09/26/2025
Rania ran for her life. She didn’t dare to slow down, even though her legs were in pain, screaming at her to stop.
Her pursuer was so close. She couldn’t risk getting caught, it would be the end of her.
[Rania! Come back here!]
Her father’s voice boomed in her head, as he mind link her furiously. He was among the pursuer, including her stepbrother and the alpha’s son.
Armed with a dozen warriors of Black Stone pack, Rania’s chance to escape the pack was close to none. Still, she had to try. The border of the pack was so close, she could feel it.
Rania pumped her legs faster, begging the Moon Goddess to show her some miracle, as adrenaline rushed in her veins, numbing the pain from the belted branches and sharp edges of stones that cut her skin, as she ran through the forest.
A little bit more. A little bit more. She told herself.
Her backpack got caught in one of the branches, it halted her a bit, as the things inside spilled out, but Rania didn’t stop to collect them, instead she abandoned them entirely.
She could find a way to get new clothes, once she got out of this pack. There was nothing important for her right now, but to get out of this hellish place.
Unfortunately, Rania couldn’t shift yet. Most of the shifter would be able to shift once they turned eighteen and it was two days away for Rania.
But, she was not going to spend another second here, especially after what the alpha’s son; Caden, did to her.
[Rania, you are dead, if got my hand on you!]
Her father, beta Alaric, snarled viciously in her mind. She tried to close the mind link, but she didn’t have the strength to do it. Her father was too powerful.
So close. A little bit more. A little bit faster.
Her lungs were burning, but Rania forced her way through, as she could see the border of the Black Stone. Beyond this was Bloody Wolf pack.
This part of the border was not heavily guarded, therefore Rania chose to use this path for her escape.
A little bit more…
And there, Rania managed to cross the border of Black Stone pack. It was marked by a river that ran between the two pack. The river was shallow, so she could cross it with ease.
Once Rania was on the other side of the river, she collapsed on the ground, panted heavily, as her lungs tried to get the air greedily.
Every inch of her body was in pain, but she did it! She managed to cross the border.
On cue of an angry howl, Rania turned her body around and saw Caden and her stepbrother, Killian, shifted into the human form.
They were glaring at Rania because they couldn’t cross the border without permission. It could escalate into a conflict between two packs.
Rania also couldn’t stay there for long, warrior from the Bloody Wolf pack would notice there was a trespasser, and she would get into more trouble. She needed to go south, to the Solitary land, where no one owned the area and then moved further to the human habitation.
"Get back here, Rania!" Killian roared angrily, while Caden gnashed his teeth, and glared at Rania with killing intent in his eyes.
Rania wanted to curse at them, but she didn’t have the strength for that. She needed to keep moving.
Her body protested when she pushed herself from the ground, ready to run again when suddenly she was being tackled to the ground. Her heart leapt to her throat when she saw Caden pinned her.
"Do you think you can run away from me, little wolf?" Caden asked menacingly. He used his body weight to render Rania unable to move. "You are not going anywhere."
"You… you crossed the border." Rania breathed heavily. His knee pressed on her chest, which made her having a hard time to breath. It was very painful.
"Yeah, so did you." He smirked triumphantly.
From across the river, Rania saw her father shouted at Caden to go back to the other side of the border before the warrior from Black Stone pack caught them.
"Let’s go back. You are being very naughty tonight," Caden said, he grabbed Rania’s long, brown hair, as he stood up, making her yelped in pain. Her scalp was burning.
Caden was so cruel, he didn’t even give Rania time to stand up, as he started to move toward the river.
She was done for. They were going to kill her for her attempt to escape.
However, before they could return to the side of their pack, a dozen warriors from Black Stone pack surrounded them and their gamma shifted into his human form.
"Caden Black Stone," gamma Michael said his name deliberately slow. "I don’t know that you have permission to cross our pack." He glanced at Rania, but paid no mind on her.
