Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Truth.

“...In a few days to come, she'll be gone from our lives for good.”

***

I clutched the plate I was washing tightly as I heard Lycril, my stepmother's voice in the corridor. 

My hands were weak already. Standing all day with just a minute or two interval to rest. Everyday I work tirelessly in the house, my own father's house, like a slave while his beloved wife and my step siblings have enough time to wander around. 

I had no choice anyway, ever since I lost my mother to the cold hands of death, it had been one torture after the other leaving my body filled with scars and bruises almost all the time, so much for being a wolfless Omega despised by her father. 

Who would feed me or give me shelter if I refused to do the work?

“I hope you had a good bargain with….” I heard my stepmother's voice fading. Even though I tried to stay glued to my spot, I soon washed my hands and dried it with my apron, tiptoeing silently behind them as they walked towards their room.

The voice of my stepmother came once again, drawing my attention to whatever they were saying.

“Richard dear! I can't wait for her to be gone. We will be so rich and also we won't have to worry about our debts again…” her malicious tone immediately told me she was talking about me but what I was confused about were her words “rich ""gone”  where was I going?

I knew I shouldn't be eavesdropping but I had no choice. I needed all the details I could get.

“Such a bad habit you have there, Freya.” Enzo, my stepbrother scorned.

I snapped my head around to behold Enzo's eyes gazing lustfully at me.

“It's not what you think Enzo. I-i was just walking by…” I said, trying to run away from his flirtatious gaze before he pounced on his prey–Me.

My step brother's eyes hovered around my body like he wanted to peel my clothes off with them.

“It doesn't look like you were just walking by…” He grabbed my wrist, spinning me to face him. “Look how beautiful you look, Freya.” He tried bringing his lips to mine but I shrugged him off, my heart racing with disgust.

“Please Enzo, just stop already…” I pleaded, struggling to free myself from his tight grip.

Ever since my mother died, I had wanted my father to get married so he wouldn't be lonely. Little did I know my wish would come back to haunt me in the most painful way. 

Lycril, my stepmother, had come from her previous marriage with her two children, Enzo and Amanda who hated me with every part of their being.

I felt someone grab my ass and that was when I saw Enzo smirking with a disgusting look on his face. 

Raising my hand, I made sure to slap him hard across his cheeks, enough to alert the attention of my father and his wife.

“What the hell is happening here?” Lycril asked immediately as she stepped out. “And you,” she pointed at me, “Aren't you supposed to be in the kitchen doing the dishes?”

“I-i uhmm I was just trying to….” And in a split second, I felt like the room was spinning. She had slapped me hard which sent me sprawling on the floor, holding my cheeks.

“She was eavesdropping on you and father.” Enzo spat, his eyes blazing. I knew he had snitched on me because I slapped him and I certainly knew what would follow this. A severe beating and a night without food!

“You bastard child….” Lycril charged angrily towards me, bawling her fist. 

I was done for. I wanted to run away to anywhere safe but on the contrary there was nowhere safe for me to go to. 

With a triumphant look on his face, Enzo walked towards me, pinning me down as I waited for the beating from my stepmother's long horsewhip.

“Mother no… please I wasn't eavesdropping, please…. Enzo let me go..” I struggled, wishing the ground could just open and allow me to be buried deep inside. I could be anywhere else but not in this house.

I heard the heavy boots of my father as he walked out of the room. I was certain he had been looking for anything to use as a punishment tool for me.

“You've been such a bad girl, Freya. Eavesdropping on two adults? I bet you learnt that from your mother.” 

I was willing to take all the painful words from him but I hated it whenever he dragged my mother into it.

As I watched him approach me, swirling the thick, long stick in his hands, I could perceive the familiar smell of alcohol and I knew he had been drinking again. My father was a beast anytime he got drunk.

I lowered my head, unable to meet his gaze. “Father please…”

“Lie her flat on the floor. I'll teach her a lesson she won't ever forget in her life.”

“No mother please beg father… no… Enzo, stay away from me…. Stop please, it hurts….” My body shook intensely with extreme pain as he landed the stick on my bare back. I could feel my skin peeling and bleeding already by the time he was done. 

With my tear filled eyes, I looked at Enzo who seemed to be enjoying the scene playing, and then my gaze darted to Amanda who stood just at a corner, gloating. 

I was slowly losing consciousness from the intense pain I was feeling. It was as though I was going into a trance as everything became blurry.

“Let her go already, Richard. We don't want to present a pale looking lady to him…” Lycril said with condescension.

Him? Who was he? My mind raced with different thoughts of what they were probably planning but none made any sense to me.

As I slowly stood up, I looked at Lycril . The woman who I had wished she could treat me like her own daughter, laughing sarcastically at me.

