Chapter 1

Ella's POV

My head banged wildly against the alarm beside my bed, causing my heavy eyes to open slowly as I grunted angrily under my breath. The noise jolted me out of my slumber so violently that I had to rush at the devilish instrument, turning it off roughly as if it were the source of my problems. I wish I could smash it on the floor, but I dare not, knowing the punishment that would follow.

My weak eyes trailed through the walls up to the slightly opened window in my room, and I could see it was dawn already. It was too early in the morning for anyone to get out of bed except for me. A loud hiss slipped from my lips as I hung my head low, feeling the heaviness of my heart. A rush of both anger and sadness was sweeping through me as my eyes burned and I struggled to keep my tears at bay.

Even when it had been barely two hours since I went to bed, it still felt like a second as my eyes were both heavy and fighting to close. I was very drowsy, and all my body badly craved was to lie back on the bed and go back to sleep. I was sitting up on the bed, leaning against the wall, while I repeatedly yawned and rubbed my eyes.

I was too weak to move my body away from the bed. The house was silent, as if no one lived there, but that wasn't the case; they were all asleep. All were enjoying their sleep while I was forced to wake earlier and do the house chores, even though I was always the last to go to bed.

I yawned for the umpteenth time and stretched with a wince of pain as I felt the burning sensation of the welts from whips running along my upper arms and back, which were yet to heal. My eyes glanced through the clock, and my teeth gnashed. It was past a minute already, and I dared not linger on the bed after the alarm went off or they would turn me into a beating statue for being lazy and disobedient.

The thought of being beaten up again after all the maltreatment yesterday made me jump out of bed. Hot tears warmed up in my eyes as my head ached with banging pain.

My legs also hurt with throbbing pain and wouldn't stop hitting me with spasms so hard, reminding me of how bad my health was. Every part of my body cries out for rest, but I can't offer that.. I felt drowsy and so heavy for my scraggly legs to carry, and the bed was just staring back tauntingly at me like a dreadful trap set to destroy me.

I could feel my baggy eyes struggling to close while I fought back to keep them open, as I felt so sleepy and at the same time exhausted with an aching back and spasming legs.

All I want is to lie back on my bed, but I am wiser than that. I know the torment I will put myself through if I ever lie back and sleep after the alarm clock has rung. The last time I tried it, I got an everlasting mark along my back from the slash from my stepmother's wolf's claw.

You must be curious about who I was and what I did wrong to get through all of this. Let me introduce myself.

My name is Ella Damon, and I'm the daughter of the Alpha King, Darren Damon - one of the most powerful Alphas, respected and feared by other packs.

History had it that he never lost a war and had waged war and extincted the Pack that killed his parents when he was a child. He grew and suddenly became unimaginably powerful in the face of war.

No one knew how he got those mysterious powers, which enable him to fight like the wind and strike like unseen forces. His wolf beast was also greatly feared, as it was ranked as the most dangerous and heartless, devouring its enemies so easily and brutally.

Being the only child from his Luna should have earned me such dread and respect from everyone for the rest of my life, but that did not happen. Instead, I became a slave, abhorred and spurned by everyone, and was banned from mentioning the Alpha as my father or adding his surname to my name.

Everyone, including my father, had rejected me and also stripped me of my royalty. They made me lower than the omegas with a slave status. My father has also publicly disowned me in front of the entire pack and has repeatedly threatened to expel me from the pack. He had been torturing me and making my life a living hell. All this was because I did something no one had ever done before. An abominable and horrendous act.

I killed his mate, the Luna. I killed my mother, but that was because she almost got me killed. It all happened three years ago, when I was 15 years old.

I can’t really explain how I could do that with the strange, overwhelming power that had strangely taken over me. That night, in her room. I brutally ended my mother's life with my bare hands, gashing her chest with my claws and devouring her heart, which I suddenly craved like a bloodsucking monster.

All I could recall was that I got possessed by an unknown ferocious beast spirit that rose within me, and it took control of my mind, body, and soul just when she almost murdered me. The strange beast was what saved my life from coming to an end. Before I could hold myself together and stop it from going mad, I had murdered the woman who bore me. Everyone had it imprinted in their hearts that I had killed the pack's Luna before torturing the daylights out of me; weakening my wolf with wolfsbane, and ripping me off my royalty, thereby demoting me to a slave.

No one cared to listen to my side of the story. They never cares to know why I did that.

I could have died if I didn’t fight my mom back, as she had transformed into a bloodthirsty demon and attacked me. I really tried dodging and escaping from the room so I wouldn't hurt her, but it was impossible; she was swift, dangerous, and determined to end my life.

I had no choice but to fight back, and I still wouldn't have succeeded if not for that extraordinary strength.

I have no idea what that mysterious power that suddenly took over me was, nor do I know how it came forth from my body. I had felt the sudden presence of a strange creature inside me and could tell clearly that it wasn’t my wolf, as I wasn’t yet 16 years old. Because of the beast's unusual strength, I savagely attacked my mother.

I figured it would be that a demon had possessed my mother; I knew she wasn’t doing all that with her right senses, but I couldn’t stop her or find the cure at that moment as everyone was at the royal palace for the Beta's daughter's birthday.

Either I fought back and killed her, or I was killed.

I could still vividly remember how it all started. Mom had suddenly taken me to her room while the birthday party was going on, and I thought she had a message to pass on to me.

I never realized she was already being controlled by a demon spell and wasn't in her right mind.

"Mommy, why did you bring me into your room?" I had asked but couldn’t get a reply before I noticed her eyes turn dark and foggy and her canine teeth grow into long, sharp fangs.

I became so afraid and tried to run away through the door when she pounced on me and dug her sharp claws deep into my back. I have cried out in a loud voice for help as the pain has taken over me. I had also pleaded and struggled to free myself, but none of that could save me as she sat on my belly with those scary eyes, that horrifying snarl, and the demon scent that was emitting from her body.

"Mommy! Mum! What are you!..." I was struggling to breathe as I shook in great fear, but she blindly leaned and sunk her fangs into my neck, slurping my blood while her right hand claws traced my chest like she was searching for my heart.

The severe pain was consuming me, and I was losing my breath. My ability to howl and cry for help again faded as my strength drained from my entire body like a wisp of smoke.

For real, my mom was about to kill me that night, and literally no one came to my rescue. No one noticed or heard my voice in the room, since the sound of my screams was muffled by the deafening noise of drums and the musical material used to celebrate the birthday.

She yanked her bite away from my neck and made dreadful guttural sounds.

"You have to die, so the demons can rule!!" That was the next thing I heard my mother unconsciously utter, as if someone were talking through her.