Layla's POV
I couldn't remember what had happened to me later on that day.Everything was blurred by my tears and I didn't even bother to wipe them off. It seemed that I was found by some werewolf soldiers on patrol. They recognized me and took me to my father's place. I was locked up in a room and grounded. I couldn't remember the experience of imprisonment clearly, either, because I was too frightened and scared. I would wake up, think of my mother, cry my heart out until I was exhausted, and then, I would pass out. Whether I was awake or not, I would always keep that silver bullet in my hand. By holding it, I had the feeling that I was lying in that vampire boy's arms. Whenever I woke up at night, I would secretly hope that the vampire boy would come back and rescue me. When I finally managed to close my eyes and go back to sleep, the only thing I saw was his honey-colored eyes, which were filled with pain and sorrow.Then, I would wake up again because of the nightmare. This vicious cycle had been going on and on for almost a week, before the door on the wall was abruptly pushed open and my aunt Rosalie rushed into the room. It was then that my nightmare truly started. She might have scolded me for not being cooperative. I couldn't really remember, because she banged my head against the wall and screamed at me. I was too weak to fight back because I had been starving for a whole week. After gaining consciousness, I saw Rosalie standing in front of me, with her arm shot out like a viper's strike, and then her open palm collided with my cheek. The slap echoed through the room, and I staggered backward with my hand cradling my reddened skin. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I was determined not to give my tormentor the satisfaction of witnessing my pain and weakness. "Don't you ever try to run away again, you little brat! I will cut off both your arms and feet before feeding you to a bear! Did you hear me?!" I didn't reply, rubbing my cheek. She raised her hand high, and this time she slapped my head. I covered my head with both of my hands. "I'm talking to you! Did you hear me?! Are you deaf?!" Rosalie pulled my hair to force me to look at her. The lines on her forehead were etched deep, giving away her true age hidden behind the heavy makeup. Her eyes, filled with resentment, were like sharp knives, peeling my skull. "Stop doing it! Stop!" I used all my effort to push her away from me. Rosalie didn't see it coming, so she staggered back and almost lost her balance."Did you just have physical contact with me?! How dare you! You dirty little half-blood!" she hissed. She used to call me by all sorts of names, but the word "half-blood" was her favorite. My mother was a human being, but my father was a werewolf.Cross-species marriage was unblessed and forbidden among werewolves. Rosalie was especially cynical about human beings because her own mother was a human being. The thing is, when a human being gets married to a werewolf, there is a 50/50 percent chance that their child will either be a human being or a werewolf. But when these children grow up and get married to werewolves, they will give birth to half-blood offspring. My mother was the human being in her family, whereas Rosalie turned out to be a werewolf, just like her father. Having been jealous of my mother ever since she was a little girl, Rosalie had all the reasons in the world to hate me, who was a dirty half-blood, a freak. Rosalie grabbed my arms and pulled me up in the air like a rabbit. Then, she tossed me with force to the hard surface of the floor. "Don't you ever touch me again, you dirty, filthy bitch!" She kicked me in my back.I wiped off the blood on my face. To my surprise, the bleeding didn't stop.It was weird because, in the past, my wounds always healed themselves. I freaked out, but I didn't show it. Instead, I said in a calm voice, "I need to get out of here. I demand to see my father immediately.""You will never see your father again!" Rosalie's body arched as if she was about to attack and her slender fingers coiled into a fist.Then, she suddenly stretched out her arm in front of me and forced me to look at the ring on her ring finger. "Have you seen it? This is a wedding ring! I have just got married to your father. That makes me your stepmother and the Luna of our pack! It makes you my stepdaughter and my subject! I can basically do whatever I want to you, and nobody will say no." I was completely shocked. The fact that my father married my aunt within a few days after my mother's death was appalling and outlandish.My father loved my mother! He