Chapter 1: Prologue

Book 2 of the Golden Lycan Series

Order of books;

Book 1: The Lycan Alpha's Mate

Book 2: Beta's Destined Mate

Book 3: Tyrannized By The Alpha

******

//Author\\

Life was perfect for Raven when she was growing up. She had the best parents a child could ask for, but that was until she turned eight and her mother was attacked by a bear.

*****

"Run Raven.....Run!" Melissa McQueen, Luna of the River Moon Clan yelled, looking at the giant bear as she gently backed away from the beast, with her hand clenched around Raven's.

Her voice trembled but her eyes were saying something else. She had this fire in her eyes as she was transfixed on the bear with red eyes.

"But Mommy! I can't leave you. We need to go home together", Little Raven complained stubbornly. She was putting on a brave face in front of her mother and the known shifter, but within, she was scared and trembling.

"Listen to your mother, Raven. I am not alone. I have mind linked your father and the clan. They are on their way."

"Dad is on his way" Raven whispered to herself.

"Yes beautiful, dad is on his way. Be a good girl and run as fast as your feet will carry you. Don't stop Raven. Don't look back no matter how loud I scream"

With her mother's tone, Raven knew she had to remain quiet and listen to her.

Raven nodded her tiny head. Tears welled up in her eyes and she tried with a great effort to hold them back.

" I love you peanut. Always and forever " Melissa mumbled as she let down her tears. She was a strong Luna, however, she knew very well that she can't kill the bear on her own.

Bears are known for their strength, but for the sake of her little girl, she had to try. She would rather die than let the beast before her take Raven.

The bear growled, gaining her attention and he charged toward them.

"Run Raven...You need to run! Now!" Melissa yelled at the top of her voice.

She quickly shifted into her magnificent wolf. A beautiful silver and gold wolf with piercing sapphire eyes.

Her eyes met with her little peanut's fearful one before she leaped to meet the beast in the air.

Raven stared as Melissa fought the bear. She was terror-stricken. Nonetheless, she wanted to help her mother. She wanted to stay by her side but she knew she wouldn't be of much help to Melissa.

She was a little girl. An eight years old girl who doesn't have a wolf.

So, being the child that she was, she turned and ran.

She ran between the trees and the leaves using her hand to clear her path.

Raven lost her footing and fell, twisting her ankle in the process.

She quickly scrambled in between two large trees to keep herself hidden. Raven was scared to death and the sound of whimpers from her mom made her feel worse.

She closed her eyes and covered her ears, and she began praying to the moon goddess to save her mother.

Raven was so scared for her mother. She could hear deafening howls and growls from her mother and the bear as they fought.

She also could hear yelps and bones cracking. She covered her two ears with her palms and stayed hidden.

It was not long before the sickening scream of her mother overpowered the sounds in the woods.

Raven's body stiffened with fear and her heart started pounding in her chest...Until the scream stopped, followed by complete silence.

A minute passed, then she heard sounds of pawns hitting the ground before a mournful howl..

"No Melissa... No. You can't leave me. I won't allow you to leave me. You promised. You promised to be by my side forever. This is too soon. I can't take it. My heart can't accept it" Alpha Raymond called to his mate.

"No Mom!"

It took Raven about a minute before she was able to force her legs to move out of her hidden spot.

She pushed through the chaotic crowd. She could hear someone shrieking her name, asking her to stop, but she couldn't. Not when she could hear the sorrow in her father's voice.

She needed to see her mother. She heard her painful howl and felt the break of the connection between them.

She wanted to confirm her greatest fear with her own eyes. Her heart was refusing to accept that her superwoman was gone.

It couldn't be her heroine. It just couldn't be her. To her, Melissa was invincible. She wouldn't be defeated easily.

Raven made it to the front of the warriors and as she pushed past the last man, her knees and shivering legs gave away at the scene that would most likely haunt her for the rest of her life.

Tears streamed down Raven's face and no sound came out of her mouth. Her jaw dropped as her sapphire eyes were glued on the woman she has adored all her life.

