Louisa's POV
Flashback***I was born to be the daughter of Alpha Jacob of Crimson Creek Pack.My mother's life was tragically cut short in the process of bringing me into the world.The official reason was labor exhaustion, but I had my suspicions about my stepmother Rosalie's involvement.She used to be my mother's maid and the source of my predicament.As soon as my mother passed away, my father married her consecutively, which was very suspicious.However, Rosalie had her own twisted version of my mother's untimely death.She was busy weaving tales about me, warning the pack to keep their distance as if I was some kind of a curse.She would say, "Anyone who interacts with that girl will be doomed, just like her mother."Since my birth, I've been an outcast, shunned by our pack.Even the Omegas in the pack wouldn't talk to me.I had to work very hard to get my ration of food, which was always not enough.And I had to look for food in the trash.But sometimes there just wasn't any scrap of food in the trash.That was why I had been malnourished.At the age of 19, I still couldn't shift into a wolf.And everyone laughed at me in our pack, calling me "retard".As days went by, I found myself grappling with self-denial.I started to think that I was really cursed... That I was abandoned by the Moon Goddess.All of this ended at the Masquerade Ball on Full Moon Day.The day when I turned 20 years old.The day I discovered that my father had made a deal with the devil, planning to hand me over to Alpha Lucas, the most feared and bloodthirsty beast in the Kingdom.He had a reputation for killing all of his breeders as soon as he consummated with them.I overheard my father's conversation with Rosalie outside his tent.As soon as I heard this news, I decided to run.At the masquerade, I put on a mask and tried to sneak away, but my plan of escape failed because of my half-brother, Zion.As the only offspring of my father and Rosalie, he constantly labeled himself as "the virtuous successor of the pack".But in fact, I was supposed to be the leader of our pack, because I was the firstborn child of my father.I didn't want to inherit anything and I knew there was no way for me, an 80-pound she-wolf, to be the leader of a wolf pack.But I couldn't change the fact that I was my father's first-born daughter.And that was why Zion had been picking on me all the time.At first, it was mere mockery with his gang of boys.But as we aged, it escalated to physical torment.He either pushed me into a frozen lake or forced me to hold charcoal.And at the Masquerade Ball on Full Moon Day, Zion caught me while I was trying to sneak away."Where do you think you're going, you stinky rat?!" He ripped off my mask and gloated."Let go of me!" I struggled to break away from him."Who do you think you are?! You're not the Alpha of the pack! I don't need to take orders from you!" He said and pulled me up in the air, shaking me like a dead rabbit.I screamed in pain."Yeah, scream as loudly as you can! Everybody is at the Ball. No one is going to come and save you!" he grinned.I thrashed about, desperate to break free."Yeah, keep doing that." His eyes, filled with malevolent delight, bore into me."The more you struggle, the more excited I will become!"Tears were pouring down my cheeks as I struggled in vain."Beg me to put you down, you skinny rat!""No!" I used all my effort and shouted."Beg me right now or I swear I'll rip off your arms!" Zion shook me more violently."No!!!" Tears streaming down my face. "You're nothing but a bully! And I'll never beg a bully like you!"Just as I felt that my arms were about to be ripped off by Zion, I fell to the ground.At almost the same time, I heard the scream coming from Zion -"No! My arm! You... You cut off my arm!"I saw an arm rolling on the ground.It took me a while to realize that it had belonged to Zion.As I was wondering how I managed to cut off Zion's arm, I looked up and saw a tall man with a monstrous black mask covering his face and a long blade knife in his hand.There was blood dripping off the blade.Feeling panicked, I was completely petrified.The man lowered his head and stared at me.I could see his sapphire blue eyes behind the mask.At that moment, I felt the whole world stopped spinning.The sight of his mask and the blood-soaked blade was horrifying.Fear clutched at my throat, stealing my voice.I knew I was supposed to run away from him, as I was supposed to run away from death.But I just couldn't move.The moon came out of the clouds.White moonlight poured