Chapter 2 One

Nora.

My mother had always prepared me for days like these. I have prepared myself for bad days like these—though I thought I could handle it until now that my faith was being played with by my cruel stepfather.

My mother had always taught me to fight through bad days, to earn the best days of my life—there isn’t going to be any good days anymore now that she’s no more. Why didn’t death take me instead? That would’ve been easier than staying in this hell hole I call home while my faith gets decided for me.

Greenbell pack existed for decades. The history of Greenbell can be traced back to medieval Europe, where real packs were built as fortifications for protection against invaders. Over time, Greenbell developed and grew stronger.  It’s just like the human world—we live, have family, go to markets, go shopping, run errand, find mates and get married.

I was basically just like a princess in a castle. My grandfather passed away and handed the Alpha throne to my father. My father died also, leaving the throne in the hands of Betty, my mother, the Luna of Greenbell. Some might even say she was a better leader than my father, the late Alpha.

With time, things altered when Betty met Herman, My unkind stepfather. He changed everything and gave everyone a tough and difficult time in the pack. It made Betty to have doubts and somewhat regret mating with him.

I am an only child. I never had siblings until Herman came along with his two spoilt brat daughters and his kind son. Herman came from a far pack. He met my mother in town and they, at first clicked until he found out she was a Luna in her pack and it was his way to have what he wants—the throne of the Alpha to himself. He’s nonsensically fixated with ruling people and having power. It made my mother wonder if he actually ever loved her by the way he was more fixated with ruling Greenbell pack rather than focusing on their relationship.

It was a difficult change for me to accept but with time, I had to give up and face the fact that she was married to a self-centered, heartless werewolf who had two despicable daughters just like him and a son that’s as sweet as sweet pie—it even made me wonder if he’s even Herman’s son.

Now I’m sheltered up in my room while my faith was out there being decided for me by the so-called new Alpha. Herman just gave himself that title despite not being a blood of Greenbell.

He claimed that I had something to do with my mother’s death and I wasn’t old enough to lead the pack, therefore, as my punishment is; I’m forbidden to be the Luna and would be dealt with for the crime I didn’t commit.

I stare up at the ceiling with a heavy chest and numb body. Like a caged animal, I laid there. Paralyzed by the tragic feeling of isolation. It’s been three days since she was buried but it feels like she’s in the kitchen right now baking the badass muffins for me just before dinner. It’s hard to accept the fact that my mother was no more—it’s harder to accept that I’d be living with my brutal stepfather and his daughters.

My immediate reaction was to flee and forget.

I hear a rhythm knock on the door and it was no one but Miles. I look at the door as it gently opens. His head peeps through the door followed by his sweet smiling face. I wish I could return that smile but I was too blank and distressed to do that.

He cleared his throat and walked in, closing the door behind him. “It’s almost sunset, you don’t wanna miss the view.” His voice sounds so much like Herman’s. I sometimes felt sorry for Miles for having his father’s voice and exact face.

I return my gaze back to the ceiling because it looked more interesting than Herman’s look alike.

I hear him sigh—literally the only person I have to comfort me after Lizzie. He slumps in my bean bag chair and sighed again. He looks up the ceiling as though we were stargazing. Maybe staring up at the ceiling isn’t such a bad idea.

“I’m sorry about Betty…”

Like a knife to my heart—his words stab me in the chest. This was supposed to be comforting but it feels like he was apologizing to me in advance for what’s about to happen to my life.

Grief swept through my system, enveloping my body. Everything I had felt at the moment I came across my mother’s cold body suddenly comes crashing back at once. I swallow the bitter feeling and exhaled sharply.

“It is not easy to deal with times like this. It is certainly not easy to live in this time. I know this is like the most difficult time, I’m so sorry you have to go through this while facing my fucked-up father. You have to stay strong for me, for your mother.” I don’t know when he got off the bean bag—all I felt was his arms around me and I couldn’t thank him enough for that hug.

I wanted to tear up but the tears were hooked up somewhere in my bruised heart. Maybe flushed away by the hole punctured in my wounded heart. A sigh slipped through my lips as I close my eyes and gazed into field of nothingness.

“Do you think this pain will ever go away?” My eyes were still shut when I spoke. I could feel him looking at me with a smile despite knowing I couldn’t see him. When he doesn’t say anything, I open my eyes and locked gaze with him.

He looks at me in a way that steps siblings shouldn’t do. His ocean eyes search mine.  He smiles at me again, staring at my dainty nose to my almond eyes.

“As far as I can see, grief will never truly end. It may become softer over time, more gentle, but some days will feel sharp, but grief will last as long as love does—forever. It's simply the way the absence of our loved one’s manifests in our hearts.

A deep longing, accompanied by the deepest love. Some days, the heavy log may return, and the next day, it may recede, once again, it’s all an ebb and flow, a constant dance of sorrow and joy, pain and sweet love.”

I stare at him for a moment, as I tried to condense what he had just said. Miles also lost his mother but at a very young age. He told me he barely remembers anything about her but I know he was just avoiding the conversation. I respect that though. He’d eventually tell me about it whenever he was ready.

“You’ll be alright, Nora, I promise.” He kisses the top of my head and got off the bed.

The door swings open with full force, making me to jump upright. My heart was pondering as though trying to fulfil a marathon. Seeing who it was, I heave a sigh—not because I was relieved or pleased with who just barged into my room.

“Why the fuck would you just barge into her room?” Miles spat out, clearly pissed. His sister Ella sends dagger our way and scoffed. She folds her arms over her chest, glaring at me with absolute hate and envy. This isn’t something new.

