Chapter 1: Forever A Traitor's Spawn

ADELINE 

“Do you like water?”

My brows furrowed at the question. I stared at the maid who was standing over me, her eyes cold and demeaning.

“W-What?” I stammered. 

Still trying to process what was happening, I turned around to see another maid skipping towards me with a large bowl in her hand. Suddenly, it dawned on me. 

“No!” I screamed in horror, staggering backwards. 

But the maid grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking it hard to keep me in place. 

“I promise you'll like this one.” She half whispered to me, her wicked smile never leaving her lips. “Besides, you reek of generational treachery. A cold shower should do.”

“No! Don-”

My screaming was cut off by the feel of cold, icy water filling up my lungs and the pressure that continued to push my head into the bowl of water. My chest burned, my breathing completely cut off. 

Their laughter was deafening. 

She suddenly pulled my head up. I flew into a violent coughing fit, choking on air and coughing up water.

“Stop being disgusting!” She screamed back, and slapped me. Hard. 

I spat back water in her face.

Angrily, she slapped me again. And again, and again till my mouth was filled with the metallic taste of blood. The maid who had been holding my hair suddenly let go, and I collapsed to the ground, struggling for air. 

She gave me less than a second to recover before they began to kick me like a useless bag of bones. The pain in my ribs intensified, but I curled myself into a ball and tried to focus on anything other than the stomping on my body. 

The tears I’d been holding back streamed down my cheeks. 

I should be used to this by now; the insults, the bullying, the beatings. But they came up with creative ways to make my life a hundred times more hellish than it already was. 

“That's what you get for being the daughter of a traitor!” One of the maids snickered.

“You’re nothing but dirt, Adeline! A stain on this pack!”

“Just like your father, a worthless piece of trash! And don’t think we’ve forgotten what he did!”

More taunts followed, echoing in my ears even as their footsteps faded away. Finally, they were gone, leaving me sprawled on the ground, aching and humiliated.

Slowly, I pushed myself up, ignoring the pain. 

My life hadn't always been this bad. My father was once the esteemed Beta of the Redpool Pack and we lived a comfortable life. But when I was ten years old, my entire world shattered. 

My father betrayed the pack, leading to the death of our former Alpha. He was lynched, his body cast into the wild forest. From that day on, I was branded the daughter of a traitor. My status plummeted. I became an orphan omega, a mere maid, the lowest ranking in the entire pack. My life became a cycle of endless chores and abuse.

 I was no better than a slave.

My chest tightened as I limped down the hallway, but I fought back tears. 

Sometimes, I wondered if things would be different if my inner wolf had emerged. 

Every werewolf knew the drill: on the full moon of your eighteenth birthday, your inner wolf awakens, guiding you to your fated mate. But my eighteenth birthday came and went, and nothing. No surge of power, no inner voice. 

I was too weak, too frail. 

That was five years ago, and now I had already lost hope. Nothing good could ever happen to me. 

Maybe I was condemned to work until the day I drew my final breath. I was never going to be loved as long as I was the daughter of a traitor.

Swallowing the lump of tears that threatened to choke me, I forced myself to focus on the present. Crying wouldn’t get my chores done. And I had one last, dreaded task for the day: cleaning the Alpha’s chambers.

Alpha Hilton. 

The very name sent a shiver of dread down my spine. He was the son of the Alpha my father had betrayed, and his hatred for me knew no bounds. He relished in tormenting me, locking me away in the cold, damp dungeon and making my life a living hell. 

But even worse than that was the abuse. 

My stomach churned, bile rising in my throat as I remembered that dirty feeling of his hands on me. 

That was his routine; he made sure that I owned nothing, not even my body, on that rainy night where my scream and pleas for mercy didn't stop him from taking my virginity.

You're being punished for your father's deeds, he said, telling me to take it like a good girl. And he'd locked me up right after, for crying in his bed. Another tear slipped out at the horrific memories. Even when I tried my hardest to forget, my body remembered. 

Since then, he had only gotten worse.

I shook the feeling off, forcing my mind back to the task. The sooner I finished, the sooner I could leave. I crept silently down the hallway leading to his chambers, my heart pounding.

I paused at his door, listening. Silence. He wasn’t there. A small, desperate burst of relief swelled in my chest.

I slipped inside, moving with practiced speed. I quickly went about my duties, dusting and tidying, wanting nothing more than to be gone before he returned. 

I was almost done when the door creaked open behind me. My blood ran cold.

Hilton.

His eyes, dark and piercing, narrowed on me. A familiar frown contorted his face. My breath caught in my throat. Before I could even think of an escape, his hand shot out, grabbing my arm in a vice-like grip.

“Trying to sneak out, are we, Adeline?” His voice was a low growl, laced with venom.

“N-no, Alpha, I was just finishing and I…I..”

He yanked me closer, his other hand reaching out, tearing at the already thin fabric of my dress. 

I jumped back with a shriek, my hand shielding my exposed breast. Fear, anger and humiliation swelled in my chest. 

“Don’t lie to me, girl,” he snarled, his eyes burning into mine. “You were hoping to avoid me, weren’t you?”

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself, my body trembling uncontrollably.

“I was just–”

My words were cut off when his palm connected to my face in a blinding slap. 

I didn't have the time to react because he yanked me off the ground immediately, sending me flying to the bed. I backed away as he climbed on, but there was nowhere to run to. 

I brought both hands quickly to shield myself, but it was no use. 

That's when I felt my bruised ribs start to throb painfully. My hands fell limp at the sides in a bid to minimize the pain, but it had reached my legs. And then my hands.

I let out a guttural scream at the pain. It hurt so much that I couldn't breathe. I could hear my bones crunching, disoriented and desperately wanting it to stop. It didn't, if anything the pain doubled. I screamed again, snapping my head backwards when I saw the full moon on display.

“Make it stop.” I cried weakly, reaching for the bedframe where the windowpane was. “Please…”

‘Hush, dear.’ A small feminine voice spoke. ‘It'll be over soon.’

It seemed to have gone on forever. Slowly, the pain I'd nearly passed out from started to fade. And in that moment I could hear her clearly. 

‘I have waited for so long.’

I glanced around the now dark room, but there was no one in sight. Then the voice came again, this time clearer and louder. 

‘I am Tara, your wolf.’

What?

“Who-”

My question was cut short by my own sharp inhale. 

Suddenly, a scent hit me. Sweet, intoxicating, a scent that filled my senses and made every fiber of my being hum. It was a scent I’d never encountered before, yet it felt like home.

Then, Tara’s voice came again.

‘Mate!’

The world stopped at that moment. I froze in shock as I stared at the man standing in front of me. From the look of disbelief on his face, I could tell he had felt the bond snap in place. 

I nearly staggered to the ground. 

The sweet, irresistible scent was coming from him. 

No. It couldn’t be.

Hilton?

Of all the men in the world, the moon goddess decided to mate me with the man who despised me?