I was being dragged down the stairs to the dungeon, my frail body hitting each step with a resounding thud. I whimpered, willing myself not to let out any noise. I knew they'd only hit me more if I screamed so I didn't. Once we had reached a dingy cell, I was thrown into it unceremoniously. Too weak to get up, I simply laid there. Even breathing was a task. Then, I was suddenly being held up by my arms and tied to the silver chains mounted on the wall behind. I screamed as the silver bit into my arms, burning my flesh. I was punched in the stomach. A punishment for screaming. I didn't let out another sound, knowing it would only get me in more trouble.These men had explicit orders from my father and their Alpha that I was to be punished every time I let out a noise. "Put a sock in it, bitch," one of the soldiers spat in my face. "The Alpha will be paying you a visit soon."No sooner had he said that, Alpha Adrian's looming presence filled the small cell. He sneered at me, his gl
The next morning when I woke up, I was alone in bed. Alpha Evan was no where to be seen. I looked out through the windows off to the side, noticing that it was day outside. Panicking a little, I lunged for the bedside clock, looking for the time. It was ten in the morning. I'd slept in. Goddess, Michel was going to skin me alive if he found out I wasn't downstairs and working. I quickly flung the covers off of me, ready to bolt towards the door when my eyes fell on the plate of food lying on the table and the small note sticking out from underneath. It was the small note that made me stop in my tracks. Hurrying towards it, I picked it up, letting my eyes skim over the neat handwriting which was without a doubt Alpha Evan's. 'Do not leave before having breakfast or I'll be upset. Also, do not worry, I've already sent the message that you will be late this morning since I kept you up till late last night - E' It was almost weird how I could picture him saying all that to
As evening rolled around, Michel called us to the kitchen again, telling us our duties. Thankfully for me, I was supposed to be washing the dishes. Which meant minimal interaction with the guests or any of the pack members. I had a feeling a certain green eyed man was responsible for the easier task I was assigned tonight. It made me smile. I happily fake limped my way deeper into the kitchen, rolling my sleeves up and readying myself for the task at hand. Unfortunately, Raymond was on serving duty tonight and I had one of the other girls, Gemma, helping me with the dishes. She was a slave, too, but even the slaves avoided talking to me unless it was absolutely necessary. From what I'd gathered over the years was that when my mother had been still alive, there had been no such thing as slavery. It was Alpha Adrian who had introduced it so he could have someone to take his anger out on whenever he felt like it. So the lowest omegas had been officially converted to slaves for the
Tentatively, I knocked on Alpha Evan's door, opening it only when I heard his deep voice telling me to come in. "Hey," I greeted him, turning around once I'd closed the door behind me and taking him in. He was wearing a deep maroon colored tuxedo with a white shirt underneath and his tie hanging loosely around his neck. The tuxedo looked tailored to perfection to fit him, accentuating the muscles that I now knew lay underneath. His hair was combed back tonight instead of the sexily disheveled look I'd grown accustomed to. It made him look sharper, more dangerous somehow. So much so, that I felt like a prey being appraised by his predator as his eyes raked over my form. I shifted from foot to foot, unsure what to say as he stared at me from his spot on the sofa. "Did you have your dinner or should I ask them to bring some food?" He finally asked, breaking the sudden awkward silence that had descended upon us. I shook my head. "I've already had some. I figured you would've eaten
"It feels like a dream," I admitted softly once both my feet were in the shoes. Alpha Evan stood up, looking down at me with the softest of smiles. "It is very much real. You did pinch yourself just now to prove it is," he pointed out, a teasing lilt to his voice. I felt my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. But could you really blame me? Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined anyone would ever do something like this for me, let alone a powerful Alpha such as him. Before I could say anything, he held up a finger, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he did so. The starting notes of 'Perfect' by Ed Sheeran filled the space between us. And then, just when I thought the night couldn't get any more surprising, he held his hand out to me. "Would you do me the honour of dancing with me, Miss?" "I don't know how to dance," I admitted, a bit embarrassed, my voice small. "It's alright. I promise I won't let you fall," he told me, still holding his hand out to me. Nodding shaki
"I'm so, so sorry you had to go through all that," I sobbed out, my vision blurring as I cried. I felt, more than saw his arms come around me and pull me into his lap, shushing me. "Why are you crying, kitten? I hate seeing you cry," I heard him say, his voice barely above a whisper. I shook my head, wiping at my face furiously. Goddess, I hated crying, too. But I felt so bad for him. He continued to shush me, rocking me back and forth gently, as you would a small child, the warmth from his body spreading to mine and comforting me in a way I'd never felt before. Slowly, I calmed down, my tears drying up. "I can't even begin to imagine the horrors you must've gone through. You had your entire childhood ripped away from you, Evan. That's so unfair," I whispered, tightening my arms around him, feeling the electricity coursing through me as it usually did when we touched, as if that would somehow help comfort him. My heart hurt as the thought of a little boy with the greenest eyes ti