would never easily get over the sadness of losing my mother! As I was thinking to myself, a malicious grin appeared on Rosalie's twisted face. "When your mother was still alive, I would always reassure her that if one day, you were my child, I would take good care of you." Then, her eyes narrowed. "You know what? I lied. I'm not going to take care of you. I'm going to slowly torture you and make your life miserable for every single day in your life! Now stand up and get your lazy ass out of this room. You will help out in the kitchen and clean the stables from now on!""You can't do this to me! I'm the daughter of Alpha in our pack..." I didn't finish my words before Rosalie slapped me again.Then, she choked my neck with both of her hands and said, "You're nothing but a filthy, motherless little whore! Just like your mother, you're weak. Look at you! You can't even heal yourself! Do you think your father, the almighty Alpha of the only surviving pack in the world, would admit having a daughter like you?! You're nothing but a disgrace to him! Don't you ever tell anyone about your identity! From now on, you're just a menial handmaid of mine! You do whatever I ask you to do! Do you understand?!"When Rosalie slapped the door and stormed out of the room, I came to another brutal realization -I will never see my father again.Layla's POVIt is said that time flies past without leaving a trace.Just like time, the boy flew past my life, without leaving a trace except for the silver bullet that he gave to me. I wore the silver bullet on my neck as the boy told me. I covered it carefully with the collar of my shirt to conceal it and secretly kissed it goodnight before I fell to sleep. I didn't want anyone in our pack to see it, because the connection between me and this bullet pedant was so personal and intimate. Nobody in my pack looked at me anyway. I was a redundant, pathetic motherless she-wolf who was less favored by my father and the Moon Goddess. Some werewolves even claimed that I was cursed and doomed to bring bad luck to our pack. It was very obvious that my aunt Rosalie was the source of this rumor, but nobody seemed to care about challenging her or defending me. The rumor especially went viral after my father married Rosalie. And my father's new Luna forbade anyone to refer to me as the daugh
Layla's POV"Fuck! Let's run!" Zion screamed as he tried to run in the other direction away from our town. "Are you serious?" I grabbed Zion and stared at him with an incredible look on my face. "Our town is under attack by vampires. Our subjects are trapped in the town. Your Alpha is in the town. Your own mother is in the town. Are you trying to run away just like that?" "Shut up you stupid bitch!" Zion raised his voice. His voice became high-pitched when he was afraid. "We can't fight those vampires! They are way more powerful than us! And have you heard of the Vampire King? Nephrite Buchanan? He became mad when his parents were executed by our Lycan King and swore to kill every single werewolf on earth! He defeated the Lycan King's Royal Army! He forced Lycan King to kill himself for fuck's sake! We're the only existing werewolf pack and now he's coming at us! Do you think that you're more powerful than the Lycans?! You're a fucking she-wolf that can't even shift into a wolf! How
Layla's POV"You've killed him! You've murdered Mick!" I stood up with clenched fists and eyes ablaze. I felt that my spirit was shattered by this unthinkable crime. At the same time, fear accumulated in my heart. I had to bite my lips to control the torrent of emotions that swirled within me. "Fuck yeah, I did it." Zion approached me with the gun in his hands, gloating. He kicked Mick's body and said, "Isn't betrayal disappointing? Only dead people will never betray us, little cuz.""Don't touch him!" I raised my voice. My fear and vengeance transformed into anger, so I abruptly pushed him away from Mick's body.Zion grabbed my hand and roughly pulled me toward him. "What do you think you're doing, little whore? Hadn't your retarded human mother talked some common sense into your dumb head? Don't mess up with a man who's holding a gun in his hand!" "Let go of me!" I shouted in the crucible of my anger, trying to break away from his control.But I couldn't do it. He was twice my
