"Fucking wretch!" Ross growled as he kicked and stomped on Rosaline furiously.
It had been completely unexpected, the wolfless meek idiot actually had the guts to attack Alaine, the beta's daughter. She was seeking for death.
Ross lifted her by her hair, she was bloodied, red bruises all over her skin, he slapped her across the face several times till she was completely weakened in his grip.
"It won't make any difference if we killed her here right? It would be doing the whole pack good won't it?" Ross turned to ask Alaine whose eyes were blazing.
She attacked her...the pack runt actually dared to attack her.
"The alpha won't let the killing of a pack member slide, but it'll be fine if we disguise it as a rogue attack, she's in dangerous territory anyway. Just kill her." Rosaline could hear Alaine's rage infused voice as she spoke and condemned her to death.
Ross grinned looking down at her like meat kept on a platter, an eager butcher ready to cause destruction to his prey.
He raised his leg up, aiming to stomp down on her stomach with force, that single hit could ruin her internal organs. She was only a werewolf in name but physically human since she had no wolf, she would undoubtedly die.
Rosaline could see the full moon, brightly sitting up in the sky. It dominated the sky, sitting in a position of power yet it wasn't alone. It was surrounded by countless stars in the sky.
Rosaline smiled bitterly, in her next life...if there ever was one...she wanted to be a star in the sky. She wanted to sit there shining brightly...if ever there would be a next life.
She closed her eyes and a tear slid down the sides of her face. A person who had given up on breathing, living...
But as she waited for the pain that would take her out of the mystery of this world, it never came. All she felt was the stir of the wind as it hit her.
She'd thought she'd never open her eyes again after this moment, but when the pain didn't come she did.
The leg that had been about to stomp down on her was hovering midair, someone else other than Ross was standing over her stopping him from delivering the last blow that would take her life.
Ross's eyes were wide in shock, "Lucan..." He stuttered.
"Not one crime, but two." The voice was as fluid as water. Warm and serene. "Smoking Nightkin and attempting to kill a pack member."
"Lucan, it's not like that. We were just helping Rosaline. They were just playing around, Ross had no intentions of harming her. Isn't that right Rosie?" Alaine's eyes gazed in her direction with a mix of hidden hatred and hope.
Rosaline however was lost in a daze.
This person...
She'd seen him before.
Lucan Axler, the alpha's first son.
Lucan shoved Ross aside and extended his hand to her.
Rosaline stared at his extended hand without attempting to take it or moving at all.
At that time...she hadn't known. At that time...her heart had skipped a beat.
Her movement was slow, but when she placed her hand in his, another gust of wind blew. It came with a warm smell of apples and pines. A smell she kept close to her heart after that...the smell of him.
"Are you alright?" His warm voice asked again, silver eyes gazing down at her with kindness.
Such gaze...when was the last time anyone had ever looked at her like this? Had there ever been such a time?
Alaine and the others exchanged anxious glances, she quickly spoke up trying to turn the situation around. "Lucan, we didn't mean..."
"None of you will get away with this, go home and think about your wrongdoings, the Sentinels will be sent to each of your homes by sunrise to pick you up for punishment." His warm voice was tinged with rage. He surveyed her face and neck, every bruise jarring.
If she had been an ordinary human beaten this mercilessly, she certainly wouldn't be able to stand on her feet. But despite not having a wolf, it seemed she still had her werewolf blood, or perhaps it was her strong will and tenacity. He could see it, hidden in the depths of those shining cobalt blue eyes.
Alaine and the guys couldn't say a word, they didn't dare conjure the guts to talk back to the alpha's son. Quietly they shifted and ran out of the woods.
When they left, Rosaline broke out of her daze.
The dashing young man in front of her had taken her breath away. From his peaceful silver eyes, to the warmly attractive features of his face, all of it soothed her heart. She stepped back, limping slightly as pain shot through her ankle then bowed lowering her head in the respectful manner bestowed upon the alpha's family.
"Thank you alpha heir, for saving me." She said the words as a formality but she didn't mean them at all, deep inside she disliked the fact that he'd come to her rescue. Could it even be called saving or did he condemn her to experience more of her miserable life?
"No need to be so formal, call me Lucan like everyone does."
Rosaline didn't say another word, she lingered for a moment more before she bowed again, "I'll be going back home now."
"Wait." He grabbed her arm and she flinched, he quickly let go as if he'd touched burning flame. "Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to help heal you, your wounds don't look so good."
Rosaline turned her eyes to him, a flash of surprise within them.
Why was he helping her?
For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to believe that he was actually being genuinely kind to her. Why would he?
She was the lowest of the low beings in this pack, he had absolutely no reason to help her.
"There's no need for that, thank you for offering." Her voice was nothing but empty, no emotions could be detected in them at all.
