Chapter 0002

Lila

I had to run all the way. Out of breath, I got to the pack house just before the ball started. I looked around for Vivian and saw her in a corner with a group of her friends. They were all laughing over something. Probably a joke about my dress.

That didn’t matter so much to me anymore, though. I had made it to the ball. That was all that mattered, despite that I didn’t look as good as I had hoped. Shifting my attention from my sister and her friends, I focused it on a beautiful crystal ball that floated in the air in the center of the pack house.

I remembered hearing tales about the crystal ball when I was younger. A lot of wolves had said the moon goddess created it herself and put it in our pack to guide each wolf in choosing his or her mate. Excitement filled me at finally getting to touch it that night.

“I welcome every member of the Mistwood Pack to this wonderful ceremony,” the alpha said, but my mind wandered to what Vivian had said earlier in the evening. She had to be wrong; I wouldn’t end up a lone wolf.

Other wolves lined up in front of the crystal ball, pulling me back into the present. To stay away from Vivian and her friends and avoid anything embarrassing they might do to me, I hurriedly joined the line.

“Let the ceremony begin!” the alpha said, and everyone cheered.

I watched as wolves excitedly touched the ball and their mates appeared. But then I looked behind me to see Vivian staring with that same look she gave me back in my bedroom. I gulped in fright and looked away from her. My pulse quickened as it got closer to my turn. When the person before me took his turn, I felt faint, but managed to keep to my feet.

Finally, it was my turn. As I approached the large, gray, moon-shaped floating ball, my hands shook. The clouds around the ball parted for me. The girls behind me squealed as I reached for the ball, my breathing erratic. I closed my eyes and laid my hand on it. Murmurs and gasps arose, forcing me to open my eyes.

An image of the alpha’s son shone on the ball. I jerked my hand away as if I’d touched someone with a plague.

Aiden is my mate? I looked at the ball again to be sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Then I rubbed my eyes, thinking I must be seeing things. But the image of the alpha’s son remained.

“Th-Th-This can’t be happening.” I chuckled happily as joy filled my heart.

All I had wanted was a mate, anyone who would treat me with love and care. But the moon goddess had blessed me with someone who could do so much more than that. Being mated to Aiden would give me more benefits than just his love. It meant I would be under his protection, too, and that I would be his luna, the one to rule over the Mistwood Pack with him.

My joy knew no bounds as the realization sunk in. A loud cheer erupted in the pack house.

I smiled as I returned to my seat, ignoring the envious and hateful looks from several women as I passed them. Soon, they would have no choice but to show me respect. A rush of hope and happiness built inside me, causing me to smile even more.

I glanced at Aiden where he sat with his parents, the alpha and luna. He flashed me a kind smile, the same one he had offered when I saw him at the hospital while I was being treated for one of the many beatings I’d gotten from Veronica. We couldn’t talk then, but he was kind enough to call the doctor for me.

I smiled back at him. My father would surely be happy to hear his daughter would become Luna. As I got to my seat, I caught sight of Vivian seated with her friends, glaring at me. They frightened me for a moment, but the thought of having the soon-to-be alpha as my mate helped boost my confidence.

With happiness and satisfaction, I watched as other girls got their mates. As the evening progressed, I felt the need to use the restroom. On my way there, I noticed Veronica and Vivian were nowhere to be found. No matter. What did I care where they went?

While washing my hands in the restroom, muffled cries in a stall behind me drew my attention. I almost ignored them, but the cries were consistent, and I couldn’t help but listen. Then I heard Vivian’s voice accompany the cries, so I moved closer to the door.

“I can’t have a cursed wolf for a mate mother,” Vivian cried.

A cursed wolf? What did she mean by that? Who was cursed? Was that why she had stayed at the back of the line for the crystal ball and why she disappeared later on?

“Common, Vivi,” her mother said, consoling her. “Look at it this way. You’ll be mated to the Eclipse Pack’s strongest warrior. Hmm?” Even though Veronica tried to sound encouraging, I could still sense the disappointment in her tone.

