A/N: This chapter contains little description of abuse. Nothing alarming, this is just a heads up. Enjoy.

CHAPTER ONE: Put You Out of Your Misery

I was going to die tonight. I just didn’t know it yet.

If I had known, I would have stopped praying for the floor to swallow me as the Omega of the Bloodmoon Pack rejected me in front of my entire family and both our packs.

“I, Hayden Bloodmoon, reject you, Silva Harken, daughter of Alpha Derek Harken” He spat the words at me like my name left a vile taste on his tongue.

A white searing hot pain ripped through me as he said those words, clawing at my lungs and throat, bubbling out from inside me till it brought tears to my eyes. The pain of his rejection.

I was rejected by my mate.

I was rejected by an Omega.

Fuck.

“Hayden, please. Let’s talk outside. You don’t have to do this,” I forced out, even though the pain of his rejection slammed into me over and over again.

It took all the will power I had to stop myself from collapsing on the floor and bursting into tears, but I would only be embarrassing myself further. I could feel more than a hundred eyes on us, I needed to take the conversation away from the party.

“If he says he doesn’t want to be your mate then he doesn’t want to,” someone called out from the small crowd that gathered around us.

“Yeah. You can’t force him to change his mind just because you’re the daughter of an Alpha,” another voice followed.

A series of murmurs echoed, agreeing with the voices that spoke up, while Hayden merely glared at me with hate in his eyes.

“Why did it have to be you?” He had tears in his eyes as he spoke, perhaps it was from the pain of our broken bond or his hatred for me, I couldn’t tell. “I will not have you condemn me to a fate worse than that of an Omega.”

My sister, Sapphire, walked through the small crowd and grabbed me by my elbow, digging her long and perfectly manicured nails into my skin so firmly that I could feel it draw blood.

“You fucking bitch,” she sneered under her breath as she leaned close to whisper in my ear. “You’re causing a scene. Why do you need to drag this out and let everyone see just how pathetic you are?”

She was right. I knew the reason he was rejecting me. Everyone in my pack knew the reason.

I was a disgrace. A freak. A non-shifter.

“I accept your rejection,” I replied.

“There we go. That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” She asked with a smile that was sickeningly fake. She turned to face the small crowd that had gathered and flashed an even brighter smile.

“Go back to enjoying the party folks. There’s nothing to see here, just two nobodies trying to get a few seconds of attention by causing a scene.”

Although it was sometimes hard to believe, Sapphire was my twin. She was a natural born leader, a fact that was glaringly obvious as the crowd slowly dispersed with a smile from her and everyone went back to sipping their drinks and mingling with people from other packs.

It was no surprise that she was one of the top contenders to be the Alpha King’s Luna. It was what the entire party was for.

Several packs had gathered tonight, for a simple meet and greet, a usual custom hosted by a different pack each year to help foster peace, but it was also a ploy to help people meet their mates that might be from a different pack.

The Alpha King’s mate died years ago but for some reason, rumors were going around that he would be attending this year’s meet and greet, hosted by our pack, in search of a second chance mate, and more rumors were circulating that Sapphire was going to be the lucky girl.

She was gorgeous.

Sapphire’s tall, with long beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes that reminded me of the ocean. I was her opposite in every way. I had dull brown hair that didn’t go past my shoulders, hazel eyes and an awkward skinny frame.

“You,” her blue eyes snapped on Hayden who looked so nervous that he started sweating on the spot. “Get out of here. If I lay my eyes on you again before this party ends, I will rip your throat out. With my teeth,” Her wolf flashed in her eyes, almost like she was telling him it was a promise, not a threat.

“I will not have you ruin this night for me,” She finished.

“Y-yes m-ma’am,” he stuttered out and turned away, shaking like a leaf. He ran in the opposite direction so quickly that I would have almost found it comical if Sapphire’s glare didn’t settle back on me.

“And you,” she sneered in my direction. “Father would like a word with you. Oh, here he comes,” she said as she stared past me.

I turned sharply to look behind me. I could see the anger in my father’s eyes even from a distance.

The hall was large, with a giant chandelier hanging in the middle, its refracting light added an almost menacing glow to my father’s eyes as he made his way through the crowd of people clinking glasses, while others danced to the soft music that now filled the room.

“Leave us,” He growled as he neared us.

Sapphire lingered a second longer to throw a look of disgust at me before leaving.

“Is it true?” He asked, the anger in his eyes threatened to consume me on the spot.

“I-Is what true, Father?” I stuttered out.

“Don’t play dumb with me girl!” His hands connected against my cheeks with enough force to send me stumbling backwards. I could hear a few audible gasps from the crowd that suddenly had their eyes on the drama playing out.

“Father,” I cried out. My vision blurred from the amount of tears in my eyes, my ears were ringing.

This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to go.

“You have soiled my family name for the last time,” He snarled as he grabbed my hands and dragged me towards the exit. The cold air tore at my skin as we emerged from the pack house and continued to go into the woods that surrounded the large mansion.

“Father, please. Let me explain. Please.” I begged. He continued to drag me deeper into the forest, my clothes snagged against tree roots and low branches as he pulled me forcefully behind him.

“An Omega!” He threw me against a tree, my back connected against it with a loud crack. The pain I felt was so intense I was surprised I didn’t black out. “You were rejected by an Omega?”

I couldn’t form any words to defend myself. I just sat in the mud he threw me into, watching him pace back and forth angrily.

“Never in my life—No, since the dawn of time, has an omega, rejected an Alpha's daughter. Do you know the humiliation you have caused me? The humiliation you’ve caused our entire pack? An omega from a smaller pack rejected you!”

“I-I. Father, please.”

He stopped in his tracks and turned to stare at me.

“Tonight was supposed to be perfect for Sapphire, but you just had to ruin it by finding your fucking mate and to make matters worse, you got rejected!?” His voice rose with every word he spoke.

He paused, staring at me with barely contained rage.

“You have disgraced me for the last time, Silva,” He said with a calm voice that was a sharp contrast to the fury in his eyes.

“Please, dad. I’ll fix this—I can fix it.”

“Fix it?” He scoffed. “We both know there’s nothing you can do. I should do both of us a favor and kill you right here and now. Put you out of your misery. You’ve been an eye sore to our pack all your life. Wouldn’t death be better than being constantly ridiculed?”

My eyes widened in fear and I tried to back away from him but the tree behind me kept me in place.

Is this how I’m going to die? Murdered by my own father?

“P-please.” There were so many emotions behind that one word. So many thoughts, but one of them burned brighter than any other.

I don’t want to die.