“Why are you in her room? Where you guys making out?” She glares between her brother and me.

I shoot a perplexed look to her as my breath caught in my throat. Miles is an attractive boy but having the thought of even brushing my lips against his makes me want to gag.

Miles harshly brushed passed Ella and stormed out. She scoffed, mumbling under her breath before returning her revolting look to me.

It’s never good whenever Ella or Eliana is in my room, standing by the doorway and judging me. I avoid them as much as I can but they seem to always look for ways to get to me. Ella is the youngest, she’s just sixteen while Eliana is nineteen. Miles is the oldest, he’d be turning twenty-three this year.

Ella was more of the trouble maker; Eliana just goes along with it and laughs along with Ella whenever she picks on me.

“Father wants to see you right now. And don’t waste time being the ugly bitch you always are.” She scoffs and turn on her heels, leaving the door wide open.

I was more irritated by my door being left open. The insult? It was a norm—sometimes I don’t let it slide, sometimes, I let her be the daft one.

A meeting was held earlier in the pack hall about the Luna’s death. Without agreement of the pack, Herman enforced the pack members to accept him as the new Alpha, claiming I wasn’t up to eighteen and don’t even have a mate to lead the pack.

If Herman thought being the Alpha of Greenbell would get to me, he was wrong. I am too engaged with my mother’s death and the murderer that Herman taking my place as the leader was the least I’d worry about. Maybe the moment I step foot into the living room, a new problem would enfold, weighing me down more.

I step out of my room and head toward their voices. With each step, my heart stiffens, slowing me down. Since my mother’s death, this was the first time Herman summoned for me—maybe he wanted to make sure what of he to do with me first before looking for me. It’s funny how I’d get ruled out in my own Goddamn father’s house that I now rightfully own and can decide to kick them out.

My eyes first set on Miles which for one second, I felt a little relieved having someone who’d support me in the room. Looking at Herman, my heart skipped a beat and causing me an enigmatic pain in my chest. Everything about this man phantoms me—like a wolf hiding under a sheep’s coat. He is a wolf—a vicious, chaotic one.

“Sit.” He points at the seat facing him. They literally brought the chair from the dining hall just to make me sit before them. That alone was a torture. I swallow the agony and settle on the chair.

My pulse vibrated within my ears but I never broke the eye contact with Herman—he hates it when I’m courageous. He hates seeing me robust and sovereign. It weakens him—that, I shall do whenever I get the chance.

I could see the annoyance and hatred that he failed to hide on his face. His mouth twitches with annoyance. The low groan he was breathing out—he’d attack me right now if he had the chance. Why? Because he had done things to hurt me but I fail to fall into his little trap. That’s what he wants—for me to break so he’d prove a point that doesn’t exist in the first place.

“It’s been a week since I lost my wife,” he began.

My heart tugged—he just referred my mother as his wife just to make me feel impractical and unsolicited. I don’t give him what he wants—instead, I hold my head high and hold his gaze.

“She was a great leader and an amazing mother,” I retorted, making him to flinch. He breathes out, digging his fingers in his knees. I give him a sly smile before speaking again, “We’ll all miss her and she’ll never be forgotten. Her and my father would never be beaten as the best leaders Greenbell ever had.”

Everyone shifts uncomfortably in their seat except Miles that was fighting to hold his laughter.

A look of great bitterness swept across Herman’s face as he narrowed his eyes at me. He gulps down his envy and leaned forward. “Give us a minute,” he said to Miles and his sisters.

He clenched his fist angrily as he placed them under his chin.

“You’re just upset about the truth,” Miles said while making his way out. Herman doesn’t pay hid to what his son just said. His eyes never left my side as he thought of any possible way to hurt my feelings right now. He’s so transparent—I could see through him.

“The beta, Gamma and I have come to a conclusion.”

I despise how he just referred to my father’s most trusted werewolves as an object or just an option. And I know the conclusion he’s referring to is something he came up with to satisfy himself.

“You’re seventeen and yet to present a mate which is why you cannot be the next Greenbell’s leader. You’re not even fit to be and will never be.”

Unease drifted through my body like a kindled flame. I look down to his feet for a moment—he just wants to get back at me. He has said worse than this to me before. This shouldn’t hurt me but it does.

“You’re getting married to the Direwood pack Alpha’s son. This is a favor I’m doing for you because he’s going to be the next Alpha once you mate.”

My pulse leapt into my throat as I lift my eyes to look at Herman in disbelief. He’s brutal and spiteful—he’s worse tonight. He’s worse than a nightmare. I try to restrain myself but failed. My throat burns with buckled tears. My heart was bleeding—this isn’t just a least burden I can forget whenever I wanted to.

“You’re selling me out just to keep me away from my throne.” I say it as a question but it wasn’t—I was stating facts. Herman would do anything to keep me away from being the next Luna.

“Watch what you fucking say to me, Nora! So what if I fucking sell you away? You are useless to me and this pack—I don’t give two shits about you!” His words don’t even sting as what they meant. He is selling me out to keep me away from being the Greenbell’s Luna.

“I’m not mating with someone I don’t know. I am most certainly not mating with someone you chose clearly knowing your immoral act and ferocious habits.”

His eyes glowers as he groans lowly. His claws became visible and sharp. I’m not afraid of him and I will never be! I will stand for my rights what what’s rightfully mine, because I believe Herman has something to do with my mother’s death. I can feel it. So, he has to give me away of course to keep me away from finding out the truth.

You will not get away with this Herman.

“He’s coming next week, better wear something that’d at least make him spare you a glance.”