CHAPTER ONE

Lyra's POV

I lifted the bucket of water and almost slipped on the wet grass on the hill, I was tired and my legs felt heavy, but I had been working since the early morning, my body felt wrecked and I was in pain had been since the last two weeks it had worsened even more when I had not been able to properly grieve my father or the loss of my pack.

I wanted so badly to believe that if I opened my eyes again I could be back home in the Crimson Moon pack where my father would be working with his Beta always ready to confront me about my evening escapades. He was gone now, so was my pack, and even if I could go back home none of them wanted anything to do with me.

I struggled with the water carrying it into the kitchen, the Blood Moon pack has the cruelest people it seemed and after the Alpha, Katrina was next in line, she had pale, blond hair and the palest blue eyes, and she never smiled, mostly preferred to bark at all the girls in the kitchen, I got the worst of it because I was an outcast.

A little water splashed on the floor as I dropped the canister to the floor, Katrina screeched aiming a wooden spoon at my head.

" Are you blind or fucking stupid" she hissed the spoon hit my forehead and fell to the floor, I picked it up and drew closer to her moving to hand her the spoon, my gaze caught his immediately, his staunch unyielding stare right at me as if he was wondering just what he should do with me. I gulped as he turned to Katrina, who apologized profusely like pouring water was some huge sin to commit.

He said nothing just ignored me and walked out of the kitchen.

I worked in the back the rest of the day, but the time it was dark with each individual cleaning up, I was tired and weak and my hands felt like a dry washcloth.

I huddled in my room slowly trying not to make any wound twitch more than the other.

I opened my door and closed it behind me softly, collapsing onto the cold floor have no one.

I am all alone.

Those were the words that rang through my heart and head as I sat in the empty basement room that was a little too good to be given to the servants and too shoddy to be given to the daughter of an Alpha.

I had believed for so long in my life that if I were kind enough, if I were good enough, if I were more sacrificing I would have all I needed to come to me.

That was a very big lie, at nineteen I was an orphan in a strange pack with a mate who didn't want me, abandoned by my pack mates and betrayed by the only man I had believed would help me.

I didn't like to think about Jasper, it was best my mind didn't even go to him at all.

A cold drafty wind blew into the room's only window, I shivered a little, I was cold but I was also hot. It was likely a fever but no one cared enough to give me any medicine and I was not going to try asking, Alpha Hades didn't like me and his Luna liked me even less.

I was a reminder of the woman who had been fated to her mate, and she was a stark reminder that I had been rejected by mine.

I lay on the thin sheet spread over the floor, I was tired and needed to get some sleep before tomorrow when I'd be forced to go to work, my room door opened and I stiffened at that scent, it was soft, smelling like cinnamon and smoke, it was Alpha Hades, I moved to sit up wincing at the pain that filled my back from the lashing at the kitchen a day earlier as well as the most recent injuries.

" Stay still" his gruff voice echoed across the room, my wolf – the traitorous little minx mewled mellowing out as I slid back to the floor.

I felt his presence behind me a dangerous thing as he slid down to where I was. He knelt there for a while saying nothing just looking at me in the darkness, then he ran his hands over me. I shivered at his touch soft and soothing and I struggled not to lean into his touch, the fact that he was here with me meant nothing. I could still remember the lashes of his words and their sting quite clearly.

He didn't want me here, the only reason he had brought me to his pack was so he could make me suffer and I knew that like I knew how to breathe.

But as he sat there saying nothing his breathing just steady enough to keep me calm I couldn't help but breathe in time with him. His hands moved away from my skin, and then he rubbed it against me, a warm salve. I hissed in pain a little bit, and his hands lightened.

" You should learn to speak only when spoken to" he muttered and I huffed.

"And why is that, so I can let people walk all over me" I asked, he sighed, rubbing still at my back, I pulled away from him sitting upright and looking into his eyes, he was just as handsome as I remembered, cook gray eyes that could be ruthless when he wanted them to be, his hair falling over his face. He didn't look as put together as he normally did, definitely not as rigid.

His palm strayed to my face, slowly reaching to cup cheek, I gulped as he palmed it, his hands warm, he leaned into me his cheek almost against mine like he was about to press a kiss to them, his hands dragged down the neck, gripping it tightly he inhaled deeply, his nose near my shoulder as my breath came in harsh pants that seemed impossible to control, then he muttered.

" So you don't get hurt little one, that's the best thing to do for yourself."

He pulled away from me his lips lingering over the corner of mine, for a brief second, and then he rose and stood there staring at me from that height.

" Get some rest" he offered gruffly and walked to the door, he pulled it open and walked out.

The door closed with a soft click behind it, I looked down and found two pills and a glass of water on a plate on the floor.