All the things that Alpha Evan had told me had felt too personal for me to tell anyone else, even if it was my best friend asking. Besides, I couldn't exactly tell him the truth without revealing the fact that he was actually a hybrid. So all I could do when Raymond asked if I'd tried to find out the truth from Alpha Evan like I'd told him I would was tell him that I trusted Alpha Evan and that he wouldn't hurt me. But of course, Raymond being the over protective friend that he was, wasn't ready to listen. Which was evident in the way he pinched the bridge of his nose, let out a long suffering sigh and turned to Miss Lillian. "Am I the only one who sees how stupid she's being? Please, tell her not to go along with this hair brained scheme of his, Miss Lillian. We know next to nothing about the guy and what we do know isn't very promising. We can not just send her away with a guy like that." I took a seat at the edge of Miss Lillian's bed, letting out a sigh. Her room was the place
As I entered the kitchen, ready to plate the food I was supposed to take to Alpha Evan, a large body bumped into mine, sending me careening behind me into a pile of dishes. The ceramic fell to the floor behind me with a resounding thud, breaking into a hundreds of pieces, the sound so loud that pretty much everyone had stopped what they were doing to look at me. Both anger and embarassment rushed through me in equal measures, making my cheeks heat up. "What the hell, Melody?" Michel's voice boomed in the silence that ensued as I struggled to get up from the floor without hurting myself. My hand had only just healed from the previous incident with the broken champagne glasses and the last thing I wanted was another cut. I looked up to see who had pushed me, only to see that it was Laurent, one of the pack's gammas sneering down at me. He and Nick were the best of friends and often took turns trying to humiliate or hurt me. It was their definition of fun. I had thought that after
ELEVEN YEARS LATER"Oliver, get back here!" I screamed at my six year old as he ran out the door taking his older sister's shirt with him. Goddess, I had no idea why this little brat was so obsessed with his sister's clothes. He was always stealing her clothes from the laundry basket and running around the house with them in his hand. Why he did that, I had absolutely no idea. Maybe he liked seeing Serena shout our lungs out. The kids loved each other to death but lived to make each other's lives hell.A chuckling Evan walked in the door with a small black garment in his hand. "Looking for this?" He asked.I snatched Serena's top from his hand, the same one Oliver had run out the door with moments ago. How he had managed to snag the cloth back, I had no idea, but that was just the way it had always been. I could keep shouting at the kids to get things done and they wouldn't do it. But one word from their father and suddenly, they were the most obedient kids in the world. Evan was a na
"You're sure you want to do this? I can go alone if you're not comfortable," I said to Alpha Evan for the umpteenth time that evening as we made our way outside towards his car. "Yes, Melody, I'm sure. Even if I don't act like it, I am their Alpha and I want to introduce you to the pack myself so they know not to mess with you," Alpha Evan explained as he held open the door to his car, motioning for me to take a seat. I did so and he shut the door once I was seated before going over to the driver's side and getting in himself. "They wouldn't dream of messing with their Luna," I replied. Packs held their Alpha and Luna in high regard and everyone knew that they were always supposed to act respectfully towards their leaders. "Just because you think a certain way, doesn't mean everyone would think like that as well, kitten," Alpha Evan muttered, his eyes on the road as he drove. My brows furrowed. What did he mean by that? It wasn't something just I thought, was it? "What do you mea
The next morning, Alpha Evan woke me up bright and early to begin my training. Apparently, according to him, my wolf was weak as hell and I needed to train to strengthen myself. Of course, no one expected me to become a warrior or anything like that, but both him and I wanted me to be able to at least defend myself should the need ever arise. "Again," Alpha Evan said, making me groan. "I thought that it was my wolf that needed training, not my human form," I complained loudly even as I picked up the dumbbells, readying myself for another set. "No offence, kitten, but I can snap you like twig if I wanted to. I want you to at least be able to defend yourself on the off chance that something happens and I'm not there to protect you," Alpha Evan explained, not even breaking a sweat as he bench pressed weights that were almost twice my entire body weight with ease in his indoor gym. It was extremely distracting and almost hypnotising the way his muscles tensed and relaxed as he exercise
