The day I found out that I was going to be sent to Viktor's castle as a slave was a day that would forever change my life. I had served the lord of this bit of land loyally for the entire 19 years of my life, but one day, he simply decided that I was just another mouth to feed. He was supposed to be taking his annual offering of male servants to Viktor that day, and I was told that I was going along just before being forced out of my house, having my hands shackled, and a bag put over my head. I was chained to one of two chains that were connected to the wagon destined for the castle. I almost shouted for joy when a very deep, familiar voice whispered, "Vera?"

"Raze!" I hissed. "You were picked for the offering this year?"

"Yes. Why have they chained you?"

"They said I was to be offered to Viktor."

"As what? He asks for only men."

"I don't know." The wagon then lurched forward, pulling us roughly along. "Raze, I'm frightened," I admitted.

"Don't worry. I'll protect you, just like I've always done."

It was true. Raze had been my protector from the day that my mother died giving birth to me. He had been good friends with my father, and just before my father died of illness, Raze had promised to look after his little girl. Every man in our little town feared Raze, so none of them ever even thought of touching me. "Raze?" I whispered.

"Hm?"

"How long is this journey?"

"We will most likely be there by nightfall."

Nightfall. I had only one day before the unknown enveloped me. No offering that went to Viktor's castle ever came back. We never heard from them again.

They made us walk all day with no stops. I was certain that my feet were going to break off when suddenly, we halted. I could hear horses snorting nervously, and the people around me were shuffling their feet, sensing the tense atmosphere. A group of horses ran in, and a woman called out something that I couldn't quite decipher. After another moment's silence, everything erupted into chaos. A horse screamed very near to me, and I instinctively jumped away from it, colliding with Raze. He grabbed a hold of my arm, attempting to keep me out of harm's way. I heard a loud snarl, and it abruptly occurred to me what was attacking. It was the fabled wolves of the forest. Wolves unlike any we had ever seen. Wolves that had once been human, but were bitten by another of their kind. Lycans.

Battle was going on all around me, and I couldn't see a thing. Suddenly, the bag was torn from my head. Raze stood before me, also missing the bag. "Stay behind me!" he cried. I did as he requested, watching. A single horseman rode in and dove from his animal onto one of the wolves. A woman rode around cutting wolves down right and left. Everywhere I looked, wolves were pouring from the woods. One was actually headed right towards me, and Raze hadn't noticed it. I leaned down and grabbed up the sword of a fallen soldier. When I stood back up, I screamed because the wolf was right on me. I managed to parry its strike, then thrust the sword through a gap in its defense, skewering it. It fell down and moved no more. After that, I felt a little more confident, and I started fighting the wolves as they came. The chain holding me to the wagon had been broken, so I was free to move about. I had slain two more wolves when suddenly, the man I had seen ride in, yanked off some metal collar and transformed himself. He, too, was a Lycan. He roared, and then, all the others stopped. They stared at him for a moment, then they simply ran back into the woods.

I looked between the woman who was on the ground beside him, and the newly transformed Lycan. She was a little frightened, but more shocked than anything. One of the other soldiers chose that moment to shoot a couple arrows into his back. "No! Don't!" she ordered. The Lycan faded back into human form, and the woman yanked out the arrows as more horses rode in. A very intimidating man dismounted and stalked over. The woman rose to her feet and declared, "He did it to save me!"

The man ignored her, gazing angrily down at the Lycan. "Am I not master of this house?" That's when it hit me. This man was Viktor. He hit the Lycan across the face. "You knew that you were forbidden to remove the collar?"

"Yes," the other man responded quietly.

"And yet you break my law after I gave you your life. Your days of plush living are over, slave!" He hit him again.

The woman protested, "Father, stop it! I..."

"HOLD YOUR TONGUE!" Viktor roared. "You have defied me for the last time. Get her out of here," he said to his men. She stuck her nose in the air and walked away with the guards while others came and grabbed up the Lycan, carrying him away as well. Viktor then turned to us. "Pity," he said. "Only a few survived." When his gaze fell on me, it faltered. "What's this?" He quickly crossed to me and put a hand under my chin, forcing me to look up into his glowing blue eyes. "A girl?" he spat. "What use do I have of a girl? Kill her."

I thought that Raze was going to break the shackles off his hands through the power of sheer anger, but one of the guards said, "My lord, wait." Viktor looked over at him, allowing him a moment to speak. "We've never turned a female before. She could be an experiment. Perhaps, were she to mate with one of the slaves, she would produce one of their kind. It is an alternative to our method."

Viktor turned back to me, looking me over analytically. "An interesting thought, Kraven," he said. "Very well. We'll see what she can do." He left me alone and looked around at the carnage left behind by the ambush. "Burn the bodies! All of them."

After that, all of us servants that were left alive were herded up to the castle. As I walked through the gate, I marveled at the place. It was daunting in terms of size and defense. There were huge crossbows set on the top of the wall with arrows so large they might as well be called spears. There were armored guards everywhere, many of them with the same blue eyes of their master. Once I had gotten over the dark grandeur, I noticed the slaves. All of them had on the same collar as the Lycan that saved us in the woods. The only conclusion I could come to was this: they were all Lycans. Just before I was shoved down some stairs to where I couldn't see, I saw some of the guards tying up the Lycan that saved us. It appeared that punishment was about to be delivered.

They took us down into the extensive dungeon and put us in cells. They put all of the men in one, then shoved me in an empty one next to them. "Wouldn't want you spoiled," one of the guards laughed as he unlocked my shackles.

