Chapter 1

Today is my eighteenth birthday. To most werewolves, this is a coming of age, a milestone celebrated especially when you are one of the twin daughters of the Alpha of your pack. 

The night was young, and everyone seemed to be having a happy, gaily time celebrating my twin sister’s birthday, but not mine.  While my sister enjoyed being the center of everyone’s attention, I am relegated to the kitchen, helping out to serve our guests at her party. 

I am Erin Acklen, the first among the twin daughters of Alpha Leo of the Red Stone Pack and his mate, Luna Bella. 

I watched my Alpha father sipped his wine while my mother fussed over my twin sister, Lyla and felt a heavy feeling in my chest.  

“What are you waiting for?”  The head mistress scolded when she saw me dilly-dallying, hesitation all over my face.  

I bit my lip. The reluctance to follow her orders died in my throat.  If I don’t show up at my family’s table tonight, Lyla would not like it. 

After pulling my hair in a scrunchie and tying the ribbons of my apron at the back of my waist, the head mistress handed me a serving  tray. 

“Go to the Alpha’s table.” She commanded. 

I nodded and started walking toward their table. 

I saw Lyla smirked when she spotted me. Her critical eyes ran down my shabby dress before looking pointedly at her gown made of fine fabric. The action made me draw back a deep breath.

Lyla loves to throw in my face the disparity in our standing in the family.  She relished the fact that while our parents dote on her, the sight of me disgusts them. 

We may be twins, but Lyla and I were never close.  I grew up with Lyla’s scorn owing to the fact that our parents hated me. 

Lyla was born weak. She almost died in my mother’s womb, because according to the midwife that attended to our mother when we were born, I sucked out all of our mother’s nutrients while we were inside her womb. 

This explains why my parents do not like me.  They poured all their attention on Lyla, discarding me aside. 

Lyla was a sickly child and every time she became sick, my mother would draw an accusing finger my way, telling me it’s all my fault. 

Until now, Lyla could not take part in any practice because she had weak lungs, which pack members believed to be caused by me.  

I, on the other hand, grew stronger and infuriated our mother more.

“Here’s your wine, mother,” I said when I reached their table, putting the wine glass in front of our Luna while balancing the tray with my other hand. 

SLAP!

The resounding clap to my cheeks caused me to lose my balance and the tray I was holding,  including all its contents, landed on my chest before it fell to the hard floor with a loud crash.

I could feel my cheeks burning from the stinging sensation and shame as my mother, the Luna of our pack, embarrassed me in front of our guests.

“How many times do I have to tell you, do not call me your mother?  It puts me to shame to look at a filthy vile person like you.  You are not my daughter.  You are not worthy to call me your mother!”  Luna Bella screeched at the top of her lungs, hitting me in the face one more time.

I felt a stinging pain on the part where her slap landed, but I ignored it. I was more concerned with Luna's face, now contorting in anger. The veins on the side of her head bulged in contempt.

I’m used to the pain.  I am more worried about her, as each day passed, her hatred of me grew. The sweet woman, the older pack members talked about, was no longer present as she aged. Every word that came out of her mouth was pure hatred. 

Somehow, I wondered, was it really my crime to be born healthier than my twin?  Was it my fault that I got greedy inside her womb, sucking up all the nutrients in her placenta or was it tough luck?  

Mother continued with her tirade, while people shied away from looking at her.  She was our Luna and the filthy words she hurled at me are words unfit to be uttered by a woman of her high ranking.  

I looked down on the floor in shame while our Luna talked about how unworthy I was to be born in the Acklen family.  

No one attempted to stop my mother. No one stepped up to my defense.  Even my Alpha father ignored us - like he did not even care that his daughter is being mistreated by his wife. And my twin sister?  I could feel her eyes boring into my bowed head. I knew she was happily lapping up this scene because she loved to see me suffer. 

Everybody believed I deserved my mother’s punishment. 

I bit my lips as tears threatened to fall, but I tried valiantly to hold them in, waiting for anyone to step in and relieve me from this agony, but no one made the move.  No one is bold enough to anger our Luna or our Alpha so I am left on my own, enduring.

I was bullied by my own family and everyone seemed to think I deserved it.  

I would not cry.  I told myself over and over again, feeling everyone’s eyes on me as they passed judgment. 

“Clean it up!” My mother howled at my unmoving form. 

Without any complaints, I crouched down on my knees to pick up the broken pieces of the shattered glasses, aware of my father’s intent gaze, seeming to relish my humiliation while my mother continued to viciously hurl vile words against me. And my sister? She’s smiling, telling me how my suffering makes up her entertainment for the night. 

This is after all her wish.  She wanted to divulge the sordid details of my birth to everyone present to justify their actions. 

