Chapter 1

Katia pov

Let me introduce myself. I am Katia Lane, and I am 19 years old. Today is the day I die. Don't be sad for me. It's okay, my wolf Aza and I agree that our next life has to be better than this one.

Oh yeah, in case you didn't know werewolves are real and I am one of them. We prefer to be called shifters as we shift from human to wolf at will. We live in communities called packs and intermingle with other supernatural and humans. Although most humans have no clue that the supernatural world exists.

Back to why Aza and I have decided today is the day we die. It's simple, really. We can no longer stand the torture, abuse, pain, and hurt we have dealt with since my birth.

I have no clue why my parents, the beta couple, to the Night Shade pack hated me. I was their first born and they showed absolutely no feelings for me at all. I was basically ignored except for changing and feeding me which kept me quiet. Once I was old enough to understand commands, I was put to cooking, cleaning, and taking care of my younger brothers. Yes, my brothers were loved and treasured. After all, they would become the beta and gamma of the pack someday. Just as my father and his brother had done.

My brothers learned to smack me, throw me, choke me, and whatever else they could think of. Their favorite thing to do was to do something they weren't allowed and then blame me, knowing I would be punished.

One time, when I was about eight, my brothers stole money from my mom's wallet. When my mom discovered money missing from her wallet, I was blamed. I was given 50 lashes and no food for a week. I was blamed and punished for anything that went wrong or happened with the pack. My parents punched, kicked, whipped, and starved. Not to mention any other ways to torture me my parents or pack members could think of.

Why didn't I say something to the Alpha or Luna? They were busy running the pack and they had seen me hit and thrown across the dining room when I tripped and dumped a tray of food on the floor. It didn't matter that I was only five. I figured since they didn't say anything they really did not care.

I tried to run away when I was eight. I had been beaten and locked in a closet as punishment for my latest transgression. I didn't even know what it was that I was being punished for.

I made it to the woods surrounding our pack lands. I ran and ran into them until it was so dark that not one ray of sunlight peeked through the trees. I was terrified and had no idea what to do. I was cold, scared of the noises and what might be making those noises.

I found a tree with a hole in the bottom of its trunk and crawled inside. As I sat inside shivering and hoping nothing was going to find and eat me, I smelled my father and uncle. Already tiny for my age, I still tried to make myself smaller. Shifter senses are stronger than a human's even when we have not met our wolves yet. So, for the two adult males, who had their wolves for years, it was easy to find me.

I was grabbed by my legs and pulled from the tree. The beating I was given by my father and uncle, for inconveniencing them, almost killed me. When they saw how badly they had beaten me, they took me to the pack hospital and said I had been attacked by a rogue.

A rogue is a wolf that has left or been thrown out of its pack. Wolves are pack animals and have a hard time living on their own. Some rogues cannot stand the loneliness and it does something to their minds.

The doctor accepted their explanation and spent hours resetting bones and putting casts on me. Stitching me up and monitoring my vitals. Once I was out of danger of dying, he sent me home with the promise of trying not to draw attention to myself. He did not really buy the rogue excuse. He knew what really happened and knew he could not go up against the beta of the pack.

I managed to do just that for about two years. I learned to never speak so no one would hear me and remember I existed. I found ways to not be in the same room with the worst of my antagonizers. I was essentially a ghost.

I did what I was assigned to do every day. I learned to anticipate when someone wanted something, and it was there before they remembered my name and yelled for me. I waited until everyone went to sleep every night before I would quietly slip into my room and go to sleep.

Then my tenth birthday happened...