Chapter 1

Ava;

5 YEARS AGO

"You have to leave right now!"

"Mum..."

"Listen to me, Ava. You have to leave, you have to go far away from here, please " mum pleaded, releasing her hand from mine.

I stood still, staring into her blue ocean eyes. Her eyes...her eyes were filled with tears, begging me to leave but I couldn't. I looked behind her, looking as my home was being destroyed right in front of my eyes

"I can..." I felt my throat tightened and soon enough the tears I thought I was so good at holding came falling...one after the other.

"Please, Ava... Please..." She begged. I kept my gaze on her, staring at her as she took a step back, followed by another. I stood still, my eyes fixated on her, hoping all this would be nothing but a dream. I wished it was nothing but a nightmare and it would all end soon but deep down... Deep down, I knew it wasn't. I knew I'd lost everything that evening and the truth was...the truth was there was nothing I could do to stop it. Why? Because I was too weak.

She took a last gaze at me, her lips curved into a smile. One that reached her eyes and at that moment I couldn't help but wonder how she was still able to have a smile on her face cause she shouldn't. She nodded her head at me, turned around and disappeared into the darkness, she disappeared and...she was gone...they were all gone...

PRESENT

"Down to earth, Ava!" Lia chuckles, pulling me out of my world once again.

"You've been gone for a while now, you know?" She teased, taking a long drag from her cigarette. "Your tiny little world," she smiled.

"Shouldn't you be attending to your clients?"

"They all want you and not this old hag," she joked, throwing down the cigarette in her hand. From the mirror, I could see the anger in her eyes and a fleeting emotion of...hatred, something I have gotten used to over the years and a reason I had grown to like her.

"Hmm," I hummed in response, brushing the edge of my hair for the umpteenth time. I dropped the brush, staring at the reflection of the woman in the mirror. Her long rose hair, amber eyes and her small, innocent face that seems to drive every man crazy. A face that had snatched every single thing from me but yet had given me all I could possibly desire.

"You don't seem eager to leave?"

"Not that I can choose to stay either," I stood up, admiring the red lingerie I had chosen to wear that evening. It was just exactly to my imagination... exactly what I imagined for that evening.

"You can, that's if you are eager to die..." said Lia, with a sly smile on her face.

"Trust me, I'm not" I took a step from the mirror, turned and winked at Lia while she rolled her eyes in response. I smiled at that, walking out of my dressing room. I've been here for years but still I could only get along with Lia...maybe probably since she was the only werewolf here other than Laila.

"For a second, I thought you were planning to mess with me," Laila rolled her eyes, handing over my card to me from the counter. The card is the key to my client's room and it was assigned to every one of the girls working in the club. Once the clients request for our service and choose a room then Laila will make sure that their room can only be unlocked by the girl they requested for. They needed to keep their identity and no one, other than the girl that attended to their needs, could know their identity. And once we leave that room, we have to forget about them, their identity and who they are. Failure to do so is death. Laila might look nice but when it comes to controlling those that are under her then she wouldn't mind killing, just to put them under her control. One of the reasons she hired more humans for the job, they were easy to get rid of after all.

"And miss tonight's fun?"

"I wouldn't be surprised, Ava" she responded, emphasizing on my name. "Now get your ass there and fucking get my money for me, will you?"

"I'll think of that," I joked, walking away from the counter to attend to my client.

"You better!" She yelled.

I rolled my eyes, clutching the badge in my hand. The badge was something I hated deep to my bones since it had done nothing but reminded me of who I was. An Alpha's daughter that was now nothing but a prostitute. A lowly werewolf that has to give her body in exchange for money because that.. that was the only way she could survive and it was all his fault.

He snatched every single thing from me, my family, my pack and my status. Five years had indeed.gone but still... I could still remember each and every moment vividly. I could still remember the pain, suffering and torture I had to go through and each time I walked through this corridor, each time I was made to remember why I was here in the first place. Why I chose to come to this city and why I chose to come to Shadow pack. It was all for revenge.

To get back at the man that had taken everything from me and to make him pay with his life.

After what felt like hours, I finally reached the room of my first client for the evening. I stood in front of the door, staring into space. My grip on the card tightened and for the first time since I've been working here, I wanted to turn back to leave. I felt drained and I felt like I needed to leave.

I took a step back feeling strange and kind of...nervous. I could see the other girls' eyes on me, their contemptuous eyes waiting for me to make a mistake or better still panic or do anything stupid. They hated me and more than anything I know they wanted nothing but to see me fall but then I had fallen once and this time around I wasn't prepared to fall once again. I wasn't prepared to allow them to look down on me and that was something I would never allow to happen. It was me against the world after all. I was all alone and whether I liked it or not, I was the only one by my side and no one else.

I took a step forward, holding my breath and finally swiped the door open with the card. My gaze fell on my hand, staring at my sweaty hand and I couldn't help but be confused. I felt scared and I could hear the loud beating of my heart against my ribcage. It all felt strange since I hadn't felt that kind of emotion in years. I had gotten rid of those emotions but now...now it all came rushing back to me.

Tightening my grip on the door's knob, I let out a huge breath and finally took a step in.

"For a moment, I thought you would be too scared to come in," a deep, cold voice sounded in the silent room, snapping me back to reality. "But you proved me wrong," he added.

'That voice...'

I released my grip on the card and I felt it slipped through my hand down to the ground, slowly raising my head and praying, hoping I was mistaken. Hoping, I was wrong and hoping it won't be him but then I was wrong. I've always been wrong when it comes to him.

"Alpha Storm,"