But how was it possible that Vivian had been mated to someone from the Eclipse Pack?

“I don’t care, Mother!” Vivian snapped. “Lila is mated to the alpha’s son, and I ended up mated to a cursed wolf?” She cried even louder.

“Don’t cry, baby,” Veronica said.

“How can I not, Mother? I’m stuck with a cursed outcast forever!”

“Who said you are?” Veronica’s tone held a sinister quality, and I could imagine her wearing an evil smirk.

“You have a plan?” Vivian said, her cries subsiding.

As I attempted to move closer to the door, I sneezed. I ran from the restroom, thinking I had escaped getting caught.

I didn’t bother returning to the pack house. Instead, I went home. Unfortunately, Veronica and Vivian somehow arrived before me. The moment I stepped inside, Vivian pushed me while her mother locked the door.

“How dare you eavesdrop?” Veronica screamed, holding my silver pendant with one hand while hitting me with the other hard enough to send me to the floor.

I grunted as I landed, hitting my back hard on one of the table’s wooden legs. Unable to speak through the pain, I curled into a ball.

I had thought I had escaped getting caught, but it seemed I’d lost my chain pendant, and now I was paying for it.

They pounced on me, showering me with punches and kicks, so many that I soon tasted blood in my mouth and throat.

“I’m sorry.” I croaked between hits, my gown torn and stained with blood, my body bruised and aching everywhere.

“Sorry?” Veronica screamed, crouching and pulling my hair. I had grown too weak to fight or defend myself, so she did as she pleased.

“Sorry doesn’t cut it, Lila!” Vivian cried.

“You thought you could get away with this?” Veronica yelled, swinging me with force toward Vivian’s feet. “Apologize.” Veronica demanded, taking a seat on the nearby couch.

Seconds passed where I didn’t move or speak.

“Don’t make me force you, Lila,” Veronica said. “If you do, I swear you’ll regret not dying with your mother.”

Though it hurt to do so, I curled my lip, hating that she always taunted me like that. Yet, I never wanted to involve my father, so I accepted everything they ever did to me. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled the words, tasting blood on my tongue.

“Tell us everything you overheard in the restroom,” Veronica demanded.

There was no use lying. It would only worsen the situation. “I…” My vision became blurry. I felt my eye and found the area wet and sticky. I looked at my hand and found blood on my fingers.

“You’re wasting everyone’s time, Lila.” Veronica said with a sneer.

“I…” Slowly, I managed to lift myself off the floor, the pain in my chest excruciating. Holding my back, I moved away from them. They could still get to me if they wanted, but I felt putting as much distance between them and me was in my best interest. “I had—I”

A blinding slap stung my face, so hard it forced me to the floor yet again. At the same time, the impact caused me to bite my tongue. The blood in my mouth increased to a pool.

“Argh!” I cried loudly, holding my burning face. My vision blackened and, for several seconds, I feared she might have blinded me.

“You have one more chance to spit out whatever you heard, Lila, or I promise you, you’ll struggle to survive the night,” Veronica said, her voice icy and entirely too calm.

That was even more frightening than her yelling. I thought back to them talking about a plan. Did they have one already? Did it somehow involve sabotaging me?

Spitting out blood, I rose to my feet again. “I overheard that Vivi was mated to someone already, but it didn’t seem like she wanted him,” I finally answered, choosing my words carefully, avoiding any reference to a cursed wolf.

I closed my eyes and stiffened my body, waiting for the next strike. Seconds turned into a minute where nothing happened. When I opened my eyes, the creepiest smile graced Veronica’s face.

“I don’t remember my daughter saying she didn’t want her mate. Did you ever say that, Vivi?” She turned to Vivian, who wore the same type of creepy smile.

“What the hell does she mean by that?”

my wolf, Amber, asked inside my mind. She was tired of Vivian and Veronica’s constant bullying, but, for my dad’s sake, I had made her promise not to hurt them.

