Chapter One-Violent Ends
New Orleans, Louisiana

I could hear everything from the birds chirping in the trees to the dry autumn leaves crunching under my rusty red paws to the alligators swimming in the swamps. Running has always been my escape from human life. Being the Alpha’s daughter has never been what it’s cracked up to be, especially after my mother died.

When an Alpha’s Luna dies, most Alphas lose their will to lead. My father; however, got abusive and drunk. But everyone knew that my father was abusive way before my mother died. It was just mostly towards my mother at the time and not me. The abuse towards me only started once my mother got sick. My mother got cancer when I was ten and she died when I was thirteen.

I decided to run to the swamp. I ran until my paws met cool, wet mud. I love the feeling of the mud squishing between my toes, both as a human and a wolf. I made sure no one else was around then I shifted back in my human form. I wadded through the water until it came up to my waist then I dived headfirst into the green water.

Being a werewolf makes all senses more sensitive and enhanced by a thousand. Every inch of my body tingled. I could feel every individual droplet of water on my naked body as the water clung to the microscopic hairs that covered my ivory skin. I breached the surface and turned to float on my back.

I stared up at the sky and its last minutes of starry darkness. I preferred running at night. Not just because there was little to no possibility of crossing the path of any humans but because everything seemed so peaceful at night. The night made everything seem quiet and still. All I could hear as I floated in the water was the chirping of crickets.

The alligators didn’t stay in this particular part of the swamp. They liked it where the water was deeper. The water clung to my thin, curve-less body. I sighed as I watched the sky in pure bliss. This was so perfect and sadly, it’d have to end.

The sun started to rise, and light entered the leafy canopy. I swam back to shore and got out. I squeezed the water from my hair and shifted back to wolf form. I ran back to the woodsier area of the swamps. I quickly shifted back to human form and got dressed in the t-shirt and sweatpants I left in the brush by the base of the biggest of the evergreens. Even in my human form, I still have supernatural speed.

I ran back to the pack house, which was hidden deep in the New Orleans swamps away from human eyes. A werewolf pack is normally between twelve and fifteen wolves. After the last vampire attack, our numbers dwindled down to eight. Our pack house was more of a cabin than anything else, not truly big enough to warn off our enemies. Considering who my father is, we’re considered easy targets. Even vampires don’t like abusers. I walk through the big oak door and was greeted by an angry Alpha.

“Where have you been, bitch?” My father yells.

“Where I always am in the morning, running.” I say, not meaning to come off as sassy.

“Excuse me?” He snaps at me again.

“I’m s…sorry,” I stutter out.

I brace myself for what I know is coming and it does. My father’s face turns purple. He raises his hand and before I could blink, it strikes me firm and hard on my cheek causing me to whimper. He shoves me to the hardwood floor and starts kicking me in the ribs. Then, like always, out of nowhere, my loyal best friend, Maddy shoves him into the wall. She helps me off the floor and we race upstairs.

We slam the thick wood door of our shared bedroom. My father bangs on the door, screaming so loud I know everyone in the house can hear him. I slide my back down the length of the door and curl myself in a ball on the warm carpeted floor. I hold my breath until he gives up and leaves. Maddy pulls me into a tight hug.

“He doesn’t understand” I sobbed, “Running is the only time I’m free of him”.

“I know. I wasn’t going to ask,” Maddy says as she kissed my forehead. After a couple minutes, I calmed down. I took a long deep breath.

“I love you,” Maddy says in my ear.

“I know. I love you too,” I answered squeezing her tighter.

Maddy and I have been friends since we could talk. She knows me as well as I know her. I raised myself off the floor.

“I’m going to take a bubble bath” I say as I start walking to our conjoined bathroom.

“You can use my bath salts,” Maddy offers as I turn and smile at her.

