Chapter 1
There’s a thin line between love and hate aren’t just the greatest song lyrics ever written; the eight little words don’t just apply to lovers. 1 hate to sound like some stereotypical daddy issues brat, but my father drives me up the fucking wall in a way that has had me contemplating his murder on more than one occasion.
My father is the alpha of the biggest pack in the U.S. Blood Ridge. Four years ago, my mother had a psychotic break and attacked the neighboring alpha, killing him. Before my father could get to her, the dead alpha’s parents tore her apart. To this day, we don’t know why she did that or who was at fault.
My twin brother Vincent and I were fourteen. The two of us became responsible for our little siblings, Verona (Twelve), Mathew (Two), and Pricilla (Four months), and the pack duties.
My father lost his mate, and his wolf didn’t take it well. That much was obvious when he obliterated the pack that took her from us. Before her death, my father was a gentle and loving man. A great father.
Now, he only comes home when he needs money or is running away from whatever shit he starts with the rogues and neighboring packs. I hate it when he’s here. He’s drunk and abusive as it gets. My brother takes most of it, but it honestly damages us all in a way that makes us forget that he’s just lost.
Coming of age is a big fucking deal for wolves. Especially wolves that hold high ranks, the way we do. I am, however, beyond done with everything that is Wolfe and Blood Ridge. Don’t get me wrong. I love my family and my pack with all my soul. This is the place I know I’ll die in one day.
But it’s dying without him.
Two inexperienced eighteen-year-olds can’t run a pack without the guidance of a true alpha. With me here, Vince and I overpower the strength of our father. Since he’s in the second phase of becoming feral, we clash. It’s a battle of dominance that can only end with one of us dead, if not all three.
I didn’t attend my graduation ceremony this morning. I’m too much of a coward to face my peers just before going rogue. I’d lose my nerve. Tears fill my eyes as I stare at myself in the mirror. I’m getting the fuck out of here and it’s literally ripping my soul apart in ways that I can’t fully understand yet. All I know is that this is burning me up and that it’s going to end very badly.
I haven’t slept in a while. My preparations started months ago, but standing here in my room, in our packhouse, ready to say eight little words, is finally setting in.
My father is going to be livid. I’m going to get my ass beat. He’s probably going to try and kill me the way he has countless other times, but it needs to be done. For my siblings. For my pack. For the sake of my sanity. Well, whatever is left of it.
“Where is she?” My father’s alpha tone blares through the hallways of the packhouse. “Violetta!”
I swallow hard and wipe my face, trying to calm myself. This is it, Vy. This is the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do. I take a couple of deep breaths and decide that this is it. There is no going back, and it’s not like I’m leaving with nothing. We’re fine, Beverly. We’re alpha. We’ll come back one day, and we’ll deserve to sit at the table again.
My wolf bristles. She knows this is the right thing to do. It just makes it that much harder to follow through.
The door to my room is kicked in. It flies off its hinges, and I prepare myself for the assault. My father is standing in the doorway, filling it completely, not giving me any chance of escaping, even as small as I am. His nostrils are flaring, and his claws are out.
“Where the hell were you?” he demands. He barges in, and I step back as his six-foot-six form comes at me.
I growl when his hand grabs onto a fist full of my hair. I scratch and kick at him as he drags me out of the room. I scream, using my claws to try and get free. The other juveniles staying in the pack house dash for their rooms knowing that their alpha is about to fuck me up again. This is a show for them. Proof that he’s still the alpha in charge and a reminder of just how far he’s willing to go to ensure everyone knows it.
1/4
A
13.28 Wed 13 40 P PO-
Castroent
tet megye si fack “7 shoun grabbing es his winst my days digging into his skin as deep as they can go.
gw lifting me of the fee by my hair. The pull burns, and my scalp cracks from the force. Then suddenly, the floor underme gas way and tumble down the sus facets. My chest and stomach hit every edge of the steps going down to the pathouse entrance
Tading have wou” I shot as I scramble to get away from him
I don’t gewy i stand des sound my arm, and I’m spun around to meet the lash of his backhand. My hands slap again the hardwood flores when I fall. The sting from the slap registers, and my ears ring with rage I can never act upo Bland Roads mouth and I sti
a what the fack Vince barges in and tries to push him away.
