Savage Desire
Chapter 1

Alpha Jeremy Stanton was in a very bad mood. The fact that it was a full moon that night was making his mood even darker. The Stanwood Pack, which was the biggest pack in the country, was getting ready for a run and that never ceased to bring a feeling of excitement and anxiety amongst the pack. The air was charged. It was usually the most importance event that occurred every month because newly turned wolves got to take their first run to the joy and pride of the grown-ups.

Just as Alpha Jeremy always insisted on, the warriors had scanned the parameters to ensure that the pack would be safe during their run. These checks were important as rogues or hunters could be waiting to attack. Rogues were wolves with no packs. They were usually broken from customary behavior and killed indiscriminately and heedlessly. Hunters on the other hand were that group of people who had made it their life's mission to destroy supernatural beings such as werewolves from existence. When Jeremy heard word, mere hours before their run, that some hunters were lying in wait for them, he'd growled with fury. And when he was told that the hunters had managed to escape, leaving just one man behind, he'd gotten even angrier. He'd ordered his warriors to bring the hunter back to the camp. Jeremy wanted to personally kill the hunter this time around, to placate his furious wolf.

As Jeremy paced impatiently waiting for his warriors, the pack got ready to move. Jeremy's house was a modern day castle. It was huge and breathtakingly beautiful. A lot had gone into the magnificent structure. To some, the house was a five star hotel as it could easily house about three hundred people. There were hundreds of acres of land around Alpha Jeremy's house, all belonging to the Alpha. Though the werewolves lived anywhere they wished... amongst regular human folk, they always converged in Jeremy's mansion once every month to run as a pack. Wolves from other packs who owed allegiance to Jeremy usually joined the Stanwood pack for their runs. For the wolves, it was the best place to be on a night of a full moon because they got to run to their hearts content in the forest surrounding the property. Jeremy was therefore particular about security as he was responsible for not only his pack members, but non-pack members too.

'We're here Alpha. Jeremy heard his lead warrior say through their mind link and instantly felt his fangs drop. He couldn't wait to see the hunter who dared come that far to hunt his pack on such a night.

'I'm out here!' Jeremy responded and turned to face his five betas. They were the most important people after the Alpha and his mate, if he had one. Their job was to take over command and enforce the law whenever the Alpha wasn't present. The betas were so important and respected that their position couldn't be challenged without the alpha's approval. "They're here." He informed the anxious betas.

Jeremy turned to face the direction he knew his warriors were going to emerge from and promptly gasped when a strong wind blew. Fuck! He groaned silently as his eyes widened in shock and confusion. Where the fuck had that scent come from, Jeremy asked himself as he closed his

eyes and breathed in deeply. His mouth watered and he felt his cock go instantly hard. No fucking way! From what he'd been taught, only one thing could cause his current reaction. His mate was close. But who, Jeremy asked himself as he opened his eyes and looked around, hoping to see a strange female standing close. It could be someone from the visiting packs. But Jeremy noticed that there were no women around where they stood waiting for the warriors. They were all at the southern part of the property, getting ready for their run. He turned to face his approaching warriors and felt his knees weaken when the scent got even more intense and delicious. Jeremy swallowed as he felt his eyes shift. His wolf was dying to get out and go to his mate and Jeremy had to do everything in his power not to let that happen as he didn't even know who the said mate was.

By the time the warriors got to their alpha and his betas, Jeremy's skin had broken out in sweat despite the chilly nature of the weather.

"Are you alright Jer?" His best friend and head beta, Philip asked quietly beside him with concern in his eyes.

"I'm fine." Jeremy rasped curtly. "Let's just get this over and done with." He said as he turned to fully face the warriors.

Behind the warriors, with his head covered in a sack and his hands in cus was the caught hunter. “Here he is Alpha." Stan said as he pushed the apprehended hunter forward. "We haven't questioned him at all but he keeps saying he means no harm." He reported as he yanked the sack of the head of the hunter. "Those who escaped left their weapons behind." He said pointing at the guns in the possession of one of the warriors. "They're filled with silver

bullets. I think the ones who escaped are kids. This one was probably training them."

"I told you I'm..." The hunter began but shut up when the alpha turned his angry eyes on him.

Jeremy had to suppress his groan as he stared into the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen. They were glassy green with flecks of amber. The man looked to be in his early twenties, around five 'nine in height, lean, and had the whitest blond hair Jeremy had ever seen. It was cropped short on the sides and slighter longer on top. The hunter was drop-dead gorgeous. And he was his mate.

"Fuck!" Jeremy swore as he stared into the frightened eyes of the hunter.

There was one thing everyone knew about Alpha Jeremy Stanton. He hated hunters with a passion because hunters had killed his father and kid brother. He always told his pack that it was sick to simply kill someone when you had no proof that that person was causing harm to other people. Since he and his pack always made it a point never to cause anyone any harm, hunters were to Jeremy, foolish murderers who needed to be taken out when caught. He never killed them though. He rather made his resident witch work on hunters who got caught. And by the time his witch was through with the hunters, their thirst for the hunt was no more.