We have been like sisters since we were eight before my mother got sick. Maddy quickly became the only person I could talk to and we grew even closer than we already were. We were allowed to share a room when we turned twelve. My mother fought my father hard to do that for us. I close and lock the bathroom door. I turned on the water so it was hot but warm enough that I could stand it without burning myself. Taking the silver key I keep on a chain around my neck, I unlock the bottom drawer. I look at the gleaming metal of a razor blade I had stolen from my father’s bathroom.

I turn it over in my palm then I press the sharp metal to my wrist. I grimace as I slide it across my skin. Blood starts dripping down my arm as I do the same motion several more times, forming a small puddle of blood on the white marble countertop. I finally take control of myself as the shame and guilt washes over me. I clean my wounds, the countertop, and the blade. I replace the blade to where it was and lock it up.

I pour a generous amount of my vanilla bubble bath and a scoop of Maddy’s strawberry-scented bath salts into the water. I shrug myself into the warm water with a sigh. I hissed at the sting of the hot water against my wrists. Maddy is going to be pissed, I thought. I relaxed my sore and bruised ribs for what feels like hours. I got out and wrapped myself in a dark green, plushy, soft towel.

I look at myself in the mirror above the sink. Three years ago, I’d be called “pretty” even “beautiful”. Now, I just looked skinny, bruised, and heartbroken. My father barely lets me eat if Maddy isn’t around to say something. He’d slap the food out of my hand and scream at me.

Maddy was always the only one brave enough to help me, ever since she was old enough to truly understand what was happening. I knew that my mother knew she was going to die, knew how my father would react and that was why she fought my father so hard for me move into Maddy’s room.

I walked out into the room and watched as Maddy’s gaze fell on my cut-up wrists.

“Callie…” she said in a sad tone.

Maddy obtained a roll of bandages from the nightstand, took my hand in hers and drew me to my bed. A burning sting tore at the back of my eyes. I watched as Maddy wrapped my wrists in the flesh-colored bandages.

“I’m sorry, “I whispered.

“Cal, I don’t understand. You know you can talk to me,” She said with a concerned voice.

I gave her a sad smile and raised from the bed. I got dressed in the most comfortable clothes I own; sweatpants and a hoodie. By which time, it was noon.

“It’s lunchtime. You hungry?” Maddy asked.

My stomach answered her question by growling and she chuckled. I giggled and nodded my head. Maddy took my hand and we walked downstairs to the kitchen together. Maddy handed me a plate and I placed only two slices of cheese and sausage pizza on it. Maddy looked at my plate and shook her head. She scooped some macaroni and cheese onto my plate.

“I’m here and I’m not letting him starve you,” she said with a determined smile.

I returned her smile and grabbed an extra slice of pizza and a brownie. She squeezed my hand as we walked to our table in the back corner. I started eating the macaroni and cheese while Maddy asked about my morning.

“I went swimming,” I smiled.

“Ew in the swamp? That water is filthy,” she groaned.

“It’s not that bad,” I laughed.

We talked and laughed. I was almost done with my first piece of pizza when I glanced up and met my father’s eyes.

“Fuck,” I swore under my breath.

I quickly wrapped the brownie in a napkin and pushed it towards Maddy who put it in her jacket pocket. My father made a beeline for me. Suddenly, I was staring up into his dark, soulless eyes and my heart dropped. Maddy put a hand on my knee and squeezed, trying to comfort me.

My father scowled at my plate. Before I knew what was happening, he had grabbed my plate and flung it at the far wall. The ceramic plate shattered against the wall and fell to the grey linoleum floor. I flinched as he went to grab me. Maddy jumped in front of me, shielding me from him.

He grabbed Maddy by her shirt and yanked her to the side. I could hear the fabric rip as Maddy hit the table. I reached out to Maddy in a feeble attempt to get to her. My father had me pressed against the wall. I gathered all the strength I had and forced my knee into his groin as hard as I could manage. He yelped as he dropped to the floor. As he was down, I helped Maddy up and we ran back upstairs with my father hot on our heels.

