Chapter 1

Samantha POV

I could feel my palm getting sweatier the closer I got to the ballroom. She never asked to see me, ever. I couldn't believe how nervous I felt. Taking in lungsful of calming breath I walked into the garishly decorated ballroom and stood patiently until she saw me. I could see she was busy so this must be something important.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN THIS ROOM YOU PATHETIC WRETCH" was all I heard before feeling a hard slap across my face. I looked up into the angry face of my Stepmother, Charlotte Foster. I was rooted to the spot, a frown of confusion on my face.

"WELL, ANSWER ME GIRL" she spat out.

"I was told you were looking for me," I said quietly. Too afraid to do or say anything else.

The look of sheer hatred that crossed her face before she managed to hide it was terrifying. My stepmother pulled at my arm and dragged me out of the ballroom. As she had a wolf, she was a lot stronger than I so it hurt a lot.

Holding my, now injured arm I backed away until my back hit one of the giant vases that were positioned on either side of the ballroom entrance.

I was taller than her, but she still managed to shove her face close to mine as she hissed at me spitting saliva all over my neck and chin.

"Listen well girl. I will never, and I mean never call for you to come to me. You are the lowest ranked wolf in this pack, and it is below my station to have to look at you, let alone speak to you." Her chest was heaving with the malice coming off her. "NOW, GET. OUT"

I fled, running through the halls of the pack house trying to get to the kitchen as fast as I could. My heart was beating out of my chest and as much as I tried to stop them, tears streamed down my face. How could I have been so naive as to listen to him? As I thought that, the man in question came into view. He was leaning against the wall just left of the kitchen door. Of course, he would know where I would run to. I shook my head sadly as I came face to face with my stepbrother, Simon Foster. "That was cruel." I said, glaring at him. All he did was laugh in my face.

"Well, I thought it was hysterical." then slapped my face in the same spot where his mother had struck me not a moment ago.

"That was for talking to me before I had addressed you. You know my rules, Sis. You only get to speak to me if I speak to you first".

As he finished speaking, he poked his finger against a china plant pot that housed a magnificent Bonsai tree that had belonged to our father. I watched in horror as he kept poking it, all the while looking at my stricken face until it crashed to the floor and shattered into hundreds of sharp china shards.

"Now look what you've done, you pathetic girl." he screamed, and he too hit me across the face again. With that, he spun on his heel and walked away with a disgusting smirk on his pompous face.

My face was so painful now I was sure it was bruised; I covered the side of my face with some hair and rushed into the kitchen to get my cleaning supplies. I dread to think what would happen to me if the stepmother were to see this mess. I looked around surreptitiously, not wanting to catch anyone's eye. I thought I had gotten away with it when I managed to remove the dustpan and brush, closing the door I turned to leave when a loud voice stopped me short.

"Hold it, Missy. Come here!" When I made no move towards the voice it spoke again. "CARL.” Was all it said then I was plucked off the ground and deposited on a stool in front of a robust-looking woman who usually wore a tender and loving face when looking at me. But now had the look of a barely contained Rottweiler.

"LET ME SEE." she clipped out, and I shook my head. I heard a sigh then felt a hand very gently touch mine.

"Sweetheart, please let me see." This was said in a much gentler tone, so I lifted my head and heard the woman gasp. Then she started swearing like a sailor on shore leave. "I'll Kill them, I'll fucking kill them. Which one of the fuckers did it this time. No, don't tell me, it was that simple Simon, wasn't it?

Carl, who still had a comforting arm around my shoulders squeezed them and added, "Who Was It, Sam?".

sighing defeatedly I knew I would have to say sooner rather than later.

"It was both of them today." I whispered. Then flinched as a pot was picked up from the hob and hurled across the room.

"Elsie, calm down. You are scaring Sam." Carl scolded and like a balloon losing air all the fight went out of Elsie. Rushing back to me whilst barking orders to Carl I was momentarily unable to breathe as I found my face being squashed by a very ample bosom.

Elsie let go, which was lucky as I only had a few seconds of air left and started to inspect my face. Tutting at no one. she took the first aid kit off Carl and started tending to my swollen face.

I felt Carl's warm hand rest on my shoulder. "Do you want to tell us why this happened".

I shrugged my shoulders. "Simon thought it would be funny to tell me Charlotte was asking for me. You can imagine what happened when I arrived at the ballroom."

I carried on telling them as Elsie handed me a cup of tea and sat in front of me on another stool. She was shaking her head sadly and had tears in her eyes.

"No one should have to live like this Sweetheart. You need to start writing your letters to the different packs, especially if you want to go to an American pack". Carl, who still stood by my side nodded his agreement.

"What good would sending letters out now, would do? I cannot leave here for another year. If I got accepted into a pack it would be torture to have to wait out the time here. I will do it, I promise." I say looking at them both.

Elsie and Carl.

The only true family I have in this shit hole I call home. They were not just the housekeeper and Elite warrior trainer; they were my educators and fight instructors. If it was left completely up the the Stepmother and Stepbrother, whom I referred to as 'The Steps’. I would have been left with only a ten-year-olds education as I was pulled out of school as soon as my father had passed away, nine years ago.

Elsie taught me English and maths, the history of werewolves and even taught me to sew my own clothes. Of course, to be able to sew clothes you need material, and I never had any. I remember once, Elsie had found some old curtains, not pretty but I made myself a new skirt out of it. I was so proud of it, I wore it, and some made fun of me, but I didn't care. It was something new and I loved it. I didn't have it long though, Simon noticed me wearing it and as I was only 13 at the time, had no trouble ripping it off me as he laughed at how ugly I was. I didn't do anything else after that.

My father used to say.

“You live, you learn.”

and that is exactly what I have done since his passing. I miss him every day. He was a strong Alpha; a respected Alpha and we were a strong pack. I never understood how he became sick as fast as he did, and nobody could tell me why. But sick he got, I know I was only 10, but the memory of that horrid day is seared into my brain. How he asked to see me, how he told me to be brave, how he told me to mind my stepmother. I was not with him when he passed, only my stepmother was there.

Elsie handing me a basket of freshly baked bread and cakes shook me out of my memories. Thanking both Elsie and Carl I hurried up the back staircase that led off from the kitchen. Once I reached the first floor I scurried as fast as I could to my little room and locked and bolted the door. Placing the basket of food on the small table in the corner.

I saw a scrap piece of paper tucked in with the bread and picked it up, I turned and walked over to the mirror shard I had pulled from a skip a few years ago and looked at the damage to my face. You could see a clear handprint on either side of my face which was still swollen. My right eye looked red and swollen too. I felt tears in my eyes but stopped them from falling. I held out the piece of paper and saw Carl's scrawl upon it, it only said one word, but it was enough.

I stared back at my reflection and started to say the words Carl had taught me so many years ago

"I am an Alpha's daughter"

;"I am strong and fierce."

;"I have the heart of a champion."

I added a few new words to the mantra I had said to myself for as long as I could remember, squaring my shoulders I spoke to the mirror again

; I only need to put up with another 12 months.

; “I will leave this place and never return."

; I will find my mate and finally know what love is like."

“I am Samantha Foster, and one day soon I will make them all pay".