Chapter one

Diana

 

I let the air…or the lack of it, burn my lungs as I took one painful step after another.

This seemed like the perfect solution to all of my problems. The wind whipped across my face as I stared at the water below me. It was a long way down.

Enough that if I cast myself, no one would find me before I died.

The speed of the fall would shatter my bones and make it impossible for me to swim my way out of the mess.

It was death, guaranteed once I stepped off the ledge.

All that it required was that I took that step.

“This is better,” I tried to psyche myself, giving myself the pep talk that no one but me needed to hear.

Death was better than the torture I had faced growing up – one that guaranteed itself to continue as long as I remained here.

Why?

I am Diana Crossfield.

That’s why.

I existed, and it was enough reason for my father to detest me so much, that hitting me became second place to throwing me in the ash cellar and locking me up for days.

I was born into this world, and survived, despite the odds. My mother didn’t, though, and dying on my birth, I was branded the ‘mother killer’. Before I had even made sense of the world, I was found guilty and convicted of one of the most horrible crimes.

Matricide.

My punishment? To live life as a destitute, even though I was the daughter of the most revered entity in the Silver Moon pack.

Life was…hard. And to make it even harder, the moon goddess cursed me to be wolf-less. Now, not only did I lack protection from the people who should have protected me, but I couldn’t even protect myself.

Without a wolf, I was at the mercy of my oppressors, and they saw every opportunity to take every advantage of me they could.

I let the tears fall freely as I neared the edge.

I wasn’t the type to cry. To cope with every form of physical and emotional trauma that my father and his people had put on me, I had learned to develop a tough shell – to build a wall and store all my vulnerability behind that wall.

But this was my last day on this god-forsaken earth. Crying was the one thing I shouldn’t be denied.

My shoulders shook as I let out the sobs. All those years of anguish and sorrow…of captivity and the yearning for freedom…all of it flowed down with the salty liquid that streamed down my face, dropping in steady pellets onto the soft grass beneath my feet.

At least, I got to experience the freedom of nature before my last breath, right?

I closed my eyes, and I took the step.

I wanted to feel the wind as it rushed around me, blowing me honey blonde hair aggressively around my face as I plunged into eternal bliss.

I leaped off the edge, but I didn’t fall.

Opening my eyes, I registered another force pulling me, and not just the force of death.

An arm was around my waist.

“You know, normally, I wouldn’t have a problem with watching you fall, but…your father would kill me if I was here and did nothing,” Therion’s obnoxious voice rang me back to the reality of my precarious situation.

I wasn’t used to crying around him, so I tried my best to swallow my tears.

“Leave me,” I commanded. It was useless. Therion never listened to my commands.

“Your father calls you,” he huffed.

“I don’t care,” I grunted and desperately tried to free myself from his grasp, but by the time I was free, I was already too far from the cliff to muster the courage to jump.

“I don’t care either, but I’m doing my job,” Therion growled. He was my father’s beta, a man in his forties, and all through my life, he has been in my shadows, echoing my father’s thoughts to me.

And his words also.

What a waste of space I am.

How it would have been better if I had died than my mother.

How much ill luck I was to the people of the Silver Moon pack. I fell to a pile on the ground when he let go of me and remained unmoving.

“I should get some men to drag you to the packhouse,” he uttered. “but you might just make a run for the cliff again…” he groaned.

He took a seat behind me, on the patch of grass, and simply waited. He waited for me to bawl my eyes out, which I had never done in front of him because I didn’t want him to see how much of me he had broken.

But was it really worth it anymore? Hiding my hurt? As long as I lived here, they would continue to hurt me. Why act like it wasn’t happening?

After crying to my heart’s content, and then some more, I stood up and walked past him to the pack house. Every time I had to pass members of the pack, it felt like a walk of shame. They always had disdainful looks and snide remarks to cast my way.

Today was no different.

When I got to the packhouse, my father was in the meeting room. I entered, stood in front of him, and uttered not a word.

“She tried to cast herself from the cliff,” Therion said behind me. “She must’ve known I was there, though, so I’m guessing it was a stunt to get me to pity her,”

My blood boiled. A stunt? My genuine quest for freedom…a stunt?

I didn’t even have the strength to fight back.

“Is that true?” he asked me.

I didn’t answer. He looked at his beta. “You should’ve let her jump. We’d be rid of her either way,” he chuckled.

I didn’t feel hurt by my father’s words. I always knew I meant less to him than the underwear he wore.

“Well, darling,” he heaved a sigh, “Since you are so interested in leaving us, how about I offer you a solution that doesn’t involve you dying?” he asked.

My eyes widened.

Sending me away? Hell yeah!

“Where to?” I asked gruffly.

“You remember the boy, Ronald?”

If it was possible, my eyes widened even more. Now, my interest was piqued.