Chapter 1 Dreadful night

TANIA'S POV

If only I had gotten a glimpse of what that night would look like I would have prevented the dreadful thing that happened that night from happening. I would have stopped the melancholy that beastly night brought alongside it. The tears of the innocent poured out to the ground, their screams and fear lingering in the dark night sky and more especially... The blood of my family wasted that night.

My people. My family. I lost them that night to the hands of our rival pack. I lost them seven years ago to the hands of the Alpha King, Avalon of Crescida Kingdom. The leader of the Demilune Pack -- the most dreaded pack on the horizon.

Now only I was left from the lineage of my late father, Alpha King Devon, the mighty lord of valor and the leader of the Blue Moon Pack whose life had now been shortened and his existence deflated to the grave.

Just like yesterday, I can remember how most of my people were killed that night. Men especially and a few women who struggled for their freedom. I watched as women and children were taken away in bonds. My people, treated like debris washed on shore by the ocean, beaten, battered and everything in between. But what was worse?

I saw my father's enemies burn his corpse and that of my mother on the ground. A sight I wish I never saw. It was already enough that I had to watch Demilune Pack and their Alpha King murder my parents and take away my people as slaves, but watching them belittle my parents in that manner made my heart sink into the abyss.

I remember screaming at the top of my voice, twirling and twisting in the hands of those that held me, trying to break free and run to my parents. I remember the sound of the chains that I was bound with clanking on the ground as I struggled against my rivals. I was dragged like a transgressor, like one who had gone rogue. My feet trailed harshly along the hot hard ground away from my kingdom and away from a place I once called my home and into a place where my life would change forever.

...

It is exactly 7 years since the massacre. I and my people have been living as slaves in the kingdom of Crescida. Treated as scums and maltreated heavily as though we committed a crime, though the treatment given to me cannot be compared to the ill treatment meted out to my people. Maybe it is because I am the daughter of a great but fallen king, maybe it was because I am the surviving blood of Alpha King Devon or maybe it was because I was the supposed bride that was to be married to King Avalon's son on this day.

I sat in front of a massive mirror whose frame was decorated with gold colored patterns. Was I supposed to concentrate on the designs when my life was about to be ruined for all of eternity. I stared at the reflection staring back at me and for the first time in seven years I was reminded of how I used to be back then when my parents were still alive – when I use to be a Princess, loved and adored by the people – even though I was unable to recognize the girl that stared back at me from the mirror; the face was definitely mine but the soul within me was that of a broken girl who had known nothing but pain for the past 7 years.

Today, I was to be married to Lexi, the aggressive son of Avalon and the second person I hated so much after his father. Of all days to choose as a marriage ceremony day, it was the same date that my family and people were killed that they had chosen to get the marriage ceremony done and I hated them so much for it.

How dare they? Of course I couldn't say it out loud as that would only result in more punishment. I could only sit down like a good little girl while the Omegas dressed my hair and did all the necessary things they felt they could do inorder to get me ready for the so-called ceremony.

Only the thought of escaping this nightmare kept me in place as I held onto my hands on that seat. I had imagined a few times how I would escape from Crescida and then maybe find a way to rescue my people afterwards but all those were dreams that were stuck in the realms of my Imaginations. Dreams that can never be actualized. They were dreams that were locked within me without any hope of coming to pass. The little stroke of hope that I had in me had now been destroyed – just a little while and I would be married to Lexi and my hopes to escape this wicked place and save my people will be crumbled forever.

The thought of that brought weakness to my knees and numbness to my feet and I bowed my head in defeat and acceptance of my fate. I just turned 24 and all these years, I have been praying to the Moon Goddess to present me an opportunity to escape from my nightmare and save my people but it was obvious that all my prayers had been falling on deaf ears. Maybe the Moon Goddess had completely shut her ears, blocking my prayers from reach. Maybe this was my fate; to be locked up in Crescida and rot in it forever.

"Oh Tania, you look gorgeous from behind," a deep masculine voice spoke from behind me and of course I recognized it -- it was Lexi, a man whose voice I wish I will never hear again.

But there he was behind me. I could see him clearly from the view of my mirror all dressed and ready to claim me as his bride. He wore a grin on his face, a vicious grin that matched the state of his heart. He was neatly dressed in his royal outfit, a purple manteau, giving him an exalting look.

Strong body build and height as mighty as a godly figure; that was the typical way he looked. With a square shaped face and a jawline slanted synchronically to match each other. He was every woman's dream in Crescida but he was never my dream. In fact, he was my worst nightmare.

The maidens retreated from whatever they were doing with my hair and dress and positioned themselves by the side. Each of them with their face down and their hands crossed over each other at the front.

Lexi approached with calculated steps, swaying his gaze from maiden to maiden as he strolled towards me. He stopped in front of a maiden and grabbed one of her breasts. I was used to seeing him act like that. Treating women so disrespectfully as if he owned them. But was I wrong? He actually owned them. Some of us were servants while some were slaves. Slaves and servants held different meanings in Crescida. A slave is someone who is bought and made to work without any wage but a servant is one who works for his wage. So the treatment actually differs.

"Hmm... You seem fit to be a concubine. But don't worry, there will be plenty of time for this later but for now, I shall focus on my bride." Lexi said as he kept running his hands all over the maiden's breast.

That was a vivid demonstration of the way he behaved -- a disrespectful pervert in his own right. How dare he touch her like that?

Inside me, I felt my heart boil and I was at the verge of flaring up but I convinced myself to be calm because he would end up punishing the maiden instead of me.

Lexi finally reached me but never did my gaze falter away from the mirror. Though he was good-looking in nature, he was never a sight to behold for me. To me, he was nothing but worm. Worm that I could not wait to crush with my feet.

"You look stunning, Tania. My beloved bride to be," his hands traveled from my cheeks to my lips which he flapped with his thumb and then he held my neck as if he was trying to strangle me. "I can't wait to hold you like this while I grind against your naked ass from behind, you'd like that won't you? Feeling as my hot shaft fills up the emptiness that has remained for long inside you."

Oh, how pained I was when he muttered those words to me. I have never hungered to punch his mouth and watch his teeth fall to the ground than I was at that moment.

"Who says that I have to wait to have sex with you after the marriage rites tonight? I can do it right here and now don't you think?" His hands grabbed my breasts and squeezed, and like a predator waiting to attack its prey, I grabbed his arm and bit into his flesh.