Chapter One
Everything went downhill from here.
Third Person's Point of View
All had changed ever since that horrid night.
She all but shivered at the coldness surrounding her body, her mind going in circles to all that was flashing before her eyes. Yet before she could get exposed to anything more, she had gritted her teeth and bite down her lips. It was strong enough that it had drawn blood, letting her palate take yet another of that familiar taste of a strong metallic flavor.
“It is getting more painful than most,” she whispered in the darkly lit room, her eyes glistening through the area. Her eyes wanted to scan any sources that she could escape to, anything that could provide her freedom. During this point in her daily schedules, the need to escape is high.
Yet, she was sure that there was none.
How did she get from this again?
Mint can not even begin to explain how her life had changed through the short course of two years. It never crossed her mind that the person who would be making this happen would be the same man that she had shared all her happy memories. For the whole two years before all of this had happened, she had never felt lost in the pack. Even if she was an orphan, not one had treated her ill. Not a single word from everyone due to what she lacked.
Everyone adored her and respected her as a member of the pack, despite her lack of shift.
And she loved being friends with everyone.
However…
Her eyes closed, thinking about how she was dragged out of her home and forced to live in the basement of the packhouse, away from people and her friends who believed that she had fled to be with her mate. Nobody judged her for that, and no matter how much she screams, not a single soul can hear her.
Carson had even cut her link to the pack so nobody could hear her.
Not that it was ever needed as she could not even shift to her wolf.
To how her best friend changed for the worse had broken her in many different ways than one. She could not, for a part of her, believe that her best friend was still inside the monster that had been abusing her ever since his 18th birthday.
Noises jingled as someone came down from the steps, making her take action back as she whimpered. Every single time that she would remember the man before her as the man, who had always loved and adored her, she could not help but cry.
Where was the Carson that she knew?
Who is this monster before her every eye?
He walked to the walls, clearly not amused to see scratches that he knows were her feeble attempt to escape him. Sprinting to where she was, he had only grabbed a section of her hair and pulled her upwards. Tears drenched in her face as she sobbed through the pain. Her face had never looked so terrible, and she looked nothing but skin and bones.
“What did I tell you?” He screamed, holding her still.
She sniffled, her body shaking in fear. “Please don’t!”
“You are mine, I say!” He screamed, clearly deranged.
For someone who was only 20 years old, she could see the image of him being an Alpha whenever he would be possessive and dominant to her. He was in the age where he should explode in this personality, but it breaks her heart, knowing that he was pressing this to her more. Why does she need to be in the middle of this?
She was unsure why this man wanted her to be in this place and serve him whenever his parents were away from the pack.
Omega does not even exist in the house. She was more than a slave rather than the lowest of the low in the pack, and it does make her wolf really submissive more than ever.
“You have a mate, Carson. Please stop this. It is not too late.” She cried.
Carson growled as he punched her in the cheeks, making him feel the little meat gathered in her usually soft cheeks. Mint had fallen, wincing at how the punch was enough to bruise her right in the face. Her mouth could not help but spit some blood, wincing at the pain that had formed on her cheeks. Thanks to how werewolves would quickly gather the strength to regenerate their health, it would only take her days to get that bruise away from her face.
But it does not waver that it does hurt her a lot than she would have wanted. Due to her food and nutrients' deprivation, she did not gather enough strength and stamina to stand on the future alpha’s punch. Not that any soldiers could, anyway.
“Carson, please let me go.” Mint could only do nothing but beg to her knees, wanting to be away from this torture. Her face was drenched with nothing but tears.
He only let her grovel in his feet as he grabbed her cheeks that were all skin and bones due to his own verse of torture. Even in this state, she was still beautiful as he had remembered her. Every smile that she would cast would remain in his eyes and how she would utter her name in smiles.
Now, she would say them with cries.
It does hurt him on a daily.
However, to remember that she will soon walk away from him and found a man who will receive everything that he had loved about her, he was nothing but outraged. There was no f*****g way that this woman would be out of his life.
No.
She was his.
Nobody else.
With such confliction and anger in his voice, he had replied. “You are staying in this room until you f*****g die, and there are no questions asked. Did you f*****g hear me!”
She sobbed. “No… no… Please don’t do this to me.”
“Did you hear me!?”
“Carson, please—”
“Do not f*****g utter my name in that f*****g manner!” He screamed, slamming her deep into the wall and making her scream in nothing but pain. Her cry was painfully loud, enough that it had caused his heart to c***k. His hands idle by his side, nothing but wanting to hold her and soothe her cries.
