Chapter 2

[Xanthea]

I left my apartment in the afternoon when the sun gently hid behind the mammatus clouds. I grew Forget-me-nots the whole year for my mother’s death anniversary. Picking some of the most vibrant flowers, I tied them in a blue ribbon.

I put on the best formal decent gown I had and set off for the graveyard. I got down from the bus a stop before my actual stop because the roads ahead were out of bounds for the public.

There was some inter-pack car drifting competition organised by Nikolai.

I knew I had to hurry before the event began, so I decided to walk to the graveyard since it wasn’t too far.

The road was the fastest way, but maybe I shouldn’t have taken the road.

***

I had walked a few metres ahead on the road when I heard the roaring of engines and several cars zoomed past me at a speed that made them look like mere glowing lights flying by.

One of those cars stopped at some distance and started driving in reverse. It was a brand new grey supra.

Lowering my gaze, I increased my pace.

“Want a lift, sis?” Nikolai put his elbow on the window, patting his car. He drove the car slowly, matching my pace. “You know, an omega shouldn’t be here at this hour. Alphas from all the packs will be here tonight. What if someone kidnaps you? Or does something worse?”

A shrill laughter came from the passenger seat.

“Come on, brother! They might just run their cars over her ugly face of hers. How could someone look at such an abomination and not want to crush it?” Nathalia sniggered, rolling the chewing gum across her mouth.

“Now. Now. Lia. Don’t be so harsh, or she’ll start crying again. Like good old days,” Nikolai stopped the car. They exchanged some glances, and Nathalia and Nikolai stepped out of the car.

Keeping my eyes low, I tensed up when they approached me. Clenching the forget-me-nots, I hid them in my gown’s fabric.

“How rude of you? Ever since you left the palace, you didn’t even come to visit us once. How ungrateful can a bitch get?” Nathalia hit my shoulder, and I stumbled back.

“Woah! Calm down. It’s been a while since we saw her. Go easy on her,” Nikolai’s gaze darkened as it ran over me. I dug my fingers into my flesh as I clenched my trembling fist. “Going on a date, sis?”

I shuddered as his aura thickened. The threat behind his words held me in a chokehold. Restlessness built in my chest as I instantly shook my head.

“Then where are you going with flowers in your hand and dressed so prettily? You might not be living with us anymore, but you are, unfortunately, linked with the royal family. And if you were to stain our reputation by acting like a slut then as you brother, it’d be my responsibility to put you in your place?” He growled, towering over me, and I cowered.

I pressed my lips together, and I shook my head.

“I-I was… going to visit my mother's grave. It’s her death anniversary t-today,” I stammered.

There was a sudden shift in his darkening aura.

“Oh! It is indeed your birthday today. Happy birthday, sis!”

I flinched when Nikolai reached out to touch my shoulder.

“Oh, come on. We’re family, sis. And until you were doing something that you shouldn’t be doing, I would never hurt you. Ok! As a birthday gift, let me give you a ride to the graveyard. These roads will turn scary soon. Cars will run wild here. I don’t want you to get hurt badly.”

Nikolai turned to Nathalia.

“Lia, you can join Karl in his car, right?”

Nathalia gave me a nasty smirk and nodded. “Of course.”

“Hop on, sis!” He opened the car door for me. “It’s our omega mother’s death anniversary. Let me correct my mistake and drop you safely to the graveyard. I know a shortcut. Come on! Get in! It’s a dangerous road ahead.”

Nathalia scoffed with a menacing smirk crossing her face. “I’ll keep a watch from behind.”

Another car stopped, and Nathalia got into it.

Nothing they had ever done to me had ever led to anything good for me. I had been an eyesore, proof of Alpha’s infidelity. So, luna had always done everything she could to keep reminding me how illegitimate, unwanted and burdensome I truly was. She had taken every chance to hurt me in all the ways she could.

Physically. Mentally. Emotionally.

And luna’s biggest weapons to inflict all that pain on me had been Nikolai and Nathalia.

“Get in, sis. Trust me, I am truly concerned about you,” Nikolai yelled as several cars zoomed right across the road. “Father will be upset if you get hurt or some random car hits you. Ever since you left the palace, we rarely meet. Let’s catch up.”

I should have run the other way, but several cars stopped by. Boys and girls took out their head out of the window, laughing and giggling.

Nikolai seized my hand in a bruising grip, and I yelped slightly.

“You don’t plan to embarrass me before those insects, do you?” He spoke through his gritted teeth. “Be my good doll like you’ve always been and get in while I am still being nice.” He hissed.

Blinking back the mist in my eyes, I entered his car.

The foreboding screamed at me to not enter his car, but he had left me no other option.

“Put on the seat belt,” Nikolai said with a dark smirk cutting through his face.

I fumbled with the seatbelt, but put it on. In a matter of a few seconds, I was tightly clutching on the seatbelt, trying my best not to crush the flowers. The car was racing at its extreme limit.

I looked at Nikolai, who seemed to be enjoying himself handling the steering wheel deftly, making his car drift on the road. The car turned in circles with the rest of the cars and there were moments almost every second that I thought the car was going to crash into the others.

Nikolai laughed. I shut my eyes tightly.

“Sis! Open your eyes! I am going through all this trouble for you! Enjoy!”

“Wooohooo~~~” Nathalia hooted, taking half her torso out of the car’s window that drifted into circles right behind Nikolai’s car. She shot fireworks into the sky and several other cars followed the suit.

Soon, enormous flags of several packs fluttered in the car as their cars flew by. The rear wheels of almost all those cars were hidden in the fog created by the drifting tires on the road.

“P-please slow down…” the words trembled out of my lips.

“What? I couldn’t hear you, sis! Say that louder!” Nikolai mused as raced the car towards a steep curve.

Covering my face with my hands, I shut my eyes tightly.

He drifted the cars along the curve, and I was pressed against the seat.

“Let me out!” I screamed, panting. “Please, let me out!”

Nikolai gave me a hostile side look as he sped, tearing against the winds.

“With pleasure, sis…” he smirked, unbuckling my seatbelt. The door opened on my side and before I could realise, he pushed me out of the speeding car.

My right hand and left leg crashed against the road before I rolled and skidded on the black road. A sharp pain numbed my body before I completely blacked out for a few seconds from the impact.

The road and cut through my skin like a blade until the world finally stopped spinning.

I laid on the road for I don’t know how long, but in the daze, I remember crawling towards the Forget-me-nots when Nathalia’s car zoomed inches away from my fingers, crushing the flowers.

Her laughter thinned as her car, and Nikolai’s car drifted in circles all around me. Now and then, Nikolai’s car would zoom right past me and I would try to avoid coming under the tires by rolling over.

“Please… stop…” I don’t know if my words left my lips or not. My body was shivering badly. “I am sorry. I am sorry…”

“You should be sorry!” Nathalia spat. “Sorry for being born! You should have died with your mother, bitch!”

“No Lia! Had she died, we wouldn’t have such a great toy to play with. Let’s play a little more. Let’s see how well my car’s brakes are. Stay where you are, sis! And pray the car doesn’t drift over you, ha-ha. I am going to do a small experiment! Everyone back off!” Nikolai roared, and all the cars circling around me emptied the road around me.

Nikolai reversed his car until he was almost out of my sight. Crawling to the Forget-me-nots, I picked them up and then put on my cracked glasses. I had to get out of that place.

The roar of the car’s engine haunted the road as the headlight flashed right into my eyes, blinding me.

Nikolai accelerated the car right towards me.

My hand clutching the flowers fell limply to my side. My heart gave a painful throb, and I knew what raced towards me was my death.

The car came closer and closer and—

Screech!