"I am sorry, for the intrusion, but one of our pack members decided to be a little bit bold tonight. We caught her before she could bother your pack." Caden smiled, he seemed unbothered, his grip on Rania’s hair tightened.
Gamma Michael tilted his head at Rania, but he couldn’t see her face clearly, since her wavy hair covered half of her face.
"I can understand that, but rule is rule. There will be consequences for this."
"I understood." Caden nodded. "We can discuss this later, let me take this mutt back to my pack." He gave a shake to Rania’s head, while smiling harmlessly at the gamma. "I will invite you for a coffee to discuss about this."
"No, please… no, don’t send me back," Rania pleaded with the gamma, but he couldn’t care less about her.
Gamma Michael contemplated his decision before he nodded. "Take her, and leave. I will discuss this matter with my alpha." He looked at the other warrior from across the river.
"Thank you."
Chapter 2
"What do you think you are doing?!"
A harsh slap landed on Rania’s face. She curled herself on the cold floor of the dungeon. She didn’t make a noise, she stayed there and received the beating, just like she always did.
"You cause trouble for this pack!"
Beta Alaric raised his foot, he was ready to kick his daughter when he noticed she didn’t move. With a frown, he squatted down and brushed away the hair from her face.
She was still alive, breathing, but her eyes were dead. She stared at the far distance away, seemingly didn’t feel the pan anymore. This sight made the frown on the beta’s face deepened.
"Do you hear me?!" Alaric yelled at her, but she didn’t even flinch. "Rania!"
Someone entered the dungeon, and approached the beta. "My father summoned you to his office," Caden said, he glanced at Rania, who was laying motionlessly on the floor.
Alaric sighed deeply and then stood up, leaving the damp dungeon and his daughter behind, while Caden stayed.
Once they were alone, Caden squatted down. He gripped Rania’s chin, and looked at deep into her eyes. "I told you that I will ruin your life. How dare you running away from your punishment?"
Her dull eyes shifted when she saw Caden, her parched lips moved, as she spoke in a harsh voice. "I didn’t know where is my sister. I have told you."
"Liar!" Caden struck her face, so hard, Rania thought he snapped he neck.
Claire was Caden’s girlfriend. She was also Rania’s stepsister. She was five years older than Rania, and three years older than Killian.
The union between Caden and Claire should have been held a year ago, but a day before the union, Claire found her destined mate and she ran away with him, leaving Caden heartbroken. He turned the pain into violence, and needed someone to be blamed.
Rania was an easy target, since she was the pack’s black sheep, and also because she was the first person, who discovered that Claire had ran away.
Because of that, in Caden’s twisted mind, Rania must have helped Claire to run away. Ever since then, the abuse started.
No one dare to stand up against the alpha’s son, and Killian was more than willing to help Caden to destroy his stepsister, since he had been bullying Rania ever since beta Alaric had the union with his mother.
"Where is she?" Caden grabbed Rania’s front shirt, which tore it in the process. He closed his face to her. "You were going to escape to meet with her, right?"
"I don’t care about her, I am going to escape your abuse. This is a hel1." Rania felt the metallic blood in her tongue. She couldn’t heal herself, because she had not yet gotten her wolf.
The shifter healing ability started when they got their wolf, but some people got it earlier than that. Unfortunately, that was not the case with Rania. Therefore, she had to suffer from the pain that Alaric, Caden, and Killian inflicted on her.
"Oh, Rania. You don’t know what hel1 is." Caden chuckled derisively. "What happened to you in the past few days is nothing, but only the beginning. Unless, you tell me where is Claire, I will make your life more miserable than this. That’s a promise."
Caden then pushed Rania away, he wiped his hands on his pants, as if he just touched something very dirty that would make him sick.
He stared at the unconscious girl on the ground, his gaze held no warm, as he walked toward the door and slammed it shut.
