Prologue

Aria’s POV

My name is Aria Hale. I am the mate of Ethan Blackthorn. I do not know how to explain to everybody what is happening in my life. Ethan is the alpha's son. The alpha and the rest of the people of the Red Moon Wolf Pack hate me. It is because I am different from everybody else. You see, my mother was a lycan. People think lycans are like werewolves. We are not. Lycans live longer, and the werewolves do not like them because lycans are much stronger than werewolves. My father was the Beta of the Red Moon Pack, and my mother was the healer. Nobody wanted my father to marry my mother because they believed that my mother would cause trouble in our pack. However, when the rogues attacked, they were the only ones who were there to try to protect the pack. There were a lot of rogues. They killed my mother and my father, and I still believe that my mother and my father were murdered.

However, I do not have a say in this pack. I am the slave of this pack. I am not even an Omega. Everybody thinks that I am a disgrace to this pack because I am a lycan. The alpha hates me so much that he will give me a beating over the smallest thing I’ve done, and sometimes he uses the whip. I am full of scars. I did not have my wolf. I only got my wolf recently, but I do not want her to come forward. I am trying to hide her because I do not want her to kill the alpha. Because I’m not showing my wolf to anyone, they all believe that I do not have a wolf. All of them see me as human. I do not care what they see me as. I do not care what they think of me. I want to be with Ethan, who is my mate. Ethan is the only one who treats me normally. Even his sister does not like me. His sister does not want me in this pack, and she keeps bullying me while Ethan is not looking. Besides, Ethan does not know that his father is beating me up. Sometimes at night, when I lie alone in the small room at the very end of the pack house with only an old mattress in it, I cry.

I do not believe that anybody cares about me. I know Ethan says that he cares about me, but what worries me the most is that the Moon Goddess, the one who should be looking after me, does not care about me. I even wonder if Ethan is going to stand up for our relationship because we are mates, and we both know it. He promised me that he would come and talk to his father, but I’m afraid that when he talks to his father, they are going to throw me out of this pack. Where will I go? Where will I end up? I have no other place to go. Besides, being a rogue in this area is not ideal. Nobody wants rogues around here, and if I’m chased out of this pack, I’ll become one. I am busy preparing the meal. I make sure that everything is perfect because I do not want the alpha to come after me. I do not want him to come and beat me up again. I am already full of bruises and scars. The alpha came to beat me last night because I put too much sugar in the dessert.

I am busy in the pantry when I hear Ethan and one of his friends come into the kitchen. He is soon going to be the new alpha of the Red Moon Pack. Hopefully, my life as his Luna will improve. I can hear them laughing and joking. I do not want to go out of the pantry when some of the pack members are in the kitchen because some of them would always come to me and tease or bully me. I try to stay in the shadows as much as possible. I do not know when Ethan is going to tell everybody that I am his mate. I hope it is not soon because I do believe his father will chase me out of the pack.

“So, when are you bringing Lilith, the daughter of the Moonshine Pack, here? I cannot wait to see that lycan’s face when you tell her that you’re not going to accept her as your mate and that she will stay a slave for the rest of her life. I do not even know how she can think that she is important enough to become the Luna of this pack,” Markus, Ethan’s best friend, says. He is also the son of the new Beta and will one day become the Beta. I stand in the pantry hoping that Ethan will tell him that he is wrong, that he is not going to take a lycan from the Moonshine Pack as his mate, but that I am his mate, the one that he loves. He told me that over and over at night when we met in the forest. I hope it does not destroy me. Because if I lose him, I have nothing left.

“Aria is going to get the surprise of her life. I am going to reject her tonight. I’m going to reject her in front of everyone. I do not know why the Moon Goddess gave her to me as a mate. I never wanted a lycan without a wolf as a mate!” Ethan says. I feel everything inside me shatter. I know I’m going to be humiliated tonight, but what can I do? I will just have to face it like I always have to face the humiliation in this pack.

“You know you do not have to face any humiliation, not from these werewolves. You are the daughter of a queen. You are very special, Aria. You have powers that they don’t know about. You don’t need them as much as they need you. And if you will allow me to release myself and become what we are supposed to be, you will be mightier than they all,” my wolf says inside my head. Shakira, my wolf, says it inside my head. I call her Kira.

“I think it is time for you to awake. I think it is time for me to stop feeling sorry for myself. It is time for me to show them who I really am, and tonight’s humiliation is going to turn into my triumph.” I say to Kira.