Maddy and I raced to our room and slammed the door behind us again. I locked the door and Maddy and I fell into a clump together on the carpet. We panted as we looked at each other.

“You didn’t have to do that, Madd,” I said.

“Of course, I did,” Maddy smiled at me.

“He ripped your favorite shirt,” I sighed.

“It’s just a shirt. I’ll just steal one of yours,” she laughed.

In the moment, I wanted everything to be okay. I wanted to be able to look at Maddy and be able to stand up for myself the next time my father attacks me. But I’m only sixteen. I’m not even legal in the eyes of humans, let alone wolves. He would be more willing to see me dead then away from him. Know how I know? It’s what he’s driven into my head since my mother died.

My mother always said that a wolf’s mate is an extension of their soul as if our soul was broken into two and we couldn’t truly be whole until we found our mate. My mother was a loving, caring, and amazing person so why did she deserve a mate like my father? Is that what I have going for me as well? Is abuse all I’m good for?

Maddy got up and pulled me up along with her.

“Want to watch a movie?” Maddy asked with a huge grin.

I nodded. Maddy handed me the brownie from her pocket then grabbed the book of movie disks and we flipped through it together. I basically gulped down the entire, shattered brownie in two bites. It still tasted good. We decided on Twilight so we could laugh and make fun of how it depicts werewolves and vampires like we always do. Maddy turned on our TV that stood on top of a small, dark wood table with a spot just underneath to hold the CD player. Maddy got it playing with subtitles just like how my mother and I use to watch movies together.

Maddy always says subtitles drive her crazy for some reason but it’s a small price to pay to make me happy. She really is the best friend I ever could’ve been blessed with. Maddy’s parents died two years ago in the first of the vampire attacks. It was hard for a while but now we feel like going through her parents’ death then my mother’s death helped us grow from best friends to basically sisters. However, it seemed to have made her even more protective of me against my father.

I looked exactly like my mother. I have her bright, emerald green eyes and long, curly ginger hair. My face speckled with tons of freckles just like hers. I don’t know maybe that’s why my father hates me so much. All because I look so much like her. A couple salty tears ran down my cheeks. Maddy glanced at me in the corner of her eye.

“Girl, we’re not even at a sad part. What the fuck?” She tilted her head in confusion at me.

I looked up at her with reddened eyes.

“You’re thinking about your mother, aren’t you?” She asked.

I nodded.

“I’m sorry,” I cried.

The few tears now turned into full-on sobs. Maddy wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug and pressed a kiss to my wet cheek.

“It’s okay,” she said with a squeeze.

“I ruin everything,” I sobbed.

“Absolutely not. You’ve just had a rough day. That’s all,” she said, pressing her nose to mine.

I calmed myself down and whipped my tears away. Maddy dried my cheeks off with the sleeve of her jacket. She paused the movie and got up from the bed.

“You know, I wasn’t going to give this to you yet. I wanted to wait until your birthday, but I think you need it now,” she said.

Maddy walked over to the jewelry box on her dresser. She opened it and pulled out a shiny silver locket. She walked over to me and handed it to me. I wrapped the chain around my fingers, so the locket was dangling towards the palm of my hand. The beautiful silver locket had a crescent moon detailed on the front, our pack symbol. I opened it and looked into the eyes of my mother on the right side of the locket and Maddy on the left.

“You have no idea how hard it was to find a picture of your mother that didn’t also include your father,” Maddy said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, trust me. I know,” I scowled.

“Damn manipulative, controlling bastard,” Maddy snapped.

“Maddy,” I laughed.

It was the first time Maddy allowed herself to say something like that in front of me. Normally, she didn’t voice her opinion of my father personally. She’d only ever say things she knew would help cheer me up after an explosion.

“What? Tell me I’m wrong,” she said.

“I can’t,” I groaned.