On the other hand, Rania was too tired. She welcomed the darkness when it consumed her. Put the pain and her grievances at rest, until she could pick them up again.
However, Rania didn’t get to rest for long, because she was woken up when a bucket of cold water was pouring down her body. She yelped, and gasped loudly, she felt like she was drowning.
She immediately sat down and wiped the water from her face, as her body shivered. It was hard to tell what time it was, or how long she had been sleeping when there as no window in this dungeon. Everything was very dim, only a single lackluster bulb that illuminated this cell.
"Having a nice dream?" Killian chuckled. He threw the bucket that he used to fetch the cold water, and then squatted down in front of Rania. He was grinning from ear to ear, happy because he could see the pain in her eyes.
"What do you want?!" Rania wanted to scream at him, but she found her voice was very hoarse.
"Get up, father wants to talk with you." Killian stood up. He laughed mockingly when Rania had a hard time to stand up, he didn’t offer any help, which Rania didn’t expect to.
Without doubt, her father would want to talk about what happened last night, and like usual. He wouldn’t listen to her, and put the blame on her completely.
Therefore, it surprised Rania when Alaric didn’t lash out on her when she entered his study room. He dismissed Killian, who wanted to stay and listen to their conversation.
"Leave, Killian." There was authority in his voice, and this managed to chase his stepson away. "Sit down, Rania." He frowned when he saw how she drenched, her body was trembling slightly. "Why are you wet?"
Rania didn’t answer him. He wouldn’t care what happened to her, even when she told him what Killian had done. Rania had stopped expecting her father to stand up for her long time ago.
She was right when her father jumped to the main topic without even waiting for her answer.
"Because of the tantrum that you threw last night, our pack is in trouble with Bloody Wolf pack, and as your punishment, you will be demoted as a servant. You will cut ties with this family."
Hearing that, Rania laughed like crazy, which made Alaric furrowed his brows.
Chapter 3
"I don’t have a family. You stop being my father since five years ago." Rania lifted her head, she held back her tears. "I have been a servant in this house for years and you don’t even care. It doesn’t matter if they made me a servant now. I have become one since long time ago."
Alaric stared at his daughter, but he didn’t say anything. He knew that Clara and Killian used to tease her, but Rania was too sensitive, since she grew up without any siblings.
His daughter took joke from her stepsibling too seriously, while Killian and Clara wanted her to loosen up a little bit.
"Stop causing trouble, Rania. What you have done last night almost caused a conflict between two packs." Alaric sat down behind his desk, intertwined his fingers together, as if he was in deep thought. "The alpha is furious right now, I will talk to him again later when he calms down."
Rania didn’t care about that. "Can I go back to my room?" She was tired. She had not yet eaten anything since last night, and when she saw the clock, it was already evening. No wonder she was very hungry.
"Pack your belongings. You are going to move to the pack house to work there starting tomorrow."
Rania dragged her tired body back to her bedroom and collapsed on the bed. She didn’t even change her wet clothes. It was five hours away from midnight, where she would turn eighteen and got her wolf, but she was burned in fever instead.
The next day, she was still feverish when she packed her things. Someone must have retrieved the backpack that she left behind, but it was ripped and couldn’t be used anymore; therefore, she used another backpack.
Rania was born around eight o’clock, thus in norm, she wouldn’t get her wolf until that time. Usually, other people would celebrate this moment, since it was a huge milestone for a shifter, but here Rania was; no one even remembered her birthday.
"Happy birthday to me," Rania said to herself, as she hoisted the backpack and walked toward the door.
She didn’t want anyone yell at her to get out of this house, so she woke up very early, and registered herself to the pack house, once she saw the gamma of the pack.
"You should know better than to run away and cause our pack trouble," gamma Derek said with a sigh. He showed Rania her bedroom in the omega’s quarter, and left her alone.
The room was very small. A bed in one side of the wall, and a cabinet at the other, while her window was a small one with a deadbolt, so she couldn’t open it.