It was also a known fact that Alpha Jeremy had never understood the concept of same sex relationships. He would accept it if anyone felt they had to be gay, but had never understood what could possibly be nice about that whole orientation when the couple could not even make babies. He thought it was a waste of time and sperm. So for Jeremy, the universe had dealt him the nastiest blow by giving him a mate who was not only a hunter, but was also

a man. Jeremy got so mad he didn't just see red, his eyes turned red.

Everyone stepped back in fear, except the hunter. Even if he knew just how deadly the man standing in front of him had just become...which he didn't...he couldn't have moved because the power from those red eye inexplicably had him rooted to the spot. The warriors and betas on the other hand, knew that a red-eyed Jeremy, was a lethal weapon. The last time their alpha had unleashed his Ojah power, it hadn't been pretty and they all remembered very clearly.

Jeremy was not just an alpha, but was also one of the three Ojahs in the Were kingdom. That made Jeremy the only alpha who was also an Ojah, making him the most powerful supernatural being in the Were kingdom. Ojahs were a rare form of shape shifters who were both ruthless assassins and conjurers. An Ojah was so powerful that they couldn't be controlled when their powers were unleashed. Unleashing that power meant the Ojah in question had turned his humanity of. Just one Ojah could slaughter an army within mere seconds. It was therefore very rare for an Ojah to allow that ruthless inhuman side of their being to come out. Even the wolf of an Ojah became uneasy and subdued whenever a werewolf allowed his Ojah power to take over their body because at that point, the sane human was no longer present. The ruthless deadly Ojah spirit had total control over the individual and his wolf. To shut that deadly bloodthirsty spirit down, something very intense needed to occur to force the Ojah back to their senses. Jeremy's anger and confusion was obviously so intense that it had triggered of his Ojah powers, electively turning of his humanity. Being an alpha, however, unconsciously held Jeremy back from destroying his pack members and that was the only thing that kept his warriors and betas from fleeing. An Alpha would never destroy his pack and

the men were counting on that. As Jeremy stared at his mate, his fangs elongated. What nobody knew was the war raging within him, between the ruthless Ojah who hated what fate had done to him, and his wolf, who simply wanted to mark his mate. As an alpha, Jeremy's wolf was braver than the usual wolf and could to an extent, stand up to the bloodthirsty assassin that Jeremy had become. The war raged on between the Ojah and his wolf. It had been prophesied that his mate was special, the Ojah fumed. But what made this human being special, he wondered angrily. Was it the fact that he was a man? Or was it the fact that he couldn't possibly give him an heir? What kind of silly joke had Luna played on him? And as if being a man wasn't enough, he was a murdering hunter. Jeremy was damn furious at the injustice of it all.

In the end, man and beast had to come to a compromise. Left to the currently heartless and deadly Jeremy alone, the hunter would be dead that very instant but since he was his mate, his stubborn wolf wouldn't allow it. Even in his current state, Jeremy knew the consequences of killing a mate. Luna would never forgive him. He also knew he couldn't reject his mate as that would set a bad example for his pack. But Jeremy didn't give a flying fuck about all that consequence. He just wanted to kill the murdering hunter standing before him. After a fierce argument between him and his wolf, the Ojah agreed not to kill the hunter only if he could punish the hunter in his own way. It was agreed that rather than kill the hunter as Jeremy's rage was calling for, he was going to give him the greatest punishment that any hunter could be given. And that was to turn the hunter into what he hunted. Jeremy would bite the hunter just to turn him but not to mark him as his mate...yet. To worsen the punishment even more, the excruciating pain that came with that act of biting to transform a human into a werewolf, was not going to be masked. He would be made

to feel every bit of that pain and even more, as payback for his wicked intentions. Not killing him was all the mercy Jeremy planned on showing the man. And though Jeremy could feel the dread and agitation coming from his wolf for the pain he was about to inflict upon his mate, Jeremy moved with determination towards the hunter...like the predator that he was.

When he got to the hunter, Jeremy turned him around, ripped the back of his shirt to expose the back of his neck, reared back with an angry growl, and then struck...hard. The warriors and the betas gasped at the sound of their alpha's fangs sinking with a crunch into the bone at the back of the hunter's neck. Receiving a bite from an angry alpha was painful enough. But receiving a bite from an angry alpha in the current state of theirs had to be even more painful. And as if that wasn't enough, the bite was being administered on that part of the human body which delivered the most excruciating pain...the back of the neck. That had to be, without a doubt, the most painful bite ever. Even the anguished cry from the hunter didn't give the angry Alpha pause. He rather tightened his hold at the hunter's throat when he tried to get away from his sharp teeth. Jeremy's fangs sunk deep, with intent to cause maximum pain as he allowed the venom to flow into the hunter. The alpha was beyond feeling at that point. He simply wanted to inflict pain and that was exactly what he did. He felt the hunter convulse with utter pain against him but his fangs remained embedded in his neck. He only released the man when he felt him go limp against him in a faint. Jeremy watched stonily as his mate crumbled in a heap at his feet.

