Nala.
“Nala!” Screamed my mother from across the sitting room, where she and my father were hosting a few elite members of our pack for a little get-together.
I was in the kitchen putting a final touch on all the meals, drinks, and desserts that I had prepared for the event.
I immediately left all that I was doing to walk in her direction.
My father is the alpha of the Little Moon Beam pack, just like its name, we are a small pack of less than two hundred pack members.
We are not exactly what you would call a rich pack, but neither are we poor.
I am the last child of my parent's four kids, we have two older brothers, who have been mated and long moved out. And an elder sister, who is yet to find her mate and still living with us at the house.
It had become a tradition for parties to be organized almost every week in our pack house, even though I most times don't understand why such parties are being held.
I hurried towards my mom to find out what she needed me for, but as soon as I was close to her, she flinched her nostrils while sizing me up like a piece of trash.
“What's that smell?” She questioned, holding her nostrils like she just smelt sometime horrible.
I knew better than to answer her, as I just stood there waiting for her instructions.
The next day was my eighteenth year birthday, so haven't lived all my life with my mother, I was used to that type of treatment from her and everyone around me.
She is overly dramatic and an attention seeker who would do whatever it takes to put you down in front of others in other to feel cool with herself.
She was so cool with herself that she didn't fail to reproduce one of her kind, in the person of my sister, Kylie. Two years my senior and the biggest bully of my life.
Normally, people tell stories of how they were being bullied and body shamed by outsiders, but in my case, I was bullied by my family.
Back in school, I was called the pack pig because of my size, and even now, some people still find it hard to believe that I am the alpha's daughter, due to the way I am treated.
Even though I lived with both of my parents, I lived like a maid, I did the chores and laundry and everything else that needed to be done.
If not that I was so certain that they were my parents, I would have thought otherwise because of their actions toward me.
I had tried asking them countless times in the past to tell me if they were not my real parents, but they have continually accepted me as their child. And I most times don't understand why I was not being treated as one.
“Have you bathed today?” She questioned, batting her eyelashes at me.
“Yes, I have,” I answered, subconsciously looking around to see if anyone was hearing our conversation because of how embarrassed I was.
I bathed first thing when I woke up this morning because I knew that was the only opportunity I might ever get.
“Oh, I didn't notice,” she said, taking her hand off her nostrils.
My mom is a beautiful blonde-haired woman, with a peculiar sense of taste and style.
“Is everything ready? I mean, the food, drinks, and the desserts,” she asked, admiring her jewelry and the new set of pedicures she only just did yesterday.
“Yes, Mom,” I answered her.
“Good. Now make sure that every guest is served, and you don't make a fool of yourself in their presence. Don't speak to anyone unless you are spoken to, is that clear,” she questioned with a stern voice.
“Yes, Mom,” I answered, and I was about to turn to head back to the kitchen when Kylie, my elder sister, walked in.
She was looking glamorous in her sparkling silver dress that perfectly defined her shape, nicely done makeup, and beautiful silver-heeled shoes to compliment her look.
Kylie was two years my senior, she was what you may call the trophy daughter of our family as she is beautiful with the perfect slender stature, perfect modeling face, nice long blonde hair, and beautiful gap teeth.
And I was her complete opposite.
I was thick, brown long hair and a face that constantly struggles with aches and discoloration. So, I was not exactly what you might call beautiful, and Kylie never failed to remind me of that fact every single day.
I was always quiet and people took advantage of that fact to hurt me, so now I have decided to speak up and defend myself since no one was going to do that for me.
But there are moments when I let my defenses down, not because I was weak or anything, but because some of those taunting words cannot easily be put off.
Especially when they are said by the people who are supposed to love and protect you.
Kylie was considered the most beautiful girl in our pack, and she didn't fail to rub the fact that I can never be like her in my face.
“I hope you don't eat up the whole meal and act innocent afterward,” she spurred at me with a haunting smile.
I let out a puff sound while rolling my eyes heavenly as I made a move to return to the kitchen.
If food was what made me chubby, I would be skinnier than a church rat. Despite enjoying cooking, I do not enjoy eating. Please don't get me wrong, I do eat, but not in the way people believe that I do.