Melissa's pale and lifeless body was in the pool of her blood. From her chest down to her abdomen was exposed with her intestine and heart out of her body.

"Mom" she gasped.

Raven walked to her mother and tried to take her hand, still holding onto the hope that she might be alive.

" Mom...wa...ke..." She stuttered. " Wake up mom. We need to go back to the house. It's getting cold out here." Raven shook Melissa but she lay there unresponsive.

"You!" Raymond yelled and Raven looked down at her trembling fingers because she knew if she kept staring at his cold eyes she would probably piss on herself.

" All this is your fault," Raymond roared. " Don't touch her! Stay away from her."

Infuriated, her father stamped his feet hard on the ground and his hazel eyes began glowing silver, his wolf made his presence known to all. His deadly eyes glared at Raven with disgust. He was ready to strangle his daughter.

"Dad, I...I'm." before Raven could finish her statement, her Father's fist raced towards her face.

His hard blow connected her jaw, sending a surge of pain to jerk through her head. She tasted the metallic taste of blood in her mouth instantly.

"If you had stayed home just like I asked you to, your mother would still be alive."

Raymond's wolf huffed . "You killed her! You killed your mother! Murderer!! Murderer! " Alpha Raymond growled.

"It wasn't me. It was the bad beast.....the..the bear" she tried to explain through her sobs.

" Shut up you murderer. You must take me for a fool? There are no bears in this region". Her dad looked so angry. "I will never forgive you for taking your mother away from me."

"Dad Please, I'm innocent. I did nothing wrong. Mom and I were just playing by the waterfalls" Raven plea. Her father's words were like knives slicing through her skin.

"Don't! Don't you ever call me dad, you little devil. I regret having a daughter like you. I regret partaking in your existence. I curse the day you were born..." Raymond's jaw clenched ready to punch something.

Hearing her father's words, Raven's sobs got louder as she bowed her head.

She couldn't stand seeing so much hate in her father's eyes. Raven just couldn't take it.

She knew it was her fault that her mother was dead. If only she had listened to her dad and stayed indoors. if only she had stayed put...

"I'm sorry dad...I...I ", she lowered her head more to the ground. she wanted the earth to swallow her up. she wanted to vanish or disappear from her father's sight. "I...I'm S...s..sor..ry." she hiccupped.

" I WILL KILL YOU! You should have died instead of my mate." on impulse, Raymond grabbed his daughter by the throat and squeezed her neck.. painfully hard.

" Dad, please let me go." Raven cried out, trembling under her father's hold.

"You need to die! Die!" Raymond's eyes glowed as he bellowed.

"Alpha Raymond, please calm down" Shane, Raven's father's gamma, shouted, and grabbed Raymond's fist as he made a second attempt to punch Raven

"Stay out of this Shane!" Alpha Raymond screamed and flung her small body down against the far tree.

Raven's tiny form collapsed onto the floor.

"You're dead to me, Raven. I don't ever want to see your face around me. I have no daughter. My daughter died together with my wife."

Her jaw burned as she opened it to speak, but no word came out of her lips. She was desperately trying to say something to her father, but no matter how hard she tried, the words would just not come out, so she yelled in her head instead...

"No dad...No. Please don't do this to me. I need you." she screamed in protest. She had just lost her mother and now her dad.....

What will she do?

How will she live after this?

"Lock her up in the basement. That will be her new home. No one is to speak of her cursed name in my presence. Let the pack know I have lost their Luna and future Alpha."

Alpha Raymond bent and lifted his lifeless mate in his arms. He turned and walked off without casting a glance at the small and battered frame of his daughter, who was curled into a ball on the ground, weeping.

The eyes of the warriors, on the other hand, held hurtful glares and disappointed stares as they turned and left.

After they all took their leave, Raven's mind replayed her father's words. "Murderer! You killed her!" his words cruelly repeated over and over in her head.

"This is all my fault...." She whispered to herself with tears trailing down her cheeks. " I killed her. I killed my mom. My dad was right. I should have died with my mother. " Raven muttered, sobbing.

"No Raven, don't say that. Your life means something to us."

