New Beginning**

*HAZEL*

The morning sun streamed through the window, its warm rays penetrating my skin like gentle, golden needles. 

My phone buzzed on the bedside table—a familiar sound, the only tether I had left in this chaotic world.

At least I hadn’t been cast aside like some forgotten object, left to seek refuge in a nameless store.

I reached for my phone, feeling its cool surface against my palm, and checked the screen. 

It was Lyria.

“What's keeping you?” 

“Hazel!” her message blared with urgency.

“Aren't you going for the interview again?” 

Lyria had been my rock since high school, always willing to open her home to me whenever my father’s heavy presence became unbearable.

 She is the only one in the pack who knows what I pass through in that hell of a pack. Unfortunately, she is powerless, just like me, to stand up against my father or the beta bullies.

But at least she is always there to lend a shoulder for me to cry on.

Secretly, I had been applying for jobs at art studios, the passion that poured from my heart was often suffocated by my father’s disdain. He had vowed to dismantle my dreams, turning my life into a waking nightmare.

“Not sure,” I typed back, hesitation weaving through my thoughts. I hadn’t even dared to share the depths of my despair with her—how could I face her?

Sitting on the edge of my bed, I pondered my fate. What was I now to Lucian—his sexual plaything? His pawn bride.

How had I become so passive, allowing others to shape my destiny while I stood silent, too afraid to fight for what I wanted?

My life was a web of chaos; perfection was a distant dream. 

Not a soul ever embraced me as I truly was—not even the Ashveil pack. Who would want a human among them? 

A hybrid like me, perpetually caught between worlds, feeling more like a stranger than a daughter. 

The only ones who truly saw me were my grandmother and Lyria.

“Darn it,” I muttered, suddenly realizing it had been three days since I last called Granny. She was relentless in her devotion; no day passed without her checking in.

I slid my phone back onto the bed, a weight resting heavily on my chest. What could I tell her? 

That my father had bartered her cherished granddaughter to a monster? How could I break such devastating news to the one person who loved me unconditionally?

Memories flooded my mind, vivid and bittersweet. 

“Audrel, you don’t treat your own daughter this way,” my grandmother would declare fiercely, every prick of defiance lighting up her face as she stood against my father’s cruelty. 

The sternness of her expression was often amusing, but I dared not laugh.

After hastily refreshing myself, I ventured out of my room.

As the door clicked shut behind me, the living room engulfed me in a thick blanket of an imposing fragrance—a sharp, suffocating scent that hung in the air, clinging to my skin like a second layer of armor.

“What a princess. You wake when the spirit leads you,” his voice sliced through the atmosphere, icy and dripping with sarcasm.

His face glittered, sending a butterfly to my stomach; despite the piercing tone in his voice.

 I don't know why I should feel this way about a man who doesn't even have a heart, one who treats a person as an object.

“You are leaving with me,” he commanded as he sharply rose from the couch, his intent palpable.

“W-where?” I stammered, the words barely escaping my lips.

“You don’t ask me questions. You follow orders.” he snapped, a chilling reminder of my place in his world.

I'm glad and hate to admit that he scares the shit out of me.

I complied, surrendering like the pawn I had become—silent, obedient, lacking the courage to defy.

We climbed into his car, and as we drove off into the unknown, I felt a heavy weight settle deep in my chest. The air conditioning roared at its highest setting, yet I struggled to draw breath, the panic rising as I began to sweat. 

Where was he taking me? To work? To an enclave of creatures as hellish as he?

I had always imagined myself wrapped in the hands of a handsome and kind alpha; who would love me the way I am, waking me every morning with a kiss.

But no…Here I am used and tossed like the object I am referred to; you stay where you are kept. Always treated like dirt.

***

I lifted my chin, forcing courage into my posture, bracing against the many eyes watching me—Lucian’s pack members, their gazes sharp, assessing, judging.

"She is a match," Lucian broke the heavy silence.

My stomach dropped. Match for what? 

A sacrifice?

"What happens if you find your mate?" one of the men finally dared to ask.

"Till then," he replied casually, as if it were nothing. Of course—what had I expected?

"If she does appear," he whispered, almost under his breath. I thought I was the only one who heard.

"But she is a hybrid," someone argued.

"You don’t choose who I take as a Luna," he said, his voice dropping lower, his fist tightening on the arm of his chair.

***

Should I confront him; that must have been the reason I was sold to him. But at least they should ask first if I was ready for the damn position.

“Why should I be your Luna? I think I should have a say in—”

I didn’t get to finish. My foot slipped, The world tilted.

Before I could hit the ground, he spun sharply, catching me by the waist. The unexpected strength in his hands sent heat surging through me, causicausing ng my whole boto flushush.

Something stirred inside me, a pull that threaded through my chest, tying me to him. I could feel his heartbeat, steady and strong, through my palms.

For a moment, I wanted to linger, to trace every line of him, to feel him closer. The feeling terrified me. I shouldn’t want this…

But I did. I wanted him. All of him. And for the first time, I didn’t want to let go.