“Look how pathetic you look, Freya. Next time, don't ever  eavesdrop on adults.” She spat, her voice laced with venom.

I leaned against the wall, panting heavily from the beating I had just gotten from my so-called family. 

“You need to go dress that wound on your back like you always do. We can't afford to have Xavier come pick you up like this.”  She sounded happy as she spoke and I wondered what it was that they had planned. Who was Xavier? And why is he coming to get me?

Seeing the confused look on my face, my father leaned forward holding my chin up so I could face him. He tightened his grip on my jaw, digging his fingers inside my skin till It bled.

“You'll be such a good girl when you finally arrive at the NorthRidge pack….”

“NorthRidge pack?” I muttered the courage to ask my father. “What will I be doing there father?” 

Lycril's shrill voice rang out, echoing around the hallway. “Your father and I are planning something huge for you, Freya. And I bet you'll love it. I mean you have no choice.”

My heart was pounding in fear already as I waited for more details of whatever they might have talked about.

“You're going to the Northridge pack in the next few hours, Freya.  You're going to serve the alpha and he has paid quite an amount already….”

My heart sank as I listened to my father. Gasping in disbelief, I took time to stare at everyone in the room and they all had a smirk on their faces. 

Have they been planning this all along? To send me off like some cheap thing? Like a piece of trash?

I couldn't believe what I just heard. I couldn't believe my own father had done this to me, to his own daughter. 

My face fell on Lycril  who seemed to be the one enjoying this drama the most.

“You agreed to this too? For me to go to the NorthRidge pack and serve the alpha?” I cried hurtfully. My heart was hurt, it was in pain, I was in pain and there was no remedy to soothe it.

I bit my lower lips as Lycril grinned triumphantly at me. What an evil bitch! I cursed under my breath. 

“You should be glad I accept that you work for him, Freya,” My father's cold voice came, sizing me up. “Many girls would have killed to have this opportunity.” I didn't fail to notice the mockery in his voice.

The Northridge pack? The Alpha? Alpha with the nine lives like he was always called? The same man who has single-handedly battled and killed a hundred rogues in a ferocious battle with just his bare hands? This is the same man he is sending me off to? How cruel could my father be?

Lycril interrupted my thoughts, “Why do you look like you've seen a ghost, Freya? Oh common, I get what you might be thinking. He isn't so scary like people have said. He's just…you know, strict…” 

Strict? What the hell was she freaking saying? The Alpha of the NorthRidge pack isn't someone to be messed with.

He is the ruler of the most powerful pack of the North Zone known for his Fighting prowess and unforgiving spirit. 

Rumour has it that he was a bloodsucking motherf*ker who would kill his rivals and enemies by cutting their body into pieces while they were still alive and burying it in different places of the earth. This same monster is who my father wants me to serve.

I fell on my face, banging my head on the floor, as my body convulsed uncontrollably due to my sobs that had broken into tears, pleading with all my might… “Please father, I beg you I won't cause you any more troubles, please don't send me to the Northridge pack, please….”

I crawled, my body dripping with blood from the lashes I had received. I fell face flat holding Lycril's leg. “Please mother, don't let father send me away. Please, beg him, please.”

“Begging won't solve anything, Freya. The deed is done already. Just get ready to leave in a few hours.” She said, dismissing me.

With the tears still running down my face, I looked up to behold her face which had a sly smile on it. “Mother, please say something else, don't do this to me…” I whispered painfully.

“Stay away from her…” My father pushed me away, hitting my stomach with his heavy boots. I let the tears roll down my cheeks. I quickly retreated, and sat in a corner, holding my tattered cloth to my bosom, my whole body shaking from fear and pain.

“Father please…” I cowered, cradling my head in my arms as my father approached still with whip in his hands. I was expecting him to land me another shot but instead he crouched and grabbed my neck, shoving my head backwards. 

“IF YOU BEG ME ONE MORE TIME, I'LL WHIP YOU TILL YOU CAN BARELY TALK.”

He screamed at me and pushed me, hitting my head on the oil-painted wall. I felt like my life flashed right before my eyes and my breath was being knocked out of me. Not even water had touched my lips, yet I had to bear all the tortious acts of my father with my weak, frail body.

Holding tight on to the door knob, I pulled myself up making my way towards the kitchen where I always slept. That was my little room! The image of my mother's ever smiling face came to my mind. I knew I wouldn't be in this situation if she were alive. 

I used to be my father's beloved daughter, the apple of his eyes and the joy in his heart but everything changed when Lycril came with her two children. 

“Make sure to wipe those silly tears off your face. You can't have our guests thinking otherwise of us.” Lycril's voice was firm and condescending.

That was it. That was all she cared about and I wondered if she would have acted the same if it was Amanda in my shoes, if it was her own beloved daughter being sold to him– To that monster.