Chapter 1

ANYA’S POV

My 18th birthday… a complete and totally hilarious joke. It was a day that felt as if I’d committed a crime whenever it came.

No matter what I did that day or any other, I would always be seen as a misfit… a dark curse to the entire pack.

Even for something as basic and important as food, or anything resembling a normal life… which I felt I deserved… I was cruelly denied by my heartless stepmother, the now leader of Silverfang pack.

“Anya! Anya!” her powerful voice boomed against the walls.

My heart pounded against my ribs and a familiar feeling of dread sat in the marrow of my bones while goosebumps clawed its way across my skin.

I'd recognize that voice anywhere in the world. Even if my body was long buried.

“Dear, goddess,” I begged in a whisper that brushed over the flames of the candle in front of me.

My hands shook as I blew out the flame, believing… hoping that my plea for life beyond this torment and pain be fulfilled.

But I should have known that the moon goddess would always screw me over.

“Anya!” the voice thundered again.

I stuffed the bread in my hand into my mouth, rushing to still cling to the last shred of Hope and normalcy I had in this accursed place. But my time ran out.

The cellar doors were pulled open at once and a bright light flooded through the tiny room, causing a sharp pain to fill my eyes.

“There you are, you vile thing!” her voice was the only warning I got before a blinding pain ran through my scalp.

Then I was forced out of the cellar into the light and prejudice of the real world. A yelp fell from my mouth as my body collided with the floor.

The piece of forming of a long overdue alliance bread in my mouth got stuck in my throat, causing a string of coughs to assault me.

But according to Elda, breathing was a luxury I wasn't meant to afford. She kicked me in the stomach and I almost threw up everything I had managed to eat… because of the fear I had for her.

I knew exactly what my stepmother was capable of.

“Don't be dramatic, you little devil. Tell me what you were doing in the cellar. Try to steal food, were you?” she asked in a piercing voice that always made me clench my fists in shame.

She knew that for as long as I've lived with her… which is for as long as I've been alive by the way… I've never stolen a single thing in my life.

“I-I… It’s my birth… day…” I stammered.

“Oh! It's your birthday! Happy birthday, Anya!” She yelled in the same taunting voice she used before and I bowed my head till my gaze blurred against the marble floor.

“So just because today is your birthday we should make everyone of your wishes come true, huh? Just because today is your worthless birthday, you wish to humiliate me on this important day?!”

My spine stiffened and the beads of sweat that fell from my head grew heavy. It just so happened that tonight is the night of a full moon and also the night of celebrations for forming a long overdue alliance with Bloodfrost Kingdom.

“So just because it's your birthday, you, a girl who hasn't shifted in her life, insists on ruining my reputation and the reputation of this noble pack?” Elda’s voice boomed.

My eyes welled with hot tears at her insult. By the age of 15, every werewolf was meant to experience their first shift. But even at the age of 18, I still had not shifted once.

This was one of the reasons people abandoned me when my stepmother began to publicly make my life a living hell. And why they insisted that I was cursed and the biggest shame to the “noble Silverfang pack”… as Elda always put.

But I did nothing wrong.

“I…I..” I started to speak again but found not words.

“I've had enough of you!” she screamed. “Guards!”

Immediately, two guards jogged over and bowed before her while they looked at me with contempt evident in their eyes.

“Drag her to the celebration hall. It's high time I teach this girl a permanent lesson.”

Their fingers dug into my skin and dragged me over the floor to my uncertain fate. I didn't fight or struggle. Resistance was hopeless when dealing with Elda. My best chance of surviving was by doing whatever she said.

The walk to the hall was the longest it had ever been. Stones and twigs dug into my skin as the guards dragged me violently.

Stares of fear, disdain and hatred were thrown at me from standing pack members, and for the millionth time, I couldn't help but wonder what my life would look like if things were just different.

If I was born different.

“Faster, you bitch!,” one Of the guards yelled even if they were the ones literally dragging me to wherever I had to go.

Not before long, they tossed me onto the tiled floor before everyone. Tears rolled down endlessly from my eyes… clouding my vision.

But I knew even if I grew blind, I would still feel the stares and hear the whispers from the pack members of both Sliverfang and Bloodfrost pack.

“Members of the Bloodfrost pack and the Silverfang pack. I'm very sorry to ruin the celebrations with this unfortunate disruption.” Elda turned to me at the last word and I prayed that the earth would open up and swallow me.

“But this is something that cannot wait. This is my bastard stepdaughter who I’ve raised ever since the death of her father, our late Alpha… goddess rests his soul.”

I almost scoffed at her definition of raising me. She didn't raise me. She treated me like a dog. No, a dog got better treatment than I ever did.

“But today, she’s decided to repay my kindness with a truth that is by far unacceptable… the truth of being a witch!”

My head snapped up so fast that I almost feared my neck would break from the force.

“For practicing the art of witchcraft, I therefore order that Anya Vale be banished from Silverfang pack, before the presence of the Alpha-king of Bloodfrost kingdom!"