Once they were gone, I went to the bars that adjoined mine and Raze's cell. He met me there. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

"No. You?"

"No."

We both fell silent when a group of 6 slaves were put into the cell on the other side of mine. I watched them apprehensively, hoping they wouldn't start up any taunts or anything. They didn't. As a matter of fact, all of them seemed too weary to do much of anything. I walked away from Raze's cell, choosing to simply sit with my back to the wall and my arms wrapped around my knees. Guards brought some sponges filled with water as our source of liquid. I accepted mine silently, but sat it aside, hoping to save it.

It was about half an hour later that three guards, two of them carrying a limp body, came over, opened the door to my cell, and tossed the body in. I retreated out of the way and waited until they were gone to approach him. It was the savior Lycan. His back was bloody and mangled from the intense whipping he had apparently received. Very tentatively, I knelt beside him and rolled him gently onto the one blanket that was in the cell. Then, I grabbed my water sponge and squeezed some into his barely responsive mouth. "Stay away from him," one of the slaves told me, "or they'll punish you too." I glanced over at him, meeting eyes with the one behind him. Quickly, I looked away for fear of betraying the blushing in my cheeks. He was honestly one of the cutest guys I had ever encountered.

I wrapped up the man in my cell and put some of the straw bedding under his head, then I slid into the corner opposite him. My back was now to the door, and I was closer to the cell with the slaves in it. I just kind of stared at the unconscious man on the floor, wondering what had possessed him to remove that collar. It was clearly a requirement. Then, I thought about how the wolves had fallen back before him and deferred to his roar. Who was he?

I almost jumped out of my skin when the slave I had met eyes with plopped down next to me in his cell. "Oh. Sorry," he murmured. "I didn't mean to scare you." I nodded shortly. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Vera," I whispered back hoarsely. "And yours?"

"Sabas," he answered. The man on the floor groaned and stirred a little, drawing both of our gazes for a moment. When he didn't wake up, Sabas turned back to me. He noted my fearful expression and said, "You don't have to worry. He won't hurt you."

"How do you know?"

"I know him. He's the most honorable of all of us."

"Who is he?"

"His name is Lucian. He's the blacksmith."

"Oh."

"So, tell me; Viktor has never kept a girl around before; what makes you so special?"

"I have no idea," I replied. "Someone named Kraven suggested something about me being an experiment. Mating with the slaves was mentioned, and since I'm assuming you're all Lycans, it must be something to do with whether or not they can produce a Lycan through conception and not just by bite."

"Well, you're quite insightful for a serving girl. Why do you think we're all Lycans?"

"You all wear the collar. It was only after he removed it that Lucian transformed out in the woods tonight."

He smiled. "And you're right."

"Why does the collar keep you from transforming?"

"Feel." He leaned close, offering a bit of his collar for me to touch. Softly, I reached through the bars and ran my fingers along the inside of the collar, trying very hard to ignore the fact that the back of them was brushing his neck.

"There's spikes on the inside," I deduced.

He nodded as I reclaimed my hand. "Makes for a painful change."

"I would think so." We fell silent for a moment, then I asked, "How long have you been here?"

He half-heartedly chuckled and answered, "You don't want to know that."

"You're right. I don't want to know how long I'm going to be kept here, forced to sleep with a different servant over and over until our captors get what they want." I had done quite well at keeping a strong face so far, but having said that, a few tears leaked out of my eyes.

"Hey," he said softly, reaching through the bars to take my hand. "Maybe they won't make it be a different one every time."

"What, they'll ask me if there's one I prefer? Don't get my hopes up."

"It'll most likely be Lucian. He's considered the best, I suppose. Viktor has always treated him nicer than the rest of us."

I looked over at Lucian's form on the ground, assessing whether or not I could mentally accept him as a sex partner. His body was enough to drool over, and his face wasn't too bad. Really, he was very good looking. That covered mentally. Emotional acceptance would have to be determined when he woke up and I had a chance to talk with him a bit. "You really think it'll be him?"

"I'm almost certain of it."

"Well, you don't sound very happy about it."

He shrugged. "I hope you'll forgive me for being frank, but you're the first girl I've talked to in years. I think it's only fair to say that I'm a bit jealous that Lucian is going to get to spend time with you."

"Spend time with me," I sighed. "That's a kind euphemism."

"I don't just mean the sex. I mean all the stuff before and after. Talking to you, looking at you, catching a whiff of your scent when you walk in the room...that stuff."

I smiled a little. "What are we doing now? In case you haven't noticed, you're still holding my hand." He glanced down and quickly withdrew his hand, obviously a little embarrassed. "I didn't say it bothered me," I murmured.

He met my gaze and grinned. "No, you didn't, did you?" He laced his fingers through mine again without another word. I leaned back against the stone corner of the cell, fighting the urge to sleep. I had no idea how long I had in the general safety of this cell. I should at least try to enjoy the company while I could. "You look exhausted," he noted.

"Well, we walked all day to get here. I'm definitely not at my full capacity."

"I should let you sleep, then. You'll need your strength in the days to come."

He tried to move away, but I held tight to his hand. "Don't go," I said. "Your presence is comforting to me."

"Now, why on earth would you feel that way?" he said with a smile. "I'm just a Lycan."

"For starters, you're warm. Also, just having someone close while I sleep will make sleeping easier."

He settled back down, closer to the bars, and renewed the hold he had on my hand. "Alright, then. I'll stay."

As I situated myself, trying to get comfortable, I said, "Sabas, it's nice to meet you."

Once I had settled and closed my eyes, he replied, "It was nice to meet you, too."