Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Breaking the Angel is a sequel to Alpha's Feral Kitten featuring side characters from that novel, but can mostly be read as a Standalone. There's some context from Alpha's Feral Kitten, but at its heart Breaking the Angel is Selena and Dominic’s story and no one else's.

SELENA

“Selena, isn’t it time you did the laundry? I told you I want it biweekly.”

“Yes, Nox,” I tell my foster brother. “I'll get right on it.”

I'm just moving a little slow today, and he should know why, but he never thinks about anything other than himself.

He cups my chin. “Make sure it's all done before you go to bed tonight. I'll be generous and let you have some rest. Aren't I a good Alpha?”

“Yes, Nox. You're a good Alpha.”

“That’s my good girl.” 

There's never been a time when I've been free.

I was born in the Frost Pack of Maine to a werewolf father and a human mother. Both died when I was very young and already conscripted into service as a kitchen girl. I was immediately “fostered” by the Alpha's family. Slavery has been outlawed for decades, yet girls in my situation fall through the cracks all the time.

After I became a “foster” child, I became a slave.

I worked my way out of the kitchen into housekeeping, and finally personal attendance on the children of the house. That included Rowan and Ravenna, the twin daughters, and Nox, the heir, who goes by his last name.

Nox took a personal interest in me. He always made sure I knew my place.

He is my age, the twins are younger. And this past year, I've been allowed to attend college as his personal assistant, taking my own classes as well. Luna Margaret, the mother of the family, said they didn't have room for any more servants, so they were fulfilling their “foster” duties and allowing me to have an education instead of kicking me out outright.

So Nox and I went to Rhode Island together to attend Crescent University, a werewolf college, in Meridian. At first it seemed like a dream. Nox is very organized, he didn't have much for me to do.

Then came the night when he explained what my other duties were. That was the night I was forced to give him oral sex the first time. The night I lost my virginity.

And the night I found out Nox liked to share with his friends.

I don't like to think about that night very much. It's been the same ever since. Every weekend, he and his friends take turns with me.

For me, it's the cost of going to school.

And that makes it worth it.

By day, I'm a regular college student. A little quiet, a little thin, a little jumpy. By night, mostly on the weekends, I'm the entertainment. Whether it's giving a lap dance or getting fucked, it's my job to do whatever they say.

If I don’t, I could lose everything. So I don't even try to risk it.

I know what the “bracelet” on my ankle is. It's been there since I hit puberty. It's a beautiful disguise for a tracker. I'm property until Nox's family say otherwise.

The deal was, go to college with Nox, do whatever he says, and at the end I'll have an education and be able to get a job.

I'm taking a teaching degree. I want to teach middle schoolers about literature. Smarmy, sarcastic, sassy middle schoolers. My type of people.

On the outside, I'm the perfect slave.

On the inside, I'm a rebel. I have an entire fantasy life built around it.

“Are you listening, Selena?” Nox claps his hands in front of my face. “Hello?”

I must have drifted off. I've been doing that a lot lately.

“What is it, Nox?”

“Administration is forcing Lunacy and the Underground to exchange hostages as a sign of goodwill after what happened last semester. Like an exchange student program.”

Lunacy is Nox's campus society. Last semester, our former Alpha was killed when he became obsessed with a hybrid girl from a rival gang and bit her neck, turning her into a werewolf. It could have killed her. Then our next Alpha tried to get revenge by torturing her, but she had him arrested. She's kind of a superhero. But there is still bad blood between Lunacy and the Underground, and the administration doesn't like it.

“We’re sending you to live at the Underground Rock House for the hostage exchange. You're turning 18 this week, so administration will allow it. They get you, someone who means nothing to no one, and we get their next best fighter. It's perfect. But they think you're my girlfriend. Think you can handle acting that part?”

“W-why do they think–”

My words are stopped by a slap to the face. “That doesn't matter. Don't ask questions. Just do as you're told. Those pussies won't hurt you. This is cushy for you. Except for a few conjugal visits, you get to live rent-free and under no obligation to let anyone use your body for an entire semester. How fortunate for you.”

DOMINIC

There's this girl that's been in one of my classes twice now, here at Crescent U.