down on me.My body started shivering violently.A sharp pain radiated from my back and I saw white fur growing out of my arms.Am I... Shifting?!I couldn't believe what happened to me, but at the age of 20, my wolf finally surfaced...And it was all because of this strange masked man who had cut off my stepbrother's arm and saved my life.My wolf stood in front of the man and shook her fur.Then, she took a few steps forward, trying to get closer to the man.The man just stood there, tilting his head while looking at my wolf with curiosity."Don't get any closer!" I warned my wolf. "He has a knife and he will cut off your head!""No, he wouldn't. He smelt so delicious." My wolf licked her lips, taking one little step forward.I tried to stop her, but it was too late.The man gripped my wolf by its forelegs and held her up."You get caught!" I roared in panic. "Now he's going to kill you!""Stop barking in my head," my wolf said to me. "Watch and learn."Then, she licked off the blood stains on the man's hand.The clouds gathered and the moon was gone.All of sudden, my wolf shifted back into human form.I, completely naked, was lying in the man's arms.I wasn't able to feel ashamed, because I had passed out because of exhaustion.End of Flashback***
Louisa's POVLying on the bed, being watched by Alpha Lucas and Beta Lucian, I felt so desperate."Alpha Lucas..." I said in a low voice, barely louder than a whisper."Is she trying to talk to me?" Lucas frowned."She's calling your name. So let me take a wild guess," Lucian shrugged.It seemed that he had a very passive-aggressive way against his Alpha, and Alpha Lucas didn't have any problem with that.This kind of fair and intimate Alpha-Beta relationship was something that I had never heard of.My father's Beta would never dare to look at my father in the eyes, let alone throw him a big fat attitude."Do you have anything to say or do you want to keep staring at us like that?" Lucian asked."I... I want to go home..." I murmured."Home?" Lucas narrowed his eyes. "Do you call that shithole a home?"I felt crossed.My father's pack was not as advanced as those packs in the north, but it was a clean, decent place.It was not fair to call it a shithole.I wanted to talk back to him, b
Lucas' POVOh, fuck.I curled up while stepping back.I could feel the throbbing pain coming from the innermost part of my chest.It was killing me.Lucian approached me, trying to pull me up from the ground.I grabbed his arm like grabbing the last straw of hope."I'm in pain, brother!“ I barked at him. "It's coming from my chest and it doesn't stop! What happened to me?! Am I dying?!"Lucian held me against his chest and said in a soothing voice, "Easy. Go easy on your breath, Luke. In and out. In and out.""Make it stop! Make it stop right now!" I almost ripped my chest open, but Lucian locked my hands together.He pinned me on the ground and said, "If you want the pain to stop, you have to work with me. Focus on your breath. Don't fight against it. Go with it."I fucking hate being subdued like this.But I couldn't do anything about it.It was so damn painful in my chest and it's fucking distracting."Do not subject yourself to fear, Luke. Live with it." Lucian's soft and tender vo
Louisa's POV"She looks so tiny. She wouldn't make it." I heard a boy's voice. "You're a doctor or something?" I recognized that was Lucian's voice."It wouldn't need a doctor to see that she wouldn't make it. She's dying," the boy said.I'm not dying. I'm still alive!I opened my mouth, but there was no sound coming out of it except a series of scratchy sounds.I felt my throat burning.I didn't know how long I had slept. "Wa… water…" I gasped.Every time I breathed, I felt my throat was burning on fire. The cloth covering my eyes was lifted. In a blurry vision, I saw a boy's face. He was holding a bowl of water in his hand. I struggled to get up, but my back was hurting so badly that I couldn't move."She can't even sit up straight by herself…" "She'll be fine, Leon," Lucian said.I grabbed the boy's arm and said, "Leon... Water…""Aha, she's calling my name and she's grabbing my arm now," said Leon."I've told you, she's not dying. She just needs some time to recover." Lucian
