Chosen By Ruin

This book follows no strict rules. It's inspired by the idea of a dark world; one built on secrets, power, and truths that were never meant to be uncovered.

A world where survival is earned, trust is a liability, and every smile could be hiding something deadly.

But this author is a die-hard lover of the romance genre, and you will find that beneath all the brutality, the bloodshed, and the chaos... romance is the backbone of it all.

Not the soft kind. Not the safe kind. But the kind that burns. The kind that consumes. The kind that makes you question whether love is salvation... or the most dangerous weapon of all. Because in this story, love does not come gently. It comes with obsession. With betrayal. With power. And sometimes-

with death.

--

A SHORT PROLOGUE: A flexible Insight Into The Story's Background.

At seven years old, Liliana Veyne already knew something was wrong about her. She had spent all her years locked inside the grand Veyne estate in Eldoria.

While her older sister, Rhea, moved freely and was proudly presented to guests, Liliana was kept indoors, away from everyone. Rhea was their parents' biological child. Liliana was adopted.

She had been told her real parents died in a car accident after her birth, but even at her young age, she could feel the difference in how she was treated.

She once overheard a guest say she did not have a wolf and would one day be sent away to live among humans. When she asked her mother what that meant, she was told she was "pure" and needed protection from the world. Liliana did not fully understand, but she accepted it. Her parents still showed her kindness, just not the same kind they gave Rhea. And somehow, she knew that difference mattered.

Despite everything, Liliana preferred her quiet life to Rhea's cruelty. One evening, for the first time, she was allowed to attend a ball outside the estate. Before leaving, she met the only person who made her feel truly seen-a boy who visited her secretly through her window. He never spoke, only wrote to her and brought her flowers every day.

She called him her "flower boy." That night, he invited her to his own family's gathering, but before she could respond, her parents came in and took her away to the ball. At the event, Liliana felt out of place. Her parents proudly introduced Rhea to everyone while ignoring her. Hurt, she slipped away and hid behind a pillar, crying quietly. That was when the boy found her again. He comforted her with a note, promising that one day he would make her happy and she would never cry again. Then he kissed her cheek, and for a brief moment, she felt a strange and powerful connection with him that she could not explain.

Their moment was interrupted when Rhea appeared and tried to introduce herself to the boy as the Veynes' only daughter. Before anything else could happen, chaos broke out. Gunshots exploded through the ballroom. Panic spread as people screamed and bodies fell. Armed men surrounded the area, overpowering everyone. Liliana watched in horror as her parents were forced to their knees at gunpoint.

The leader, a man called Beta Tal, demanded to know which of their daughters carried a rare lightning crest. When her parents hesitated, he threatened to kill her mother. Unable to endure it, her father revealed that Rhea was the one. Rhea was dragged away as she screamed for help. Liliana stood frozen, unable to understand what was happening.

Moments later, her parents were shot and killed in front of her. Liliana screamed, but was seized and held back. When one of the men suggested killing her too, Beta Tal refused. He decided she would be useful.

Terrified and broken, Liliana was taken away with them. As she sat in the car, surrounded by the people who destroyed her life, one thought settled deep inside her heart. One day, she would find her sister again. And no matter how long it took, she would make them pay.

Liliana's POV

Spending thirteen years planning my escape under a delirious Alpha's den only to learn I will be sold out as a breeder today is not exactly how I planned my Twentieth birthday.

"You need to stop throwing that, or they'll know you've been training, Liliana."

I hear aunty Maerra say, but I don't look back. Cold adrenaline bursts through my veins as another dagger leaves my fingers and cuts through the air with a satisfying whistle. It lands on the board's dead center.

If it were up to me, that blade would be buried deep in Alpha Kol's chest.

Aunt Maerra sighs behind me. "You are angry." She knows me too well.

"They are selling me off as a breeder today." I remind her. The words taste like rot, making my stomach twist anxiously. I motion forward to reach for the dagger, pull it back, and return to aim again. I keep throwing till my arm aches.

