Chapter 1

I was born barely 5 minutes after my brother which paved the way for the start of my misfortune, not only was I the outcast of the family, but I was also named the unwanted. We look nothing like each other, similar in name yet different in meaning. Ciranda Copper, heir to the throne of the northern shifters clan, a blessing from the moon goddess, the prince obeyed and cherished by all, and I Seranda the unwanted, named after the gods of death souls Zeranda, a creature kept in place to demonstrate pain and mystery, a representative of everything negative, which makes me stand out amidst everyone, for my stroke of bad luck and mistreatment from my family and clan. 

All my parents have ever wanted was a son, an heir to their precious throne, a man to carry on with their dirty dealings. Not like it bordered me, have long gotten used to being the child who would have been left for death if the choice was theirs to make. It's been 17 long years of torture, beatings, and maltreatment What else can they do that has been done yet”

“Daydreaming again my bags won’t carry themselves to school, Hope you know that SERANDA?” I was distracted for a while, but not in time to see my brother take the stairs to my room, or the attic which is what it is.

 “I am sorry, I will get to it now” I pull my legs which still carry remembrance and scars of yesterday's porton of beatings. Just because I had arrived a minute earlier than my brother, my father flogged the demon out of my body for not keeping close vigilance on their precious gem. 

“If I were you I would hurry, you know what happens when I get angry” Yes I knew better than to make my brother angry, what better way was there to teach me if not to slash me a number of times with his whip, have his friends take turns in beating me or better still, cut beneath the sore of my foot with his dagger. That's how loving a brother he is. I went through the back door which led to the garden and was quite a distance to the front.

 I was not even allowed to use the front door. Ciranda and his minions were already seated in his car when I arrived. He had a car, a porche at that, and was getting ready to receive a new car this coming month for our 18th birthday, he has everything I could only fantasize about, from designer clothes to sports cars of brands and colors, pieces of jewelry and specious stones, watches of all made and kind, yet I couldn't afford to be given a blanked to salvage what's left of me from the gushing venoms of the cold winter nights. 

“I shouldn't reach school before you Seranda, you know what happens if I do’’ his gagging friends burst out in laughter zooming the car to my face and destroying the only nice clothes I have, it's the same routine every day, there was no way I will outrun a car not even if I was able to shift to my wolf form. Turning 18 is the age I am wishing it never had to come. I can live this life all over again but I can't go away like I never existed, can't be erased from the face of the earth. I know what they do, they think, stupid, and now nothing, however, that doesnt seem to be the case. If a girl is lucky to find their mate after turning 18 they are gone the very next day. 

Their mates are castrated and sent off to join the army, sadly they never heal from the beat break and as such never make it back from war. no one did a thing about their sudden disappearance. My father would give the sorry speech in the same text and context of how they are fallen heroes and will never be forgotten, he knew everything, he is the mastermind behind everything yet he can't voice it out. Fear wasn't what I feared, rather who will believe an alpha who holds love in top value? A benevolent ruler who has won every battle against our ancestral enemies the vampires. His brother was no better than him. He did shady things and Ciranda was one of his favorite things.

School is a long way from home, and the cold weather lavaged my body violently, not only was I cold from the vicious weather, but my brother had made sure to splash dirty water on me. I could feel the pain from beneath my feet taking its course, but I dared not stop,  had to reach school, and had to take my torture portion of the day, I couldn't afford to let my father be the one to handle my punishment from today henceforth. 

As expected he was waiting with those assholes, the smugness on their faces said gave it all away. “Come on, you know the drill. Step forward it makes you learn from being a lazy bum hopefully next time you won't be late” his friends laugh hard. I knew the drill, the beatings, the mockery everything I knew it. Quashh…. His whip fell on my skin, it was painful and hard, and my legs threatened to give up on me. 

‘’Nooooooo.’’ screams came from the end of the playground, stopping my brother abruptly. One thing he hated the most was to be stopped or distracted by others. I turned to look in that direction and there she was clutching her chest, pain written all over her face, sweat breaking out from her forehead. I knew that sight,  have seen it countless times. Another Maiden just got rejected by her mate. Rejection was becoming a trend growing too fast for my liking.

‘’You see that Seranda, that will be you in just a month, and I will make it my life mission to see you get rejected by your mate. You don’t belong here, you should be gone, far away from our lives, and the council and laws of the clan won't be able to stop my parents from getting rid of you as they have always wanted to do during these 18 torment years. It will soon be just me, me with no twin, just as it should have been from the very start”’