Chapter 1

Elena's POV

It was still early in the day when I was called to help in the kitchen.

My task for the day entailed washing dishes, baking the croissants needed for breakfast, and preparing some of Mr. Leonardo's favorite jams.

I hated this job, but I was not an adult yet, and when I am in another week, I'd be able to get out of here and go move out of the Graham family's grasp for a while.

I had been living here for eleven years in fear and trepidation, and the closer I got to Mr. Leonardo's coming-of-age ceremony, the closer I got to my freedom.

For as long as I could remember, everyone around me had told me that my mother was a traitor to this pack, and that she was said to have tried to overthrow the Graham family's then ruler when I was five years old by privately contacting werewolves from other packs, but ended in failure.

After she was executed, I was left alive because of my young age, and although I lived a hard life all these years, I relied on working in the kitchen and garden and did not starve to death.

After Mr. Leonardo's coming-of-age ceremony, he would be guided by the Moon Goddess to choose his lifelong mate, and at the same time we, the Omegas, would be pardoned for this great joy, and could temporarily leave the community to live elsewhere.

I saw him once from afar, when he was fourteen years old, standing at the top of the mountain looking down at everything. I remembered he had long blond hair, tied back by a beautiful red hairband. I did not see his face clearly.

He was too noble and proud. As our Alpha Graham's only son, he had anything to do with me in any way. In any case, I couldn't be the Omega who was guided to him by the Moon Goddess.

So I just had to prepare the clothes I would need to wear when I moved out and some meager savings as soon as possible so that I could settle down outside. I had been waiting for the day when I will be free, perhaps I would live more miserable than now, but I would no longer be beaten and reprimanded, and there would be no any kind of disdainful eyes, I would straighten up and be a normal person, even if I might be living in a human city, not living with the same kind, which does not matter.

To this end, I recently helped in the kitchen before dawn, whether it was washing dishes or baking bread, I was happy to accept, at least some of the days to look forward to.

Although my time in the kitchen had not been so good, because I was the daughter of a traitor, I had been subjected to the blank stares and taunts of the other wolves, and last winter I had been pushed into the river and almost died, if there hadn't been an unlit campfire by the river that night, I might have died.

I couldn't fight it; for the pack, my mother had indeed made a great and unforgivable mistake, and the heir's mate at the time, now our Luna, insisted that I was too young and that it had nothing to do with me, and adopted me in the pack.

I'm grateful to her, so I'd been trying to live my life, trying to shrink my presence and not cause her any trouble.

But I knew that she could say that, perhaps just to highlight her kindness.

Although I stayed in the pack, I was still spared the blank stares and ridicule of the crowd because of my status as the daughter of a traitor.

Luna once looked at me deeply with a mixture of pity and disgust, but only once, she was a noble status, and not someone I could see at any time.

Luckily, in another week or so, I could move out of here and go live in a human city, and I applied to a good human school.

When I thought about it, I felt that the water for washing dishes was not so cold anymore.

Walking in the kitchen was Amanda, the cook, who was not very good-tempered at all, and when I saw her coming, I collected my face and tried to act as meek as possible. She gazed at me for a long time, slowly sweeping her eyes from my hair to my hands, and this gaze was so long that I began to feel uncomfortable. I didn't know what was going on, and my mind went blank. But when I reacted, the bowl was already in a smash.

No one in the kitchen dared to speak as she shifted that icy gaze to my face and inquired, "Did you break your hand?"

I kept shaking my head, knowing that my defense would only make her lose her temper, and I knelt down to pick up those pieces on the floor. God! Those porcelain tiles were too sharp. But I didn't dare stop at all, I was afraid she would take the opportunity to get me in trouble again and decide that I had done it on purpose and might slap me as hard as before. She hit me like that once when I was very young, and half my face swelled up and I still had a white scratch at the end of my eye that was not easily visible.

I cut my hand on the debris, but I didn't dare speak, nor did I want to, let alone leave a single piece of that fine debris in the carpet.

She slowly approached, and a sense of foreboding rose in me, which made me speed up my hands, but she really did not let me go. She just put her shoe on my hand and slowly increased the force.

My bones seemed to be breaking, and the skin on my hands was forced to twist together, which was not the same as the pain at first, but only deepened my pain and fear layer by layer.

I bit my lips to death and kept admonishing myself not to cry or beg for mercy.

I didn't make any noise, I kept my head hung low and stared at the ground.

