LOGINSophia
My face turns towards the right while the skin of my cheek stings with the impact of the slap.
My eyes burn with tears, which I refuse to release as my gaze is trained on the floor.
"Apologize to Cynthia right now!" My father bellows causing me to flinch. "How dare you disrespect my wife and your Luna by questioning her actions?!"
My mother died soon after giving birth to me, and my father blamed me for her death. When I turned three, councilmen asked my father to take a second chance mate because his wolf was going crazy without his mate. Even though he didn't want to, he had to find another mate because, slowly, his wolf was going insane.
Since my mother was his true mate, he never wanted to give her place to anyone else, so instead of taking Cynthia as his second chance mate, he married her.
Cynthia is what you can call a true definition of an evil stepmother. She hated me from the moment she married my father and made it clear to me that I was unwanted in her house.
But since she couldn't kick me out, she made sure to make my life miserable at every chance she got.
"She punished Emily for no reason." I speak in a low but firm voice, "She is a small child who just took an apple from the fruit basket."
"She stole the apple." Cynthia glares at me, then turns her gaze to my father and places her hand on his arm, "Emily is a child. That's why it is important for her to learn if she needs something, then she should ask instead of stealing. I was disciplining her by ordering her to fetch five buckets of water from the well, not punishing her."
"I even asked Janet to accompany her and help her with completing her task." She sighs and shakes her head, "I am mother of this pack; I am not cruel as Sophia thinks of me."
"You don't have to justify yourself; I know you." Father wraps an arm around her as she softly cries, "This girl is nothing but a nuisance. It seems like killing my Selena wasn't enough for her, so each day she does something that only hurts others." He glares at me with such hatred that the tears that I was holding back spill from my eyes.
"No food for you for five days, and you will work with the omegas for the preparation of a full moon ball." He puts every bit of his Alpha command behind his words while glaring at me.
"Yes, Alpha." Bowing my head, I show my neck in submission to him.
Strangely, Alpha commands never work on me, but I haven't told anyone about this, especially my father. If I told him then he would find one more reason to hate me thinking I am challenging his authority.
I turn and leave the room, my head held low. As I walk through the halls of the pack house, I feel the weight of everyone's stares. Whispers follow me, but I am used to it. I've been an outcast my whole life. I pass Emily in the kitchen, her eyes red from crying. She looks up at me with a mixture of guilt and gratitude, and I manage a small smile for her.
"I am sorry, Sophia." She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand, "I was hungry."
"It's okay, Emily," I say softly and reassuringly.
Emily is one of the orphans of the pack. Her parents died in a car accident two years back; since she doesn't have any family who could take her in, she lives in the orphanage.
I head out to my room in the packhouse where I live since I am not allowed to live in the Alpha house, ready to start my punishment.
Physical labor is nothing new to me; it's a way to keep my mind off the pain and loneliness that have become my constant companions. As I work, I think about my mother, the only person who might have loved me if she had lived.
And sometimes my thoughts shift to the person whom Moon Goddess has chosen for me... my mate.
My heart clings to the hope that one day, I'll find him, and he'll take me away from this misery.
Something in me tells me that soon, my wait is about to come to an end.