Following a bite, the venom would begin duplicating itself immediately in the human bloodstream. The process took roughly six to nine weeks to fully integrate with the

human cell. During that time, the human would usually experience insomnia, headaches, flu-like symptoms, and depending on how they were bitten, excruciating pain. Once the venom had fully integrated with the cells, the human would become a werewolf. Some either died in the process or became deformed and had to be put down. The bite the hunter was given, and the amount of venom that was deposited into him, electively erased the luxury that came with a gradual transformation as was the norm. His was supposed to be a quick transformation. And the pain that came with that was a hundredfold compared to the gradual transformation. None of the werewolves gathered wished to ever be in the shoes of the hunter.

"Take him to the dungeon and lock him in cage two." Jeremy growled. "And Alex, tell our hunters to lead the packs out." He ordered. "Are the pup watchers in place?" He asked, referring to the sitters of the pack who kept watch over the pups whenever the others had to go for runs, hunts or battle. Anyone who had not attained the age of fifteen and therefore hadn't had their first shift yet was classified as a pup. One would be a fool to think that pup watchers were weak and soft. On the contrary they could be the most vicious members of the pack if anyone messed with the pups.

"They are, Alpha." Someone answered.

"Good. Let's run." Jeremy nodded and abruptly turned to go, followed by his lead beta, Philip.

A completely stunned Philip turned to watch as the warriors picked up the collapsed hunter and rushed to fall into step beside his alpha. "What the f**k just happened, Jeremy?" He whispered, not as scared of the alpha as the others because he knew Jeremy would never harm him...well unless of course he crossed a line.

"Questioning me, Philip?" Jeremy growled, still in his kill mode.

"You know I'm not." Philip whispered, desperate to get his friend back. It was obvious something had triggered that suppressed side of Jeremy. "I just want to know what just happened back there. Jer, you have to control it. If that hunter triggered it, then I think you should stay away from him." He knew that much as his Alpha was fierce and ruthless when it came to their enemies, he was the most sympathetic and just man he'd ever met. Putting that hunter...and a human for that matter, through that agonizing pain was rather cruel and uncalled for and so unlike his alpha. Yes, he hated hunters but that alone couldn't possibly have brought out that deadly side of him.

"I had my reasons. And I'm not in the mood to talk about it tonight." Jeremy snapped as he started stripping out of his clothes. He wanted to destroy something.

"As your beta, I understand." Philip answered quietly and respectfully. Anyone in their right mind would stay away from a red-eyed Jeremy but Philip knew he had to at least try to talk his alpha down. "But as your best friend, you better get ready to...Oh fuck, Jer pl... please..." Philip gasped when he suddenly found his throat in the grip of Jeremy. "Alp..." But before he could get the word out, Jeremy flung him away from him.

"You know better than to get on my nerves right now, Philip." Jeremy growled and then shifted into a huge red wolf. The wolf watched Philip bare his neck in submission, and then charged into the forest, knowing his friend would not be far behind him. Philip quickly stripped as he watched his alpha move into the forest at a furious pace. With a frustrated growl he shifted into a large grey wolf and charged after his friend.

He knew his friend had noticed how upset he was but thanks to the controlling Ojah spirit, the alpha couldn't be bothered as he would have been had he been in his right frame of mind. That was one of the perks of turning one's humanity of. Jeremy didn't care that his best friend was upset with him at all. They were virtually like brothers and shared everything. When Jeremy's father and little brother were killed by hunters about twenty years earlier, his father had taken Jeremy under his wing and trained him as his own father would have done had he been alive. As beta to Jeremy's father, his dad had stepped in for some years as Alpha when his friend was killed and given Jeremy all the training and coaching he needed to become a great alpha. Even at that young age, everyone knew Jeremy would be a brilliant alpha. And Jeremy hadn't let his people down. At age thirty-one, he had accomplished so much for himself and gained the respect of not only his pack, but the public in general. JS Group of companies was popular worldwide and owned by none other than Jeremy. He was intelligent, resourceful, and one of the revered and feared Alphas in the supernatural community. The pack was so proud of their alpha.

Although Philip was two years older than Jeremy, the two of them had virtually been joined at the hip since they were kids. No one had the nerve to tell Jeremy of to his face except Philip and Jeremy's mother. Well, this time Philip knew he was going to have to wait to tell Jeremy of unless of course he wanted his throat ripped out by his literally crazy alpha. And as he charged after his alpha, Philip tried to ascertain what had triggered of his friend's current state. If anyone could figure it out, he could. He knew Jeremy too well. As Jeremy ran hard and fast, all he could think of was having a talk with Philip's father, Joel. He needed to talk to

the elder who was also his mentor. Jeremy really needed to ask the elder whether what he'd felt about the hunter could have been a mistake. He wasn't gay for f**k's sake. But even the Ojah controlled Jeremy respected the man too much to go before him in his current state. He knew the elder would definitely be disappointed if he got to know what had caused him to lose control of himself. He would wait until he was himself again no matter how long it took, Jeremy thought as his paws pounded the earth.