Chapter 1

LORETTA'S POV.

‘ HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS.’

Whoever said those words must have been drunk when he sprouted such nonsense.

Home was never a place where the heart was, at least, not for me. It was hell, complete hell.

It was better to become an orphan than to have a family who treated you like a slave.

My heart always bled, whenever Rosé sent me on an errand and my biological father said nothing.

Hell! I'm older than Rosé by three years, but yet, she treats me less than a slave.

I blamed it on myself and I blame it on the moon goddess who made me an omega. A weak one at that.

An omega without a wolf? That was the most ridiculous joke of the century.

Maybe, just maybe, I won't be suffering now, if only my mother was alive.

If she were alive, I was sure she wouldn't let her daughter suffer and maybe, my father wouldn't have remarry.

What was I even saying? He didn't remarry, he just brought back home his mistress.

My father had been cheating on my mom, three years after I was born, but as the selfless woman my mother was, she never complained, even though she knew everything.

Just a month after her death, my step mother and her three years old daughter moved into our home, and ever since then, life has been miserable to me.

“ Loretta!” I jerked in fright as I heard the sound of my name from a distance.

“ Holy hell! I'm in trouble again!”

 I bit my lips hard, almost drawing out blood as I scurried out of my old room, running towards the direction of my name.

“ Were you ignoring me on purpose?” My stepmother, Rita, cocked her brows, her face red with anger.

“ No! No! Mother!” I raised my hands in the air, shaking it along with my head.

Her hand came in contact with my face almost instantly, and I felt dizzy for a moment.

My eyes rolled to the back of its socket, and it took a few seconds before I could feel the aftermath of the slap.

My cheeks stung badly, and I couldn't help but rub it slowly, tears in my eyes to ease the pain that stung my cheek.

“ I have told you several times not to call me mother, haven't I? Your mother is in the grave!” She yelled, her eyes blazing with fury.

My legs were wobbly on the ground and a silent cry tore off my lips.

I didn't have the right to cry my eyes out, so I had to hold back my tears, though it was impossible.

“ Now, take this cheesecake to Alpha Prince Conrad. He ordered for it to be brought to him by you.” 

She shoved the box at me, hissed like a snake and walked away, swaying her ass like she was in a fashion show.

Why was I still affected by her attitude towards me, when it has become a new normal since the day she came into this house with her daughter seventeen years ago?

Hell, I couldn't help it.

I just couldn't get used to the maltreatment and suffering from this family.

If I was oppurtuned, I wouldn't think twice before leaving this house and also this hell of a pack, but for the sake of my sick grandmother, I had to endure it.

My father didn't care about his mother-in-law.

He stopped caring for my grandma the day my mother died.

He turned his back on our pleas, despite knowing how critical her condition was.

Slowly, I wiped my tears and dragged my feet out of the house to deliver the cheesecake, before I got my ass into another trouble.

With every turn as I took, I got at least four disgusted gaze filled with disdain.

Everyone disliked me because I was literally the prettiest girl in all of Dark Hollow pack.

It angered the females, my stepsister included.

She always felt insecure because of my beauty and curvy body.

Despite how tattered and battered I always look, it didn't stop my beauty from shining, and that was what earned me most of the hate I was getting.

I was already used to their disdainful glares and hateful looks, so it didn't affect me, even for a bit.

I was wearing a crumpled shirt and skirt, which could pass for rags and also worn-out sandals which have been saving me for the past ten years.

My stepsister got fashion designers, while I didn't get any.

With a deep breath, I shoved my sufferings at the back of my mind, and focused on the task at hand.

It was a ten minute walk to the Pack House, and I got there before I knew it.

I was led to the Alpha Prince's Chambers by one of the guards.

This wasn't my first time here, but each time I came to the Pack House, I always brazed myself for what was coming.

Alpha Prince Conrad always had his eyes on me, despite being my stepsister's mate and that annoyed me to the core.

He was trying to get into my pants, but I wasn't a whore, and would never let him.

I pushed the door to his chambers open and met him seated on his bed, wearing nothing but a royal robe.

I was smart enough to catch on.

He was trying to seduce me or rather force me into having sex with him, but I was too tired to even look at him.

“ Your highness.” I bowed and dropped the box of cheesecake on his table. “ I was asked to deliver them.”

After that, I turned around, walking towards the door, but his voice caused me to halt on my track.

“ I have to see if it's my favourite cheesecake you brought, so come open it.” He ordered and I exhaled slowly before walking back to the cheesecake.

I opened it and showed it to him.

“ It's your favourite.” I said with a forced smile.

“ Why don't you rest a little bit?” He offered, and I almost scoffed.

He was as transparent as silk that I could see through his intentions.

“ I'm sorry your highness, but I have other errands to run.” I declined his offer in the most polite way I could muster.

“ I will pay you for each second you stay.” He said.

It was a tempting offer which I desperately needed for my grandmother's surgery fees, but I knew better than to oblige.

I would be as good as dead if Rosé found out that I was in the same room with her mate.

Hell would break loose.

“ No, thank you.” I smiled and walked towards the door, but he was fast to hold my waist from behind.

I shuddered at his touch, and immediately tried to get away from his hold, but he was stronger than I was.

Hell, he is an Alpha blood, while I was an omega.

It was just like a rat trying to get off the grip of a lion.

“ What are you doing, your highness? Let me go!” I begged, but it fell on deaf ears.

“ I will only let you go, once I have a taste of your tight pussy.” He whispered into my ear, before licking my earlobe like a popsicle.

I was irritated to the core, but I couldn't get away from him, no matter how hard I tried.

Luckily for me, the door pushed open with a loud thud and Rosé stormed in, her eyes red with anger.

I guessed she was informed that I was in her mate's chambers.

The position we were in made her more furious, and without listening to what I had to say, she grabbed me by my hair and pushed me roughly to the ground.

“ Arghh!” A cry left my lips when I bruised my knees on the ground.

“ How dare you touch my mate?” 

She yelled furiously, invisible smoke emitting from her nostrils and the top of her head.

“ Trust me, Loretta. You're dead today!” She said, and I knew better than to ignore her words.

Rosé would do just as she says.

“ I will kill you, bury you and write ‘bitch’ on your grave!” She glared. “ Maybe tonight, you will join your dead mother.”