"Evan, you're back," I said, stating the obvious. "So it seems," he replied, his tone even as he walked further into the house, his woody sense invading my senses. I wanted to melt into his arms right then but it was not the time to let my feelings for him take over all rational thought so I stood rooted to my spot instead."Where did you go off to?" I asked, keeping my tone as neutral as possible."I went for a run to clear my head a little," he explained, his tone just as neutral as mine, if not more. "I'm, uh, sorry for the way I reacted earlier. I didn't mean to say all that."I raised a brow at his words. I was happy and immensely relieved that he at least knew he'd done something wrong and was man enough to apologise for the same. Much as his words had hurt, I knew that bringing it up again will do nothing but spoil both our moods. Now wasn't the time for that. Now was the time to talk things out. "Right. It's okay, but let's not make it a habit, yeah?" I told him, keeping my
I'd been feeling extremely hungry when Alpha Evan had started cooking food for us but after the conversation we'd just had, I didn't feel like eating anything, let alone seeing what he had cooked. Left alone in the house with nothing to do and the conversation we'd just had running on a continuous loop in my head, I couldn't sit still. I paced in front of the kitchen as I waited for Alpha Evan to come back from wherever it was he had run off to. I hated this. I hated that he left the house like that with no way for me to communicate with him whenever we had a fight. And what had that even been about? Fine, we thought differently on certain things but did that really mean that we couldn't be with each other? His parting words had been that he couldn't see us working out in the long run. But why? This had been our first disagreement as a couple and he had run off like that in a fit of anger instead of talking things out like we should've. Was it that easy for him to give up on us jus
Without thinking, I jumped in to defend Logan. "Oh, he was just asking if we're mates. And we are," I said with a smile as Alpha Evan made his way down the stairs, staring Logan down, his gaze cold.Then, he looked at me and almost as if on instinct, I walked towards him, wrapping an arm around his waist and leaning in to his side. "We make a cute couple, don't we?" I said, hoping Logan would get the hint and play along. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was hoping it'd help take the heat away from Logan and calm Alpha Evan down enough that he wouldn't do something to hurt the guy. I did not want anything bad happening to him simply because he had been too curious to keep his mouth shut. I let out a small sigh when Logan smiled and agreed wholeheartedly. "Of course, you do. You guys make a great couple. Many congratulations on finding your mate, Alpha. You too, Luna."Alpha Evan then looked down at me, seemingly calm now. He gave me an almost pleased smile, as if happy to hear t
I still couldn't believe Alpha Evan was my mate. Sure, like every other girl, I'd imagined finding my mate one day. I'd never really thought it would actually come true given what my condition had been, but I'd definitely dreamt. I'd thought about if he'd be someone I'd always known, or if he'd be someone from an entirely different pack, someone completely unknown. I'd thought about if he'd be a kind man or not, what he'd think of me when he first saw me, if he'd like me or not. And now that the dream had finally come true, I didn't know what to do. For the first time since meeting Alpha Evan, I felt unsure how to act around him. Were there any rules when it came to being with your mate? Was I supposed to act a certain way? And Alpha Evan was an Alpha. Did that make me a Luna? I wasn't sure I was ready for something like that. But then again, he barely paid any attention to any of his duties as an Alpha, so I didn't think he expected me to do anything in that regard either. But then
It was hard to put into words what being in my wolf form truly felt like. My vision was sharper, my sense of smell was heightened and my reflexes were quicker than ever before. It was the most liberating feeling in the world, being able to run at breakneck speed without tiring. Sure, I still felt a little awkward in my movements, not used to running on all fours like that, but I felt happy that now, I at least had an opportunity to get used to it. Alpha Evan ran right beside me, his large black wolf dwarfing my smaller brown one but he kept his pace even with mine, never running ahead even though I knew he easily could. His woody scent was there, stronger than ever, making me feel warm and safe like it always did. My wolf felt at ease, heck, my entire being felt at ease with him beside me. It was almost unnatural how much at peace my heart felt with him by my side. A feeling of euphoria and of being complete engulfed me, like I had finally accomplished everything I was meant to wit
"You think you're ready for it?" Alpha Evan asked. "I'm not sure. I'm... I'm scared," I admitted honestly, letting out a breath. The last time I had tried this was years ago, and I had ended up writhing in pain halfway through before giving up entirely. It was early morning the next day and apparently, Alpha Evan thought that it was the perfect time to help me shift into my wolf form. Much as I wanted to postpone the entire thing, I was also eager to get it over and done with. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to do it but Alpha Evan's presence and help was making me hopeful. And hope was a dangerous thing to have. "It's okay to be scared, kitten. Your past experiences haven't been pleasant from what you've told me so it's normal to feel this way, I suppose," Alpha Evan said, his voice soothing and calm. That coupled with all the greenery surrounding us in the large field close to Alpha Evan's house helped take the edge off, but I was still wary and nervous about what would happen