Chapter 1
SLOANE ASHFORD
My father finally smiled at me after twenty years of endless torture, but what happened next would break me forever.
Just when I thought he was finally accepting me as his daughter, he humiliated and demoted me to an omega in front of the whole pack.
I thought that was the moment my world would end, until the most powerful Lycan king declared me his.
*****
“Speak, Sloane!”
My father’s palm cracked against my cheek before his voice landed.
My legs gave in, and I hit the ground, a muffled scream buried in my throat as my hand flew to my cheek.
“I told you to speak!” Another slap. Then he squatted, grabbed a handful of my hair, and hurled me across the room.
Pain burned through my scalp, tears welling up in my eyes.
I opened my mouth, but just like every other time, no words formed. I couldn’t even cry or beg for mercy.
“You should’ve just fucking die if you were going to end up like this!” His voice was bitter with resentment, fingers tightening on my hair.
My chest tightened painfully.
He was my father. A man who was supposed to protect me, but here he was, looking at me with so much resentment, like he could kill me any moment.
“Please… it hurts.” The words sat in my throat.
He paused, hesitated for a moment, and finally stepped back with a frustrated sigh.
He drove his hands through his hair.
“Do you have any idea the trauma of having you as a daughter?"
Trauma?
I would've laughed out loud if I could make a sound. He has been treating me like a piece of shit, and he's the one traumatized?
I lifted my gaze to him, my lips trembling as tears burned in my eyes.
Then... a resounding slap landed on my cheek before his before his fingers closed around my neck, pinning me to the wall.
"Did you just glare at me?" He said through his teeth, his grip tightening on my neck. "I gave you a roof over your head, did everything for you, and you dare glare at me?"
I gasped for breath.
“Should I just gouge out those eyes?" He lifted his fingers to my face, taking them close to my eyes.
I didn't blink. Didn't fight it. I just stared into his eyes, tearing rolling down the corner of my cheeks.
He wants to make me blind? Fine! Or he could just kill me. Who cares?
That’s what he wants anyway.
One second, he looked like he was really going to kill me, then the next, he released me and stepped back.
Why did he change his mind?
"Not yet." He said. "I still have some use for you."
“You…” he stood and exhaled. “Don’t come out of your room unless you’re ready to die.” Then he walked out angrily, the door slamming shut behind him.
I stared at the door, hugging my knees to chest tightly as fresh tears welled up in my eyes.
It’s okay, Sloane. Everything will be fine. You've endured worse. Getting choked is the least of them all, so you'll be fine.
Deep down, I knew that was a lie from the pit of hell. The lie I'd held on to for years, hoping it would make me feel better, but it only ever managed to work for minutes, and then reality hit even harder right after.
My hands found my hair, pulling it, hoping the pain would distract me, but it didn’t.
Memories of years clawed back into my mind, and I squeezed my eyes shut, throwing my head back against the wall.
Would things be different if my mom wasn't killed that night in front of me? Perhaps I would've had my voice if that didn't happen. And maybe my father wouldn't blame me for her death, and perhaps would've loved me.
A hard knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts, then Lucas’s voice followed.
My stepbrother.
My breath caught in my throat.
I sprung to my feet with the little strength left in me, back pressed against the wall, my heart pounding hard.
The door opened, and he walked in.
He paused as his brown eyes found mine, then a smirk I quickly recognized, curved his lips.
After my mother’s death twenty years ago when I was just five, my father married Lucas’s mother.
She’d brought him into the Pack from her former Pack.
Rumor had it that his father was the beta of their Pack, but cut ties with him and his mother for a reason that wasn't disclosed.
“There you are…” He started walking towards me.
I clenched my fingers at my sides as I pressed my back harder into the wall, then lifted a hand to signal him to stop.
He didn’t.
“Don’t be stubborn, Sloane…” he paused in front of me, his eyes lingering on my cheek, then on my neck where father choked me.
He exhaled softly, his gaze finding mine again.
“How long do you plan to live like this?” His hand moved to my face.
I flinched, leaving his hand hanging mid-air.
His hand lingered in front of me for a moment, then he slowly curled his fingers into his palms before allowing his hand to drop at his side.
"You always break my heart by making me feel like a bad person, Sloane." He crossed his arms in front of his.
“I can help you, Sloane. All you have to do is accept my offer, and I’ll handle the rest.”
My stomach twisted with disgust
There we go again. Asking me to sleep with him. I’d rather endure this torture for the rest of my life than allow this deranged bastard lay a finger on me.
Now he wants to coarse me into saying yes to him after he didn’t succeed to rape me the many times that he’d tried to?
I’ve been surviving this bastard for years. I couldn’t even confide in anyone. Not that they’ll believe me anyway.
My eyes scanned the room for a moment, then found my phone on the bed. I pushed past him and reached for it.
Then I started typing.
‘Leave me alone! I don’t need your help’
His jaw tightened the moment he saw the text, anger burning in his eyes.
He scoffed. “Are you turning me down? Again?”
I stepped back and nodded, my chest already rising with fury.
He dragged his fingers through his hair. “You must think you’re royalty, huh?”
Yes. I’m still the Alpha’s daughter. So that makes me a princess.
But I knew better than anyone that title didn’t belong to me. Father had stripped me of it the moment my mother took her last breath.
I swallowed hard.
‘You should leave’
I typed, and he took less than a second to read my phone screen before his gaze found mine.
He stepped closer, a frown settling on his face now. “And what if I don’t?”
He grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me forward. “What? Are you going to scream?”
He laughed… the kind of laughter that screamed ‘come on, give it a shot’.
“Look at you. Pathetic mute bitch. Come on. Scream.” His hand was rough against my skin.
I squeezed out of his grasp and glared hard at him.
‘Don’t touch me!’
Then I pulled out my hand and flipped my middle finger at him.
His brows pulled together, anger creeping up his face. “Did you just swear at me?”
He tilted his head back, ran his fingers through his hair, and the next second, his palm cracked against my cheek.
My hand flew to my burning cheek.
I hadn’t even recovered from the slap when his hand found my hair, tilting my head back to meet his gaze.
“How dare you swear at me, huh?” he gritted. "Do you so much want to die, huh?”
He released my hair, and before I could register the pain, his hand found my neck, slamming me hard into the wall.
“I should send you to hell to be with your mother!" He said. "You should be grateful that I'm making advance at you..."
"Are you mistaking yourself for a big shot? Do you have the slightest idea the kind of women I fuck with?" He pressed me hard into the wall, and I groaned. "You're not in their league, alright?"
Then leave me the fuck alone and go be with them! It's as simple as that.
He didn’t let go of me until I was almost out of breath.
Then he stepped back. “Do this again, and I’m going to make sure you don’t live through it.”
Then he stepped out of my room, and once the door clicked shut behind him, I dropped to the floor and allowed my tears to fall freely.
Until when do I have to endure this?
