Chapter one: Shattered illusions

Lisandra

“Ignis sacer, exaudi me. Flamma, surge.”

I chant the spell for the third time as the silver flames dance in my palm, growing wilder by the second. I transfer the fire to my other palm, making it to increase in volume as a strong wind blows out of no where

“Ignis sa…,” I’m interrupted from chanting the spell once more as someone barges forcefully. I extinguish the flames in my palm as I see my angry and furious looking mother, leaving only smoke in its wake.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing you Lazy girl?!” She doesn’t even wait for me to to get up before her palms strike my face. A grunt leaves my lips as I hold my aching cheeks in my palm.

“What did I…” before I can even complete my question, another hit comes for my right cheek and it throws me back to the floor, leaving my ears ringing momentarily.

“I called you three fucking times and you didn’t answer. You think you can disrespect me now huh? Anthony!” She already calls my father before I can get up again. To be completely honest, I didn’t even hear her call my name. Maybe I must have been so preoccupied in perfecting my fire spell that I didn’t even notice my surroundings anymore.

My father comes inside my room, my sister following closely behind.

“Anthony, teach your daughter some manners. I think she feels too big now.” my mother says, making my father’s face twist into something ugly. Suddenly he rushes towards me, kicking me in my stomach and I crouch over in agony. I can hear Gen’s voice telling them to stop but he doesn't listen to her in any way. Instead his hits even become more brutal. I’m temped to fuck it and throw a ball of flames at him and watch him burn, but I hold myself, trying to endure the pain. Once he’s done my mother tells me to hurry up and help the maids prepare dinner and they both leave the room, leaving only me and Genevieve. She helps me sit on the bed and brings out the first aid box from my bedside drawer.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you Lisa. I tried to tell them that I could help the maids but they didn’t listen.” She voices with sympathy while cleaning a trail of blood from the side of my face.

“Don’t apologize Gen, none of this is your fault. Look. I’m okay. It’s just a few bruise and they’ll heal up in a few days.” I say, trying to reassure her and myself that I’m fine. But that only does the opposite, instead she starts to sob loudly and I hold her in my arms until she breaks down completely. I do all this for my sister. I try to take all the beatings from my parents so that they don’t hurt her. I’ve taken all their shit growing up just so my sister could have a normal life and thankfully that has worked ever since. Even though I think that they wouldn’t ever target her because she’s their actual daughter and I’m not.

“No you’re not Lisa. I’m sorry that they do this to you all the time. I wish I could take the pain all away from you.” She cries even more and I wipe her tears away.

“No Gen. Don’t say that. I’m your big sister and it’s my job to protect you.” The only reason I’m still in this godforsaken pack is because of my sister and my mate, Julian. Even though I know that my parents wouldn’t hurt Gen, I don’t want to take any chances. I knew that I wasn’t their real child when I was 15 and they almost beat me to death. At some point I envied my sister but I just learned later on that she had nothing to do with any of it. Besides that, I have a different hair color and eye colour from them so there’s no way I could be their daughter. And a Lycan is not supposed to have magical powers, but here I am. Without a wolf and with magic. Nobody knows about my powers though. I haven’t told nor showed anyone since I turned sixteen.

“I’ll help you prepare the dinner tonight. You shouldn’t have to worry about cooking when you’re in this condition.” She helps me to the kitchen making sure our parents don’t see her and we prepare the meals with little help from the servants

Later that night, I fall into a painful slumber, wondering what it would be like to leave all this suffering behind

***

The next morning, my muscles are sore, my face aches and I have a splitting headache. I think back to the beating I got yesterday and immediately shake it off my mind.

Today is Julian’s birthday and I plan to finish all my chores in time to surprise him at the pack house. I have been looking for Genevieve all day because she usually helps me out every year in surprising him. I wonder where she went this time.

“Lisa, have you heard that our pack is hosting this year’s annual full moon gala? Gosh I’m so excited. I even heard that the Lycan king will be in attendance this year.” Lilah, my friend and a maid at my house squeals while we both do the laundry. I do understand her excitement because the Lycan king never comes for these kinds of events. He’s rumored to haven’t been seen in the last decade, though I’m not sure how true that is.

“That’s such great news for the pack” I tell her in a monotonous voice, not really up to talk about some gala this morning.

“I heard that he’s an ugly wolf eating monster! Can you imagine? A Werewolf eating his fellow werewolf. So creepy.” A shiver goes up my spine at the information. What a monster.

“Enough about the Lycan king Lilah. We have other chores to finish, remember?” I say, trying to hasten up in order to go to the pack house where the alpha and beta live with their mates and pups. I want to surprise Julian with his favourite cake because today is his birthday, and I cannot do that with Lilah chirping my ears off about the Alpha king and the full moon gala.

As soon as I’m done with all my chores, I bake the cake,wear my best dress and rush to the pack house. I’m so excited because I know how much he loves it when I make him something for his birthday. I greet the alpha and Luna on my way in and quickly rush upstairs to where his room is. On getting there, I pause when I hear lewd sounds coming from inside of his room.

“Mmhh… yes Julian! Right there.” Is that…?

“Fuck Genevieve. You feel so good baby.”

Genevieve? As in my baby sister, Genevieve? This cannot be happening to me right now.

I barge into the room without knocking and what I see completely shatters me.