She slowly lifted her head to see gamma Shane squatting beside her.

" Uncle Shane ....H...he...ha..tes me! My fa...ther hates me." Raven burst out into fresh tears.

"No little one, he doesn't hate you. He is just hurt. Your dad is broken by the loss of the Luna. He is mourning your mom. Just give him some time. He will come back to the loving father, you know."

"You promise?"

"Yes, little one., I promise. Has uncle Shane ever lied to you?'

" No, uncle doesn't lie."Little Raven shook her head negatively.

"Good, so believe me when I say the alpha will come back to his senses. And Raven forgive him for every word he spoke a while ago."

"I have forgiven him, uncle, but I can't forget his words. Why can't I forget uncle? ." her voice broke. "Why?" she burst into tears again and gamma Shane tried to make her stop crying but she was unconsolable.

"It's okay, my little Raven" he mumbled as he cupped her cheeks and wiped away her tears. " How about I take you back to the house? I'm sure your dad will calm down soon."

Raven nodded and got up to her feet. She followed Shane back into the alpha house and that was the last time she stepped into the woods.

****

The night following her mother's death, alpha Raymond announced to the pack that both Melissa and Raven has died in an unexpected attack.

Raymond ordered the pack members to never speak of his dead family.

The warriors and the high rank officials who knew about her existence were sworn to secrecy while Raven was locked away in the basement.

She was left to mourn the loss of her first love(Mother) alone. Her father never came to visit her.

Raven sat by the small window in the basement, counting the days and watching the sunrise and the moon dominating the sky each and every day.

She waited and waited for her dad but he never came. To him, she didn't exist. She was a thorn in his life. His greatest regret.

After six months in a silent prison, Raven's world became dark and cold. The light in her beautiful sapphire eyes became dull and deem.

She had no one to talk to except Gamma Shane, who made it a priority to visit her once a week.

He did most of the talking during his weekly visits, because Raven hadn't found her voice since the day Melissa died.

She barely spoke.

In the seventh month of her stay in the basement, the door cracked open and, for the first time in seven months, Raven saw hope when her eyes fell on the tall figure of her father at the entrance.

Her breath hitched and her sapphire eyes brightened with hope.

She stood up abruptly and blew a sharp breath as she stood before the man she once called father and gazed expectedly at him.

Nevertheless, all her hopes crashed down on her when her eyes found Raymond's cold hazel eyes. The look of disdain for her hadn't faded after all the months they had spent apart.

"This is Danica." his baritone voice was icy as it echoed across the room." Your stepmother. "

Raven froze, unsure if she heard him correctly. Her eyes moved from her father to a woman with black hair as she approached from behind and circled her arm around her dad.

She had an uptight smile on her face and Raven saw the evil behind her forced smile.

"Hello there!" she said in her fake British accent.

Raven's lips formed a thin line and she said nothing.

"Her son, Eric, and daughter Giselle," he added. His cold eyes were boring a hole in Raven's head.

She swallowed hard as her eyes moved to the two kids beside her. The boy seemed to be a year or two older than her. But the strawberry blonde girl was about her age.

And for the first time in a long time, Raven smiled. She finally has someone to play with. Someone to talk to. Hope brewed in her once more.

" Danica, this is Raven. She is here for you to use. You can do as you please with her", Raymond commanded.

" Nice to meet you, Raven. You will be moving to the Omega's lodge. You will serve us as our maid," Danica informed. " You will not talk to anyone, and neither will you step out of the house. No one knows about your existence. To them you're dead and I would like to keep it that way. " She gritted her teeth. "Come along, Raven. You and I will have so much fun together." Danica grinned.

Maid??

With all Danica's ranting, Raven was happy that she was getting out of the basement and she didn't mind serving them.

All she knew was that the atmosphere in the basement was too depressing for her and with her step-family around, she wasn't going to be alone.

So she happily followed them out of the basement but what Raven didn't know was that was the beginning of her suffering. Her stepmother and her kids were no family to her.

If only she had known that things were about to get worse, she would have stayed in the dark walls of the basement.