Chapter 0001

ASHANTI'S POV.

"Hello, you've reached Conrad's cell phone, please leave a message." A loud beep follows the voice and I instantly end the call, sighing heavily.

"Come on Conrad!" I cry in frustration as I pick up my purse and rush out of my bedroom.

I've been trying to reach my boyfriend for hours and it's frustrating the hell out of me.

He hasn’t called or texted to check on me either since this morning, which is unusual of him. This has never happened before.

I need to go over to Conrad's apartment and check on him to make sure everything is alright. We are supposed to go on a date today and he said he would come here to pick me up.

As I descend the staircase, I try to call him one more time and it goes straight to voicemail again. I almost shoot my phone against the wall.

"Ashanti!" A familiar voice calls my name as I'm about to exit the living room.

I signed inwardly and turn to look at her.

"Yes, mum." Everytime I address this woman as mum, I almost swallow my tongue.

I hate to do it, but my father keeps forcing me to do so.

"Go get Rhea for me. There's something I need to tell her." She instructs and I look at her in total disbelief.

"Can you send one of the servants to do that, please?" I ask as politely as I can. "I'm about to go out and it’s kind of urgent."

“Are you trying to disobey me?"

"No, I'm not… I'm just trying to say…"

"Wait till your father hears about this." She gives me a wicked look before walking away. If I let her walk out of that door and go to meet my father, she'll tell him something I never have done which unsurprisingly my father will believe in her and it would never end well.

"Alright fine!" I surrender. "I'll go get her." I make sure not to look at her because the smile of victory on her face will make me snap.

I head back to the staircase. My thoughts travel back to Conrad and I dial his number one more time, but I get the same annoying voice mail message.

This has never happened before. I'm scared.

As I stop at my half-sister’s room, I heard unspeakable sounds coming out of it.

"Yeah… Oh…" I hear a moaning voice emanating from Rhea's bedroom. It's hers. I stop in my tracks to listen more and her voice rises. Chills run down my spine when I finally figure out what's going on there. "Oh my God… yeah… fuck! You are going to make me come!"

Well, of course it’s hers and she’s doing THAT at this hour already.

This is no news, but why does she have to be so loud?

It's a good thing our father never comes up here or he'll be heartbroken to hear his favourite daughter screaming in such an unholy way.

"Why don't you break up with my sister and date me instead? I am father's favorite daughter. If you marry me, you stand a higher chance of becoming Alpha than if you marry Ashanti." I stop walking and try to process what I just heard Rhea say.

My head is unsteady. My heart is pounding in my ears.

"I'm not doing this because I want to become Alpha someday, Rhea."

That voice!

That smooth baritone voice.

It belongs to no one else, but my boyfriend, Conrad!

"I just love who you are. Your personality intrigues me. You are the one I want to be with."

“Stop it. I know it’s because I’m good.” Rhea giggles, making me want to puke.

Conrad’s last words hit me like the worse kind of physical pain. My chest is rising and falling, my breaths are coming in too hard. I am hyperventilating.

For a split second, I want to listen to my heart that’s telling me to turn and leave, but my mind wins the war and I barge into the bedroom, fuming in anger.

Both Conrad and Rhea jump in fear when their eyes fall on me. Conrad is looking at me like I suddenly grew two heads.

"Oh yeah?" I ask with a shaky voice. Tears are burning behind my eyelids and I have to blink many times to prevent them from escaping my eyes.

I’m not going to cry for him.

He’s not worth it!

"Ashanti, please I can explain!" Conrad begs as he tries to step down from the bed, but he can't because he's stark naked under the comforter.

"Ashanti, what the hell are you doing in my bedroom?" Rhea screams at the top of her voice and I drag my eyes from Conrad and plaster them on her face. She doesn't look scared or guilty at all.

She looks angry.

"Your mom asked me to bring you downstairs. And what the heck are you doing in bed with my boyfriend?" I ask raising my voice at her as well.

""I just fucked him. What are you going to do about it?" She folds her arms over her chest and smirks at me. Her bluntness gets me speechless.

Her confidence immediately makes me understand that this isn't the first time they are sleeping with each other. They have been doing this for a while now behind my back.

"Come on, Conrad." She nudges his arm with her elbow. "Why don't you tell her to her face right now that I'm the one you want to be with because I'm better than her?"

She's doing it again. She's trying to take what's mine as always. Rhea has been the favorite child in this family since her arrival. Our father loves her to bits and he let's her have anything she wants, but it seems she only ever wants what I have. Since we were children, she would steal my friends by turning them against me just to prove to me that she is the more popular one in the pack and now, she has moved on to my boyfriend.

She had stolen my boyfriend the same way her mother stole our father from my mother. My mum and dad used to be happily married, but one day, my stepmom showed up out of nowhere with Rhea in her arms. That's when my mother found out that my father had been having an affair with another woman. She couldn't take it, so she left her family and her pack. They didn’t allow her to take me with her. My father claimed he’s the Alpha of the pack and my mother was not mentally stable enough to take care of me.

Father did not denounce my mother as a traitor, but he never went to find her either and since then, neither of us have ever heard from her.

You might think my father loved me so deeply that he kept me by his side, but the way I got treated by everyone in this family made me feel like I was the intruder.

A stubborn tear escapes my eye, but I furiously wipe it away and suck in a deep breath. I train my eyes on Rhea who is smirking at me. I wish I could cripple her cockiness with the back of my hand.

"You really are pathetic Rhea." I chuckle in pain. "You like stealing other women's men like just your mum. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?" Her gaze darkens. The smirk on her face wipes off and is replaced with a scorn.

"You and your mother are losers who can't keep their men! Men always know who are better."

"Oh really? Or is he with you just because he wants to be the alpha one day?" I am trying hard to hold myself together and get through with this confrontation. My breaths are coming in too fast and my heart feels like it has been stabbed by a hundred daggers.

"That's exactly the value I can provide and I'm proud of it. What about you? What can you offer him if he stays with you? Ashanti, you are nothing! Can’t you see that? All this time you thought you were better than me because I came here later, but guess what? It has been proven time and again I'm better than you. I'm dad's favourite child, your friends love me better, and your Conrad is having a happier time with me. You have no value and that’s because you always fuck everything up!” Her mean words slap my face like a hundred hands.

This is not the first time she’s gaslighting me. She does it all the time and it always hurts. But I need to stay strong and not let those words get to me.

I look at her evil face.

I still can't believe this is happening. This has got to be a nightmare. I should be able to wake up from this.

"Ashanti, please you have to listen to me…" Conrad starts talking again, but I cut him off.

"There's no need for us to have any talk, Conrad. I can see you've made your choice. Congratulations."

What’s the point of keeping pretending? I’m the less favoured kid, and Rhea will help him become the alpha with her sweet words by my father’s ears. He already got what he wanted, didn’t he?

"I…" His words are cut short by the sound of footsteps resonating in the bedroom. We all turn to look at the door and there's a maid standing in the doorway.

"I've got news from Alpha Anderson."

Our father.

We all pay attention to her.

"The Beta of the Lunar Crescent Pack and his men have arrived and Alpha Anderson needs the two of you in his office immediately!" She reports and Rhea immediately jumps down from her bed and bolts into the bathroom at the speed of light.

My heart starts pounding because I know that's not good news.

Something is about to go wrong.