Chapter 1 - Cassie

Cassie -

“Cr@ck 20 eggs into the mixing bowl, NO Shell!

Add a dash of milk,

A teaspoon of pepper,

And whisk…..

Melt some butter in the pan and pour.”

If I focus on these steps, I might make it through the morning. I can’t mess up the eggs again. They will never let me live it down. I can’t take another beating like yesterday, I’m barely healed as it is, add another beating like that and I will be out of commission, with no hope of passing my exams this week, and if I don’t pass these exams I will never get out of here.

I stop my musings long enough to stir the eggs and lower the heat, burnt eggs means burnt hands, I managed the bacon this morning and the sausages are a lovely colour, now all I need are these damn eggs to finish.

The toaster pops startling me from my thoughts, just as Ace saunters into the kitchen, Ace, the man of the moment, the man of my nightmares…

“Cas, are you dreaming about me again?” Ace asks me with a wicked smirk on his face. It isn’t an ugly face per se, but that face haunts my waking and sleeping hours, torment, and evil laughter follow me around.

Turning my back on him, I stir the eggs and butter the toast, then I feel his hand gently settle on my arm “Cassie, I asked you a question.” and squeeze, yep that’s going to leave a mark.

“Ace, please I am trying to cook breakfast, I’m almost done I promise.” I respond in a patient, almost pleading tone, I don’t want to be accused of “sassing” him again.

My name is Cassandra, though I am more commonly known as Cassie. I am 16, and will be 17 tomorrow, I’m 5’5” tall, with long brown hair that reaches my waist and chocolate brown coloured eyes, and I am currently severely underweight though I wasn’t always underweight, I used to be toned, athletic even, though I wasn't in the training programme, but when Alpha Sven and Luna Lily left the pack 6 months ago, to tend to the pack’s businesses, everything changed for me.

Ace, being the Beta, was left in charge of the pack in their absence. I should feel sorry for him, he lost his father and mother in the same battle so many others did and he was promoted to the Beta position for an older Alpha couple, it is a lot of responsibility as it is and with the Alpha and Luna away, it was even harder on him. But my sympathy was limited since as soon as they left packlands, he turned on me, I don't know what I ever did to make him decide I would be his target, but he seems to hate me, he set all laundry and cooking duties on my shoulders alone, and I have to clean all the bathrooms daily as well, which would be manageable if I didn’t care about my education, but that is the only way I will ever escape him, so school matters to me.

Finishing school well will enable me to leave the pack at least temporarily to study anything of my choice that can benefit the pack, I have decided I want to be a chef, don't get me wrong, I suck at cooking, eggs especially, but I'm hoping with further education I can overcome that issue and learn creative meals to please the whole pack. I've wanted to be a cook for years now, to do what my mother did before she died. After her death my father managed to live for a little over a year, before succumbing to the mate bond, well I say he lived, but it was more like he existed, the mate bond will do that to you, living without your other half is torture. If he had been lucky he may have found his second chance mate and recovered from his loss, however that was not meant to be for my father.

Ace –

The Moon Goddess has a sick sense of humour, I didn’t want my first mate, so I killed her, she was a useless servant of a girl, weak and pathetic, I figured if I didn’t reject her but ‘lost her’ then my second chance mate would be a better pick for me, so when I met her in the forest that last time, I pretended I wanted to be with her, which was easy, we flirted a little, I seduced her into my arms and then I snapped her neck, quick and painless, see, I was good to her, I could have made her suffer but I didn’t.

After all I am the heir to the pack, with Alpha and Luna unable to produce an heir, the position falls to me as their Beta. So when I found my mate at 17 and realised what a waste of space she was, I had to act. No way was she going to be Luna beside me. Nobody knows what happened with her, and now the Moon Goddess has done it again, paired me with a useless mate, a mate with no standing within the pack, Goddess, I want her so much, but I know that is only the bond, as a person I want someone who is strong, who will stand up for themselves, who will make me look good, someone who won’t embarrass me. But my second chance mate doesn’t even know she is my mate yet, she is a child, not yet 17, and she refuses to submit to me, so I force her, I make her submit to me, and when she doesn’t, I make her suffer. The Delta's daughter seems into it, she wants me and she dislikes Cassie, so I use her for my benefit and encourage her treatment of my mate. Maybe I can have both, Maddie on my arm and Cassie in my bed. I may hate her but I need her if I want a child. If I can somehow have both of them, then nobody needs to ever know about Cassie being my mate. When she gets pregnant we can make it so Maddie seems pregnant, nobody would ever question us, so long as we are Alpha and Luna. Then once she bears me a son, I can be done with her as well, I don’t want her for anything but an heir, though my body reacts to her as though I do.

Cassie -

Anyway as I was saying, My name is Cassie but I am  merely 'Cas' to Ace since he couldn't possibly use 2 syllables for my name. I'm 16, and will be able to find my mate when I turn 17 tomorrow, and the last 6 months have been like a bad dream, Ace is the main culprit, breaking my arm for burning food or blacking my eye for failing to remove a stain from the clothes, but Madeline, queen bee wannabe, and Delta's daughter, is the reason I've lost so much weight, she pours liquids on my food, or complains to Ace that I have been stealing food so that he stops me from eating with everyone else. Madeline hangs from Ace's sleeve all day long. I assume she helps him in some way with his duties, but I can't fathom how.

Between Ace's punishments and Madeleines starving tactics, I don't look even remotely like my former self. They can’t let me gain my weight back. If they do, my wolf would be stronger, and their physical attacks wouldn’t be as effective, and we can’t have that now, can we? Everyone needs a punching bag, and that would be my purpose in life since Alpha Sven left.

Our wolves are always present in our subconscious, but we don’t communicate with them and they don’t communicate with us, they get to control our wolf form while we have dominion over our human form, but being a wolf enables us to heal faster than your average human, our endurance is much higher, we are faster and generally stronger and we can recognise our mate once we come of age at 17. I'm not sure I want anyone from Twin Lakes Pack to be my mate, everyone has seen the way I am treated and not one person has defended me, scared of receiving the same treatment I suppose. Accepting my mate will come with conditions and an explanation at the very least if they are a member of this pack, if they are from another pack then I doubt I will get to meet them.