You’ve embarrassed me for the last fucking time, Dad shours I hear the whip of him pulling his belt off from around his
The guys are eng and I see Verona trying to lead them away. I spin around and snunch the belt out of his hand before be can fall it to whip me with it. It surties him. I rarely ever fight back when he’s on a rampage. Movement to a feral wolf is dangerous und geing caught in the modes deadh I swing the buckle at him, cutting him across the face. I loop it as I CHIN IN T. Wanage to guill ever his head and around his neck
The fact I scream and guill the belt as tighly as I can.
It is and gound on his head as hard as I can before he’s able to grab my hair again. Everything tilts, and I’m airborne Sre a second bedre I Sum mo the front door going through in
The wind was knocked out of me, but I still force myself to turn on my side to try and crawl away from him. His roar cats through the dear at an I make it to the lawn and am finally able to inhale. I push off the ground and run to face the mars that once meant the entre fucking world to me.
I know exactly why he hates me more than the others. It’s because of her. Violet Wilde. My mother. I am the spitting image of that prcha, and when he looks at me, all be sees is her. It’s the only reason I can’t bring myself to finish him off. I’ve gone gest making excuses because of the man he had once been. I’d been holding on to a memory that no longer exists.
Tim done” I shout, sugging him in his tracks. Tears till my eyes, and all I see is the monster he’s become. 1 Violetta Allyson Wale weave as my alpha and father?
Ty na Tince shouts from behind him.
“From wank on thur gate, you bener never come back my father growls. You leave, and you’re no longer welcome here. No gack No Sumite”
Do it, mother fucke. Anything is bener than this shit!” I spit at his feet. My mother is rolling over in her grave at the Sucking sight of your? You sick sadistic fuck. Fucking do it!”
The coller drains from his face as he stares back at me. I know my words cut deep. I want them to. I need him to finish this so that he can tur my place. I can’t run this pack any more thun Vincent can. I can’t save us. He can, and for that to happen. the alpha has to do what he was born to do. Lead and prepare the heir to take his place.
- Vincent Wale, reject you as a part of my pack and daughter, he growk
I shut my eyes as the tether between every Blood Ridge wolf and my family is broken. I knew it was going to hurt. This is going to fuck me up for the rest of my life even when I come home having done everything he tried to deprive me of. I will return the alpha uzy pack needs without him. I refuse to let him see how much this is destroying me.
I see Vince fail to his knees behind him as our connection is severed.
You’re going to regret this moment for the rest of your life, Violet” he shouts
13:28 Wed, 13 Aug P PO.
Chapter 1
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11
I flinch at my mother’s name, leaving his mouth instead of mine. Those were his final words to my mother before she was killed. He had warned her to stay away from the trenches, but my mother was a force-more beast than woman.
“The only thing I’m going to regret is not being able to watch you rot into the fucking animal that you are, Asshole,” I hack up as much spit I can and it flies at him hitting him on his chest. He growls, and a couple of betas block his path as he tries to approach me. “When I come home, know that it’ll be me who puts you down. Me, your sweet baby princess. Fuck you, Vincent Wolfe. You deserve every fucking thing you’ve got coming to you, you soulless son of bitch,”
“Get the fuck out of my house,” he shouts. “Go!”
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and turn away from my siblings. Verona is holding onto the pups as they cry out for me. The scene is one that’s been witnessed many times. I embarrass him? That’s rich coming from the man I’ve literally dragged his ass inside leaving behind a trail of shit after one of his many benders.
“How could you do that?” Vince shouts at our father as I walk away from the house without looking back. “Bring her back! Tell her to come back, you mother fucker!”
