The Dark King of the Wolves

Chapter 1 Annie POV

PREPARE TO LOVE HIM , PREPARE TO HATE HIM AND LOATHE HIM. FOR THE HERO OF THIS BOOK ISN'T ALWAYS SO HEROIC OR GENTALMANLY.

He was hardly ever seen , hardly ever heard of, yet when people heard his name , they quaked in fear. Our King, the Alpha King of the Wolves of our region, was a man not to be messed with. He was rich , wealthy , his land and the wolves that lived on his land were always looked after. He was smart , in business and at tactics of war. He had never lost a battle. But it was also like he was a myth , only ever seen around town through the tinted black windows of his well-known car. People that have seen him say it's like looking at a god. You get so star struck you can not think a coherent thought. Some of the other things I have heard make me shiver. Apparently, the Wolf King was also mean and terrifying. Troubled and tormented.

No one knew anything about him before he turned up here. The king previous to him , well he was useless. Our land and crops were horrid. Our buildings and streets were a mess , it was unsafe to roam at night because rouges broke into our territory all of the time. Hell, most of the time you couldn't risk going out much in the day. The old king did not play well with other regions, therefore no one would do trade with us or help us. The region was pretty much about to fall , families leaving every day and seeking shelter in other regions. The only people the old king helped were people like him , rich and powerful. They never went without , all the high-quality food would go to the castle and we were left with the rest.

And for a kid like me that was left orphaned with no other family to take me in , when the rogues killed my parents one night. It was a dark, horrendous time. The people that ran the orphanage were just as greedy as the king. Any donations would benefit them before they benefit us. Most of us even used to be sent out stealing in the dark of night for them. We had no choice but to comply at least there we had a roof and walls to protect us from the awful weather we could get here. And some food. And, of course, away from the rogues that roamed.

The new king turned up like a dark knight, I suppose , he challenged the old king in a fight for the throne. And he made sure to challenge him in public. On the rare occasion the old king left his dark castle that loomed over us all to visit us in the streets. It was to address a mass killing of wolves by rogues two nights prior. The people were demanding answers , they were getting infuriated , starved and scared for their lives. People say the old king only showed his face that day to try and stop more people leaving with his lies that he would stop the rogues and improve our state of living. The more people that left , the more no one was paying contribution to the king. It's the wolf version of humans paying their taxes . We pay a contribution , he keeps our realm safe, prosperous, clean and thriving.

It was then , whilst the king was surrounded by his own warriors , the ones that only protected the castle and nothing else. Did the new king throw out the challenge in front of atleast one hundred wolves of the realm. The story has it he pushed through the crowd with a black hoodie on , the hood pulled up and his head down. While the old king was making his fake promises , he interrupted him. " IF I MAY INTERRUPT "his voice had boomed out , stopping the old king's speech mid word. The old king had looked down on him like he was a peasant, a bug that needed to be squashed , before he ignored his request and proceeded to speak, not letting him have his voice.

But the new king hadn't let that stop him , he had come here for one purpose and one purpose only. As the old king continued to speak, he spoke over him. " I ENVOKE THE LAW OF THE ROYALS " he shouted , and that had got the old king's attention. His eyes had narrowed at the hooded man who had yet to show his face. " How would someone like you know the laws of the royals ? "he spat down at him. " YOU MEAN THE LAWS THAT PEOPLE LIKE YOU WILL NOT SHARE AMONG OTHERS, BECAUSE IF YOU DID IT WOULD MEAN YOUR END. THE MATTER IS NOT HOW I KNOW BUT THAT I KNOW .AND I ENVOKE THE RULE OF THE ROYALS. ONE RULE IMPERTICULAR THAT STATES. IF THE KING INCHARGE IS NOT LOOKING AFTER HIS CHARGES , HIS PEOPLE , HIS PACK. AND HE HAS NO OFFICIAL HEIRS TO THAT THROWN FOR THE PEOPLE TO VOTE INTO POWER AND OVER THROW THE CURRENT RULES POWER. THEN AN ALPHA WOLF OF THAT REGION CAN CHALLANGE THE CURRENT LEADERSHIP AND IF WON TAKE OVER THE LEADERSHIP AS ALPHA KING OF THAT REALM " his voice had boomed loud enough for most of the realm to be heard and by this point more wolves had come to watch the show.