The kitchen was carpeted with a gorgeous bright pattern, where I had been beaten so hard by Amanda that the blood from my forehead had spilled into the cracks of the carpet.

But I didn't cry.

"I didn't cry before, and I'm not crying now."

Maybe I kept quiet and made her feel bored. When my hand was so painful that I almost lost consciousness, she lifted her foot and my painful and numb hand got relief, but the whole back of my hand had swollen up. I shrunk my hand and exhaled softly, not looking at her.

She was satisfied, "Hurry up and wash the dishes, if you can't clean them, get the hell out of here."

Frozen for a second, without hesitation, I put my hand into the cold water to continue washing dishes. The back of the hand was numb with pain, so I put it into the cold water to get slightly better.

"Endure, I must endure."

"The day Mr. Leonardo gets married, the wrongdoers in the community will be pardoned and I will get a chance to live in a human city."

If I was thrown out because I made a mistake, then no community would accept it anymore, and I would be treated as prey, and I might soon die under the claws of someone.

So I dared not make a mistake, I had been careful to do every job thrown at me over the years, just to get this opportunity to be free.

She left, and the kitchen gradually became louder.

"Why don't you just throw her out?"

"It always feels weird inside to take in a traitor's daughter."

"Luna is so kind."

"How does she have the face to continue to stay here?"

The whispered chatter kept drilling into my ears, and I could only pretend not to hear it, pack up the porcelain tiles and throw them in the trash, then wash the dishes.

This kind of talk was too familiar as I had heard too much since young. There was also anger and resentment, but more emotions were as if ashes after burning. What else could I do?

I finished washing the dishes in such gossip. The sky was a little brighter, then I straightened up in a hurry and looked out the window and found that it should be a sunny day.

The skyline was tinged with a glorious golden yellow, a dazzling layer of light that made people want to avoid his sharpness when they saw it.

I suddenly thought of Mr. Leonardo's blond hair.

But I didn't think about it for long, just for a moment, as the wind drifted across the pond and created a ripple, and then I left it behind in an instant.

Since the kitchen was finished and the maids were busy getting Mr. Leonardo ready for bed, I was able to take the opportunity to take a shower in the lounge, which I was not usually allowed to do when there were a lot of people, and I was scrambling every day to be able to clean myself up for school, for fear of wasting a second.

I went back to the loft where I live, grabbed a towel and a hairpin to fix my hair, and quickly rushed to the lounge while no one was around.

The lounge there was Omega dedicated, the facilities were very simple, but I had cherished, and then before I did not find this point in time, I had to fight in the river in the winter to wipe my body, which was too cold and made me cold to death after each wipe.

The lounge was said special for Omega, in fact, the high-ranking Alpha, the leaders of the community, had a better lounge. I heard that Mr. Leonardo's lounge had occupied a full floor, only for his use.

But these had nothing to do with me, these things would eventually become distant, I just needed to live quietly until after Mr. Leonardo is guided by the Moon Goddess, then I could go to the human city.

It was a rare day when the water was hotter, and after taking off my clothes I quietly breathed a sigh of relief and let the warm water wash over me for a while.

It felt warm to be wrapped in water, as if I was being held by someone. In my memory, the images of all things were in cold tones, and the dreams I had when I fell asleep were cold and gray, and there were few moments of such warmth.

I wanted to wash my hair, but the water was already rushing into my eyes, so I had to close my eyes and fumble for a hairpin, trying to pin up the hair on my forehead so that my eyes could be open.

With my eyes closed, I couldn't see around, so I had to slowly feel my way along a shelf.

My fingertips seemed to touch something cold, and further up was a shaggy touch.

I remembered my hairpin was not like this...

But it touched not cold; I seemed to be touching something hard, but then further up, it's warm and soft...

This touch seemed to be...

It seemed to be the claws of some kind of beast!

My eyes snapped open!

A huge wolf cub emerged from the lounge from nowhere, and although he was not yet an adult, his sharp canine teeth could already be seen, and that I had just touched...

My brain went blank and almost reflexively I looked down to see. Sure enough, my hand was resting on his paws!

I slowly opened my mouth, and oh my God, the eyes of this wolf cub, actually seemed as dark as emeralds, and his fur looked so beautiful and smooth, clearly, it had been nursed very well. Its fur was soft, while the limbs covered underneath the soft fur were all thick and strong and it indeed looked muscular.

The cub just gazed at me silently, and as I tried to scream out, it suddenly lunged and bit on my neck!