My name is Katia, and I am just trying to survive until my fated mate arrives. Which may be easier said than done. Rejectection is the last straw. Whispering my acceptance of his rejection. I run through the pack house, out across the manicured lawn into the forest. "I'm sorry, my sweet girl," I say to my wolf. I'm sorry you have been stuck with me and have had to suffer everything I have. She whispers," it's not your fault, Katia. We came to a cliff with a waterfall. The hurt keeps pounding at me. I need it to stop. My sweet girl, and I just want peace, I keep running and leap off the cliff. Spreading my arms wide, with tears streaming down my face, I fall, not making a sound, waiting for sweet oblivion where we feel nothing ever again. "I love you, my sweet girl! Until we meet again, "My wolf replied just before we hit the water, "I love you too, Katia. I have never regretted a moment with you." The Snow Moon pack is having their last barbecue of the summer next to the waterfall on their land. The adults are laughing and joking while watching the pups play. The alpha, beta, and gamma are swimming with some of the older children and playing a game of Marco Polo. Someone yells, "Oh my goddess, someone just jumped over the waterfall!" Everyone is frozen as they watch what looks to be a child falling arms spread wide, no one makes a sound. The small body hits the water like a plane crashing into the side of a mountain. The alpha, beta, and gamma, spring into action, swimming towards the area the person went under. The alpha is screaming his wolf is going crazy repeating, "Find her. Find her...find her!" They dive and the beta surfaces with a small person in his arms. Alpha takes the girl from his beta, laying her on the ground. The men are shocked by what they see. She is covered in scars and injuries. Her body is twisted and broken. The Beta asks, "Who could have done this to someone so defenseless?" Alpha drops to his knees, repeating, "MATE...MATE...MATE!"
Katia pov
Let me introduce myself. I am Katia Lane, and I am 19 years old. Today is the day I die. Don't be sad for me. It's okay, my wolf Aza and I agree that our next life has to be better than this one.
Oh yeah, in case you didn't know werewolves are real and I am one of them. We prefer to be called shifters as we shift from human to wolf at will. We live in communities called packs and intermingle with other supernatural and humans. Although most humans have no clue that the supernatural world exists.
Back to why Aza and I have decided today is the day we die. It's simple, really. We can no longer stand the torture, abuse, pain, and hurt we have dealt with since my birth. I have no clue why my parents, the beta couple, to the Night Shade pack hated me. I was their first born and they showed absolutely no feelings for me at all. I was basically ignored except for changing and feeding me which kept me quiet. Once I was old enough to understand commands, I was put to cooking, cleaning, and taking care of my younger brothers. Yes, my brothers were loved and treasured. After all, they would become the beta and gamma of the pack someday. Just as my father and his brother had done. My brothers learned to smack me, throw me, choke me, and whatever else they could think of. Their favorite thing to do was to do something they weren't allowed and then blame me. Knowing I would be punished. One time, when I was about eight, my brothers stole money from my mom's wallet. When my mom discovered money missing from her wallet, I was blamed. I was given 50 lashes and no food for a week. I was blamed and punished for anything that went wrong or happened with the pack. My parents punched, kicked, whipped, and starved. Not to mention any other ways to torture me my parents or pack members could think of.
Why didn't I say something to the Alpha or Luna? They were busy running the pack and they had seen me hit and thrown across the dining room when I tripped and dumped a tray of food on the floor. It didn't matter that I was only five. I figured since they didn't say anything they really did not care.
I tried to run away when I was eight. I had been beaten and locked in a closet as punishment for my latest transgression. I didn't even know what it was that I was being punished for. I made it to the woods surrounding our pack lands. I ran and ran into them until it was so dark that not one ray of sunlight peeked through the trees. I was terrified and had no idea what to do. I was cold, scared of the noises and what might be making those noises. I found a tree with a hole in the bottom of its trunk and crawled inside. As I sat inside shivering, and hoping nothing was going to find and eat me, I smelled my father and uncle. Already tiny for my age, I still tried to make myself smaller. Shifter senses are stronger than a human's even when we have not met our wolves yet. So, for the two adult males, who had their wolves for years, it was easy to find me. I was grabbed by my legs and pulled from the tree. The beating I was given by my father and uncle, for inconveniencing them, almost killed me. When they saw how badly they had beaten me they took me to the pack hospital and said I had been attacked by a rogue. A rogue is a wolf that has left or been thrown out of its pack. Wolves are pack animals and have a hard time living on their own. Some rogues cannot stand the loneliness and it does something to their minds.