I closed my eyes. My tears kept falling from the corner of my eyes. I would be Alpha Lucas' breeder and I would be killed. Nobody would know that I had ever existed. But the most agonizing thought was… My child would be born into this world without seeing their mother. They would have nobody. No. I couldn't let this happen to my child. I had to figure out a way to survive. Maybe I should run away. "Is that your answer to every question?" I heard my wolf's voice in my mind, "To run away? Ever since I knew you, you're trying to avoid everything. An evil stepmother. A tyrannical stepbrother. An ignorant father. Look at what that has got you so far." "What could I do? I couldn't fight them. I'm too weak." I replied. "Concentrate, girl. When you're in fear, you're distracted. You have to stay focused and think about it. Alpha Lucas is your mate. He's found out that you're his mate and he wants to know your real name. Why do you think he's doing that?" "He want
I couldn't believe it. Did I gain the ability to heal myself? My broken back was intact again! It was cured by itself! I slowly lifted my waist. It didn't hurt at all. "Can you stand up?" Leon prompted with excitement. I didn't manage to reply before he ran out of the tent. "I'll let Lucian know! Wait for me!" His voice was already so far away. It took me a while before I tried to lift my leg. I thought it would be easy since my back was fully recovered, but somehow I just couldn't lift my legs. I was a bit nervous. I concentrated and tried again. Still, nothing happened. I used my hands to pinch my legs. They both hurt. I wasn't paralyzed. That was a good sign. But why I couldn't lift them? I used my hands to push my upper body up. Eventually, I sat up straight. The blanket that covered my upper body slipped down when Lucian walked into the tent. In a panic, I pulled up the blanket to cover my chest. But when I lowered my head, I froze. T
Lucas' POV Fucking bitch. I thought to myself when I walked into my tent. I threw my sword on the table. It made a loud bang and all the maids in the tent kneeled in front of me, trembling. When I was furious, I would normally whip them to release my anger. But on that day, I wasn't in the mood. "Get the fuck out of my tent! Leave me alone!" I yelled at them. All of them disappeared immediately. I was in distress. I couldn't believe my mate would be a girl who looked so tiny and weak. Just like my mother used to be. The thought of her made me so disturbed. I couldn't think or do anything properly. I guess that was the mate thing they were talking about. It was something dissolved in the fluid inside my mother's womb, permeating through my skin and into my veins and marrow, even before I was born. It was my primal and innate need, the most sacred part of a wolf's life. It was written in my destiny. But, no. I wouldn't give in to my destiny. If
Lucas' POV "She's too weak." I shook my head and said, "She's weaker than my mother used to be. If I accept her, I'll be weak, just like my father. She's a plague, Lucian. She'll ruin the whole pack.” Lucian said, "You have never told me anything about your parents. I only know that they passed away when you were very young.” "I have never mentioned them to anyone for a reason." I said. I had always been known as a fatherless demon. The cursed one. "Was that because of your mother?" Lucian asked. I lay on my back and stared at the ceiling of the tent. Then, I closed my eyes. That fucking she—wolf. I could still see the scars and bruises on her chest. Her thighs twitched and tensed when I touched her. The way she bit her lips and complied. Everything. She reminded me of my mother. I fucking hated my mother. "My mother was weak when she met my father. Her weakness and vulnerability evoked my father's compassion and sympathy. He married her to be his Lun
Lucas' POV "Is that fair for him?" Lucian ignored my warning and continued. Yeah, he did that all the time as well. Ignore my warnings and shit. Fucking douchebag. "You're a very formidable person. That's why a lot of people don't like you. But your wolf is completely another story…" "You liked me when you saw me." I sat up and looked at him. "Yeah, that's because I like everyone." Lucian said in a matter-of-fact way. I lay down on the bed again like an unplugged balloon. I just didn't know what to do with this man. I obviously couldn't kill him because he was a nice guy. He had been around in my life for more than 20 years. He was like an elder brother, or sometimes, a mother, to me. "What do you want me to do?" I rolled my eyes. "Let your wolf meet her and see how it goes." he said, "I can tell that she kind of like big furry animals. Hopefully, he'll be able to talk some sense into that girl. As far as I'm concerned, she's madly in love with you, but she couldn't realiz