PROLOGUE

🌻SUNCITY HIGH SCHOOL, CHICAGO🌻

**SCARLET**

"Hip...Hip...Hip!"

"Hurray!" We all erupt in a loud cheer as we stand and hurl up our graduation caps. It is a sight to see as the black headdresses dance in the summer afternoon sky. 

Everyone is joyful today as the journey of high school finally comes to an end, marking the start of a new beginning. It is a day that everyone had immensely anticipated. 

 Particularly, people like me.

"Baby, come here, I am super proud of you." My mother scoops me into her embrace for the umpteenth time and kisses my hair. My arms tighten around her as her rosewater scent teases my nostrils, relaxing my inside. It isn't every day that I get to see my mother as she is always busy with work, so, her coming to my graduation means the world to me. 

I am the pack's freak and everyone's most-hated enemy, but with mom around, it makes watching their biting faces easier. 

She pulls me away by the shoulders, her forehead creasing in a proud smile. "You know you are not permitted to be unhappy today, don't you?"

I nod. "Yes mother. I am very happy that today marks the end of seeing these people's froggy faces in school." We both burst into delightful laughter as she pulls me in once more.

"I can not begin to imagine how dumbstruck I am that my baby girl has grown so big." She says, close to tears. I pat her back and move away from her embrace.

"Let's go home, mom," I tell her,  looking behind me, searching the crowd for the one face I want to see now more than ever; Julius, the Alpha's son and my boyfriend. The only person in this pack who doesn't spit or curse at me. He loves me genuinely and thinks I'm the best thing that happened to him. 

We have our lives planned out. Including going together to 'WOLFIE ACADEMY' the school for the supernatural where special kinds of wolves are bred.

We are both graduating today and very soon, he will be appointed the new pack Alpha after he graduates from the academy.

I feel pride in my chest as the realization of what that means dawns on me. I will become his Luna. Without meaning to, I start smiling. I really need to see him.

"Who are you looking for?" Mom asks as we reach her car and she walks to the other side to enter. I snap my eyes in her direction, shaking my head. 

"Noone, mother." I open the car door, and then I pause. Maybe I should go look for him. It won't be nice that I leave without wishing him happy graduation plus I would want him to wish me too. I have not seen him since he collected his certificate. I lean down into the car to peer at mom. "Mom, can I meet you at home later? I have a few people I want to... congratulate."

She seems to contemplate because she knows I don't have any friends here. I have not told her about Julius because I wanted to wait until today after graduation to break the news during dinner. 

"Be home early, baby," she starts the car. "I have something very important I want to discuss with you." That gets my attention, almost making me change my mind and leave with her. But, on second thought, it might not even be something serious so I nod, turn and leave.

While I am still searching for Julius, it is as if a silver knife is pierced into my chest, causing me to stumble forward. I gasp and fall to my knees, one hand on the ground and the other on my chest.

"The freak is finally going to die," Becky, one of the cheerleaders, utters in front of me and her friends start laughing.

Normally, I would have given her a befitting comeback but the pain in my chest travels to other parts of my body, making it hard for me to breathe fine. 

With the last strength I have, I stagger up and make my way to the restroom. I don't know what is wrong with me but I need to hide away from prying eyes to address it before I continue my search.

Once I get to the bathroom, I throw the door open without knocking and freeze at what my eyes landed on. Julius. And Vanessa, the school's most popular girl. 

He is pounding into her from behind like a depraved panther. This is a dream. An unbelievable dream. Julius, who professed undying love to me can't be fucking another woman, a day when our dreams as future Alpha and Luna of this pack are supposed to commence.

As if he is just sensing me, his vague eyes travels in my direction but to my greatest heart devastation, he didn't stop. Instead, his action intensifies and Vanessa's loud moans rocks the building. 

"Julius..." I cry out, "what are you doing?"

"F-fucking, of course." He is still pounding into her. Then he trembles as he pours his cum into her. That is when he places back his cock in his pants and stands erect hence he comes forward until he is standing between her and me.

"Julius, you-you cheated on me." I breathe out slowly, noticing the pain just stopped. "How could you?"

He doesn't seem one bit remorseful, instead, his mouth quirks at the ends as his eyes spit fire at me. "I hate you so much, Scarlet," he snaps. "You think you are better than everyone else. I asked you for only one thing; your body and yet you deny me of it. What did you expect me to do?"

"I wanted to give it to you on our wedding night!" I shout, tears gushing down my face. To add to my pain, Vanessa comes to stand beside him, placing her chin intimately on his shoulders as she holds him close, smirking victoriously at me.

Julius smirks ruggedly, touching his jaws. "You sound so stupid, Scarlet. Do you think I, Julius, incoming Alpha of Diamond pack will marry a freakshow like you? Are you out of your mind?"

I stumble back in shock. "You said you loved me."

"Well, only because I wanted to fuck you."

"What!"

"Yes, creepy. Do you think I will stoop low to marry someone like you? You are an outcast! A clumsy, stupid nobody, how could you think that? Do you know what it takes to become my Luna?" He shifts until Vanessa is standing before him, directly in front of me. 

The steady hammering of my heart can very well be heard from the stage of the graduation ground. I can't believe Julius would do this to me. I couldn't even see them properly as tears clouds my eyes. 

"This is the kind of Luna I need beside me, Scarlet. Someone bold and beautiful, someone of high rank, someone who was not born out of wedlock. From a respectable family and has a bright future." He circles her waist with his left and yanks her closer. "Tell me, Scarlet, do you have any of those qualities?"

"You are a monster, Julius! I believed you. I loved you from the depth of my heart and you deceived me. What did I do to deserve this? Is it my fault I was born out of wedlock? You promised, Julius. You promised to love me till the end!"

"Then, I lied." He boldly admits, "happy?" 

I am shaking my head. I don't believe him. He is only mad at me. Something had possessed him. Julius is loving and caring. He loves me.

"Julius..." I reach out to touch him and he slaps my hands away before they get to him. "I love you," I continue, unfazed. "You can't do this to me. We have a future together."

It happens in a flash, he reaches me, grabs my neck and slams me into the closest wall as his wolf eyes pierce into me. " I, Julius Tor, future Alpha of Diamond crested pack reject you as my girlfriend. Do you hear me? Say yes, you bastard!"

I tap at his hands repeatedly as he restricts air from flowing through my lungs. "Ju_"

"I will kill you if you don't say it, Scarlet, don't test me. I will never marry you, I hate you more than anything and want you away from me as far as possible. Say_"

"I-I accept!" I agree, knowing if I don't, he will kill me and nothing will happen. My mother will be the one to suffer the grief of my death. After all, he is the Alpha's son. "I accept_"

The door swings loose and bangs on the wall as a white wolf emerges, its fangs bare in anger as it rages at us. 

My mother. 

It dives and catches Julius by the left arm, tackling him to the ground. 

The next minute, Julius shifts and as he is shifting, Vanessa does too, ready to join him. I have no choice but to shift knowing if I don't, they will kill my mother. I dive at Vanessa before she will join Julius,  and the fight is full-blown.

We fight for a long time and all I see is the spatter of blood splash and fresh flesh torn apart before others come in to separate the fight. 

As my mother quietly drives us home later, I know with what just happened, there is no way we are going to be allowed to continue staying in this pack. 

We have just broken the number one rule of a pack. 

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