Rania put the backpack on the floor and sat down on her hard bed. She was slightly dizzy, her fever would get worse if she didn’t get a medicine.
She intended to go to the healer when someone entered the bedroom.
"You cost us a lot of money," Caden growled. His father got a phone call from alpha Xaden from the Bloody Wolf pack last night, and he was not happy with the trespassing. They agreed to meet this afternoon and alpha Xaden would come here personally.
"You should have let me leave the pack." Rania glared at Caden, but she lost her momentum, because she felt the room was spinning.
"And let you get the freedom that you want?" Caden scoffed "I am not going to be generous with you, Rania. You cost me my mate, you are going to stay in this pack to atone for your mistake."
"Leave me alone!" Rania screamed at him, but her voice came out hoarse.
But, instead Caden crossed the room with only two steps and grabbed her neck. His fingers wrapped around her windpipe tightly, he could crush it if he wanted to. Yet, at the same time, he could feel how her body was burning.
"Mind your tone when you talked to me," he growled viciously, and pushed Rania onto the bed. "It’s a pity that you are still very young." He lowered his face and kissed her neck, which made Rania dreaded with disgust. "I can do with you as your sister’s replacement."
"No…" Rania whimpered when Caden’s hand touched her inner thigh, she wanted to kick him away from her, but he was too strong. "Leave me alone."
"Soon, Rania. Soon." That was a promise. Caden wouldn’t leave her alone. "Once you come at age, I am going to break you even more."
It was a good thing that he didn’t know that today Rania had come to age, she was going to have her wolf. She was hopeful to find her mate, someone that could take her away from this hellish place.
"You will be my pleasure toy." Caden kissed her cheek and then straightened his back, which made Rania breathed in relief. "Soon, little wolf."
And after that, Caden left the room. When his presence disappeared, Rania curled herself on the bed. Forgot about finding the healer, she couldn’t bring herself out of the bed, and then fell asleep.
Rania woke up when her body was very hot, she was breathing heavily. The sky outside had turned very dark, which meant, this was the time. She was going to have her wolf.
Shifting for the first time would be difficult. In that case, there should be an adult wolf to assist her, but she didn’t have that luxury, which meant, Rania had to go through the whole painful process alone.
But, she couldn’t and suddenly, there was this sweet scent that hit her.
Mate!
This scent was very strong, and she couldn’t control herself when she got out of the bed, and started to search the source of the scent frantically, while figuring out how to shift for the first time.
Her feet took her to the alpha’s study room, and against her better judgment, she yanked it open.
Her mate was inside!
Chapter 4
Rania couldn’t believe it. The Moon Goddess must have hated her so much to give him as her mate. This man hated her to his core.
Inside the room, Rania’s focus was on Caden. The source of this intoxicating scent came from him. This strong pull that dragged her painful body was because of him, because her wolf recognized him as her mate.
"No way…" Rania breathed raggedly, her body sank to the floor. She didn’t have any energy to stand up. She was in the middle of her first shift too, everything was in pain.
"I don’t accept this!" Caden snarled. His fists balled tightly beside his body. He seemed to realize the gravity of the situation, and what was going on.
Inside the study room, not only there was Caden and his father, alpha Nicholas, but also there was alpha Xaden and her father; beta Alaric.
They gathered here to discuss about the trespassing that happened last night, but was interrupted when Caden became restless, and Rania entered the room.
For a long second that felt like forever, all of them were stunned to see her, but then when the realization finally dawned on them, they looked shock, because they didn’t expect this, especially the people in this Black Stone pack.
Rania was Caden’s destined mate. Her stepsister was his girlfriend, who ran away from the pack a year ago, and ever since then Caden blamed Rania and made her life miserable.
But now, he found out she was his destined mate.
"No. I don’t accept this." Once the shock worn down, anger replaced Caden’s demeanor. He felt humiliated, and without thinking twice, he rejected Rania right there and then.