“Exactly and I think we both know that your mother would’ve been so proud of what you did today. That was the first time you’ve stood up to him,” she said.

“I know,” I answered.

Maddy threw her arms around me and pressed a kiss against my cheek. We resumed watching our movie. After we finished Twilight, Maddy popped some butter popcorn, splashing hot sauce on top of mine, the way she knows I like my popcorn. She covered hers in peanut butter which was interesting. We started New Moon and after we finished that, we got changed into our pajamas, brushed our teeth, and went to bed.

It must have been three o’clock in the morning when I awoke to noises outside our bedroom door. I watched in horror as the doorknob turned and the door opened. My father’s figure walked into the room. I forced myself to pretend to be sleeping in hopes that he would go away. He didn’t. He threw the covers off me and grabbed me by the leg. I let out a scream as he started dragging me out of the room.

Maddy jumped from her bed and started hitting and kicking him which didn’t seem to faze him at all. He just casually tossed her against the wall, and she crumbled to the floor with a whimper. I tried to wiggle out of his grasp and scramble back towards Maddy but his grip only tightened. He dragged me down the hall and down two flights of stairs. I clasped my hands behind my head in an attempt to make my head not smack against each wooden stair.

He finally stopped in front of the basement. He opened the door and I stared down a flight of metal stairs. I knew what was about to happen. This is what happened every time I dared to go against him whether it was eating or helping Maddy. He threw me down the metal stairs. Thankfully, my back only smacked against every other stair.

But it was enough to break skin. I could feel the blood running down my back. As a werewolf, I’m supposed to heal supernaturally fast but because I’m so malnourished, I wouldn’t heal properly. My body has been covered with scars and half-healed wounds and bruises for years. I could still see my father’s dark figure at the top of the stairs.

I didn’t want to give him any more satisfaction of seeing me in pain so I forced myself onto my feet and walked over to the far corner of the basement where he couldn’t see me. I could imagine what he’d do if I had tried to get back upstairs. He would’ve thrown me down again and odds weren’t in my favor that I’d survive that fall.

I slid my back down the cold wall and curled up into a ball on the floor. It was freezing so I decided that shifting to my wolf would be the best choice. I pulled my shirt over my head, groaning in pain. I painfully removed my shorts and my underwear. I winced as the change started. I mean my human bones are literally breaking to form the body of my wolf, so it wasn’t going to be pleasant, but I was already in pain, so it was that much more painful.

I curled my furry body snugly in the corner. I was always amazed by the fact that there are in fact people who didn’t walk around in pain all the time, people who had families that loved them and weren’t treated the way I have been. I refused to allow myself to linger on the pain my body was feeling and forced myself to fall asleep.

I opened my eyes and looked out into a wide-open meadow that spread out for miles. Grey, dense smoke swirled at my feet as the grass burst into orange and red flames. I watched as the fire consumed everything around me until I was standing in complete black nothingness. A light shone like a spotlight in one spot. A woman with ginger hair down to her waist and bare feet was standing in the light staring at me as I walked over to her.

I couldn’t control my feet, but I knew I was safe with this woman. When I got to her, I collapsed at her feet. I felt blood on my knees but looked down and didn’t see any. The woman reached her hands down to help me. I reached up to take them and looked into the eyes of my mother.

My mother pulled me up and into her arms. She pressed a kiss to my forehead and bent her head down by my ear. She whispered, “You can do this” in my ear and that’s when I woke, back in the cold corner of the basement.

I groaned as the sun from outside shone through the single, small window that was perfectly lined up that the sun was directly in my eyes. This was weird. I fell asleep as a wolf and woke up as a human. I went to move my arm and winced. I looked down at my arm and there was a sore red mark that had been taped off with blue tape.

Did my father dose me? As a wolf, sometimes it’s a struggle to change back due to adrenaline so there’s a serum that we can inject into our bloodstream to help the change go smoother and faster. It’s not normally something we use all the time. It’s only used for life-or-death situations. I had laid there naked for who knows how long.

