Chapter 1 - Despised

LAYLA

“I’M NOT GOING to be allowed to come along, right?” I asked, amidst throwing a punch at Phillip that was aimed at his face. He was quick to dodge by leaning backwards and raising his elbow. He retaliated with a jab which I shielded with my left hand.

"You know how it is Lay, you can’t come yet. You are not ready,” he replied, as he threw another jab. I was going to yell in defence, but I swallowed hard, and straightened my back, holding my fists closer to my face.

“We’ll see about that,” I mumbled, but loud and clear enough to be heard by Phillip.

I threw a jab at him, which he brushed away by slipping to the side, and immediately, countered with an uppercut that bruised my lips open, making my blood splatter out. My wolf growled, but I controlled her quickly, as I felt my bruised lips heal.

“Sorry,” he said pitifully, and that angered me more. Why was he feeling bad for me when we were in combat? I am no child! “DON’T APOLOGIZE!” I screamed at him and kicked him in the face. He lost his balance, and I proceeded to finish him off with an uppercut, but he blocked it with a left hook, that was followed by a rear hook which landed on my cheek. I grunted, and quickly held my stance.

With our fists both held up to our faces, we were moving in circles, and my eyes were fixed on him menacingly, studying his shoulder movement. An advantage I had against Phillip was his inability to use his legs. Most of the time, he resorted to boxing,while I had enough taekwondo knowledge to take him down.

He delivered a punch just as I expected, which I easily missed, then I swung a turning kick at him. He shielded it, and I immediately delivered a 360 crescent kick that hit him badly on his face, sending him to kiss the dried leaves on the ground.

I stood over his body smirking, watching him roll to his back. As soon as he laid on his back, I stooped down and held him in a rear chokehold. He tapped out almost immediately.

"Damn! That was hard," Philip remarked, as he sat up on the ground. I stretched out my right hand to him with a a large grin on my face. I felt proud. He grabbed my hand, and I pulled him up.

Do you still think I’m not ready?” I asked, putting up a serious face.Do you still think I’m not ready?” I asked, putting up a serious face.

“We both know I’m not in the position to make that call,” he responded with his head bowed, while he rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand.

“I know that,” I said in low spirits. “But, what do you think?”

“You are perfect. You’ve passed every test and you are an extremely good fighter in human form."

I heaved a sigh as I let out. “I wonder why I won’t be allowed to go on any mission. Instead, I’m always pushed to be with Jacob every time. I’m not even wanted around my own family most of the time.”

“But Jacob is your mate.”

“So? Is that why he should always imprison and babysit me? This is not fair honestly.”

“Alright. That’s enough, we should head back home now, before Mom and Dad finds out you are not in the house. Except you want to be locked up in the house till we get back from the mission.” The tone in Phillip’s voice had changed. He was probably sick of my complaints. He was the only one that cared to listen anyways.

As I followed behind him in the forest, I let out again. “You know, I’m nineteen, fucking ninet….”

“I SAID IT’S ENOUGH! Enough with your whining alright? I get your point. But is there anything I can do about it? NO! FUCKING NO!” he turned back, yelling at me, and gesturing angrily as he spoke. He increased his pace after speaking. There was total silence between us till we got to the mansion.

I am Layla Luther, aged nineteen, the last child and the only daughter of Ben and Lily Luther. I belonged to the Silver Moon pack which my dad was the Alpha, and my elder brother Derrick, was next in line. My mother was obviously the Lunar of the pack, as it was more of a family pack, and we were highly respected in the county of Palmdale and beyond.

Apart from being werewolves, we had our normal lives, which earned us the respect we had. My dad was a cardiovascular surgeon, which was very rare in counties.

My mother, Lily, was a renowned criminal lawyer, and one of the best, if not the best. These positions my parents held, bought us huge amounts of respect everywhere we went, both in the underworld and in the natural world.

I had three elder brothers, the eldest being Derrick and the youngest being Philip. In between them was Francis, who was the meanest to me.

Although, I was an adult, I was still treated like a child by my family members, and was not given freedom, like a grown woman should have.

I was belittled by my family and worst of all, consistently bullied by my elder brothers, most especially Francis who was a beta of the pack.

