Chapter 1

Esther’s POV

“Bitch, look what you’d done!” His low gasp brushed against my ears, making me tremble. “You had committed a heinous crime!”

The man before me, Nicholas Crawford, the Alpha King of the Blood Moon Pack, had once looked at me with adoration and affection. Now he saw me as the one who had murdered his sister.

Even though I had no memory of it.

Nicholas yanked on my head fiercely. He forced me to look up.

“You’ve committed a crime, you little bitch!” I heard him hiss with venom near my ear. “The least you could do was look at everyone and admit that you did it.”

“But I didn’t,” I protested weakly. “I didn’t kill Princess…”

Everyone was staring at me, but there was nothing to say they pitied me. There was a lot of disgust. I couldn’t see anyone who thought this torture was cruel.

I couldn’t believe this was my life now.

It had been a year since I attempted my first shift, and it had been so strong that it made me pass out. When I woke up, Princess Emily was lying next to me, practically ripped apart.

Nicholas had been distraught at his sister’s death and accused my wolf, Sharon, of committing the murder.

It hadn’t mattered how much I protested and tried to tell everyone it wasn’t me—nobody believed me. Then I had been treated worse than I thought possible, the pack deciding that I was a disgrace.

Going from a Beta in the pack to a lowly slave everyone beat and tortured had been a drop in status I never wanted to go through again.

But nobody had been on my side. Nobody wanted to listen to me.

I had once adored Nicholas. Now I didn’t know if I could look at him the same way again, especially when I saw him pick up the bottle of wolfsbane water, nestled on a rock beside him. I didn’t recognize him anymore.

I didn’t want to drink that again. It was practically death for us. If our wolves were pushed into dormancy, they would likely never come back.

Given how powerful my wolf was, nobody wanted it around to cause more mayhem. If I hadn’t been forced to drink it every day, I might have understood why this was happening.

But they weren’t in my position. And I had lost my wolf because of my pack.

Nicholas let go of my hair abruptly, but only a moment later, he slapped me across the face. My cheek went numb, and the sensation merely made it throb.

I could taste blood in my mouth, and I swallowed it down.

“That wolf of yours is nothing but trouble,” his eyes glowing amber, his nostrils flaring in anger. “It would be better if it wasn’t here at all.”

The sun beat down on me, and I felt my clothes sticking to my body with all the sweat.

I didn’t want to be there. I wanted to get away and nurse my wounds, far from the judging looks I was receiving.

“Please…” I whispered, shaking my head. “No more…”

Nicholas interrupted me with a sneer.

“You’re going to take it.” He grabbed my hair again, pulling my head back and exposing my throat. “You caused this, bitch. You’ll be taking the consequences.”

I didn’t get any further before he poured the water into my mouth. It hit the back of my throat and made me gag.

I didn’t want to cry—that never made it any better, and nobody listened—but tears filled my eyes. Nicholas scoffed and turned away.

“Get her down from there and leave her. We’ve got things to do.”

I barely felt anyone untying me before I was thrown to the ground without anyone trying to break my fall. As I lay there, everyone walked away.

Nobody said anything, and I saw everyone looking anywhere but at me.

My body hurt. It was too much.

I couldn’t believe this was my life now.

“You’d better get up and get moving if you don’t want to be beaten again.”

I rolled onto my side and blinked up in the glaring sunlight. Someone was leaning over me, their face dark with shadows with the light behind them.

As they leaned in, I realized it was Amanda, my older sister. I hadn’t realized she was there.

Amanda was pretty, but she had always come up short with everything.

It had made her angry when we were younger because she didn’t stand out from anyone.

Before, I had thought she would be on my side, but I had seen the glee in her eyes when she watched me get beaten and abused the first time.

She hated me, just like everyone else. And she took great joy in it.

“Come on!”

Amanda barked, kicking me in the stomach. The pain barely registered over the burning in my mouth from the wolfsbane.

“You’re meant to be getting the great hall prepared for Nicholas’s Luna choosing ceremony. There’s so much to do, and you can’t embarrass me.”

“Why would I embarrass you?” I croaked. “You’re not going to become his Luna.”

Amanda giggled and crouched down.

“Oh, but I am. I will become his Luna. There won’t be anyone to compete with me once I’m done with everyone.”

That surprised me. She was associated as the sister to a murdering slave. Even if she managed to win, I couldn’t see Nicholas choosing her.

He would want someone he could be proud of as his Luna, and that wouldn’t be Amanda.

“You won’t be Luna,” I whispered, licking my cracked lips. I could still taste blood. “He will choose someone better.”

Amanda’s smirk snapped off, and she suddenly gripped my throat. Gasping, I tried to claw at her hand as she squeezed tightly before letting go.

Then she stood up in one flowing movement, dusting herself down.

“At least I’m doing better than you,” she said. “You might’ve had your wolf shift sooner than mine, but you’re nothing now. You can’t be anything now. Whereas I can, for once, be better than you.”

“I was never better than you,” I whispered. “You never put any effort in.”

It was true that Amanda had never applied herself properly. She just waltzed through life expecting her position to give her what she wanted.

She didn’t understand that it didn’t work like that, but Father had never gotten it into her head. My sister was just too thick-headed.

And she had designs on Nicholas. I shouldn’t have been surprised, and yet I was.

“And at least my wolf is still here.” Amanda looked at me with a dirty expression, wrinkling her nose. “I have value to this pack. You don’t.”

Then she walked away, leaving me lying in the dirt. My whole body hurt as I sat up, wincing as something shifted in my side. I thought she’d broken a rib.

I got to my feet, wobbling a little as I regained my balance. I was going to be badly bruised later, but I would heal eventually.

I always did.

Taking a deep breath, I squared my shoulders and walked slowly back towards the palace.

I knew I couldn’t get sympathy now. I had to get back to work. Nicholas’s Luna choosing ceremony was coming up tomorrow, and that was more important.

Nicholas would choose who would be his Luna, the woman to be at his side.

And I was expected to be present at the ceremony, just like everyone else. I had to carry on and serve the rest of the Pack in the ceremony. It was a significant part of the Pack’s life.

But I wasn’t looking forward to it. I was already out of place after the disaster of my first shift, and this wasn’t going to lift my spirits.

I just wanted to get out of there. I wanted to be saved from my current life.

To do that, I was going to have to find my fated mate. He couldn’t be far away; everyone had a mate.

Tomorrow would be my eighteenth birthday. I would find him, I was sure. I just had to be patient.