There was no way he was going to accept her as his destined mate!
"I, Caden Black Stone, reject you as my mate. May our bond severe for good!" he said that loudly for everyone to hear. "I don’t accept you as my mate!"
Rania lifted her head, and stared at Caden in disbelief, but then there was no surprise here. She didn’t want to mate with the alpha’s son too.
The bully who gave her life a living he1l.
"I accept your rejection," Rania said weakly, her body collapsed to the ground, as the agony from the rejection mixed in with the pain from her first shift. She thought, she was going to die.
And the last thing she saw was her father rushed toward her with a worry expression. She wondered if he would lash out at her again for ruining their precious meeting…
***
When Rania woke up, she was in her bedroom, in the omega’s quarter, where her father was sitting on a chair next to her bed. Dark circled ringed his eyes, and when Rania regained her consciousness, he immediately approached her.
"How are you feeling?"
Rania looked around her, and the memory from what had happened hit her like a broken dam. Along with the memory, the pain returned. She was in so much pain. She didn’t remember if she managed to shift for the first time.
"What are you doing here?" Rania asked coldly. She avoided his father’s hands when he was about to touch her.
Alaric stopped his movement, his hands hung in the air awkwardly. "I forgot your birthday. I should be there to assist with your first shift."
"I will be surprise if you remembered."
"Rania. Stop throwing tantrum. You make things even more difficult with this attitude." Alaric looked like he had aged overnight.
"You stop caring about me long time ago, father." Rania pushed herself from the bed. She was dizzy, but her eyes fixed on her father, unfazed. "Leave alone like you always do."
Alaric opened his mouth, but then he clamped it again, as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t find the right word.
And in the end, he spoke in an even voice, as if he was giving a report. "You know the custom of this pack. A rejected mate will be a symbol of a bad luck, so the alpha will banish you. You are free to leave the pack."
Rania blinked her eyes. She didn’t get it at first, but when her father told her about the detail of what happened when she fainted, and how they didn’t want her anymore, because she was a rejected mate, they wanted her to be out of the pack before tomorrow.
It was a superstitious, but from the look of it, it was enough for the alpha to drive her away.
"You can leave the pack now." Alaric stood up, he walked toward the door, but before that, he dropped another bomb that made Rania understood why she felt so much pain aside from the rejection. "You didn’t go through the first shift smoothly. It weakens your wolf. You may lose it."
And after saying that, Alaric left Rania alone, while she was struggling with an abundant information that she got the moment she opened her eyes.
They wanted her to be gone now…
***
"I don’t care, father, she will not go anywhere. She will stay as a servant in the pack house!" Caden raised his voice when he refused to budge with his father’s decision to kick Rania out of their pack.
This was something that she wanted. This was the reason why they got into a trouble with alpha Xaden in the first place, but now they would give her what she wanted?
"You rejected her, she is a bad luck."
"That’s only a stupid superstitious!"
Caden was still reeling from the rejection. He did that out of impulse, but when he watched how Rania’s body crumbled after the rejection, he couldn’t get the image out of his mind.
She was sick. He was sure of that, because he felt how hot she was when he strangled her. Not to mention, last night was her first shift, such blow could kill her wolf, and now Caden couldn’t think of anything else, but her.
Chapter 5
"You are not going anywhere," Caden said sternly, as he snatched the backpack that Rania had prepared. She was going to leave when Caden suddenly barged into her room, and stopped her.
"Leave me alone," Rania gritted out the word, she was tired with him. "Why can’t you leave me alone?!"
"I will never leave you alone, I promised you that, didn’t I?" A malicious smile grazed his lips, and this made Rania felt her entire body was shaking with desperation.
She raised her hands and started to hit him. "Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" She was frustrated. Why would she be punished for something she didn’t do? Why did he hate her so much?