Lucan however didn't seem ready to let her leave. He barred her way, towering over her with his height. "I won't let you leave if you don't let me help you."
She stared at his face searchingly as if trying to decipher what he truly wanted from her.
When she didn't say anything, Lucan grabbed her hand holding it tenderly. He gazed up at her face but he couldn't see a trace of emotion.
He thought of a vase, broken in two and glued back together again then broken again and the glued back together till it was drained of it's ability to function. The girl before him...had been broken, not once but over and over again.
He sighed and bent to pick up the pocket knife still laying on the floor then sliced his palm open. Only then did he get a reaction from the girl in front of him.
Her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "What are you doing?"
He grinned slightly, "Healing you with my blood."
"What?" She stiffened when he dropped his blood over her open wound. A cooling feeling suddenly flowed into her body, like a flush of ice cold water on a burning flesh.
Slowly, her wounds began to close up. It was as if that single drop of blood from him had travelled through her veins in an instant, healing up her wounds.
In a single minute, not a single bruise remained on her skin. It had been a very long time since she last felt this way...no pain at all, no discomfort, nowhere ached, nothing hurt. That was the healing power of an alpha wolf.
"Do you feel better now?"
Rosaline felt like she wouldn't be able to get used to the warmth in his voice, it was soothing, calming like the freshness of spring air. But she realized she didn't need to get used to anything, she wouldn't be seeing him ever again.
She pulled her hand out of his warm one, lowering her head to the floor as she'd learned to. "Yes, thank you for being so kind."
"Don't thank me, you don't deserve to be treated unfairly because you're different." As he said these words, her eyes shot up to look at his. He smiled, his handsome face looking kinder, warmer.
In this moment, she felt that warmness travel into her skin reaching to her heart.
She didn't deserve the pain?
How many times had she secretly wished to hear someone say that to her.
That she didn't deserve it. It wasn't her fault she was different. These very words she'd longed to hear all along, these very words that would kill the desire in her to end her life.
Tears slid down, hot and burning her cheeks. It felt like everything she'd ever gone through gathered in her all at once and she broke down.
She never let anyone see her weakness, she never let anyone see her pain, but this time she had.
She was crying brokenly in front of a stranger because he'd said a few subtle words to her.
Lucan was taken aback at her sudden tears, he hesitated a bit before reaching his hand to pat her head comfortingly.
"You don't need to cry, it's over now. Let me be your protector, from this day on... I'll never let anyone hurt you again."
The sincerity she heard in his voice made her raise her head. Confusion swirled in her tear filled eyes as she searched his. "Why?"
"Because I see you now, because I don't want injustice to continue in this pack. Because you're different and I think that makes you special."
She felt it again, a skip in her heartbeat. And the inexplicable feeling that she could keep staring into these pair of kind silver eyes for a long time without looking away, if only she would keep feeling this warmth.
On that night, her Cinderella story had reached the point she met her prince charming.
Her prince was handsome, and slowly he stole her heart.
Her prince was kind and loving.
When anyone spoke to her unkindly he was there to tell them off. After getting punished, Alaine and her friends never taunted her again.
People began to call her name and wave at her at the academy hallways. They began to smile at her and remembered to call her by her name instead of cursed, or mutt as they usually called her.
The day Lucan sat with her at lunch, the whole school fully exploded.
She didn't think she deserved his attention, she didn't think she deserved his kindness. She was weak, of the lowest rank, so when her heart began to beat crazily everytime she saw him...she began to avoid him.
Lucan was persistent, he was like a puppy who would never turn it's back on its owner no matter how badly it was treated. Her sudden coldness didn't deter him.
He was everywhere she looked whenever she raised her gaze, smiling at her. He was everywhere to protect her from the people who'd try to hurt her. He slipped into her heart faster than she could avoid.
On her nineteenth birthday, she'd gone to the academy as usual but she'd found it empty, only for him to walk out in front of her holding flowers and beautiful heart shaped red balloons.
Her heart had drummed rapidly...not even in her dreams did she think this would ever happen to her.
"I can't hold my feelings for you anymore, please be mine."
Yes, she had been Cinderella. Gone from the pack runt to the most envied girl in the pack. Lucan had made her the moon, surrounded by stars who looked up to her unlike the way they used to look down on her.
Feelings couldn't be suppressed, she'd tried and it only caused her pain. When the man she loved kneeled in front of her, insignificant as she was to confess his love, she couldn't stop herself from accepting him.
That day she'd sworn she would do everything to deserve his love, to deserve this place by his side, this place in his heart.
But on her twenty first birthday, the night of the mating soiree when he was supposed to claim her as his chosen mate, bound to him forever...her luck had crashed and her Cinderella fairytale had shattered.
Lucan looked at her, silver eyes blazing with fury and hatred. Gone was the kindness, gone was the love...
"You killed my father. How could you?!"