If anything, Kylie eats more than me, but you never see it on her. She never adds any weight, which makes me wonder where she stores all the food that she eats.
Honestly, it is not that I wanted to be like her or anything, but I wish people just learn to accept me the way I am.
What if I don't have the perfect model shape, what if I wear a size sixteen at the age of seventeen? I wonder why people can't just let me be. Not everyone has to be skinny to fit in, thick girls do deserve a little space to breathe.
My mother once said that making me do all the chores at home was a way to keep me trimmed. But, I know she is using that as an excuse because since she got to know that I liked helping around the house, they fired our previous maid and asked me to fill in until they could find someone else.
It's been close to two years now.
I told them that I would like to continue my education in college, but they said that it was no use. They said that since I was always complaining about being bullied in high school. And that the bullying would be worst in college.
They completely made it sound like I was bullied by strangers and not their favorite daughter.
I had long decided that I would be going rogue after my eighteenth-year birthday.
No. Not because I am waiting to get my wolf, I had my wolf when I was twelve. Although my family is not aware, somewhere in their sick minds, they believe I cannot get a wolf because of my size.
So, when I did, I didn't tell them, especially when I discovered that sparkle was a little different from the other wolves I had seen.
Sparkle is a black wolf with silver stripes, she is very nice but, at the same time, temperamental.
“Hey, watch it, I can hear you,” she whined up in my head.
“Sorry, I thought you were sleeping,” I replied to her with a little chuckle.
“Yeah, right,” she said dramatically, before blocking me out.
The reason I was still with my parents was because I was a little hopeful that I might find my mate, even though I was uncertain if he would accept or reject me at first sight.
Hopefully, he doesn't reject me. I have always wanted to have a mate to take good care of me and tell me I was beautiful despite my outward attributes.
Someone to make me feel loved. Is that too much to ask for?
The party was going fine, people were eating, drinking, and dancing, and everything appeared perfect until it suddenly wasn't.
You could almost feel the atmosphere change the moment he walked into the party alongside his beta and guards.
“Is that not alpha Tyron?”
“What is he doing here?”
“What does he want?”
I could hear our guests frightfully whisper among themselves.
If truly the man who just walked into our party was alpha Tyron, then one should be worried about his presence.
Alpha Tyron was the alpha of the Bloodhound pack, a notorious pack known for waging wars against smaller packs and forcing them to become allies with him.
From the rumors we have heard, he is a very brutal man, and there has been speculation that he murdered his first mate in cold blood.
I have never seen him before, but if truly he is the same alpha Tyron we have heard about, then we are in big trouble.
Even though I could not make out his distinctive facial features from where I stood. I could tell that he was a tall man, or maybe it is because I was only 5.6 feet (1.71 meters) tall, so I tend to see everyone exceeding that height as a giant.
I could see his beta move to speak with my father, who had suddenly become very hot and frightened by Tyron's presence.
My father smiled nervously as he nodded his head to whatever the Beta was saying to him.
I could tell that my father was in some sort of trouble, but I couldn't tell what the trouble might be.
I instinctively started walking in Tyron's direction with the tray of drinks in my hands.
I honestly wasn't thinking what my intentions were, but I was hoping that whatever reason may have made Alpha Tyron come to our packhouse, he may have a change of heart after tasting my homemade strawberry Daiquiri.
What I wasn't expecting was to be gripped tightly by a hand that I later discovered belonged to my mother.
“Go into the kitchen and stay in there, before you come and complicate things for your father and me,” she sneered at me.
Even though I felt a little disappointed that she was stopping me from placating the big bad alpha, I was a little glad that she hadn't sent me back to my room.
Being in the kitchen allows me to hear everything that going to be discussed with the crowd present.
“Good evening all, please, this party has come to a close. I will advise everyone to leave now,” I heard the Beta say to the little crowd.
And within seconds, our sitting room was empty, leaving behind just my parents, Kylie, Alpha Tyron, his Beta, and his bodyguards.
I noticed that the full lights in the sitting room were turned on, and I wished I could peep to see his face.
“Where is my money?” I heard a strong, husky voice ask my father in a dominating voice.