The Moon's Last Heiress

Chapter 1: A Life Built on Lies

"Run, daughter, run," Mom drags me to the basement and opens a hidden door in the floor. "Princess, I think they suspect who you are," she says, taking off her necklace and placing it around my neck. "Promise me, you'll never take this off."

"I promise, Mom," I say, scared.

"Daughter, listen to Mom, we don't have time. This necklace will protect you, but it will also prevent you from transforming into your wolf. It will hide your scent, but as a consequence, you won't be able to smell your destined mate. So this is very important, daughter. Only take off the necklace when the moon's chosen one and your protector come to you. Only take it off when you're sure you're safe and protected by people who love you," something breaks upstairs, and Mom hugs me, whispering, "stay here."

Eduarda wakes up startled, sweat running down her entire body, and reaches for her mother's locket. In the last month, she has had this dream almost every day.

She feels sore from the beating she received the day before; she had accidentally spilled juice on her cousin's shirt.

After her parents died in an attack by dishonest wolves, she and her brother were raised by their uncle Pedro, her father's brother, as her mother had no family and was alone in the world until she met her father.

Her uncle was a good man who always treated her well, but he was never home because he worked for the royals, as we called the strongest beings in our world. Unlike most of us, when they transformed, they didn't take on a wolf form; they took on the form of lycans, which are enormous creatures with a mix of wolf and human form, and they are so powerful that one alone can wipe out an entire pack of normal wolves. They say the most powerful of all is only a year older than me, and unlike the others, he can transform into both a Lycan and a gigantic black wolf. They also say he is cruel, that so much power has left him somewhat unhinged, and that he doesn't give anyone a second chance. Everyone knows the story of the she-wolf who somehow managed to pretend to be his mate, but during the consummation of the bond, the prince's Lycan form tore her apart mercilessly. Her uncle is part of the kingdom's guard and spends most of his time traveling to oversee packs around the world.

Her brother, who was only a year older than her, also loved and protected her. Eduarda had been relatively happy while her brother lived with her, but the previous year, he was chosen to go to the kingdom's academy, and although he called her every weekend, Eduarda decided to hide from her brother and uncle the hell her life had become as soon as her brother left.

The royal academy is a kind of school and college where all normal subjects are taught, including a profession that may or may not be related to the werewolf world, but there they also receive the most brutal physical and mental training. The young people who graduate there are the most powerful and are assigned to positions of trust in the kingdom or as Alphas and Lunas of other packs.

On the first day of every year, young people aged 13 to 18 who wanted to go to the academy put their names in for the draw, and every year four young people from each pack were chosen.

Last year, Joshua, Eduarda's brother, was one of those chosen. She was terrified when she heard her brother's name because the academy is like a real-life Hunger Games, and it's common for weaker wolves to die in the training process.

Although Eduarda always knew her brother was special, after all, he had alpha blood and a very rare characteristic for wolves; he transformed into a huge black wolf with blue eyes, the normal being black or red, and he had a distinctive white patch around his right eye, and his tail was all white. If the eyes were already rare, having white fur even if little was extremely rare.

"Don't worry, Duda, I'm going to become the strongest there," he said when he noticed the fear on his sister's face, "and one day I'll come to get you to live with me wherever I'm assigned. Wait and see, little sister, Dad will be proud of me."

But now Eduarda knew it would be impossible for her brother to keep the promise because he had suffered a soul bond with the monster prince, as he was known.

To become a Beta or Gamma under an Alpha, it wasn't just about being friends as many think; they also suffer a soul bond, not as strong as that of mates, but it exists.

Thus, her brother would become the royal Beta when the Prince took the throne.

Eduarda was happy for her brother, but she knew it was impossible for them to be together.

In her view, she had nothing special; she was as weak as a human. She felt the presence of her wolf once when she was eight years old, which is when those with alpha blood in our species transform for the first time. However, she did not transform; she only felt that it was there, dormant.

This made her the target of mockery and cruel jokes, which worsened when her uncle married Susan. Susan and her daughter Betany, who was the same age as Eduarda, moved in with them.

Her uncle thought he was doing the right thing for Eduarda, so she wouldn't be alone, since he had lost his mate in the same attack that killed her parents.

But Susan and Betany treated Eduarda very badly, saying she was horrible, that she smelled, and that she was weak. Eventually, when they realized Eduarda wouldn't complain to anyone, they started hitting her and making her work as a servant.

At first, her uncle thought Eduarda was sick, but now he had been convinced by Susan that she was depressed because of her brother.

Eduarda now only wore loose, unattractive clothes and sometimes scrubbed herself so hard in the bath that her skin bled. Her mental state was so damaged that she truly believed she smelled and was horrible.

Knock, knock. Someone knocks on the door, and Eduarda panics because she knows that if she's late making breakfast, there will be consequences. Since she can't access her wolf's powers, it takes days for her injuries to heal.

"I'm already up, breakfast will be ready soon," she says quickly and rushes to get dressed.