The board's surface is now scarred. Holes layered on holes- like me.

Silence stretches behind me. Then her footsteps approach.

"You've lasted thirteen years here," she says. "That's more than most humans ever get. You're lucky..."

"Don't, aunt Maerra." I interrupt her as I pivot to face her.

Luck wouldn't be a man forcing himself on me night after night since I turned sixteen. Luck wouldn't leave bruises that never quite fade on my skin. Luck wouldn't sound like my silence while he tried to break it out of me.

"Saying I'm lucky when it comes to that bastard makes me nauseous," I add, my voice tighter now. "You know what he's done to me."

Aunt Maerra smiled, "Turn around. Your hair is not so presentable." I know what she's doing, but I turn anyway. She's trying to make me feel better, like she always did.

She is like a mother figure to me. The only warmth I've ever known in this hell. Even though she is also a victim of this cage like me.

"You have survived thirteen years in this den," she says gently, as she braids my hair into one long root.

"Wherever they take you next, try your best to stay alive," She keeps braiding. "Choose your battles." Her voice hitch. "You haven't come this long way to die."

My chest tightens. It feels like the right time to open up to her about something I've kept to myself for a long time. I don't know when I would see her again. "Aunt Maerra, I have a secret..."

"Keep it to yourself." She cuts me. I frown, then turn around after she drops my hair.

"I'm done." She says, smiling. I think she doesn't want more of me to avoid missing me more.

My eyes sting. I'm not ready to depart from her, but I have a mission- To plan my escape from my buyer and find my sister. She was taken because she possessed something my parents' killers wanted. I still remember. I can only hope she's still alive.

I force a smile that I have no doubt looks sad at Aunt Maerra. "I will make it out alive and come back to get you out of here. I promise."

"Focus on yourself and survive." Her hand squeezes mine.

-

The auction room reeks of power and decay. I step inside and my stomach churns instantly.

Omegas and slaves are lined up on a raised table- some naked, some barely covered, displayed like objects waiting to be claimed.

Men in expensive suits circle them slowly, their eyes nothing short of predatory perusing.

My pulse pounds as I imagine myself up there. Exposed too.

"And there she is. Your human slave is here, Alpha Soren."

My head snaps toward Alpha Kol. He's looking directly at me. He just referred to me as... Wait... Alpha Soren?

He's Kol's best friend. He comes here often and watches me closely whenever I'm within his sight. He had even touched my chest before while passing, and it had taken every ounce of self restraint not to slap him hard in his face.

Disgust coils tighter in my gut. No. He can't be my buyer.

I refuse to look at him as if that would miraculously change my fate. Instead, my gaze drifts back to the table- Just in time to see one of the men grab Lena's naked breast like he's testing meat.

She stiffens and tremble, but doesn't fight.

Because she knows better. If no one buys her...She dies.

"You. Move." A rough hand grabs my arm and shoves me forward.

"Strip. Get on the table. You're next."

I steady myself before I fall, then step back instead. "No." I say.

I didn't plan to resist, but the view before me is not what I expected. It makes me angry.

"I'll stand here. Whoever wants to buy me can see me well enough." I let my eyes dart across the shocked faces around the table. Even the omegas look scared on my behalf.

But I am too pissed to care. My gaze meets Alpha Kol and his jaw clenches like he could rip my head off any moment from now. He is capable of doing so.

A sharp slap meets my cheek and throw my head to the side. I feel pain, but it doesn't outmatch the intense disgust I feel.

I refuse to give Beta Garry the satisfaction of seeing the hurt in my eyes after hitting me. I don't look at him. My eyes return to that table. It keeps my anger burning alive.

"How dare you..."

"Leave her." A voice I know too well interferes. Alpha Soren. "I bet her feistiness would serve me well at night." He says beside Alpha Kol. His gaze drags over me like I'm already his as he approaches.

He looks no older than thirty five. Tall and lanky. I've heard of how dangerous he is. Aunt Maerra told me.

Alpha Kol glances at him. "You still want her? I can discipline..."