It takes everything in me to walk away, but I wasn’t given much of a choice, and as the second born, it didn’t make sense for Vince to be the one to leave. I get to downtown Magique feeling every ache from the beating I just took. It’s not the first time, nor is it the worst beating I’ve taken, but what happened has me sick to my stomach.
As soon as I’m in my apartment, I run into the untiled bathroom and drop to my knees in front of the toilet. I throw up until my stomach is empty and all that’s left is stomach acid. Blood comes up when I continue to heave as my world burns around
A pair of hands pulls my hair back. The fresh air that breaks through is enough to pause the heaving. I look up at the only friend I’ve ever had. She lets out a heavy sigh and crouches down next to me, rubbing circles on my back.
“What are you doing here?” I choke out.
“We’ve been friends for a bit, Vy. I knew something was wrong the moment you answered your phone last night. The rogue king is on assignment. He’ll be gone for a couple of weeks. I stole his car to get here. Get cleaned up. I brought you food and a special surprise.”
“You shouldn’t be here, Perry,” I call back to her.
Perry laughs her stupid little girly laugh. She’s the new recruit and only thirteen years old. She doesn’t say anything else. I take a quick cold shower and change into something comfortable. I’m going to be nursing bruises and lumps for weeks. My ribs and stomach are starting to bruise.
My stomach almost falls out of my ass when I get to the dining room in my apartment.
The walls are blank. I made two makeshift tables with plywood to paint the walls whenever I have time. The entire apartment is brand new, and I told the landlord that I would fix up this apartment for him as long as I could move into it immediately.
Pernicious Nelson is the only friend I’ve ever had, and I’ve never once admitted that to her.
“Happy Birthday, Violetta,” she pops a confetti cannon.
There’s a pink Ghostface cake on the plywood in front of her. A banner that reads “It’s a Girl” is across the window behind her. There are twelve huge tubes on the floor, each wrapped with a pink ribbon. McDonald’s bags are set up all around. She’s still the only person who has ever been able to break into places I am without getting caught. It’s not easy, so I never bring it up or ask how. That’s just who Perry is. You can’t get rid of her once she’s latched on. A parasite, the best kind. Just like me.
“What is that?” I smile.
“Uh, the point of a gift is to fuck around and find out,” she laughs popping a chicken nugget in her mouth. I go over to her and pick one up.
3/4
Wed, 13 Aug
Chapter 1
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“You didn’t,” I say, sliding the wallpaper roll out. It’s the rose gold wallpaper I had wanted before I bought this apartment/
“I found them in Gorgon City,” she grins. It’s only then that I see she’s all beat up.
“What happened to you?” I reach out, lightly touching the bruise on her chin.
“You’re gonna laugh,” she laughs. “A fucking hippie chick fucked me up,”
“Sage Gorgon?” I shake my head. She nods. “Why would you pick a fight with her? You haven’t even shifted yet, dummy.”
“Bro, she was going to take all the wallpaper. Fuck her,” she says reaching for the tube in my arms. “I saw what happened. I got you some ice. Why don’t you wrap some around your waist, and I get the glue? I’ll put the paper. I can’t trust you to get the lines straight anyway.” My eyes fill with tears, and I nod. She lets out a heavy sigh and pulls me into a hug. “You should let it out,” she says quietly. “Deep breath.”
I grip the back of her ugly knitted Hello Kitty sweater and growl with frustration. She holds me without saying a word. We stand here long enough for me to get embarrassed. When I look up at her, she smiles back at me. I love her. Fate hasn’t been very kind to either of us, and she somehow still manages to smile like things couldn’t get any better than this.
“Feel better?” she gently wipes my face. I shake my head. “It’ll be a while before it does,” she shrugs. “In the meantime, wet the roller. I don’t want any lumps on my masterpiece.”
That was the second hardest day of my life. The first was the day my mother was murdered. And the third, the third was the day the man who enslaved my best friend put his fist through her chest before she could truly go feral.
