Chapter One: Lyla

I wake up to my alarm blaring. It's 7am and I'm exhausted. I want nothing more than to stay in bed, but I know what will happen if I do. Brad will beat me and starve me for a few days. I don't want that to happen so I slowly climb out of bed.

I get dressed in black leggings and a gray sweatshirt. I don't bother looking in the mirror. I know all my bruises will just stare back at me.

Quietly as I can, I make my way downstairs. Brad wakes up at 8am. That gives me 45 minutes to make downstairs as clean as possible and make him breakfast. After 17 years of living like this, I know how to clean and make breakfast in under a half an hour. That gives me 15 minutes of bliss to eat my own breakfast.

"You son of a bitch!"

I turn at the sound of Brad's voice filling the kitchen. In horror, I slowly back away from an infuriated Brad.

"How dare you steal some of my fucking breakfast! You are going to pay when you get home from school."

"I'm sorry", I mutter. "I was just so hungry".

"How could you possibly be hungry, you're fat as a house" Brad exclaims.

He slaps me across the face and kicks me to the ground.

"I'm done dealing with your bullshit. Damian is going to handle you this time".

Oh no. Not Damian. He's so creepy and evil. He'll kill me for sure, I think to myself. Well, at least you'll be out of your misery.

"Don't you dare think about telling anyone about this at school" Brad says. "If you so much as think about talking to your friends, I'll know."

"I don't have any friends, I swear. I won't talk to anyone."

I slowly get off the floor and run upstairs to cover my fresh bruise with concealer. I walk back downstairs and manage to slip out of the pack house without drawing anymore unwanted attention.

As I walk to school, the heavens open up above me and it starts to pour. How can this be my life? I wonder to myself.

I was a happy kid. My family was just my parents and me. We were part of the Sunset Pack. One tragic day, my parents got into a car accident, and just like that my whole world changed. Now an orphan, Brad, the Alpha of the Sunset Pack decided to treat me like his own personal servant. When I got old enough to know that my life wasn't normal, around eleven, I talked back to Brad. That's when the beating started.

At this point, I've accepted that my life will be like this forever. Either I'll die from abuse or I'll do the deed myself.

I got to school dripping wet. When I sat down in first period, everyone laughed at me. Well at least Brad won't have to worry about my so-called friends. The teacher got on with the day's lesson, and I did my best to stay invisible.