PROLOGUE (ISABELLA'S POV )

I let my tiny fingers run across the dusty library shelves as my maid, Naomi, dragged me behind her. Mama would be so mad at me for making a mess of my dress again, I knew that for sure. She had always warned me about looking my best since I was a princess.

"P-please don't t-tell mama." I pleaded softly, my voice coming out in a stammering mess.

Naomi rolled her eyes before she said, "I don't have to tell her, princess Izzy, we can just quickly sneak into your room and get you all cleaned up."

"T-then mama won't know?" I asked. My eyes shined with hope and reassurance as I stared up at her.

"Then mama won't know." She agreed with a small smile.

Naomi was my best friend in the whole palace. She always helped me get out of trouble with mama and papa, and she always made sure to bring me my favorite meal whenever the maids prepared it.

Naomi led me all the way to my room and helped me into the warm bath. She washed the caked dirt and sud away from my body, complaining about how I was a stubborn child the whole time.

"Go grab a clean dress from your closet." She ordered softly.

I gave her a small nod, ran straight to the huge closet by my bed and pulled it open. I already knew what I wanted to wear, I didn't even need to be told twice. Papa had bought me a dress for my birthday the week before and it had become my new favorite dress, so I didn't even need to think on which dress I wanted.

"I want this one, Naomi." I exclaimed excitedly, shoving the flowy pink dress into her hand as my small smile turned into a large grin.

Naomi sighed and shook her head. "Not this one, princess Izzy. You can't wear this one at home."

"But papa bought it f-for me." I could already feel the tears threatening to start spilling from my eyes, and I could tell that Naomi saw it too.

"Princess Issabe–"

"Pretty please." I pleaded, cutting her off mid-sentence. "I-I promise I won't g-get dirt on it, Naomi."

I could tell the exact moment she finally gave up trying to argue with me.

"Fine." She said. "But make sure you don't make a mess of yourself, your father has visitors from other packs and they're currently in a meeting." Naomi said giving me a stern look that I had grown used to. "Pinkie promise me that you won't make a mess of your new dress?" She offered me her little finger and waited for me to do the same.

With a huge smile, I locked my pinkie with hers and said, "I promise."

Naomi smiled again before helping me into my dress. When we were done, she lead us out of my room and through the palace halls. A young maid spotted us and quickly ran up to meet us.

"The Alpha has requested the presence of his daughter." The maid relayed the message, slightly out of breath like she'd been running the whole time.

Naomi nodded and started leading me towards the direction of the throne room.

"Why do they call my papa the Alpha?" I asked once Naomi and I were alone again.

She stared down at me, clearly not shocked by the question. "For a four year old, you're quite sharp." She chuckled lightly. "And as for your question, we call your father the Alpha because he's the leader of our pack."

Her answer only confused me further and my brows furrowed slightly. "And is mama called Luna because she's the leader too?" I asked, trying to understand her better. I knew it was pointless, I didn't even fully understand what a pack even was.

"In a way, but she's Luna because she's the Alpha's chosen mate." Naomi explained. "You'll learn more about that when you're all grown up, Princess. For now let's get you to your father."

We made our way to the throne room and Naomi pushed the door open. Stepping into the room, the first thing I noticed were the men who stood by the side. I could tell none of them were men from our palace, since they weren't dressed like our own guards. Maybe they were papa's visitors that Naomi was talking about.

I stared at the men in fear and it was only when papa's booming voice brought me out of my thoughts that I stared up at him.

"Isabella, I'm sure you know that's not how to greet your guests." Papa scolded, throwing a small frown my way.

Before I could respond or try to apologize, a voice from behind stopped me.

"It's fine, Romeo, she's just a little kid. I have a little boy back at home and he's a rascal too." The man chuckled, walking over to stand in front of me. "Hello princess, nice to finally meet you." He greeted with a smile, but I could see the dangerous gleam in his eyes.

Immediately, alarm bells started to go off in my head. I didn't know what it was about this man, but something inside of me told me to run, to get away from his presence. I didn't feel safe, something was definitely not right.

I ignored him, knowing that he would maybe find it rude, but I didn't care. I ignored the shocked looks on mama and papa's faces as I clung to Naomi's side, clasping her hand in mine tightly to show how uncomfortable I was in the scary man's presence.

"Isabella!" Mama scolded as she got off her chair and made her way to me.

The man gave me a smirk, one that I was sure only I could see.

"It's fine, Luna." The man said to mama. He turned around and started to slowly pace around the room, all the while staring at papa who was still sat on his throne. "You know what they say about little kids, Romeo? They can always sense danger before adults do."

Before anyone could even process what was going on, the man grabbed mama by the hair and shoved her to the ground. Papa suddenly looked alarmed and

he tried to get up from his throne but the other men ran forward to hold him down.

I could already feel confused tears pouring out of my eye as one of the men grabbed Naomi and I and dragged us to the side.

Papa looked at the man angrily. "This wasn't just a normal pack visit, was it?" He growled at the scary man, struggling to get out of the hold of the other men, but it was no use.

The man chuckled darkly, he walked over to where mama laid on the floor and pulled her up by her hair, drawing pained groans from her. "Of course not, Romeo. This is an ambush." He said with so much venom that more tears spilled from my eyes.

I didn't know what was going on, and by the look of panic on papa's face, it was obvious that we were in danger.

"Then leave my family out of this. Whatever you want from me, take it and leave my mate and child alone." Papa growled angrily, still struggling to get out of the hold on his body.

Before my eyes, the man's clothes shredded as his body began to contort into that of an otherworldly creature, I watched as sharp claws protruded out of his fingers. With one swipe of his hand, he sliced mama's neck open, spilling blood on the floor.

I yelled out, tears running down my face as I watched mama's lifeless body fall to the ground.

I didn't even know what happened next, everything was jumbled up into one big mess. One minute I was witnessing this group of men end my parent's lives, and the next minute Naomi had flung herself out of the window, grabbing me with her.

I had expected to die at that moment my body hit the ground, since our palace was a tall building. But I hadn't. Somehow we had survived the drop.

"RUN ISABELLA!" Naomi yelled, dragging my hand and pulling me roughly towards the tree-line that sat directly opposite the palace building.

I could hear the sounds of yells and shouts behind us. Somebody had rung the bell that signaled that the palace was under attack, I could hear multiple footsteps behind us, a sign that we were being pursued.

I didn't know how many times I stumbled and fell to the ground before Naomi flung me onto her back and kept running. I hadn't even noticed when the sky had gone dark and rain started pouring down from the sky.

The voices and footsteps behind us grew louder and louder as Naomi came to a stop at the edge of a cliff that overlooked a waterfall below.

"Shit." I heard her curse quietly as she looked around frantically. "Isabella, hold on tight and don't let go, okay?"

Before I could respond, she had flung us both over the cliff. The last thing I saw was the water below drawing closer and closer to us, before suddenly, my world was enveloped in darkness.