"I'm taking her." He says without hesitation.

"I like her exactly like this. She can withstand torture." The back of his hand runs across my face and I almost vomit. But I do nothing. Since it's my lack of obedience he seems to be pleased with.".

His lips curl faintly and my stomach drops.

"Then she's yours," Alpha Kol says with a smirk that makes my skin crawl.

Without warning, Alpha Soren grabs my hand like I'm his prize. I flinch.

"I'm sure this one won't last a month before you kill her, Soren. She doesn't strike me as a submissive."

But Soren doesn't look at them as he leads me out of Scarlet Pack House.

Cruel anxiety wounds through me as I follow him towards the unknown. Immediately we're alone in his vehicle, his dark eyes turn to me.

I swear if he touches me...

"You are exactly the kind of girl I've been looking for to embark on this mission."

I blink, confusion setting in. "What do you mean?"

His upper lip tilts upward. "I will get you into an academy. All you have to do is to kill their future Alpha. Xaden Draven."

My eyes narrow at him with more confusion, expecting him to take his words back. But he doesn't.

"Kill?" I ask, my expression contorting to a frown.

Alpha Sorren's gaze drops to my body. "If you can't do it, I have numerous other uses for you."

There is no way those other uses would be better.

He continues, "If you don't agree to it. I will traffic you off to someone who needs a breeder. He kills them after he's done using them, or I'll return you to Kol and inform him that you've been secretly training to avenge your parents' death."

A cold wave of fear replaces the control I had wrapped around myself. How did he know?

"How do you..."

"Know?" Soren takes the word from me smoothly, the corner of his lips lifting. "You're naive if you think you have a loyal friend in Kol's house."

My heart breaks immediately. He doesn't need to say it. The only person that knows of my personal affairs in Scarlet Pack is Maerra. Heavy disappointment rolls through me.

Then realization. Was that why she didn't want more of my secrets? Because she knew she would tell them?

I'm glad I didn't later tell her what I would have if she hadn't stopped me.

"I know everything," he continues. "Including your plan to escape from my house." I lower my gaze and let the disappointment hit again. Then why had she told me not to die when she had already pushed me into death's cold hands? I don't understand it. And I don't want to.

I inhale deeply. I would rather not be a breeder nor let him disclose whatever he knows to Alpha Kol. "Tell me about the mission," I find myself saying against my will.

His lips curl with approval. "I thought so."

-

That is how I find myself waiting in Soren's car before the gates of SupraVeil Academy the next morning.

A supernatural school located in Venmount- the east side of the country, situated far away from the urban areas. Humans like me are not supposed to know about this deadly location.

But my mission...

The academy rises ahead like a building that could only exist in one's imagination. It's vast, enclosed, looking like nothing can take it down.

"They will definitely think you are Hannah Wales. You look like her now." Alpha Soren says from the driver seat.

I guess I do. My hair is now dyed- from dark brown to pure blonde, my blue eyes hidden under a golden brown set of contact lenses. And a pyramid and star tattoo is now gracing the left side of my wrist. We got it all done on me by his pack's hairstylist this morning.

According to Alpha Soren- The girl I am about to impersonate had the features that I now possess. Hannah Wales. But she died two days ago. She couldn't change into her wolf but forced it and died.

Hannah Wales' mother is friends with the Luna of the wolf pack in Supraveil. The Luna of the pack is mother to the future Alpha I'm sent to kill- Xaden Draven.

The girl and her parents are members of Alpha Soren's pack. Hannah was meant to start schooling in the very academy I'm about to set my feet in today, to be thought how to change to her wolf without breaking, but she's not here. I am, using her personal for a deadly purpose that makes my skin crawl.

But I have no choice.

Just as I am about to step out of his car, Soren's hand closes over mine. I freeze.

His thumb drags slowly across my skin- too slow to be anything but intentional.

"Don't sleep with him," he says quietly. "Like I've said earlier, he was born cursed. Women who do dies."

I push the fear that threatens to surface away. "I have absolutely zero intention to." I say, pulling my hand away.

