Chapter 1
-Calina-
“No! Please!” I desperately tugged at my dress, trying to free it from the shifter’s tightly clamped jaws.
I spotted my ladies standing farther away in the doorway, having managed to escape the beast’s clutches. I was yanked to the ground.
“Please, help me!” I called out to them.
My ladies merely exchanged glances. I saw a silent agreement pass between them before they hurriedly retreated into the chaotic house, leaving me with nothing but the stinging feeling of betrayal.
The shifter tore at my dress, dragging my attention back to it.
“Let me go!” I cried, kicking out as the fabric ripped along my side.
I managed to strike the shifter in the face. He released his grip, shaking his head as I scrambled to my feet. I dashed for the door, slamming it shut just as the shifter lunged after me again. It slammed against the wood, splintering part of the door as it snarled and growled on the other side.
Turning away, I headed for the stairs, trying to avoid the fighting raging throughout the house. I reached the bottom of the staircase—
I screamed at the sight of my father lying lifeless on the ground, his throat brutally torn open.
“No! Father!” I yelled, throwing myself beside him and shaking his body. “No! No!”
Shouting drew my attention. I looked up to see the guards fleeing through the opening, no longer willing to fight.
“Cowards!” I screamed after them, though I could hardly claim I stayed behind to battle the creatures approaching me.
I pushed myself to my feet and rushed for the open door, only to find the fighting continuing outside. The ladies who had abandoned me were now being forced to the ground. The guards met swift ends, their bodies torn apart and scattered across the earth. As I tried to navigate through the chaos, someone grabbed my hair.
“Take her! You want her! She’s young, delicate, and perfect!” a familiar voice cried.
I glanced behind me and saw my mother, her hands chained.
“Mother, what are you doing?” I yelled, but she shoved me between herself and another shifter, naked and covered in blood.
His sinister dark eyes roamed over my form. My dress hung in tatters, barely covering my shift underneath.
“Yes, take her,” my ladies agreed from where they knelt on the ground. “She’s worth far more!”
I couldn’t believe it. Traitors. That was all that surrounded me. I turned to glare at them, but they glared right back. Before I could yell at them, the shifter seized me, pressing me against him.
“No!” I cried, struggling against him, but his grip remained unyielding.
“Stop,” another shifter ordered as he emerged from the house, equally naked and bloodstained. “No touching. Let’s not damage the pretty goods before they’re sold.”
Laughter filled the night before the shifter growled and forced me to the ground beside the others. He tore away the remains of my beautiful dress, leaving me in little more than a nearly transparent shift.
I screamed, trying to cover myself, but my hands were roughly bound behind my back. I heard my ladies chuckling and turned toward them.
“Serves you right,” one of them muttered, licking a cut on her lip.
The moment I was restrained, I was hauled back to my feet alongside the others. A wagon rolled forward, and we were forced onto it. I looked back to see my mother still on the ground as they prepared to take her. The leading shifter grabbed her by the chin and assessed her.
“Old,” he sneered, even though my mother had barely a strand of gray hair. She still looked as beautiful as ever, having married young.
The lead shifter gestured to another near the wagon. “Take the young ones. This one is useless to sell. We’ll enjoy her ourselves.”
Laughter echoed through the night as I lunged forward, only to be jerked back by the chains attached to the wagon.
“Mother!” I cried.
“No! No!” she screamed as they dragged her back toward the mansion.
“Mother!”
But I couldn’t help her. The chains suppressed my powers completely. I watched helplessly as they dragged her away, her screams echoing through the night and sending cold shivers through me. I squeezed my eyes shut and collapsed against the wagon, tears streaming down my face.
I was about to let the sobs consume me when I heard one of my ladies scoff. I turned toward Rina—the only name I could remember—and saw the smile curling on her lips.
“Why are you smiling? We’re all being sold,” I snarled.
“Honestly, I’d rather be a slave than ever return to that house. You and your family are nightmares, my lady,” she spat.
I looked at the others. Every single one of them nodded.
I glared at them. “You disgusting traitors,” I hissed. “You should have considered yourselves fortunate to serve my family.”
“Fortunate?” Rina asked incredulously. “You made our lives hell. Nothing was ever good enough for you, and you gladly ruined our looks just to elevate yourself. You reap what you sow.”
I stared at her, stunned, but she held her head high.
“I’d rather be a shifter’s slave than yours.”
“How dare you, you ungrateful—”
“Soon you might be one too.”
Shock filled me as the others burst into laughter.
“You’re the prettiest one,” Rina reminded me. “They’ll want to devour you. You made sure the rest of us were no longer as beautiful.”
