Chapter 1

Nova POV

Today was the kind of day that was so beautiful it made me almost feel hope. The sun is shining, that late spring sunshine, where there is still a chill to the breeze but so long as you stay out of the shade it is perfectly warm.

I love this time of year when the promise of warm summer nights is coming in and the new life of spring is everywhere. I was currently sat on a bench in my local park, looking at the boating lake stretched out before me.

Only one couple had felt brave enough to take a paddle boat out on the water today. I wasn’t watching them, preferring to focus on the cygnets swimming next to the huge swan in the middle of the lake. Jealous of their freedom and the care their mother was taking of them.

This time out of my family home was the only time I ever feel like I can breathe, and I never take it for granted. Six weeks. In six weeks, I am 18, my shift will come, and I will run from this place and never look back. This countdown is what keeps me going every day.

It’s going so well but as I sit there looking forward, I see several shadows fall in front of me. That feeling of hope for a good day disappeared in an instant. I counted three shadows which meant I knew exactly who was stood there. My sister Ella, her two best friends Gemma and Leah. Or as I liked to refer to them the Bitches of Eastwick. Not witches. Witches were cool. These three were straight up evil.

I’d forgotten spring meant these three were home from Uni on easter break. At 20 my sister was 2 and a half years older than me but had the emotional maturity and self-control of a 10-year-old. I have the scars to prove it. Dread settled in the bottom of my stomach; my daily companion was back again.

“Well hello Nova” Ella said, her voice heavy with disdain. “You look so boring today we almost didn’t see you there” she mocked. I closed my eyes momentarily to keep my calm and take a deep breath. This was my mistake.

Before my eyes even opened I felt the sharp sting across my face as Ella’s hand connected with it. Another of her perfectly aimed slaps. “Don’t ignore me you fucking bitch” she screamed. Ella didn’t care who heard or saw her. She never did.

She was the head warrior’s eldest daughter everyone just believed she was doing the right thing and disciplining her ‘constantly misbehaving’ little sister, despite the fact all I had been doing was sitting on a bench. No one cared. No one helped. They never did.

I look her in the eye, in no mood to back down and cower today, “What Ella?” I ask in a sharp tone “What could I have possibly done now?”

Yeah I have messed up, her face is becoming red with rage. Gemma steps behind me and pulls me off the bench by my hair, onto my knees in the floor. Ella comes face to face with me “Never speak to me like that again runt” she screams and punches me in the face. I feel paint radiate across my cheek and my nose. I know it’s broken; I heard the telltale crunch, this is the third time now.

Then she takes a swing at my ribs and the crack I hear this time means I know I am going back to the pack clinic. Rather than focusing on the pain blooming in my side I already try and think of what I can tell them at the clinic. I don’t care if they tell my parents, they already know, they are who taught Ella to be like this.

I need to make sure they don’t tell the Alpha family. If the Alpha or Luna found out they would go to my parents and that would just make everything ten times worse. As long as I kept quiet, I could take it, but my parents swore if I told, my little siter Nita was going to find out exactly what it was like.

She was 16 and so far, they had never hurt her but I needed to make sure it stayed that way. I knew if I left, she would be safe, the threat was only revenge for if they got into trouble.

Gemma let go of my hair and I collapsed forward onto the gravel in front of me. “Come on, she’s boring today” said Ella as they walked off, she kicked my side with the cracked rib for good measure.

After lying there for 10 minutes trying to get my breath back, I finally managed to climb to my feet and dust myself off. I was hoping I wouldn’t need to go to the clinic but as I started to walk home I couldn’t breathe and realised the injuries were possibly worse than I thought, so I changed directions.

Entering the clinic, I went to find the nurse who always helped me, June. She had seen me the last few times I had been there and clearly was catching on that someone was targeting me so rather than making me go to reception every time and keep seeing strange doctors and nurses I had her permission to just go to find her.

June was sat at the nurse’s station. Looking professional in her blue nurse’s scrubs and her light brown hair in a bun at the nape of her neck she was concentrating on her paperwork but must have sensed me, I didn’t need to wonder how bad I looked as I saw the look of anger on her face, that told me I wasn’t a pretty sight.

As she walked towards me her eyes were black where her anger was causing her wolf to push forward. “Nova, honey, who did this now?” she asked her voice was laced with concern and anger. “I swear to god if the words, I just fell, come out of your mouth we will have a problem” she said putting her arms around me and pulling me into a gentle hug.

As she pulled me closer, I winced and let out a groan and she realised why, my sore ribs. “Okay first stop, X Ray” June said turning me around. I didn’t want to go, X-rays meant records but June insisted as I didn’t have my wolf yet so my healing was still slow.

Two hours later she is stood in front of me in an examination room with Dr Woods, the only doctor in the whole place I trust as much as June. Dr Woods looks just as pissed as June. “Nova, you have a fractured rib, a broken nose and a crack on your cheekbone” he stated matter of factly trying to keep his anger under control.

“There is no way on earth you get those injuries falling, and whoever hit you had to be very strong to cause such injuries, as the bruises looks like you were only hit twice. Please talk to me” he implored taking my hands in his. I couldn’t look him in the eye I felt so guilty lying.

“I fell” I said, the lie sounded so obvious and hollow. He sighed frustrated.

“I can’t make this stop and I can’t help you without the truth” he said

“No one can” I said before I could stop myself. He perked up at this. This was the closest I have ever come to admitting something was happening to me other than my insistence on clumsiness and issues with gravity.

“What do you mean Nova?” he asked, holding his breath, hoping I was going to answer but I couldn’t. The fear kept me quiet, it held my tongue and stopped the words. All i had to say was my family and maybe, maybe it could stop but I had learnt the hard way, I couldn’t trust anyone to stop it or protect me. Other people just made it worse.