Chapter 2

Scarlett’s POV

One day ago…

Death.

It is the perfect revenge.

The ultimate escape.

A dishonorable and humiliating death.

Do I deserve it? Perhaps. Does it matter? Not in the slightest. Yet, I am certain of this: I do not deserve my childhood stolen, my adulthood tarnished, and my honor shredded to nothingness.

My mother has been avenging me all my life for the crime of being born. I was born on the wrong day, during the worst lunar eclipse in centuries. Was it my fault? Did I choose this fate? I did not summon the eclipse. I did not shape the stars.

And still, my mere existence was cursed—a child born with a wolf so feeble, it might as well be a rabbit. A secret so shameful that even my family remains unaware of it. It was better they think I am useless and incapable of shifting than to see the pitiful truth of my rabbit-sized wolf.

Since my younger sister shifted, I have been the family’s punching bag and the pack’s disgrace. I am the Beta’s daughter, the war advisor’s blood, but my reality is worse than that of the lowest nameless wolf.

To the world, my parents painted me as a delicate flower, their cherished and fragile daughter who was too sickly for the harshness of pack life. But behind closed doors, I am less than a slave.

Bruised, broken, discarded. Name anything bad, I am that.

For eighteen years, I gave everything to my family, my pack. I bore the bruises, the scorn and the isolation. Not because I believed it was just, but because I hoped foolishly that one day they might see me. Acknowledge me. And what was my reward? They sold me like a common good. Bartered my life for wealth. My existence was reduced to a transaction.

No matter how hard I tried, I was always a tool for their convenience. A cushion for their frustrations. A pawn in their cruel game.

“Did you hear about Scarlett Rossi?” one of the maids whispered, her giggles cutting through the heavy silence of the dimly lit kitchen. “I thought she was the cherished daughter of Beta Vincent, but look at her now—betrothed to Alpha Barron’s widowed brother. They say he is as old as Beta Vincent himself. Cruel, too. Likes to see his women bleed while taking them. Do you think that sickly soup of a girl can handle it?”

Their laughter echoed, sharp and cruel, but I didn’t flinch. My hands remained submerged in the cold, greasy water as I scrubbed an endless pile of dishes. This wasn’t the grand kitchen of Alpha Juno’s mansion, where the meals were prepared and served in opulence. No, this was the forgotten corner, reeking of stale grease and rot, where only the weakest were made to work.

Nobody knew I was Beta Vincent’s daughter.

My mother had seen to that. She made sure that I lived as nothing more than a maid, hidden away and degraded, a stark contrast to the golden image she presented of our family. To her, I was unworthy, a failure, and this servitude was my punishment for existing.

The whispers of my impending marriage stung more than the blisters on my hands. Hector—the man to whom I was being sold off was old enough to be my father. A monster, they called him. An untamed beast who wielded power so immense even my parents dared not refuse him.

Or perhaps they hadn’t hesitated at all.

When Alpha Juno’s family accepted the proposal, my fate was sealed without so much as a word from me. My protests, my pleas, my veto, everything was meaningless.

For days, I would torture myself with the thought of what was to come. I would be forced into marriage, stripped of any remaining dignity, and given to a man who was rumoured to kill women in his bed. My virginity, my freedom, my life and everything would be taken by a monster in the guise of a man.

Much to my ease, the topic was instantly changed.

“Have you heard of the ball at Alpha Dante’s pack?” one of the maids whispered as if it was a forbidden topic.

“Hush, are you trying to get us killed?’ Another maid whispered. “If they heard us talking about the forbidden Phantom Moon Pack, we would get severely punished.”

“My brother was saying the Alpha Dante’s balls are otherworldly,” The first maid said. “If only we women were allowed to attend a ball in our pack. Here, balls are only for nobles, not us peasants! But Alpha Dante’s pack does not have a hierarchy system.”

“Let's not talk about them, they have fucked up ideologies,” The maid whispered. “The woman prostitutes freely there. Sex is not secretive and pious there. We are better than them.” She added as if she was sharing a forbidden secret, “My cousin attended the ball last year, and she came home deflowered. What kind of woman is sedated to the point that she sleeps with multiple men, forgetting she has a fiance at home? The Alpha still forgave that shameless woman yet she broke away from the pack to join Phantom Moon Pack.”

One of them whispered, “I am scared if we talk about the damned pack, the moon goddess will curse us.”

An idea struck me.

I saw my pale and dishevelled face in the glistening steel pan after I cleaned it to the point that it gave me blisters. I stared at my untamable red hair and big violet eyes, which were too big for my petite face. I looked worse than a malnourished teenager.

“I will not die a virgin,” I whispered to myself. “But in the entire pack, no one will sleep with me knowing that I am betrothed to Hector.”

Ball.

Apha Dante’s ball.

No one from my pack will be in the ball.

It was a fair opportunity for me.

“I am going to Alpha Dante’s ball and let any man whose attention I catch fuck me,” I whispered to myself.