I went to grab my clothes and they were gone. Fuck, I thought. I didn’t like this. This isn’t the first time my father had thrown me in the basement or dosed me, but this is the first time I’ve woken up without my clothes in arm’s reach. I didn’t want to imagine what my father had planned for me. I heard noises coming from the kitchen just above me.

“HELP!” I screamed.

I screamed over and over again. But either no one heard me, or no one wanted to hear me. Suddenly, I heard the door creak open. Big, black boots stepped out onto the top step. Those weren’t my father’s shoes. Hope raised in my throat but was quickly shattered when the boots were attached to a big, muscular man.

The man walked down the stairs, the stairs screaming under his weight. A man with dark eyes and dark hair emerged around the corner to stand in front of me. Panic rose in my throat and I was in the worse spot to be, a corner with no way out. I wanted to let out a scream, but I knew it was pointless. No one would dare risk the wrath of my father besides Maddy and I didn’t even know whether she was okay.

I tried to cover myself, but the man grabbed my leg and pulled me towards him. I whimpered and he raised his hand like he was going to hit me. The last thing I heard was him saying “I’m sorry, Accalia. I don’t want to do this, but I can’t disobey my Alpha,” before he smacked me so hard my head bounced off the wall behind me. The world went black.

I woke up into more darkness. He had blindfolded me and probably drugged me because I was awake, but I couldn’t move my body at all. I felt his hands between my legs, pushing them apart. I knew what was happening and my body wasn’t allowing me to do anything about it. The pain came faster than I expected.

Suddenly, he was on top of me, and I felt the worse burning pain I’d ever felt in my life ripping through my whole body followed by a warm liquid running down my legs. I refused to scream. I refused to give this man or my father the satisfaction of hearing me break. My father knows how badly this will break me, how badly this ruins any chance I’d ever have at finding my mate

But who knows? Maybe my mate is worse than the men here under the control of my father. Who says I’d be lucky enough to have a mate? Who says I’m even good enough? Maybe I’m just what my father says I am, a waste of space that isn’t good enough for anyone who he wishes was never born.

I was trying to force myself to not cry. I could feel the burning urge of tears behind my eyes get more intense. Every inch of my body hurt and wanted to reject what was happening to it. The man started pounding in me even harder and harder. I was absolutely disgusted by the noises that were coming out of this man’s mouth.

With a groan and a moan, it was finally over. I felt him exit as another warm liquid spilled from me as he remove his weight from me as he got up. I heard him pull his pants up and buckle his belt. He ruffled in his pocket for a minute then tossed what just sounded like a wad of fabric at me which landed by my head. He didn’t say a word. He just left. I heard his big boots run up the stairs then were gone.

I was engulfed in complete, deafening silence. I laid there for what must’ve been hours until I could finally move again. I let myself finally curl up in a ball and I let the tears roll down my face. However, I didn’t let my tears become sobs. I wasn’t going to let my father hear how broken I feel right now.

I feel so exposed. I finally rose into a sitting position and took the blindfold off. It was still light out. The fabric the man had thrown next to me was a thin, white nightgown if you could even call it that. It was basically a slip. This wasn’t going to hide anything, but I pulled it on anyway. I just needed something to wear so I could get back to my bedroom without being completely exposed. I wasn’t exactly sure this was any better though.

I forced myself up onto painful, shaky legs. I held onto anything solid that I could hold onto as I walked until I got to the stairs. I let myself sink to the bottom stair. I allowed myself to rest there for a while. This isn’t what I wanted for myself and I’m sure that this isn’t what my mother wanted for me either. I made the mistake of looking down.

Blood was still running down my legs and I hadn’t even noticed. I had trailed the blood from where I had been sitting to where I was now. I winced at the pain in my lower region that I hadn’t let myself notice. Every part of my body screamed for me to stop what I was trying to do. I just wanted to be with Maddy. I wanted to make sure she was okay.

