Chapter 1

Misty made a gesture and a moment later I felt a fist hit me in the stomach, sending me to my knees.

“Talk back like that again, Cutter,” my older sister Misty said in her sweetest tone. “And I’ll hit you again.”

Being the daughter of the Alpha Lord, the strongest Alpha in our territory, Misty could do no wrong and was untouchable. Even the teachers here at school knew better than to say anything against her. Being two years older than me at sixteen, she’s had two years to weed out any facility who didn’t learn to look the other way.

Struggling back to my feet, the weight from carrying all of her and her three friend’s bags making it more difficult, I worked to steady by breathing again. All I did was answer her question about why it was so difficult to get a hold of her favorite color of nail polish. Her perfectly manicured nails, freshly touched up just this morning before school started, was the reason I knew she wouldn’t be the one to personally hit me.

“I was just explaining, ma’am,” I said in my smallest voice. “That we’ve been at war with the Bloodmoon Vampires and the rebel Werewolf Packs for over four years now. Things are hard to come by in times of war.”

She gestured again, and this time it was Lacy’s turn to hit me. A wide grin split her lips just before the breath was once again ripped from my lungs. Unfortunately, instead of just falling to my knees, the heavy bags I was carrying caused me to fall into Lacy. A scream split the hallways as the large, iced coffee she was carrying spilled onto the back of Misty’s expensive skirt.

Despite the pain wracking my center, I scrambled to my feet and tried to run for it but ended up smacking into a solid wall of flesh. Rubbing my head, I looked up just in time for my older brother to shove me aside into a nearby bay of lockers. Dazed, all I could do was stare up as he and his friends walked over to check on Misty.

Christopher, or Chris as everyone close to him called him, was the future Alpha of the Blade’s Edge Pack, and therefore the future Alpha Lord of the entire territory. He was massive, like all werewolf warriors tended to be, but even comparted to his buddies, he was a big one. At his side, like always, was his future Beta Dillan, and the two most promising Warriors of our generation, George and Conner. None of them so much as noticed me, like always, as they walked past where I was crumpled on the ground.

“Is everything alright, little sister,” Chris asked, a touch of worry in his voice. They were only a year apart and looked like they could almost be twins. The same golden hair and striking green eyes that their mother, Luna Lannie had, not to mention the natural beauty and perfection that came with being the children of royalty.

“That little turd just ruined my best skirt,” Misty whined, her lips pouting just like the cubs tended to do. “I just made the comment that my favorite store wasn’t able to stock a few crucial items, and she threw her coffee on me.”

A crowd of people had gathered around us at this point. Between Misty and Chris, the entirety of the Junior and Senior classes were in their pockets, and it seemed that most of them had assembled already. Word must’ve spread quickly that I messed up again, and now they were here to watch the aftermath. I saw at least two teachers pass by, but when I tried to make eye contact with them, silently pleading for help, they just lowered theirs and walked away. I couldn’t be angry with them, not really, because helping me meant possible losing their jobs.

Chris smiled as he crouched down in front of me. I puled my legs into my arms, trying to become as small as possible. Before he even started to say anything, I could feel his aura pushing against me, forcing my head and eyes to drop as low as possible.

They weren’t really my siblings. Ever since my pack was destroyed when I was little, I’ve been living in their house as an adopted sibling. It was the catalyst that started the civil war, the destruction of the pack my family was part of. Before the Blade’s Edge pack claimed Lordship over the territory, the Thunder Pack held that title. My father had been a low-ranking warrior, and my mother worked as a housekeeper in the Alpha’s house, meaning my older brother and I were about as low in the pack standings as one could get. But we were happy, from the few memories I still had of them.

As the sole survivor, saved by the Elder Alpha Lord Roland, Misty and Chris’s grandfather, I was practically an outcast from day one. And that was before my illness was taken into account.

“Pull back your sleave,” Chris ordered, using his aura just enough to make me tremble. “I don’t want to touch your nasty clothes.”

Without a choice, I did as he ordered and pulled back the right sleeve of my oversized sweatshirt. Little more than the Alpha's family’s servant, I was never given anything new. All of my clothes were one’s Chris used to wear when he was younger. Even so, with my small size, they were still baggy and ill fitting. Misty absolutely refused to allow me to wear her old clothes and burned the first hand-me-down outfit of hers that I tried on.

The housekeeper who gave them to me was fired on the spot, and I never saw her again.

“Remove the wrapping,” Chris ordered, shaking his head in annoyance.

It took a few tries with my shaking hands to remove the sports wrap hiding the pink skin on the underside of my forearm. The old burn was mostly healed, and I clenched my teeth tight as I waited. Pleading never did any good, not with him. He was his father’s son, ruthless and powerful. There was a reason the Blade’s Edge Pack was known far and wide as one of the strongest in all the territories.

