Chapter 1

Zara

The email didn’t make sense. I stared at it a few more times, certain there had to be a mistake or some sort of glitch that would disappear if I had to blinked hard enough.

Anxiety had me pulling out my phone for the umpteenth time to read through the email, word for word to make sure it wasn’t sent to the wrong email address. 

I swallowed against the lump in my throat and blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. 

My student loans had been cleared, and just as much as I read the emails, and scrolled through my credit accounts a thousand times to be sure. 

That amount was nowhere near the figures in both of my accounts. 

I didn’t know how to make due with this news, so I hung the straps of my tote bag over my shoulder and hurried towards the double doors of the restaurant I worked at. 

“Where are you going, Zara?!” Mona barked. “Your shift ends in thirty minutes!”

“Cover for me!” I yelled back her. “Please!”

I did not wait for her reply before whirling around again, and making my exit.

I really needed to go home, the suspense of this whole thing was killing me. I needed to tell someone…

My thoughts spiraled around the email, wanting to believe this is some sort of glitch that would be resolved soon. Its been four hours since the email pinged in and there’s been none following this to clarify the glitch. 

The voices in my head went on about being excited about the news, but I couldn’t be. Not yet. There’s still the car insurance debt, and a thousand dollars of rent arrears.

Reasons why I worked two shifts to stack up money to pay off the student loan, and other debts.

Another gulp of saliva, but the shock waves hit me harder.

I flagged down a cab and hopped in when the cab pulled up at the sidelines. 

With my lips thinned and my fingers drumming a rhythm on my thighs while I chewed down on my inner cheeks to relieve the tension on my shoulders. 

“Thank you.” I passed the driver my bill and raced into the house. 

The smell of steak hit my nose the second I slammed the door shut behind me. 

“Mom?!” I called from the living room, tossing my bag on a couch to fish out my phone. 

“Dining, honey.” She responded. I could hear the smile to her voice which was somewhat strange. 

Honey?

Mom was always moody because of her night shifts at the hospital and she never really made dinner ‘cause she had to spend the whole day sleeping and prepping for her night shift.

Dad couldn’t cook. Madeline and Skip could hardly eat properly by themselves. 

Feeling skittish, I slowly entered the living room, and stopped in my tracks. 

Everyone was at the dining. Dad, Mom, Skip, Madeline.

And over at the dining was food. Steak, rice, soup… there was even cake on the table! Madeline and Skip bounced on their feet, their eyes twinkling with pure excitement.

“Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad.” I perched by the door, letting my eyes glid over the delicacies lined up. Confusion dug into my chest.

“Em, are we celebrating something?” 

“Of course, Zara! Don’t be silly. It’s your birthday, you’re 21!”

So?

I was not offered any further explanation. So I just nodded, feeling very strange. I made my way towards them. 

“My student loan was paid off, do you know anything about that?” I threw another question at her.

“Your Father and I did.” Mom avoided my gaze since I finally stepped into the dining.

“But how?” 

“That’s none of your business, Zara.” Mom snapped, finally holding my gaze. The glimmer in her eyes were a lot darker than they usually were. She then sighed, “I mean... We just… uh, paid it.”

“It’s my student loan. I was working to pay it back, you shouldn’t have bothered.” 

I can’t afford you both holding yet another thing over my head.

“Be grateful, for once, Zara.” She scoffed. 

I should be, I keep convincing myself to feel something else other than panic. 

Whatever this was, it didn’t sit right with me. 

First, student loan completely paid off and now steak and this delicious looking rice for lunch. And cake?

“Sit, and let’s eat and be merry, Zara. No arguments today.” She smiled at me. But it was weird. Mom never smiled at me.

Another gulp of saliva as I sauntered to my seat in the table.

“Make a wish.” Dad pushed the cake in front of me, surprisingly quiet today. He was a bit shifty too, his eyes barely focusing on me. I brushed it off, I must be overthinking things. Today has been weird after all.

Maybe my adoptive parents finally liked me?

My lips slowly spread into a smile at the thought and I closed my eyes, wishing deep in my heart… 

“I wish to feel loved like this… forever.”

And I blew out my candle. Everyone clapped and then they broke out in a song for me. I giggled and sang with them, until mom quieted us down. 

“Okay, okay, we can start eating now.” She spoke abruptly. I had no problem with that.

I picked up my cutleries and dived in at once.