“But…” I was sure I’d heard correctly. I had no doubt that Vivian had cried over her mate bond with a cursed wolf.

“But nothing, Lila,” Veronica said. “My daughter can’t be mated to a cursed wolf. He doesn’t even have a pack!” Her eyes were wild with fury.

I hadn’t even mentioned the cursed wolf. Why had she?

“And you can’t be mated to the alpha’s son,” Vivian added.

“Why not?” I blurted, fear overtaking me, my hopes and dreams draining from me as she said those words. What did they have planned? “The crystal ball clearly showed Aiden is my mate,” I said, struggling not to raise my voice.

“We saw that, Lila. We’re not blind,” Vivian said with an eye roll.

“What I want to point out, Lila,” Veronica said, rising from her seat and walking toward me with menace in her eyes, “is that Vivian deserves to be with Aiden. You don’t.”

“As a matter of fact, we were together before the crystal ball,” Vivian added with a smirk. “So you will be taking my place with the cursed wolf, while I mate with Aiden, just like it’s meant to be.”

“What?” I yelled, unable to restrain myself. “How can you say that?”

“How dare you speak like that to my daughter,” Veronica charged me, seizing me by my throat. She slammed me against the wall.

A loud crack sounded in my head, and I gripped her hands as she choked me. “P-P-Please let me go,” I begged as I gasped for breath.

Vivian watched, wearing a satisfied look.

Eventually, Veronica let go of me, and I fell to the floor, pain engulfing me.

“Please don’t do this to me,” I begged, tears streaming down my face. How could I possibly live with a cursed wolf? If Vivian didn’t want to live with him, then he must surely be a monster. How could I live with a creature like that, someone who wasn’t even allowed into his own pack?

“Lila, you still get to be with someone. Rejecting Aiden is one thing, but you still get to be with someone else. Don’t you think that’s something to be thankful for, at least?” Veronica said with a scoff.

With injuries so severe, I was no longer able to get up, so I remained sprawled on the floor. “But Aiden is my fated mate,” I said. “Rejecting him would mean losing a part of myself. Please understand this, Mother. Vivi, please don’t do this to me,” I begged, my tears mixing with blood.

“Aiden was never yours to have, Sister. Fate made a mistake, and we’re simply correcting that,” Vivian said, standing over me.

“You don’t have a choice, Lila. You have to reject Aiden. He’s already with your sister anyway. Don’t you feel shame, daring to accept your sister’s lover as your mate?” Veronica said, her voice filled with contempt.

“Please, I beg you. I promise to never step foot inside this house once I’m Luna. I will leave you and your lives forever, I promise,” I whimpered, then shut my eyes, allowing the pain to wash over me.

Vivian chuckled. “Did you say Luna?” They laughed loudly together.

“Vivi, how did we never know your sister was such a comedian?” Veronica added, still laughing.

Vivian crouched and pushed away wet strands of hair away from my face. “It’s an abomination to think you could ever become Luna, Lila. You are worthless, pathetic, ugly, and weak. Yet you thought you’d be accepted into the alpha’s mansion?” They laughed again.

It felt like the world had stopped turning. Was I really that awful? “B-B-But it doesn’t matter. Aiden wouldn’t—”

One of them picked me up and threw me to the other side of the room.

I cried out as my head hit the wall. Blood flowed from my nose.

“I wasn’t giving you a choice, Lila,” Veronica said. “Reject Aiden now!”

I opened my eyes into slits to see her looking like a thing from my nightmares. Terror engulfed me.

“Actually, Mother,” Vivian drawled, closing the distance between us, “my sister thinks Aiden, my Aiden, would want her. I think it would be best I proved her wrong.” An evil smile graced her face.

“What do you mean?” Veronica asked.

“I’ll be back, Mother. Just wait here.” Vivian left the house with me wondering what the hell she meant by proving me wrong.