My brothers were all betas, and I was the only omega. I wasn’t a beta yet, because I had not been given the opportunity to prove myself.

The only combat I always engaged in was with Phillip, and of recent times, it bored me to death because I had mastered most of his movement, and he never allowed us to battle in our full wolf form, he strongly opposed it.

Phillip might seem nice to me, but he wasn’t. He was just doing all of these to prevent me from spewing his secret of an illicit affair with a human.

As werewolves, we were not allowed to have humans as our mate, but I had caught him having sex with a human under my father’s roof. It was something that must not be heard of.

In order to protect his secret, we had reached an agreement that he would teach me how to defend myself in a combat.

We couldn’t execute our plans anywhere around the mansion to prevent being caught, so he opted for the woods.

Most of the time, I was always locked away in my room, so we had to sneak out.

This deal between I and Philip had been on successfully for three years, but I knew Francis had suspicions, and was watching me. I always tried my best to dodge him.

I wondered why my family chose to put me away from them. It made me wonder if I was really a Lutheran or I was adopted.

I heard a knock on the door, few minutes after I had successfully sneaked into my room.

I jumped off my bed, startled by the banging that intruded my thoughts.

I was relieved when I saw that it was my maid.

“Dinner is ready ma’am, and master wants you in the dining room in less than five minutes,” she said softly.

I frowned at her message and slammed the door against her face.

I was the only one that a maid was assigned to in the family for as long as I could remember. Probably, because they felt I still needed to be spoon fed.

I had devised the plan to always complain about my maids so they won’t give me one anymore. But, for as many times I complained, my maid was changed.

This one called Vanessa was annoying but I didn’t plan on complaining anytime soon, since it made no difference.

I found my way to the dining room, and took my seat adjacent to Francis. Everyone had been chattering and laughing before my arrival, but as I entered the room, the atmosphere changed and there was sudden silence. I tried not to look up at Francis, but when I stole a quick glance at him, his eyes were fixed on me with a sinister smile as he chewed.

The clanking of cutleries and plates filled the atmosphere for few minutes before my father, the Alpha of the pack, cleared his throat to talk.

“Layla, we’d all be going to Westwoods tomorrow for some important mission except you. You’d stay behind, while Vanessa takes care of you and Jacob comes to keep you company,” he said in a gruffy voice with his eyes fixed on me as if he was asking for approval which I know he wasn’t. They had all came to this conclusion behind my back.

“Why? I’m not sick,” I said, trying to sound as polite as I could, but I knew that sounded nothing close to being polite.

“Layla,” Phillip said softly, signalling at me to keep quiet but I refused.

“Why do I always have to be treated this way? I’m old enough to go on a mission, can’t you just give me the chance?” I raised my voice slightly, while trying to suppress the churning anger of my wolf.

“YOU WON’T TALK TO THE ALPHA IN THAT MANNER!” Francis yelled, with his eyebrows knitting together.

“HE IS MY FATHER TOO!” I bellowed back at him, partially giving in to my wolf.

“HE IS YOUR FATHER AND THE ALPHA, WHICH IS THE MORE REASON YOU WOULD SHUT YOUR MOUTH!”

“EVEN MOTHER SAID SHE BECAME A BETA AT SIXTEEN DURING HER FIRST MISSION, I'M WAY PAST SIXTEEN, BUT YOU ALL KEEP HINDERING ME, TREATING ME LIKE A WEAK STO---!”

“ENOUGH!” My Father yelled amidst banging the table with his left palm, causing the plates, cutleries, cups and everything else on the table rattle. Fear gripped my heart, and even my wolf cowered.

“Francis, drive your sister to Jacob’s house,” he added more calmly after silence had been restored.

“It’d be my pleasure,” Francis said sarcastically, shifting the dining chair he was sitting on with the back of his legs as he stood.

I could drive, but I dared not say anything, as I could smell the anger lingering in the room. Everyone was angry, because I had made the Alpha angry. Only one person wasn’t angry, but was hurt. That was my mother. I turned to look at her as I followed behind Francis. She was staring at her plate of food while using the serviette to wipe her nose.