Layla's POVWhen I opened my eyes again, my head was buzzing. The whole world was swirling in front of me. I felt that I couldn't breathe, because something heavy was pressing against my chest. Then, I managed to use all my force to push whatever was on top of me away. Feeling panicked and confused, I struggled to sit up, but I failed. Lying on the ground, I opened my mouth as widely as I could just to intake as much oxygen as possible. What happened? I thought to myself while trying to clench my fists.The tip of my fingers touched something hot and sticky. I lifted my hand to check what was on my hand, only to find that it was covered in blood. What happened to me? Is this my blood? I tried to sit up and check if there were any injuries on my body, but I failed again. I just wasn't able to collect enough energy to sit up yet. However, I could move my head. So, I tilted my head to see what was happening. At almost the same time, I saw Zion's lifeless eyes. To be more spec
Layla's POVThe man stared at me while turning the gun for a few rounds, using his long, slender fingers. I thought he was playing with it before eventually pulling the trigger until I saw the gun magazine pop open and the bullets in the gun falling on the ground like the beads of a broken necklace. I automatically touched my collar, where the silver bullet was hidden behind. The man took a look at me and handed the gun to Leo. Leo immediately took it while staring at the man with a pair of puppy eyes. The man sighed and said, "I asked you to take her back to the camp. I didn't ask you to let her play with a lethal weapon." Leo blushed again and said in an awkward, trembling voice -"My Lord, I'm utterly sorry! I was distracted because she wasn't wearing anything... I mean, no! She was wearing a shirt, but not a skirt... I mean, I saw her legs and..."A mysterious, naughty smirk flashed on the side of the man's perfect lips. Then, it disappeared, replaced by his deadpan face."W
Layla's POV"Don't come closer, or I'll...""What will you do? " The man said and untied a few brass buttons beneath his collar before loosening his tie. Is he going to take off his clothes in front of me?! Is he going to take advantage of me?! It is said that vampires are salacious creatures. They basically fuck whatever that is moving in front of them.So now, is he going to fuck me... in the middle of a forest?!I looked around hopelessly, trying to look for something that could be thrown at him.I found nothing but grass and dirt. However, he didn't do anything else except loosening his collar and tie. Against fire and smoke in the background, his chiseled, flawless feature looked like a Greek marble statue.This scene reminded me of what happened in the forest eleven years ago. On that day, a boy, who also had dark hair and a pair of sapphire eyes, made a promise to come back and take me away. Maybe he could remember who I am if I reminded him?I decided to give it a try
Layla's POVI felt like I was floating in a bed of clouds. Everything around me felt so soft and it smelled so aromatic. It seemed that someone was stroking my arms and legs gently. Then, in complete darkness, I suddenly heard a muffled, distant female voice -"She looks so tiny. How old do you think she is?"Another female's voice -"She just looks skinny. Look at all the scars and bruises on her body. She must have been through a lot of torture. If we feed her well, she will soon recover.""I wish I could be as skinny as her." The first girl murmured. "I have to lose another 10 pounds before the Blood Moon Masquerade next month. Leo keeps bringing me food and I really put on some weight." "Have you guys been seeing each other?! Tell me everything!" The second girl said with excitement. "There's nothing to tell! We're not dating! I enjoy being pampered like this. You know, it feels great to have a man's full attention." The first girl sounded smug. Even though their voices sou
Layla's POVI could smell Vincent in the air. He smelt like a mixture of cedar and lavender. How could someone who smelt so good turn out to be such a morbid sadistic bastard? I thought to myself. Why does he have to chain me up like this in a dungeon?At that time, the eye mask was removed from my face. Even though my eyes were still covered by gel, I could still manage to see the blurry figure of him."You're awake. Good." He mumbled to himself and took up a towel to wipe the gel off my face. His voice was still monotonic as if he wasn't happy to seem awake at all. After the gel was wiped clean, I finally managed to see him clearly in the soft, dim light of the dungeon. It seemed that he had just taken a shower. His dark hair, now damp and tousled, framed a face that seemed sculpted by the finest artist in the world. The cerulean depths of his eyes held a mysterious allure and desire. "What is this place?! Where am I?! Is this a dungeon?!" I looked around and tried to sit up,