Caleb Jake’s place is quiet in a way that feels weird now because the twins are always creating havoc around here. But tonight they are at Anastasia’s parents’ place for a sleepover. I lean back against the couch, one arm resting along the back, as Jake tries to resolve a fight between the twins about whom he loves the most. Astrid and Kane called him because somehow they started fighting over him, and each of them is convinced that Jake loves them more. Lucas and I exchange a look, a smile forming on both our faces as we watch our brother struggle through this. Jake has the phone pressed to his ear, his expression caught somewhere between serious Alpha and completely helpless father. “No, I don’t love Astrid more,” he says, his tone firm but patient. Then he pauses, listening, and his brows pull together. “And I don’t love Kane more either.” From the other side, their tiny voices come through loud enough that even I can hear the chaos. It is a mix of half words, half baby sounds
Caleb The instinct hits hard the moment she kisses me back, my wolf surging forward with a force that nearly snaps whatever control I have left. It is not gentle. It is not patient. It is possessive in a way that runs deeper than thought, deeper than reason. Mine. The word echoes through me, sharp and unrelenting, and for a second, it is all I can hear. My hands tighten on her before I force them to loosen, my body pulling back just enough to create space, even though every part of me wants the opposite. I take a breath, slow and controlled, trying to push my wolf back, trying to remind myself where we are. Not here. Not like this. I look at her, at the way she stands there, unaware of the storm she just set off inside me, and something twists in my chest. Because she doesn’t know. That is the hardest part. Seeing her out there, earlier, laughing with Misha, standing among the others like she is just another recruit, unclaimed, untouched by what she actually is to me… it dri
JuneThe next morning, I am back in my dorm like nothing ever happened.Caleb made sure of it.He got me back inside without anyone noticing, moving through the Academy like he owns every shadow and every quiet corner. I did not ask how he does it. I just followed, trusting him without thinking twice.Before leaving, he made one thing clear.We keep this a secret.Until the training program ends.He explained it in a way that made sense, even if I did not care about most of it. If anyone finds out about us now, they will question Jake’s leadership. They will question the fairness of the Academy. They will assume I am getting special treatment.And that is something he will not allow.Once the program ends, once I prove myself through my own strength and ability, then it will not matter. Then no one will have a reason to question anything.I do not care about proving myself.I never have.I know what I am capable of. That has always been enough for me.But it matters to him.And for so
JuneMy eyes find Caleb’s again, and the way they darken sends something sharp through me. It is not fear. It is not hesitation. It is something else entirely, something that stirs low and deep, something that makes my chest tighten in a way I am not used to, making me shift slightly, making me want to step back and put some space between us.But I don’t get the chance.His grip tightens.Not enough to hurt, but enough to stop me completely. Enough to keep me right where I am as he pulls me even closer, like there is no distance left to close but he is still trying.“What did you just say?”His voice is low, carrying an intensity that makes my pulse pick up.“You heard me,” I reply, lifting my chin slightly, refusing to back down even as my heartbeat betrays me.“I just heard you claiming me,” he says, his lips curling into a slow, dangerous smirk that sends a thrill down my spine. “Is that so, June?”Something in me responds instantly.“Uh-huh.”I tilt my head up and close the small
JuneI sit with everything I have learned, letting it move through me in slow waves that refuse to settle. Faces pass through my mind one after another. People at the Academy. People I have seen almost every day these past few days. Now they do.Now every single face carries something else.They are like me.Wolves.The word still feels strange when I think it, even though it fits more than anything ever has. I try to recall if I ever noticed something off, something that set them apart from everyone else. A look, a movement, a feeling that did not belong.But there is nothing.They blended in so easily. Just like I did.Even Misha.That thought lingers longer than the others. I picture her face, the way she carries herself, the way she smiles like everything is simple. It does not match with what I know now, and yet it has to.The more I understand, the more everything seems to unravel into something bigger than I expected.Questions stack over each other, one after another, forming
JuneThe weight of the confession settles in slowly, pressing into me as the realization fully sinks in. I said it. I actually said it out loud. Something I have kept buried for years, locked away in a part of myself I never allowed anyone to reach. And I did not just say it. I said it to them. To people I barely know. Strangers. The word lingers in my mind, but it does not feel entirely right anymore. Not in the way it should.Because the moment I question why I did it, my thoughts shift without permission. They land on him. On Caleb. On the man sitting so close beside me, like his presence has always belonged there. Something in my chest tightens at that realization. I trusted him. For some reason I cannot fully explain, I trusted him enough to say something I have never admitted to anyone else. Not even to myself in clear terms. It sounds reckless when I think about it. Careless. And yet it does not feel like a mistake. That is what unsettles me the most.I lift my eyes slowly, pul
LucasI can’t believe it. Sophia is right in front of me. My mind almost refuses to accept it, but my heart knows it’s her. A flood of emotions hits me all at once, each one fighting for control.Joy. I’ve finally found her. After everything, after searching and fighting, she’s here. Relief washes o
SophiaOnce Selena finishes eating, she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand like she doesn’t care about the mess. There’s a twisted, sadistic smile on her face as she grins, looking more satisfied than anyone has a right to be. Her wounds are completely healed now, and there’s this weird glow
SophiaShe’s here. I can feel her, even though she’s too much of a coward to show herself. She’s playing games, just like always.Every time I think I’ve got the upper hand, she pulls this disappearing act, hiding in the shadows and letting her presence crawl over my skin. It’s her way of saying sh
SophiaIt feels so strange to witness this moment because I don’t remember any of it.I remember being locked in that dark basement, the cold, damp air, and the pain that completely overtook my senses when I went through my first shift.But apart from that, my memory is all hazy, like it’s wrapped







