Chapter 4

Layla's POV

I 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. 

This vicious cycle had been going on and on for almost a week, before the door on the wall was abruptly pushed open and my aunt Rosalie rushed into the room. 

It was then that my nightmare truly started. 

She might have scolded me for not being cooperative. I couldn't really remember, because she banged my head against the wall and screamed at me. 

I was too weak to fight back because I had been starving for a whole week. 

After gaining consciousness, I saw Rosalie standing in front of me, with her arm shot out like a viper's strike, and then her open palm collided with my cheek. 

The slap echoed through the room, and I staggered backward with my hand cradling my reddened skin. 

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. 

I was determined not to give my tormentor the satisfaction of witnessing my pain and weakness. 

"Don't you ever try to run away again, you little brat! I will cut off both your arms and feet before feeding you to a bear! Did you hear me?!" 

I didn't reply, rubbing my cheek. 

She raised her hand high, and this time she slapped my head. 

I covered my head with both of my hands. 

"I'm talking to you! Did you hear me?! Are you deaf?!" Rosalie pulled my hair to force me to look at her. 

The lines on her forehead were etched deep, giving away her true age hidden behind the heavy makeup. Her eyes, filled with resentment, were like sharp knives, peeling my skull. 

"Stop doing it! Stop!" I used all my effort to push her away from me. 

Rosalie didn't see it coming, so she staggered back and almost lost her balance.

"Did you just have physical contact with me?! How dare you! You dirty little half-blood!" she hissed. 

She used to call me by all sorts of names, but the word "half-blood" was her favorite. 

My mother was a human being, but my father was a werewolf.

Cross-species marriage was unblessed and forbidden among werewolves. 

Rosalie was especially cynical about human beings because her own mother was a human being. 

The thing is, when a human being gets married to a werewolf, there is a 50/50 percent chance that their child will either be a human being or a werewolf. But when these children grow up and get married to werewolves, they will give birth to half-blood offspring. 

My mother was the human being in her family, whereas Rosalie turned out to be a werewolf, just like her father. 

Having been jealous of my mother ever since she was a little girl, Rosalie had all the reasons in the world to hate me, who was a dirty half-blood, a freak. 

Rosalie grabbed my arms and pulled me up in the air like a rabbit. 

Then, she tossed me with force to the hard surface of the floor. 

"Don't you ever touch me again, you dirty, filthy bitch!" She kicked me in my back.

I wiped off the blood on my face. To my surprise, the bleeding didn't stop.

It was weird because, in the past, my wounds always healed themselves. 

I freaked out, but I didn't show it. 

Instead, I said in a calm voice, "I need to get out of here. I demand to see my father immediately."

"You will never see your father again!" Rosalie's body arched as if she was about to attack and her slender fingers coiled into a fist.

Then, she suddenly stretched out her arm in front of me and forced me to look at the ring on her ring finger. 

"Have you seen it? This is a wedding ring! I have just got married to your father. That makes me your stepmother and the Luna of our pack! It makes you my stepdaughter and my subject! I can basically do whatever I want to you, and nobody will say no." 

I was completely shocked. The fact that my father married my aunt within a few days after my mother's death was appalling and outlandish.

My father loved my mother! He would never easily get over the sadness of losing my mother! 

As I was thinking to myself, a malicious grin appeared on Rosalie's twisted face. 

"When your mother was still alive, I would always reassure her that if one day, you were my child, I would take good care of you." Then, her eyes narrowed. "You know what? I lied. I'm not going to take care of you. I'm going to slowly torture you and make your life miserable for every single day in your life! Now stand up and get your lazy ass out of this room. You will help out in the kitchen and clean the stables from now on!"

"You can't do this to me! I'm the daughter of Alpha in our pack..." I didn't finish my words before Rosalie slapped me again.

Then, she choked my neck with both of her hands and said, "You're nothing but a filthy, motherless little whore! Just like your mother, you're weak. Look at you! You can't even heal yourself! Do you think your father, the almighty Alpha of the only surviving pack in the world, would admit having a daughter like you?! You're nothing but a disgrace to him! Don't you ever tell anyone about your identity! From now on, you're just a menial handmaid of mine! You do whatever I ask you to do! Do you understand?!"

When Rosalie slapped the door and stormed out of the room, I came to another brutal realization -

I will never see my father again.