Layla's POVI petrified. For a brief moment, my mind was completely blank. On the one hand, I wanted to persuade myself to believe that the old man in front of me was still my father and he must have gone insane. None of what he had just said was true. On the other hand, I knew every single word of what he said was the truth. My world started spinning. I had to lean against the wall to remain standing. For all these years, my life was nothing but a hoax. Everyone in my life either abandoned, hurt, or hated me, even though they were well aware of the fact that I hadn't done anything wrong. And they made me feel it was all my fault. None of them had even bothered to give me a chance.As I was taken aback by this shocking news, the door opened. A slim figure walked into the room. "Rosalie?!" My father cried out hysterically. "You're still alive!" The coquettish woman standing in front of me was my aunt and stepmother Rosalie. "Yes, Derek." Rosalie took a glance at me and said
Layla's POV"Layla. Put the rose into the casket and bid goodbye to your mother."I lifted my head and saw the dark, solemn, and motionless face of my father. My mother, Luna of the Kingfisher Pack, the only legally wedded wife of my father, Alpha Derek, lay frozen in her gold-plated casket. The first drop of rain fell on my mother's pale, lifeless face. It stayed there as if it was her tear. I wondered why she wouldn't wipe it off her face, as if she would always do it when she was left alone in her tent at night.The rain poured down relentlessly, each droplet falling heavily from the gray sky. It was as if the heavens themselves were mourning the loss of a cherished soul. I stretched out my arm, trying to touch her face, but I was held up by a giant pair of hands. It was the hands of my father. He picked me up in his arms. "Your mother is dead, Layla," he said in a smokey, distant voice. I was only six years old at that time. I was too young to conceptualize what death was,
Layla's POVAgainst the fire and smoke in the background, a boy's figure slowly emerged. He looked a bit older and much taller than me, wearing a drenching wet black cloak embroidered with patterns in gold threads. I couldn't tell what material this cloak was made of, but it looked extremely sophisticated and expensive. All the werewolves I had met were either wearing ragged shirts or uniforms.I had never seen a man wearing such a beautiful cloak before.But the thing that really impressed me was his honey-colored eyes. I had never seen any werewolves who possessed a pair of eyes in that color. They looked exotic and dangerous. In a dark forest with fire, rain, and smoke, they were sparkling like liquid amber. "Why do you look at me like that?" The boy asked, taking a step forward. His dark, tousled hair fell in charming disarray across his forehead. I was surprised by his sudden approach, so I flinched and bumped into a tree behind me, almost losing my balance. Just before I f
Layla's POV"I... I... don't cry a lot..." I choked with sobs. I lifted my head to look at the boy. Tears blurred my views, so I had wipe them off with my sleeves.I thought the boy would walk away and leave me alone, but he didn't. Instead, he moved a bit closer to me, so I could lean on his shoulder. "OK, there, there. Everything will be alright." He mumbled in seemingly the softest voice he could do. Is he comforting his brother like this when he's crying? I thought to myself. I didn't want to lean against an enemy, but he was like a magnet that pulled me toward him. It took me a while before I figured out that this vampire boy was genuinely concerned about me.So I blew my nose and muttered, "My mother passed away today..."He sighed, gently patting my back while looking for something in his pocket. Then, he pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to me.I had never seen someone carrying a handkerchief around. I looked at him with an incredible look on my face. "Have it."
Layla's POVI couldn't remember what had happened to me later on that day.Everything was blurred by my tears and I didn't even bother to wipe them off. It seemed that I was found by some werewolf soldiers on patrol. They recognized me and took me to my father's place. I was locked up in a room and grounded. I couldn't remember the experience of imprisonment clearly, either, because I was too frightened and scared. I would wake up, think of my mother, cry my heart out until I was exhausted, and then, I would pass out. Whether I was awake or not, I would always keep that silver bullet in my hand. By holding it, I had the feeling that I was lying in that vampire boy's arms. Whenever I woke up at night, I would secretly hope that the vampire boy would come back and rescue me. When I finally managed to close my eyes and go back to sleep, the only thing I saw was his honey-colored eyes, which were filled with pain and sorrow.Then, I would wake up again because of the nightmare. T
Layla's POVIt is said that time flies past without leaving a trace.Just like time, the boy flew past my life, without leaving a trace except for the silver bullet that he gave to me. I wore the silver bullet on my neck as the boy told me. I covered it carefully with the collar of my shirt to conceal it and secretly kissed it goodnight before I fell to sleep. I didn't want anyone in our pack to see it, because the connection between me and this bullet pedant was so personal and intimate. Nobody in my pack looked at me anyway. I was a redundant, pathetic motherless she-wolf who was less favored by my father and the Moon Goddess. Some werewolves even claimed that I was cursed and doomed to bring bad luck to our pack. It was very obvious that my aunt Rosalie was the source of this rumor, but nobody seemed to care about challenging her or defending me. The rumor especially went viral after my father married Rosalie. And my father's new Luna forbade anyone to refer to me as the daugh
Layla's POV"Fuck! Let's run!" Zion screamed as he tried to run in the other direction away from our town. "Are you serious?" I grabbed Zion and stared at him with an incredible look on my face. "Our town is under attack by vampires. Our subjects are trapped in the town. Your Alpha is in the town. Your own mother is in the town. Are you trying to run away just like that?" "Shut up you stupid bitch!" Zion raised his voice. His voice became high-pitched when he was afraid. "We can't fight those vampires! They are way more powerful than us! And have you heard of the Vampire King? Nephrite Buchanan? He became mad when his parents were executed by our Lycan King and swore to kill every single werewolf on earth! He defeated the Lycan King's Royal Army! He forced Lycan King to kill himself for fuck's sake! We're the only existing werewolf pack and now he's coming at us! Do you think that you're more powerful than the Lycans?! You're a fucking she-wolf that can't even shift into a wolf! How
Layla's POV"You've killed him! You've murdered Mick!" I stood up with clenched fists and eyes ablaze. I felt that my spirit was shattered by this unthinkable crime. At the same time, fear accumulated in my heart. I had to bite my lips to control the torrent of emotions that swirled within me. "Fuck yeah, I did it." Zion approached me with the gun in his hands, gloating. He kicked Mick's body and said, "Isn't betrayal disappointing? Only dead people will never betray us, little cuz.""Don't touch him!" I raised my voice. My fear and vengeance transformed into anger, so I abruptly pushed him away from Mick's body.Zion grabbed my hand and roughly pulled me toward him. "What do you think you're doing, little whore? Hadn't your retarded human mother talked some common sense into your dumb head? Don't mess up with a man who's holding a gun in his hand!" "Let go of me!" I shouted in the crucible of my anger, trying to break away from his control.But I couldn't do it. He was twice my