His gaze lingers a second longer than necessary. "Go." He finally says.

I hesitate again for a moment, having a feeling that I don't have enough information about this future Alpha or why exactly Soren wants him dead.

But time is going. A month is all I have, and I will gain my freedom. The thought of being free fills me with ecstasy. I can't wait to find my sister.

I step out of the car and walk toward the gates without looking back.

-

The registration hall is already filled. Voices and movements circle around me. I see young people like me, who are surely here for the right reasons, not for a reason as sick as mine.

I keep my posture straight, and blend in. I join the line, feeling too aware as I approach the long desk where four officials sit. They are registering us in.

According to what I was told, they don't allow just anybody into their academy. Only people whose surnames are relevant in the supernatural world gets into this training school.

Rhea used to mention hoping when she grows up, she would get into this Academy when we were little- on very random days when we were not fighting or she wasn't busy hating me.

What if she's already here? The thought gives me a chill.

It gets to my turn, and I clear my throat silently.

"Your name?" The woman with high arched brows among them ask.

Liliana Veyne. But not here. "Hannah Wales." I answer and her pen pauses. She looks up at me.

This isn't the right time to appear nervous. I meet her narrowed displeasing gaze with mine. My gaze falls when she wouldn't look away.

Just then, she says, "Your mother and I are enemies. I suggest you don't cross my path." She gestures for me to go in but my heart only races faster.

I don't question it. I only regret not getting enough information from Soren. As we walk in, an envelope falls from a brunette's carelessly-zipped backpack and I help her pick it up before she can walk past it.

"Thank you." She beams brightly at me. I don't bother to answer. I'm not here to make friends, and won't engage with anyone to the extent of developing attachments.

I finally walk into a wide fancy hall way, and I let my eyes roam. Beautiful paintings line the wall. Most of them are eerie. A big black wolf. A high castle surrounded by butterflies. Snakes curled around black flowers.

And a dragon painting. A chilling tingle creeps up my arm, traveling to my spine as I access the dragon painting specifically. It's...big.

I find it appealing. Do dragons truly exist?

"Beautiful arts. I love them too." A girl speaks beside me. I let my head turn towards her only to realize she's the pretty brunette I helped pick up her envelope earlier.

"Yeah." I answer curtly.

"I'm Sloane Mulligan. Thank you for earlier. First year?" She introduces herself, and even though she sounds warm, I still don't want to make friends.

"Hannah. First year." I nod, the fake name feeling foreign on my tongue.

Before anything else can be said- A strange force slams into me. So hard that I lost balance on my feet.

I hit the ground, breath knocked from my lungs as the room erupts in noise.

"Here you are!"

My head snaps up. A boy storms toward me, fury blazing in his eyes.

"Your mother killed my sister!"

My heart drops.

What?

"No..."

I don't get to finish. Something invisible strikes me again.

My body is thrown sideways- rolling and crashing into the hallway floor. Pain explodes through my ribs, making me dizzy. Shit. I should have brought my daggers here.

He hit me with that force again and I spin. Another spin.

My skin tears where I scrape against the ground.

I can't stop it.

My body slams into a sudden halt just when I think I'm rolling to death.

I just rolled onto something solid. I look to see a pair of black leather boots.

I groan as I try to stand but my body resists. I had never experienced such before. Maybe I should have asked Soren to allow for better preparation.

"Get off my feet except you have a death wish." A deep baritone voice threatens above me, reminding me that I'm lying on someone's feet.

I jerk my head up and the bluest eyes I have ever seen pin me in place- Cold, intense, and entirely unimpressed.

His structure and face must have been created when the gods were in their happiest moment.

It feels illogical to notice such in the presence of death, but...

"Leave her, Xaden. She's mine to kill."

I turn in time to see the boy who I've now concluded uses magic- closes up on me. But beyond the fear I feel is the shocking realization that the blue-eyed I was just slammed onto is Xaden.

My chest heaves as I rise to my feet.

Xaden Draven. The same future Alpha I was sent here to kill.