“Apologize!”  My mother’s yell broke into my thoughts. 

I took a deep breath, forced to swallow my pride and dignity, and with bowed head do as my Luna ordered.  “I am sorry, Luna Bella.  I am sorry, Alpha Leo, I am sorry Mistress Lyla.”  

A hand clamped my hand but I didn’t move from my position, crouched before my family, head bent down, and murmuring my apologies over and over, waiting for any of them to bark an order to allow my retreat. 

“Get out of my sight!” 

At last Alpha Leo commanded and I was whisked back to the kitchen by the same strong arm that held my arm. 

Heart in my eyes, I looked up to thank my rescuer, but the hopeful expression on my face fell when I recognized who saved me.  Anna, one of the servants my age, helped me up and guided me back to the kitchen where I was told to stay there for the time being to soothe our Luna’s ire. 

I took a long deep breath, trying to hold out my disappointment and my tears before facing the sink and started washing the enormous pile of dishes. 

While I tackled the dirty dishes, I thought about Boris.  He is my mate and my father’s soon-to-be Beta. I smiled to myself recalling our agreement last night to meet after the party. I was thinking of giving Boris myself tonight. I am hoping we could be performing the sacred mating bond and Boris would finally lay his claim on me.  

I love Boris and I could not wait to be with him.  

With Boris by my side, I could picture myself finally getting out of this hellhole for good. 

Boris is my only hope.  I could not wait to build a family with him with a litter of pups in our own household.  

I don’t know how long I stayed stuck in the sink, with sudsy water running up to my elbows, drenching my skirt.  The pile does not seem to get any smaller as the servants add more dishes to the wash.

While I was straightening my back to work out the kink, someone pushed my head to the sudsy water and held it.  Then, my head was lifted forcibly as I came out gasping. 

“Mo- Luna!”  I cried in surprise, head tilted back to come face-to-face with the angry contorted face of my mother.

My eyes watered and a burning pain spread through my scalp after my mother tugged at my hair, dragging me in the direction of the stairs. 

My skin prickled with terror when I saw where she was taking me. 

‘Not again!’ I told myself,  trying to hold back the tears futilely as they streamed down my face in anguish. 

“Please!”  I pleaded, but my mother, our Luna, turned a deaf ear to my plea. 

She dragged me carelessly down the flight of stairs, uncaring whether I bump my hips or mangle my limbs so long as I came down with her to the basement where she would lock me up for hours. 

How many nights have I spent in this stuffy, dark place since I was little? I could not count anymore.  All I know is the horrifying feeling of being alone and lonely. I desperately clung to my mother when she pushed me to the wall next to a cage the size too small to fit me in either horizontally or vertically. 

“Please, Luna Bella. Don’t leave me here.  I will be good, I promise!” I cried desperately, kneeling in front of her with hands clasped to my chest in the hopes that she would take pity on me, but it was no use. She remained blind and deaf to my appeal.

“Get in!” She commanded, seeming to take pleasure in my suffering. 

I inched close to the door, opened it and squished my body to fit the small space of the corral, and cried endlessly. Luna Bella viciously looked down on me. 

“That’s what happens to illegitimate daughters like you!” She bellowed, stopping me from sobbing to look at her in confusion. 

“What is she saying?” I heard Maya, my wolf said in my head, but I was as clueless as her.  I looked at our Luna with a frown. 

Luna Bella took pleasure in my confusion as she continued.

“Since you’re the right age, let's settle this once and for all, bitch.  I am not your mother!”  It was like my life had been cut off from me.  I could not breathe in disbelief. 

Cold dread spread through me.

“D*mn right.  You are not my daughter.  You are my sister’s daughter who seduced my mate in the hopes of stealing him away from me.  I would have wanted to kill you at birth, but couldn’t, for you are after all my niece. But seeing you every day for eighteen years was torture for me as well.  I wanted to hurt you because the sight of you disgusts me.  You remind me of the sins your father and mother brought to me. You are the living proof of their betrayal!”  Luna Bella howled in anger.  She was so red in the face, teeth-gnashing and eyes flashing fiercely that I almost balked at the force of her grudge. 

Then she started slamming her hands down the cage, kicking and shaking it from side to side in a fit of deep-seated rage that took eighteen years to be fully vented out.

But it was not enough for her. She forcefully dragged me out of the cage and assaulted me repeatedly until I could not feel my body from the pain. 

At first, I would cry every time she hit me. She was my Luna and my mother whom I swore to protect. I could not fight her.  All I can do is endure the pain she was inflicting on my body, my mind and my heart until I could not feel the pain any longer.  

Numbed, I watched as Luna Bella grabbed my neck and choked me while screaming in a shrill voice, half-crazed in anger. 

“I am going to kill you!”