Chapter 6

Eero's perspective

"A d-damn whore? I am your daughter, mom! How can you insult me like that? I know I'm never your favorite, but really, mom? Even when you caught Trevor and Serra red-handed, you'd still toss the blame on me?"

Anger sparked in her eyes as she cut the distance between us within just one step. Then she taunted me with her finger.

"My daughter? Do you know what I hate hearing the most? Do you know I've kept begging the Moon Goddess to be merciful, so I wouldn't hear those words anymore?"

Luna Vera probably had saw the pain that crossed my eyes, because I noticed that she made a subtle nod.

"Yes, those words. I hate hearing you call me mother. I hate it whenever I'm reminded that you're my daughter, because you bring nothing but disgrace to our family. You should have died that night. We shouldn't have taken care of you. If only I knew you'd always cause us trouble, I would have chosen to abandon you that day!" She said between gritted teeth.

There was no trace of her snapping back to reality, even as the silence continued to loom over all of us.

I came to realize that she didn't say those out of anger. She said that simply because she meant it. My mother hated me. To the deepest!

Those words kept ringing in my head. They hurt so much that I had to cover my ears and shake my head hard, so that I could get rid of them out of my head and wouldn't hear them anymore.

"I don't understand. Why do you hate me this much? All my life, I've been trying to please you. I'm bleeding dry to please you! Yet you hate me so much, as if I'm not your daughter!"

"I hate you because-"

"Vera!" Alpha Ameo's thunder-like voice roared in the dungeon. He flashed a warning look at his Luna, which made her and her wolf cower.

Luna Vera took a step back as Alpha walked inside my prison cell.

Disappointment surfaced in his eyes. Although he wasn't aware of what really had happened yet, I could feel that he didn't want to know why I looked like that.

"Alpha Claudius and his beta are on their way here from the Bloodmoon Pack," he said, and then glanced at me.

I could tell that they all got the flow of the ongoing conversation immediately, with me as the only one having no idea about what was going on.

"You'll make Eero look at least half decent in front of our guests, right?" Alpha Ameo turned to his wife.

No one bothered to explain anything to me even when I was throwing a questioning look at them. Until my eyes clashed with those of Serra.

"Oh, you didn't know it yet? The cruel Alpha Claudius is coming to pick you up today." She giggled evilly.

"Alpha Claudius? Who is this Alpha you're talking about? Why does he pick me up? D-Dad, what does she mean?" My eyes darted to my father as an unknown fear rose in my system.

"Oh my dear sister! Do you think I'm just making a bluff?" Serra hummed near by ear before turning to Alpha Ameo. "How am I supposed to explain this to her, dad? Never mind, let me just do you this favor."

She continued straightforwardly before our father even said anything.

"I cannot believe you don't even know Alpha Claudius, Eero. He's not only Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack, but the Alpha King! The Alpha of all Alphas! After coming into the throne of Blood Moon, he has been winning glory to his pack, reputed as the strongest and smartest Alpha in this region. None of these achievements would be possible without his iron-fisted and cruel ruling style. Back when our pack was at the height of our glorious days, Blood Moon was just like a speck of dust against us. But oh well..." Serra trailed off and stopped continuing, leaving me hanging in a thread of curiosity.

"Things changed. We have to please him and his pack, so that he wouldn't attack and wipe us out."

Now my confusion had all got cleared up.

"You're sending me to Alpha Claudius in order to please him?!" I turned to my father in disbelief, hoping to get a negative answer from him.

"You cannot do that, dad! I'm not a slave or an omega. I am your daughter! The princess of Moon River! You cannot just send me away!" My legs gave in involuntarily. "If I had to serve an Alpha, I would rather serve you, dad!"

"Oh, don't worry about that, Eero. We won't send you away as a slave. Alpha Claudius is here picking you up as his breeder."