[PRESENT DAY]
"Call Leader Kael! She has finally woken up!"
A woman's voice pierces through the fog in my mind as I struggle to open my eyes. A sharp gasp escapes my lips, the cold surrounding me is bone-deep. I feel like I'm made of ice.
I manage to crack my eyelids open just enough to see a flurry of movement through a thick glass wall. Several people are rushing out of a crooked wooden door.
"Should we open the pod?" a male voice asks. He stands beside a tall woman with long silver hair.
"No. Not until Kael instructs us. You know how stern he is with her."
Her? Who's her? Is that… me?
Where am I?
I try to sit up but realize I'm enclosed in what looks like a glass pod. Ancient markings are etched across its surface. A silver ring lies beside me, adorned with the same inscriptions, resting on a bed of rose petals.
"What are these?" I whisper, squinting.
Don't worry. You are safe.
The voice comes from inside me.
My eyes snap open in terror. What was that? Did someone just speak through my head?
I try to calm myself, hoping it was just a hallucination.
As I take in my surroundings, I realize the wooden room is laced with snow, clinging to the corners and edges like frostbite. A towering shelf holds rows of strange potions in ancient vials. The place looks like something from an occult fantasy.
"Leader Kael!" the woman announces as a man storms through the warped wooden door.
The moment his eyes meet mine, he stops.
He stares at me with wide, striking brown eyes. His eyes are the softest things I have ever looked into, and despite the gentleness, his whole masculine body is upright and intimidating.
"Open it," he commands.
The silver-haired woman nods, presses a button, and the glass slowly retracts with a hiss. A wave of freezing air crashes over me, and I shiver violently.
Kael notices this and presses something against the wall—a thermostat. He then walks to me, eyes never leaving mine.
"Don't worry. You'll get used to the cold." His voice is deep and rough, sending a chill through me more than the temperature ever could.
He smells like death. His entire presence radiates power and menace. He's dressed entirely in black, his long coat brushing the snow-dusted floor. When my gaze reaches his ears, I freeze. They're not human. Pointed. Perfect. Inhumanly beautiful—and terrifying.
"Where am I?" I croak, attempting to sit upright, shocked by how much strength I suddenly have.
"In the FrostLands," the woman answers when Kael stays silent.
"FrostLands?" I gape at her in confusion.
She smiles. "You'll understand soon enough." She nudges Kael. "Why don't you tell her?"
"There's nothing to tell her," he responds, voice clipped. He bends down, retrieving the ring.
"You can't go cold on her now," she teases. "You're the one who's been waiting for her to wake up."
Kael throws her a sharp look. Her smile falters, and she bows her head, and I swear, I hear her whine like a dog.
He inspects the ring, running a thumb over the center diamond. "Go check on the Watchers. Now that she's awake, we're more vulnerable."
Everyone in the room nods and quickly files out, leaving us alone.
Kael turns to me. "Give me your hand."
I instinctively hide them behind me. I don't know who he is. Why I'm here. Why I can't remember anything except… I'm human. Or I used to be.
"Not until you tell me who you are. And where the hell I am."
Gasps fill the room, one from the last person who just exited. She looks at me like I signed my own death sentence.
Kael's gaze shifts to her and she quickly slips out, shutting the door behind her.
"I am Kael," he responds and reaches for my hand. The moment he touches me, it's almost like I'm struck by lightning. I jolt.
I see flashes of myself thrown through glass and landing on a wolf's body in the air.
"Just Kael. Alpha of the FrostLands. And you are in my territory." He takes hold of my fingers again after I pull away. "Is that all you need to know?"
"How did I get here?"
"I brought you here," he says nonchalantly, a small smile twitching on his lips as he slides the ring onto my finger. "Now that's better."
I panic at what he's done and quickly disengage my hand from his grip. I try to take the ring off, but it only burns me when I try.
Kael looks offended and annoyed at the same time. "You'll hurt yourself if you try to take it off," he hisses.
"How dare you put a ring on my finger!" I say, my heart racing with worst-case scenarios.
"Because you are my Luna. My mate. Mine." He growls and grabs my hand again as I continue trying to remove the ring.
I look at my finger, expecting to see blood from the burn, but to my horror, the wound starts healing on its own.
I gasp. "What's this?" I stare at him in bewilderment, expecting him to be as surprised as I am, but he's not.
"I can't explain everything to you all at once."
"I am in the underworld, aren't I?"
"No. You are very much alive," he counters. "You are just stronger and different than you were five years ago. You are your true self now, Diana." He steps closer, for once breaking his toughness as he cups my neck. "More powerful than you could have ever imagined and I promise to help you get the revenge you deserve."
I stare into his eyes, they are silver now. His eyes are silver! Veins are bulging from his head, like touching me is inflicting something on him.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" he growls, slowly closing his eyes. "Very soon, I'll be able to have full access to you. That bastard knew exactly what he was doing injecting you with liquid kryptonite."
He opens his eyes and pulls away, gritting his teeth.
I open my mouth to ask what the hell he's talking about, but a little girl's squeal cuts me off.
"Daddy!"
Kael goes rigid as tiny arms wrap around his waist. A child. She's hidden behind his tall posture, so I'm unable to see her face.
Kael looks at me in discomfort. "Xiana, I thought I warned you not to come here," he swallows.
"I was looking for you, and since no one wanted to answer me, I knew you'd be here with Mummy."