Lilith
Even though I declared myself a rogue days ago, my father has refused to let me leave the pack.
My bags are packed, but each time I try to leave, he has warriors drag me back to the pack house.
But today is the day.
Today is the day that I finally leave this hellhole.
It is the wee hours of the morning.
Not even my father will be awake this early in the morning.
This is the perfect time for me to leave without anyone noticing.
With my pack slung over my shoulder, I make my way down the pack house stairs.
I skip over the stairs that I know will creak under my footsteps, and let out a sigh of relief when I reach the bottom of the stairs, but I am not alone.
My father is waiting for me at the front door.
His eyes are full of anger and hatred.
“Victor,” I say, no longer wanting to call him my father.
“You are up early.”
”Did you really think that you could defy me?” He growls.
“I am not defying you,” I reply, calmly.
“I am simply following pack orders.
I am a rogue and therefore not allowed to stay on Moonclaw Pack territory.”
I didn’t think the anger in his eyes could get worse, but I was wrong.
His wolf pushes to the surface, and his eyes flash red.
He growls, and his fangs elongate from his gums.
His claws extend from his fingertips, and I think he might attack me.
I take a hesitant step back.
“Where do you think you will go?”
I hold my head high.
“Mother left me a house…”
His laughter cuts me off.
It is high-pitched and unnatural.
“That house has never belonged to you.
When your mother died, the property was maintained and managed by the Moonclaw Pack.
You have nothing.”
My stomach turns.
“That is not true.”
”It doesn’t matter if it is true or not,” he smirks. Read this novel at novelping.com for the best experience.
“If you leave this pack, you will give up all rights to it, and anything else your mother might have tucked away for you.
You will have nothing to your name.”
”You would really do that to your own daughter?”
”I would.”
My bottom lip trembles, betraying me.
How could my father hate me this much?
I am his own flesh and blood, and he treats me like a stranger off the street.
After my mother died, he changed.
He used to dote on me and treat me like a princess.
For the longest time, I had hope that the man I remembered would return to me, but now that I see the hatred in his eyes, I know it is a lost cause.
He will never love me the way he used to.
Just when I think things can’t get worse, Serene descends the stairs.
There is a smile on her lips that makes my skin crawl.
“I couldn’t help but overhear,” she purrs.
“You are not wanted here,” I snap at her, which earns me a growl from my father.
She pushes her bottom lip out into a fake pout.
“I just thought you would like to know that mother has already taken care of the house that used to be in your mother’s name.
Seeing as my mother was her closest living relative, she assumed control of assets and transferred them into my name.”
I look at my father, hoping he will tell me what she is saying is a lie, but the look on his face tells me everything that I need to know.
Serene is telling the truth.
“The paperwork was just completed the night of your last failed mating ceremony,” she sighs.
“The house legally belongs to me.”
I turn to my father.
“Let me go.
I would rather have nothing than be part of this pack.”
Surprisingly, he steps to the side, letting me walk through the front door.
“Don’t come back.”
I don’t bother to answer him.
There is nothing left to say, but there is one last thing that I have to do.
The sun is rising over the mountains when I finally reach the house that was supposed to be mine.
It is the one thing my mother promised I could have.
She told me that it would be my safe haven, a place to run to if I ever got into trouble, and now it belongs to the one person who has caused all of my trouble. This chapter was copied from novelping(.)com without permission.
I stand in the front yard and stare at the beautiful white house with blue shutters.
I would rather see it burn than let it belong to Serene.
I break the glass on the front door and let myself in.
It is just as I remember.
This place holds so many memories, both good and bad.
Slowly, I make my way to the kitchen and turn on the gas range.
It burns a faint blue color until I turn the dials all the way up.
I grab whatever papers I can find and toss them onto the stove.
It only takes a moment for the fire to spread.
It inches its way across the counters and then onto the floor.
I watch the flames in a trance before I turn to leave.
I would rather destroy every memory in this place than let my enemies own them.
The fire crackles loudly behind me as I step out of the house.
There is a sense of freedom in what I have just done.
It is like I have destroyed the chains that held me down, that bound me to the Moonclaw Pack.
I draw in a deep breath.
It is filled with the scent of burning wood, but underneath it, there is something else.
Blood.
My eyes scan the yard, and that’s when I see him.
The good Samaritan who saved me from the rogue that would have surely taken my life.
He is lying face down in the grass with blood oozing from wounds in his side.
I am tempted to walk away, but he saved me that night in the forest.
I kind of owe him my life.
“Shit,” I mutter as I walk over to his body.