Just as I thought Maddy’s name, I heard footsteps running towards the door at the top of the stairs. I turned my head around just in time to meet Maddy’s brown eyes. I’m sure everyone in the house could hear my sigh of relief.

“Accalia!” Maddy said as she ran down to me.

I groaned as she helped me up and onto my feet again. I wanted to express how happy I was to see her, but I couldn’t get anything out. She just pressed a kiss to my cheek as she helped me up the stairs. We rounded the corner and went up more stairs. We finally got to our room and she sat me down on the wood floor outside our door as she ran to get the first aid kit from under her bed.

She cleaned me up enough that I wasn’t going to trail blood onto our bedroom carpet. She went to draw me a bath and she helped walk me over to the bathroom. She pulled the slip over my head.

“Who did this to you?” Maddy said with venom in her voice.

“Some big guy forced to by my father,” I answered slowly.

“I’m going to kill him then your father,” she snapped.

“Maddy, don’t. He’ll kill you and I can’t lose you. Please, Maddy, don’t,” I begged.

Maddy didn’t answer. She just helped me into the tub. The hot water hurt at first but quickly started to do its intended job. The water seemed to wash my pain away. Maddy helped clean me up then helped me out. She dressed me in my grey sweatpants and my black t-shirt. Maddy combed my hair out and braided it into two French braids.

“You want to go for a run together tonight when everyone is asleep? You heal better as a wolf and I’m sure it’ll make you feel better,” Maddy asked.

“I’d love to,” I answered.

I needed to run all this pain off and work through everything and I do that better as a wolf. Maddy helped me into my bed then curled up beside me. She wrapped her arms around me as I cried. We finally both fell asleep.

When we woke up, it was about midnight and we snuck downstairs and out the back door. We ran to the woody swamps as crickets chirped their lullabies. We found our favorite weeping willow tree and began to undress. We folded our clothes and placed them neatly on a dry patch of colored leaves. I closed my eyes and let my wolf take over.

I let out a whimper as my bones began to break and form the structure of my beautiful rusty red wolf. We ran for what feels like forever, weaving through trees and hearing the crunch of dry leaves under our paws. Through our telepathic wolf bond, Maddy told me she was tired and was going to go back to the pack house.

I kept running but it wasn’t long before I heard screams and howls coming from the direction of the pack house. I ran as fast as my paws would carry me. I got to the house and what I saw was horrifying and all too familiar, Vampires. The pale moon light gave the white skin of the vampires an almost pinkish color.

For the first time all night, I looked up at the moon. The moon wasn’t its normal pale white, but it was red, the color of blood. More death would come to the Crescent Moon pack. Vampires were throwing the mangled bodies of my pack against anything solid. In the back of my mind, I could hear my wolf telling me to run.

I looked around for a second, my gaze fell on the bloody, mutilated body of Maddy. I felt a burning rage course through me and my wolf. Then, my gaze fell on the bodies of the children not even of shifting age and I charged at the pale-skinned monsters. With a snarl, I jumped toward one of the bigger looking beasts who I smelled Maddy’s blood on.

I blacked out and the next thing I knew I was running through the woods at full speed. My muscles ached and I felt the blood dripping from my wounds through my fur, unsure of whether all the blood was mine or the vampires’. This was the longest time I’ve been in my wolf form. I kept running for what felt like hours as a burning sensation hit the back of my eyes. I let my tears flood from my eyes as I ran.

Yeah, so my pack may not have been the greatest people for me to be around. They let my father beat and abuse me without doing anything about it and earlier today, I was sexually assaulted by a pack member. But they were the only family I knew, and I had lost them, every single one. The loss of my best friend hit me the most. Maddy was gone and she was never coming back. I was running so fast, and my vision was so blurred, I didn’t realize it when my surroundings suddenly changed. This wasn’t my pack’s territory anymore.