The doctor accepted their explanation and spent hours resetting bones and putting casts on me. Stitching me up and monitoring my vitals. Once I was out of danger of dying, he sent me home with the promise of trying not to draw attention to myself. He did not really buy the rogue excuse. He knew what really happened and knew he could not go up against the beta of the pack.
I managed to do just that for about two years. I learned to never speak so no one would hear me and remember I existed. I found ways to not be in the same room with the worst of my ant agonizers. I was essentially a ghost. I did what I was assigned to do every day. I learned to anticipate when someone wanted something, and it was there before they remembered my name and yelled for me. I waited until everyone went to sleep every night before I would quietly slip into my room and go to sleep.
Then my tenth birthday happened....
Trigger warning!!! Intended for mature readers who enjoy morally complex, slow-burn, poseesive, forbidden, dark romance that pushes boundaries. ***EXCERPT*** Blood everywhere. Trembling hands. "No!" My eyes blurred. His lifeless eyes stared back at me, his blood pooling at my feet. The man I loved-dead. Killed by the one person I could never escape - my stepbrother. *** Kasmine's life was never hers to begin with. Kester, her stepbrother, controlled and monitored her every move. At first, it was all sweet and brotherly until it began to turn into an obsession. Kester was the Alpha, and his word was law. No close friends. No boyfriends. No freedom. The only consolation Kasmine had was her twenty-first birthday, which was supposed to change everything. She dreamt of finding her mate, escaping the sickening control of Kester, and finally claiming her own life. But fate had other plans for her. On the night of her birthday, not only was she disappointed that she wasn't mated to the love of her life, but she found out that her mate was none other than him - Her tormentor. Her stepbrother. She'd rather die than be mated to a man whom she had known as her big brother all her life. A man who would do just anything to make sure she was his. But when love turns to obsession, and obsession turns to blood, how far can one girl run before she realizes there is nowhere else to run to?
“Do I want a taste?” his voice deeper than he had ever spoken. His eyes pinned on me like I was the only thing that fascinated him. “What do I do?” I thought to myself as he moved closer to me, I wanted to run away, to resist him but I was pinned to the wall by him. “Gosh I hate this man so much” his scent, his body, his beautiful green eyes, he was driving me crazy. I know this is wrong, he has a fiancee and all but that makes me want him even more. “Get on the bed and spread your legs” his cold voice woke me up and then I remembered I was just a maid to him. “Yes master”.
"You're pathetic!" Brenden sneered, each word cutting deep into Corinna's heart. Years of emotional wounds had drained every ounce of love she once held. "I've wasted enough time on you. If there's a next life, I hope we never meet again." Her words severed the bond between them like a blade. From that moment on, Brenden was haunted by her absence—unable to sleep, longing for the warmth he took for granted.
Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."
Life was perfect until she met her boyfriend's big brother. There was a forbidden law in the Night Shade Pack that if the head Alpha rejected his mate, he would be stripped of his position. Sophia's life would get connected with the law. She was an Omega who was dating the head Alpha's younger brother. Bryan Morrison, the head Alpha, was not only a cold-blooded man but also a charming business tycoon. His name was enough to cause other packs to tremble. He was known as a ruthless man. What if, by some twist of destiny, Sophia's path were to intertwine with his?
"You're mine, little puppy," Kylan growled against my neck. A soft gasp escaped my lips as his lips brushed my skin. My mind screamed at me to push him away-the Lycan Prince who had humiliated me again and again, but my body betrayed me, leaning into him before I could stop myself. He pressed his lips against mine, and his kiss grew more aggressive, more possessive as I felt my legs weaken. What was I doing? In a split-second, I pulled away and slapped him hard across the face. Kylan's eyes darkened, but the smirk on his lips exposed his amusement. "You and I both know we can't fight this, Violet," he said, gripping my wrist. "You're my mate." "And yet you don't want me," I replied. "You told me you were ashamed of me, that l'd never be your queen, that you'd never love me. So please, accept my rejection and let me go." "Never," he whispered, his grip tightening as he pulled me closer. "Soon enough, you'll be begging for me. and when you do-I'll use you as I see fit and then I'll reject you."