A small flame, the size of what a candle could produce, appeared above his pointer finger, his green eyes glowing like it always did when he used his magic. On top of being the son of an Alpha Lord, Chris was also one of the most extremely rare and powerful classes of werewolves.

A Shaman.

Adding the ability to wield magic to his already overpowered build seemed cruel to me. Why did so much potential end up in the hands of someone like when, when it took me over a week just to heal from a simple burn?

The thought left my head instantly when I felt intense pain as he pressed the flame against my forearm, right on top of the old wound. Tears filled my eyes and fell, but I kept my teeth clenched tight. I dared not scream, for it would only make the punishment worse. All I could do was whimper softly and cry until he finally stood up again. The smell of burned flesh, mixed with the pain shooting through my arm, made my stomach lurch.

“Gross,” Misty squealed, then joined in with the laughter that filled the halls as I emptied my pitiful breakfast. I was just lucky that I didn’t get any on their bags that were still slung over my shoulders, otherwise things would've gotten so much worse.

“She still ruined my favorite skirt, brother,” Misty said petulantly, then she perked up right away as a thought passed through her empty brain.

Snapping her fingers, she sent a silent message to her three friends.

Misty and her friends all found their wolves when they turned sixteen, as was the way with all werewolves. And so, they tried to flaunt their new powers every chance they got, like right now. All three of her minions, Lacy, Evelyn, and Bethony, came over and manhandled me until they had all of their bags back in hand. Only my own tattered backpack remained with me.

“It’s a good thing I always bring a spare outfit or two,” Misty sweetly, fluttering her eyes at Dillan. As the highest-ranking male in the pack after Chris, he was normally the only one worth her attention. “I would hate for you to see me in anything but my best.”

“I could help you change, if you need a hand,” Dillan smirked back, his brown eyes like melted chocolate. As much as I disliked him, even my heart seemed to skip a beat when he turned on his full charm. I hated myself for it, but I couldn’t lie to myself either.

“Gross, not in front of me, dude,” Chris growled playfully, hitting Dillan in the arm. And just like that, the guys all started to wrestle, ending with Dillan sprinting away down the halls with Chris hot on his heels. Their friends followed behind, laughing so hard they could barely stay upright.

The bell rang and most of the other students began to hurry to class, but when I tried to stand up to join them, Misty pushed me right back down again.

“It’s only fair that your gross sweatpants are ruined too, don’t you think,” Misty said, standing over me with her friend’s flanking on either side of her.

“Yes, ma’am,” I answered softly. Not answering would have made her angrier, there was no such thing as a rhetorical question with her. Though, I doubted she even knew what rhetorical meant. Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself for having ice cold coffee dumped over me, but when nothing seemed to happen, I looked up a bit to see what was going on. The evil smile on her face made my start to shake even harder.

“You know, I was just thinking the other day that it’s been a long time since you last wet yourself, Cutter,” Misty said, once again using her favorite nickname for me. My real name was Ayla, which someone once told me meant moonlight, but few people ever called me that. They all had various nicknames for me instead.

“Please, Misty, don't make me do that,” I pleaded, tears once again filling my eyes. I was already the laughingstock of the entire school, the whole pack really, but I still had some dignity left. If word got around that I had an accident like this, then even that would take a huge hit.

The look in her eyes, however, let me know instantly that I messed up badly.

“How dare you speak my name with that disgusting mouth of yours,” she seethed, pressing the toe of her heels into the fresh burn on my right forearm. I cried out, just barley holding back a scream. She held it there, rubbing it in harder and harder, until I felt close to passing out. Only once my struggles weakened did she relent.

“Good, now that what little strength that puny body of yours possesses is gone, let’s continue,” she said sweetly again. “We have class to get to, and boys to talk too, so I don’t want to waste any more time on you.”

She then locked eyes with me and used every scrap of power she had behind her aura, which was, unfortunately, quite considerable thanks to her rank. I struggled as best I could, tears of embarrassment still leaking down my cheeks, until the inevitable happened. And the moment she sensed victory, she only had to say one word to ruin my life even worse than it already was.

“Pee.”

Warmth seeped down my leg as I began to cry in shame, just as Misty took a step closer.

“Embarrass me in front of Dillan again, and this will seem like a pleasant dream. And don’t even think of changing until lunchtime. I expect you at my table, cleaned up and on time. Let’s go, girls. I need to change before we go take the pop quiz for math.”

They laughed and finally I was all alone again.

Retreating into the back of my mind, my face and eyes turn blank as I made my way to class, more embarrassed than ever before in my life.