Chapter 1

Kiara Robertson pov

My mother was dead, killed by a rogue, and my father was unknown to me. Sitting on the stoop of the small cottage I had grown up in, I buried my face into my hands as I sobbed over my loss.

The Shadowpack Alpha stood over me and growled, “Stop your whimpering, grab a bag of your belongings, and report to the pack house for work. No one lives in my pack for free.”

Blinking my blue eyes, I saw his son standing there beside him with his arms crossed, soaking in all of his asshole father's teachings, then nodded my head meekly.

That happened when I turned twelve.

My next encounter with the pair was when I turned seventeen, and I was caught drinking the blood from one of the cattle the pack raised.

I had grown fangs, permanent ones, and Alpha Soren McIntosh had me taken to the dungeon of his keep.

Hung by chains on the damp stonewall with my back facing outward, I heard heavy footsteps approaching.

“Of course it's you, Kiara,” the Alpha groaned, then asked me why I was drinking cow's blood.

Swallowing uncomfortably, I answered honestly, “I was hungry.”

“Turn your head to the side,” he demanded.

His thick fingers spread my mouth apart as he searched my mouth. Seeing my permanent fangs, he hissed.

“You're a fucking Vaewolf, and you will be branded as such. You will be punished and then banned from this pack. DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?”

Lowering my head, I told him that I did as my eyes met Devan's.

The Alpha's son was always by his side no matter what was going on. If he wasn’t beside his father, he was with Nathan, his fanged best friend, whom the Alpha hadn't minded.

“Guards, heat the brand and tear off this bitch's top. She will be branded as a cursed hybrid,” Saron ordered.

Furrowing my brow, I gritted my molars. I wasn't the first Vaewolf, and I highly doubted that I would be the last.

"What was so bad about being a mixture of two prominent predators?" I murmured curiously, and my wolf Raksha chuckled along with my vampire Morgana.

“They lack the vision of its greatness,” Morgana purred in my mind, and I laughed.

The Alpha eyed me incredulously as he held the red glowing brand in his fist.

“We will see if you continue to laugh after this scorching metal is pressed against your back flesh.”

Wincing, I narrowed my eyes as the skin on my back sizzled. Seeing Devan's eyes widen at me, I swallowed hard and then pinched my mouth so I wouldn't scream from the pain.

When Alpha was finished, I told him that it wasn't that bad, which angered him.

“Give me the studded whip. Perhaps a few lashes will still her ignorant tongue.”

Insulted, I side-eyed him as he whipped my back several times. I refused to make a sound, although the tears rolling down my cheeks were a dead giveaway for the pain I endured.

Finishing whipping me, he told the guards to take me to the border and toss me off his pack lands, causing me to groan miserably.

After getting unchained, I stumbled a little, and that bastard Devan laughed at me and my exposed chest.

Hissing at him, his dad backhanded me, then growled sternly, “Respect my son, Vaewolf!”

Lowering my eyes, I didn't respond and instead hurried toward the pack house, hoping to gather some things and replace my torn shirt.

“Where do you think you're going?”

With my bottom lip quivering, I mumbled that I needed my things, but the guards shook their heads.

“No, you're going straight to the border and then being banished from the Shadowpack per Alpha,” they growled sternly.

That was fine; I thought I could sneak back at night and get my things.

“Just don't get caught,” both my creatures echoed in my brain.

Unfortunately, I had been and was now strung up before the entire pack.

“At least you hid some of your items in the forest,” Raksha grunted.

“If she lives through this, that is,” Morgana hissed.

My back was still hamburger from my last punishment, but that didn't stop Alpha from inflicting more.

My eyes focused on Devan's dark eyes and his blonde-haired companion, Nathan, as the whip dug into my back.

I involuntarily screamed, not being able to contain the agonizing pain it had caused.

Soren's face neared mine, and he hissed, “Do NOT set a toe on these lands again or you will become fertilizer with your corpse.”

Nodding slowly, I swallowed uncomfortably and said quietly that I understood.

They left me hanging there for the entire pack to take notice.