It wasn’t long after I started eating that the doorbell rang. My brows knitted together. We barely got visitors in the house.

“I’ll go get the door.” Dad said, practically jumping out of his seat before I could even think of moving a muscle. 

“Welcome Elders. Come in.” I heard him say from the door.

Elders?

I casually turned my neck to see, my blood freezing when my eyes landed on a mark I knew all too well. The steak suddenly soured in my mouth, and my stomach churned with acid. I tightened my jaw, trying to control the puke that threatened to escape.

Everyone in that pack owned this mark. Everyone in the same pack that wiped out my kind—Eserais, and trapped me with humans to keep me safe.

From what I knew, the Elders of the pack never popped at people’s house unless their Alpha sent them on an errand. They always came to collect.

I palmed the back of my neck, letting the voices in my head convince me that they came here for something else. Only mom and dad knew who… what I was. They knew what would happen if they ratted me out.

I knew they didn’t like me, treated me like shit, but surely, they didn’t hate me enough to throw me to my own death?

“Hello...” I spoke quietly despite the chill running down my spine and the quivering of my lips. All three of them had their eyes on me the whole time, sizing me up. They looked dazed, a normal reaction when men stared at me. It was part of my curse, being an Eserai—the beauty of a fallen angel.

“Be sure there’s no mark on her.” My brows creased even further when one of them commented and two bodyguards stalked towards me. 

My jaw slacked as one of them snatched both hands behind my back, and none of my struggling could get me out of his firm grip while the other held my chin up with a force that made me squirm. 

He twisted my chin, examining my neck. He lingered for a while, obviously tempted by the vein pulsing in my neck.

“She’s perfect.” He gritted his response and stepped away. My eyes darted to Mom and Dad in a frenzy.

“Mom, what is this about?” I inquired, my whole body overcome with a tremor.

Mom didn’t flinch. She barely even looked at me at first. Her eyes were too busy scanning the briefcase in the one of the elder’s hands. When she finally looked up at me, her eyes were dark with pure animosity, void of the earlier warmth in them.

I’d seen this look a thousand times, but never this hard and ruthless. 

“How else did you think we got the student loan paid, honey?” Her tone bled with mockery. “And the rest of the loans we took, Zara? Did you think I’d won a lottery? Or my measly job as a nurse in that cramped up hospital had suddenly paid me more than the tens an hour?” 

“Mom… you’re selling me to them.” My voice was barely audible.

“Smart ass.”

I snapped. “Why?! I’ve been working myself to the bone for you both! I was going to pay off those debts!”

“With what?! Tips from that measly diner you work at?” She let out a jagged laugh that raised goosebumps on my skin. “Look, Zara. You’re just an investment that finally matured. I’m happy to be rid of you. Your mother was a slut, she deserved to die.”

On a normal day I’d defend my birth mother, but I was too concerned about my own life to do that right now. I turned to dad. He was looking anywhere but at me.

“You’re selling me off to the Alpha.” I spell out to them. They said nothing, so I continued,

“I’m not going to survive this, he’d kill me.” My tone was sharp, my voice shaky. 

Dad shrugged. “Then I suppose you should focus on trying to be useful to him. You’re his to deal with, as long as we’ve gotten the money, we don’t care about what he does with you.” 

My lips thinned as tears welled in my eyes. I fought the tears threatening to roll down my cheeks ‘cause I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me break down. 

But I couldn’t hold them down for too long as I watched the transaction go on in my face. 

Dad and Mom smiled as the elders handed them the briefcase. 

The hot stream of tears prickled down my cheeks when Dad took the briefcase. He opened it, and stacks of gold glimmered so bright, I had to shut my eyes for a moment. 

“You can have her,” Dad quickly gestured them to whisk me away.

“Thank you so much! The Alpha is definitely going to love her.” Mom commented and smiled mischievously, sealing my fate.

I heard my heart shattering in my ears, loud and clear. Never in a lifetime did I think my family would hand me out to the same man I’ve been running away from all these years. 

The bodyguard cuffed my wrist. The cold metal dug into the skin of my wrist every time I wrestled with it. I didn’t want to give into this fate yet, a part of me kept holding on to the fact that I could get myself out of this. 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t. 

The Elders led the way while I was being dragged out of where used to be home. 

I thought I had escaped this fate, not knowing I was going to live through it, still. 

The bodyguards left me by the porch and headed to the small garage to drive them out. 

I took that as an opportunity to flee, and I did without second guessing.