The old king had frozen on the spot , shocked that this unknown person knew one of the oldest rules ever set among the alpha kings. And one of the most guarded , alpha kings did not want everyone knowing. Why would they want people to know the one thing that could make them lose everything? The old king had laughed it off like a joke. " Who says I am not looking after my people ? Or I have no heirs ? "he played it off like the unknown man was stupid. But he wasn't. He must have done his research before he came. The man had lifted his head and pulled down his hood , and everyone had gawked, especially the women gathered at the sheer perfection of what this man was. Dark hair , piercing dark eyes that could cut glass or see into your soul. His frame is strong and muscular. And tattoos that could be seen coming from his tshirt up his neck. His eyes did not waver from the old king. By now he didn't have to shout , the street was so quiet you would have heard a mouse squeak.

" You only have to look around to see you are not. How malnutritied your charges are , the disgusting state of this realm. That even pigs would turn their noses up at. The fact that more and more wolves are fleeing here, or being attacked and murdered on your streets, the bodies are left for days before they are moved. Yet look up at your castle and you see no such filth. And you have no legal children , although bastard ones. I am sure you have many. Your greed even stopped you claiming a child , and an heir. Too scared that they will take what you believe is yours. A realm does not belong to a king , it belongs to the people. So, like you heard, I will challenge you for this realm ". A roar of applause had broken out , the people of this realm carried away by the man's speech. It was clear whose side they were on. I'm sure in their minds at that time , all the people thought that was surley he could be no worse than him.

And they were not wrong , he was not worse, he was just different. The old king could not turn down the challenge. It was not allowed. The following night, the battle had taken place and the old king had been no match. People say the new king had killed the old king in the most ungracious and unrespectful way he could. He humiliated him and when all was done , he parraded the old king's head around like a trophy. For days after that , no one saw or heard of the new king. People began to question if he was going to keep his word. Some people had never liked the idea of the challenge , an outsider. Someone no one they knew anything about now was in charge of our realm.

But then the new kings' changes started to take affect. A kerphew was put out , all businesses and wolves had to be in doors and closed up by 11pm. Anyone seen on the streets after that will be treated as a rogue and killed , even if you were not a rogue. Some tested those boundaries , even the richest of the realm. And true to his word , they were killed no matter who they were. It became evident , he did not care about what background that person had. The only ones not to be killed were children , but even they had to learn their lesson. And they would be placed in cells at the castle until he deemed they had learnt. The warriors that once guarded the castle now guarded the borders of the realm, and more male and female wolves were called to the castle to train those that had alpha abilities or showed great strength, like beta wolves.

Improvments were made to the realm as well as jobs becoming available. He owned pretty much every business in the realm. After just a few short years, he paid owners twice what their businesses were worth ,and he paid good wages once he had hold of those businesses. Other realms started trading again , so eventually the wolves of the realm did not care who this mysterious, dangerous, unknown man was that had become our king. Over time, the kerphew got extended as fewer and fewer rogues attacked , until they were never heard of. The only crimes that were heard of were those that were committed by wolves of the realm and the punishment dished out to those that did commit them. Well, just the thought made shivers run down my spine. It didn't eradicate all danger , but people were just more careful about it.

I hadn't seen any of this happen because at the time he arrived I was only fourteen. I had been locked in the orphanage still. It was now six years later and I had my own little apartment on the more run-down side of the realm. The new king was good ,but he wasn't a magician. Like any town , village or city , or realm. Some areas were just nicer than others. And I had a job working as a waitress at a night club. One that was owned by him, so my wages were OK. Enough for me to get by and I was happy with that. More than , I loved my little home. Some still talk badly of the new king at times, but I was fascinated by the stories people told of who had met him. I wished I could, just a glance. No pictures were allowed to be taken of him , and the ones that had been sneakly taken were not of good quality , so I actually didn't know exactly what he looked like. But the stories , they just did something for me. They made me feel excited.