Chapter 1

Elizabeth’s POV

“Are you going to refuse Max or not!”

“Answer me!”

Bam!

I stumbled down, absorbing the trauma and swallowing the pain.

‘Elaina was beating me more harshly than yesterday.’

“Fuck! You have a mouth to answer me, Elizabeth! Should I rip that off too!”

Even if I have a mouth, I wasn’t given a chance to say what my heart desires and claim what’s mine.

Elaina always took everything from me, and I let her do whatever she wanted. But this time, I cannot give in to her request.

She cannot steal my mate from me. Never!

“Please, Elaina! I can give you everything! Food, clothes, and even this frail body. I was willing to sacrifice it for you, sister. But Max? My mate? I can’t give it to you!”

With one swift move, I felt the pain in my ribcage. Elaina kicked me in the stomach.

“Ugh!”

I took a deep breath; it brought a pang in my lungs. I felt my stomach tighten as I threw up blood, which hurt my ribs some more.

“Listen, you despicable lowly being!” Elizabeth remarked while pointing at me. “Max likes no one but me. I just realized that I am also in love with him. Are you really going to ruin our relationship just because he is your fucking mate?!”

‘Just?’

I’ve been waiting for this my whole life! To escape from my abusive stepmother and stepsister, and live happily with my mate!

This is my dream and Elaina would like to steal it from me!

Groaning, I looked back at my stepsister and cried out loud.

“I know that you are only doing this because you hate me, Elaina. Please! I am begging you! Just leave me and Max alone! Once we get married, I will leave the house and never bother you again!”

Elaina looked down at me before a smile full of malice appeared. She stepped on my legs, causing me to shriek in pain.

“Ahhh!”

“Listen, you ugly bitch,” she uttered while pressing my thighs with her heels. “Max is an Alpha. Did you hear that? Someone like you who is ugly, skinny, and worthless isn’t fit to be his Luna! Have you ever seen a Luna who is as ugly as you! Huh!”

“Ahhh! E-Elaina! Don’t do this! I…”

A tingling pain swept across my cheek. Elaina slapped me in the face, which she rarely does because she avoided hitting me in a place where other members may see.

“Shameless bitch,” she murmured.

I swallowed the pain.

‘Pain was just an illusory sensation that my mind could shut down if it needed to,’ I said to myself because I don’t want to give up Max.

“Let’s have a deal,” Elaina said while brushing her bangs upwards.

“R-Really?” I asked, kneeling down.

“What will you do if Max hates you and rejects you?”

My head swam at her question. ‘What will I do?’

It will be hard to accept it but…

“If that happens,” I mumbled in the voice of someone who was about to break down. “Then I will leave him alone and won’t bother him anymore.”

“All right,” Elaina uttered, chuckling. “Stay here and wait. I will bring Max and let him reject you himself.”

Elaina turned around. Her dress fluttered and I saw it dancing in the air with my peripheral vision. My hands clenched as I sat up.

I wanted to believe my mate.

But at the same time, I was scared.

I was scared to be abandoned like a useless rag by my own mate.

Yet, I waited like a fool.

“Argh! Ahhhh!”

“Elizabeth! Elizabeth! What’s happening?!”

My head was swaying like a winder horse. I inched my arms under me and pushed myself up. But it was futile. My whole body felt so sore as if I was burning alive in the pit of fire.

“Take Elizabeth to the hospital! Quick!”

“No!”

Catching my breath, I looked at the people in the pack who were looking over me.

“Are you insane?” Georgina, my dead mother’s friend, asked me while on the verge of crying. “You’ll die! I promised your mother that I will protect you!”

Even if everyone was begging me to go to the hospital, I shook my head.

“I need to… wait,” I said, growling in pain. “Max will come. He will… prove that Elaina was wrong. So please, let me stay and wait.”

I endured the pain that seemed everlasting. When the pain subsided, I lost all of my strength and fell asleep.

‘It’s okay. Once I wake up, Max will be here.’

Or so I thought.

“Hey, you! Wake up! Wake up you shit!”

My thighs hurt like a rotten tomato. I opened my eyes and saw my stepsister, Elaina.

‘She’s back!’

The first thing that came to my mind was to look for Max. But I didn’t see him. Elaina came back alone.

“W-Where is Max?” I mumbled.

Elaina showed a menacing beam and laughed so hard.

“Max won’t come.”

“H-He won’t?”

Why?

I am his mate. Why?!

“He said that he doesn’t like you. Your face disgusts him and you don’t deserve to be his Luna.”

No. I don’t believe that. This is just one of Elaina’s evil schemes!

“That’s not true!” I shouted, tears flowing from my eyes.

“You don’t believe it?”

“Yes. I would not believe it, not until I heard it from him!”

“Then, what about this?”

Elaina grabbed her phone and showed it to me. When I looked at the screen, my eyes widened and my heart squeezed in terror.

[“I don’t like Elizabeth. She’s too frail and skinny. Compared to your sexy body, she’s nothing but a stick! There’s only you in my life, Elaina. I only love you.”]

It was a video of Max confessing her feelings to Elaina while they were hugging tightly; there was no space between their bodies.

Badump!

I pressed my chest which was pounding like a hummingbird’s wings.

‘Elaina was right. My mate… hates me. My mate loves her!’

“Now, can you believe it? Max would choose me rather than his own mate?” Elaina boasted. “Do you know why? BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR AN UGLY BEAST LIKE YOU, ELIZABETH.”

Unable to say anything, I grabbed her phone and looked closely at the video. My hands trembled as my whole world fell apart. And then, tears kept rolling down my cheek like water gushing from a broken dam.

“See that? You should have believed me,” Elaina said before she snatched her phone back.

I stayed on the ground and was in total paralysis.

‘Elaina won. She stole everything from me, even my own mate.’

“Since we made a deal, it’s your turn, Elizabeth. Reject Max as your mate.”

My lips detached.

“I refused Max as…” I shut my eyes tightly before continuing, “As my mate.”

“Hah!” Elaina scoffed. “That is not the right way, you idiot. Do it right!”

She forged a cough and uttered.

“I, Elizabeth from the Black Lake pack, rejected Max as my mate. Say it.”

My fists clenched into cannonballs. But my mouth was hypnotized by the heartache Max caused me. And they moved on their own.

“I, Elizabeth from the Black Lake pack, rejected Max as my mate.”

“Do it again.”

“I, Elizabeth from the Black Lake pack, rejected Max as my mate.”

“Again.”

“I, Elizabeth from the Black Lake pack, rejected Max as my mate.”

“AGAIN!”

“I, Elizabeth from the Black Lake pack, rejected Max as my mate.”

“Good! I recorded it!”

Hearing the last three words Elaina had said, my body fell to the ground and everything went black.