced by him before he claimed her to become his. For now, she agreed when he brought her wherever he wanted and of course Zev would never let her client's mission be accomplished by her.

'Search information about Athena, the woman who is standing in front of me, right now!' Zev ordered his pack while he was still talking with her. Usually, he doesn't want to know who is the assassin that wanted to kill him but this time it was different because Athena was his mate so he needed to know everything about this assassin woman.

While he still talked with her, he knew that she wanted to seduce him so she could kill him in the place that her target wanted. Zev brought her into his mansion while he waited for the investigation result from his packs. Actually, her perfect plan ruined since he knew someone had spied on him recently and he also had captured the spy and the spy had admitted everything before he killed him.

As a leader. Zev Russel didn't have a lot of choices when he realized that so many people and species were targeting him and he decided to be cruel. He promised to himself that he would never let any creatures bully his pack. Even he knew Athena was his mate, but he would never forget that she was also an assassin that gave a mission to kill him so he has to deal with her first because he doesn't want her to become a menace to his pack.

Athena acted like she looked astonished when she arrived at his mansion but he knew everything that she showed in front of him was fake. Zev admitted that he loved how she had to pretend that nothing happened. Meanwhile, her face looked a little bit worried but he tried to make her calm down.

Zev grabbed her palm and guided her to get into the mansion.

"Athena, do you really want to be my mate?" Zev asked her once again.

"Yes. I do." She answered without thinking any further. Zev couldn't believe that she could look so certain as well so, there was no problem since her 'I do' was an important key to starting the marking process.

"Then you have to remember from this now on that you are... mine." Zev whispered the words into her ear as he sowed his words into deep down in her soul forever so she would never forget it.