She's thin, almost too thin, with a giant mess of long, curly, frizzy black hair that's almost punk rock in its chaos. Her eyes are too big for her face, and sapphire blue, like jewels. Her mouth is full, with her giant naturally red lips, but her nose is tiny. Her face is heart-shaped, and how rare is that? Her skin is milky white, as though she needed more sun and fresh air.

I'm fascinated with her. Every time she comes across my attention, I wonder what her story is–and why she wears scent blockers, as she smells like absolutely nothing. Not a lot of Omegas wear those, anymore. It used to be something slaves did.

Yes, I'll admit that my kind, werewolves, outlawed slavery long after humans did. It's a stain on our souls, and it still goes on in various ways under the noses of plenty of Alphas. Hell, an Alpha bark can compel anyone into slavery.

I've never used mine. My role as my Alpha's right-hand man means I'll never have to use it in an emergency, unless something out of the ordinary happens. I don't want to scare any of the little Omegas I've been with, and I would never need to compel them against their will, anyway. I know the voice is a turn on for some, but I don't want to assume.

Anyway, this girl. I sit there in class and daydream about plunging my hands into her hair and dragging her lips to mine. I wish I could smell her. She’s everything I've ever dreamed of.

Or she was, until I found out who she is, and the company she keeps.

This ethereal waif of a girl, this angel, is the girlfriend of Nox, the new Alpha of Lunacy, a rival gang of ours. She hangs out with the lowest of the low, men who hurt women they feel are beneath them.

We're sitting at a conference table with the Dean of Students of Crescent University in Meridian, Rhode Island. It's me, my Alpha Tristan, my Luna Billie, and my fellow Beta Fleming, of the Black Rose Pack. Across from us sit rival gang Lunacy, who aren't an official pack yet like we are.

Werewolves naturally form packs wherever they go, and college is no different. Here, where we're high on hormones and freedom, gangs and secret societies proliferate. Many of the gangs go on to form official packs, like ours, the Underground, forming Black Rose Pack. Skirmishes and turf wars happen, occasionally spilling over into town, and sometimes the Administration steps in. That's been the case with our recent turf war with Lunacy.

The Administration is officially done with our nonsense.

“We expect both groups to enter into the spirit of this student exchange,” Dean Abbott, the Dean of Students, lectures us. “This isn't a means for further conflict, but a drawing together–or at least, a truce.”

“I can promise you Lunacy takes this exchange seriously,” Nox, the new Alpha of Lunacy, says. I want to punch his suck-up ass in the face. He's been like this since he took over for Hyde, the sociopathic Traditionalist who took over for Spader, the original gang leader who propositioned, stalked, started a gang war over, and tried to kill Billie, our Luna. He turned her into a werewolf instead, and she killed him. Then Hyde tortured her so she had him arrested after becoming a super-werewolf and forming a female vigilante group.

It's been a long semester.

“As does Black Rose Pack,” Tristan says. And he does.

Extremely seriously. 

He considers it the best opportunity for vengeance he's got.

Billie is his fated mate. It's not enough that Hyde went to jail.

Lunacy itself must be destroyed from the inside out. And we have two perfect opportunities for that, through this student hostage exchange. 

One of theirs for one of ours.

Since we're the aggrieved party here, we say who comes and who goes. We're sending in Fleming.

And we're taking their leader's girlfriend.

Sending in Fleming is just as strategic as requesting the pretty little girlfriend of their Alpha.

This mutual hostage exchange, set up by campus administration to cool things off, of Fleming, our next strongest warrior and smartest strategizer, and this girl, Selena Cross, was supposed to be a show of trust. A display of their penance and reform. And of our trust in it.

It was anything but. 

What it did, was provide a target.

Who is now my responsibility to break as revenge.

An eye for an eye. A girl for a girl.

Oh, we wouldn't hurt her the way Billie was hurt. No, this would be psychological. I'm going to get into her head, break her down, and make her hate her boyfriend. I'm going to use her to ruin his life and cause chaos in Lunacy.

Because Lunacy still owes us blood. 

And Fleming is going to take them down from the inside out.