On the other hand, Caden was surprised by Rania’s outburst, but her punches were not even close to be painful. He easily caught both of her hands, and pushed her body against the cabinet.
She gasped loudly because of the pain, and struggled to free her hands from Caden’s grip, as he brought both of her hands on top of her head, and held them in place with one hand.
"You are not going anywhere, Rania. I will not allow you to leave."
"Why do you want to keep me?! You hate me, and I hate you!"
Caden grinned. "Because I love to see you miserable. You are miserable here, and I like it."
"You are insane! No wonder, Clara left you!" Rania was furious, she tried to kick him, but he pressed his body against hers instead, which rendered her unable to move.
However, with how close they were, Rania realized one thing; she could feel his hard on against her stomach, and this repulsed her.
He was turn on because of their argumentation? Rania couldn’t believe it. Her stomach felt so hot.
"Do you want to know what craziness is?" Caden asked, as he lowered his head and started licking her neck. "I promise you another thing, didn’t I?"
And Caden generously repeated what he said a day before.
"Once you came to age, I am going to break you even more."
When he finished saying that, he spun her body around and pushed her toward the bed. His intention was very clear from the lust in his eyes.
"What? What are you going to do?!" Rania scrambled to her feet, trying to get to the door, so she could leave, but Caden pushed her back to the bed easily.
"No! I don’t want this!" Rania screamed on the top of her lungs, but no one came to her rescue.
People heard her cry for help, but they turned deaf ears, because they knew who they would deal with. Even if they took pity on Rania, they didn’t want to get involved.
There were consequences that they didn’t want to take to be on the future alpha’s bad side.
Meanwhile, Rania’s cry could be heard for three hours straight, even until Caden left the room. You could still hear how she cried silently.
***
1 year later.
***
Today was an initiation day, where alpha Winter would step down from his position, and Caden would be the new alpha for the Black Stone pack.
He was twenty four years old, too young to be the alpha, but alpha Winter was too old to continue, and more so, alpha Caden had proven himself hat he was capable to lead the pack.
"Hm… red looks good on you," Caden said languidly, as he wiped the blood from Rania’s lips, because he bit her too hard.
She flinched when he caressed her cheek, and kissed her forehead before he got out of the bed.
One year to be Caden’s plaything had broken her spirit and soul, and now, she barely talked. Caden kept his promise. He broke her.
"Get me my breakfast in my room, I want to eat something before the ceremony." He gripped her chin, and lifted her head, so she would look at him. "Answer me when I spoke to you."
"Yes, alpha."
"Good." Caden leaned over and kissed her lips, gently this time, as he swept his tongue on the wound on her lip.
After that, Caden walked out of her bedroom and went to prepare himself. Today was a big day for him, and a good s3x last night with Rania improved his mood.
There were so many important people came, including the werewolf king.
Whenever a pack changed their leadership to a new alpha, the king would come to legitimize the claim of the alpha title.
Therefore, today was no different.
King Maximus. He was only twenty nine years old, but he had sat on the throne, since five years ago. Killing his way to be on top of his other sibling. He killed three of his brothers, who challenged him for this position.
Not only that, he also killed his father’s loyalist, who were against him. The first two years of his reign, it was bloody. There were so many people died in his hands.
And once a week, the palace would smell like burned flesh, as he killed all of the people, who even breathed wrongly near him.
Because of that, he was called as the Mad King. People also said, it was his karma for not having a destined mate because of his cruelty.
Even so, no one dare making a sound in his presence. Therefore, every event where he attended would be more reserved.
The king had electric blue eyes, which was very alluring, but no one dare to look at him in the eyes in more than a second longer.
Currently, the mad king came with his royal warriors. He was sitting higher than the other forty two alphas from forty two packs across this continent.
The ceremony went smoothly, and uneventfully…
However, in the middle of the speech, he stopped talking when he spotted a woman, wearing a uniform that meant for the omega, with her brown hair tied on top of her head.
She stared back at him.
