CHAPTER 2 : GOOD FRIENDS

CHAPTER 2

~GABRIELLA’S POV~

My eyes widened as I heard those words, my heart rate increased, and my breaths became more frequent as I stared at the alpha and all the beta wolves that sat around him.

My fist subconsciously tightened until my claws pierced through my skin. As blood dripped from my hand, I raised my palm up to my face and thought to myself. "Why was I born an unfortunate child? All I wanted was some peace of mind while I lived out the rest of my days in the bondage of the dark-hound pack alpha. Why this?” I asked in my head, letting out a sigh.

“The alpha of the Dark Moon Pack will send his warrior wolves to come collect you in a few days. In the mean time, we will be celebrating the long-term relationship we will have after the deal is made,” her voice sounded from a corner of the room. I raised my head and turned to her, Luna. She carried a look of disgust on her face as she stared at me. Somehow, I could hear her thoughts about how much she wanted me out of the pack. I could feel her hatred boring its way into my chest like a hand drill.

“You may leave; I have said all I want to say,” the alpha said as he placed a kiss on his wife’s cheek. I turned around quietly, wondering why they hated me so much and why they loathed my presence in their home. Was this how parents treated their children everywhere, or was I just forsaken by the moon goddess?

“Gabriella,” she called. I stopped, let out another sigh, and turned around with my head facing the ground.

‘Yes, Luna,” I answered softly.

“You’re going to be the one to prepare the celebration hall that will be used. The warrior wolves will be here in a few days, and we want that place to be as neat as a pin. Get to work,” she ordered.

"Yes, Luna,” I replied, staring through the black strands of my hair that hung in front of my face.

I walked out of the room, picked up my bucket at the door where I left it, and made my way toward the dining hall. As I walked sluggishly through the passages, a teardrop rolled down my cheek from my right eye. I stopped walking and used my right index finger to clean the tears off my cheek.

I paused for a moment to get myself together, then continued my walk down the passageway.

Finally, I got to the dining hall with all the materials I would use to get the place clean. The size of the hall was very intimidating, and I couldn’t get my head around how possible it would be for me to clean up the place before the day ended.

As I picked up my broom, I heard two distinct footsteps walk into the hall and stop beside me. I raised my head and turned to my right. Two of my friends stood silently with smiles on their faces as they stared at the distance in the large hall.

“Marian, Lily, what brings you here?” I asked as a staggered look grew on my face. They both turned to me, their smiles undyingly spreading positive energy to every corner of the room.

“We’re here to help, madam; you’ve already been through enough; we want to try our best to loosen things up for you a bit,” Marian said, turning to me.

I gawked at both of them for a moment, then turned back to the hall, saying, “No, I can handle this myself. You girls probably have your own jobs to do. If you’re caught helping me, you could get into serious trouble."

"But we don’t care, my lady. It’s our duty to serve the alpha and his family, even you,” Lily said with a concerned expression on her face.

I let out a sigh, then said, “Listen, I understand you really want to help me, but I have no other choice but to refuse. I would be putting mine and your lives in danger by accepting your offer, so please, let me be."

Both girls went silent. They stared at me for a moment, their smiles slowly waning as their hearts filled with disappointment. As I waited for them to turn around and leave in silence, I slowly started to feel bad for turning them down the way I did. They only wanted to help.

Suddenly, both their lips curled up into smiles wider than before. “See, we don’t need your permission to do cleaning here. Pick a side of the hall to clean, and we’ll pick ours; if not, we're going to get really angry and report you to the warrior wolves.” Marian said.

As I heard this, I realized they had thought the whole thing out and were determined to help me no matter what I said. It was like they knew I would turn them down, and this was their contingency plan.

“Alright, fine. You win. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I said, letting out a groan, and they both squealed in excitement.

Marian and Lily were the only two people in the entire pack who really cared about me. They were the only two people I dreamed to spare the day I would burn down the pack with unchecked rage. The day my demons would finally cut loose

They were the only two reasons why I kept my feet on the ground and kept pushing forward even though everything tried to hold me down.

The thought of leaving them alone in this place was nothing short of terrifying. Although they were probably going to be fine since they weren’t me,

As we cleaned the place up, I wondered what my life would become in the new world I was being sold off to. Would it grow better or worse, or would nothing change at all? I hated the idea of getting married off into a strange land, never experiencing the joy of finding my mate, but somehow, leaving this retched place made me a little happy.

As I lay silently on my bed after a long day of hard labor, all the aches and pains that came from all the work I had done came after me all at once. I groaned agonizingly, clenching my teeth and my fist together as I curled up into a ball.

The good thing about being a werewolf was that all the pain and aches I felt would habitually heal themselves by morning.

It was finally evening. The alpha and his family gathered at the dinner table to have their last meal for the day. Although I was the alpha’s daughter, I was never allowed to sit at the same table with them; instead, I would be among the maids serving food and eating the scraps that were left over.

I carried a large tray stacked with raw ox meat. It was the family's favorite. The alpha loved to go hunting from time to time, and each time he went, he wouldn’t return until he brought back a large ox. I gently lowered the tray to the center of the table, trying my best not to cause a mess.

Before the tray could meet the table, he attacked. My little brother, a brat who was pampered all his life by our parents because he was their only son and the next alpha, He wasn’t as strong and didn’t have the ability to hunt like the other warrior wolves, but he was far stronger than me, that was for sure. To be honest, my life was blissful until he was born. He took everything from me.

He slammed his right elbow into the side of my stomach, and I slipped. The entire tray turned over on the table, and the large chunk of meat fell flat on the dry wood.

Luna turned to me with a scornful look. Looking at her, I knew immediately that I was about to be on the receiving end of something terrible.

“Can’t you do something right for once in your life?” She started with her acidic tongue. “You clumsy little brat. You’re a useless and good-for-nothing piece of trash,” she continued, melting into a puddle the little self-esteem I had left.

“YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A PIECE OF RAG WE PICKED UP FROM..." She was about to continue when the alpha suddenly hit the table, shutting her up.

“Gabriella, clean up this mess and head back to your quarters,” he said softly.

“Yes, my lord,” I replied, quickly packing up the mess I had made on the table.

As I walked away from the dining area, I wondered what my stepmother was talking about. I was very interested in knowing what the rest of her sentence was going to be. Although I wasn’t too determined to find out, digging into the dark depths of this family's matter would mean my death.