This was painful, even for him.
But this was the only way.
He has no other choice!
It had let him settle into his anger, backing away as he saw her wince in what he had done. With nothing but conflict in his emotions, he only glared at her. “You are staying here until I say so. Also, you can’t have food for another three days.”
Just like that, she was left alone and crying on the basement floor. Grabbing her legs, she wondered if any of her friends were looking for her. There are only rare times that she would be allowed in the packhouse, and there was not a second that she was allowed to be near anyone or that Carson would ever allow any member in that room.
After all, it was he who had told everyone that she had fled away from the pack.
Even with the abuse that she was going through, never did Mint think of hurting herself. She wanted to appear healthy when she found her mate. After all, that was her only chance to escape this place. The kindness and compassion in her heart had never wavered inside the dangerous area.
Instead, it had only blossomed.
Her hope for happiness shines brighter than any star in the sky.
No matter how hard things are, she wanted to live.
She wanted to be happy in her life, as she was before.
He will give that to her.
Soon, she will be cast away from this place and away from him.
.
.
Louise frowned upon smelling something foreign from her mate.
He had had the same scent for a long time, but she could not distinguish what it was or who it was from. Was he cheating? No, that is not possible. She would be aware of who that person he was tampering with as she was well aquatinted with the pack.
Then, what the f**k is that smell coming from him?
The man was an enigma, and even if she was his soul mate, never did he sleep on their bed or even mated with her. She had reached the age of 19; both of them were allowed to mate with each other. Even if Carson had told her that she was just 17 years old on the night that he had turned 18, she was aware that people could be marked then and there.
However, Carson never did anything to her.
“Where did you go, Carson?” She asked, being very careful not to raise an attitude. The wolf inside of her wanted to snap at the man in need to call him an asshole now and then.
“Nowhere.” He replied.
She c****d a brow, drinking her water. “Then why do you smell like you’ve drowned yourself in fragrance?”
He frowned as he was growing annoyed by her words. “Do you need to know everything?”
“Carson, I am only asking—”
“Then don’t f*****g ask me things I never wanted to answer!” He screamed, surprising her at the tone of his voice. While he was nothing but a peach, he seemed nothing but defensive now. Louise was getting more suspicious as he continued barking at her. “If I don’t want to tell you, then I don’t want to tell you!”
She hit a nerve; she knew it.
It was his attitude that had his parents stay into ruling their pack. Those who had reached the age of which they mature are allowed to be an Alpha, but he was restricted to that rule since he was not acting like he usually should. His parents had never seen him perform in this way, but they do not think that he can rule in this manner.
Louise bites back her tongue. “I am your mate, asshole.”
She automatically sighed as his eyes grew dark. Even if she thought that Mint had left the pack and finally found her mate, it does pose to her that the man was still in love with the female. Louise, despite her old nature, did not want to be a b***h anymore.
Gone were the days where she wanted to crawl into someone’s arms and f**k around to prove how beautiful and desirable she was. When she had reached the day where she found out that she has a mate. All her days of being a hoe were out of the corner.
As much as she hated it, there was a f*****g pull that was commanding her to do so. It was either she does best for the people and herself or be a w***e. Hard as it was, she had not chosen the latter.
For her, there would be a responsibility on her shoulder, and she had accepted that.
It seemed like her mate disagrees.
“Whether you growl at me or snap those teeth in my direction, I do not give a flying damn. I am not afraid of you.” She replied, her tone was sharp as she pushed the sealed food to his face. “It is the truth, and it’s about time everybody stopped giving you a f*****g slack about it. You’re 19 years old, Carson. At this age, you should have been an Alpha, but you’re not acting like your age.”
Louise was tough, for she knew that the wolf could never hurt her. No matter how much she annoys this man—he could never lift his hand and claw her face out.
His emotions were tampering with the wolf and the pull he was going on, but Carson could never lay a single finger in her. For she was the woman made for him, despite how annoyed he was by that fact, he knew that he could not change that no matter how much he tried.
She raised a brow at him, still releasing soft growls. “Your father had called. He is stuck in a meeting for the time being. You are to held feast for the Alpha that was visiting.”
“No,” Carson replied, still acting like a child.
Louise sighed, holding her temple. “It’s Alpha Leighton. I dare you to say that to his face. Act like your f*****g title. It’s exhausting to hold your own bullshit when you can’t do it.” And by that, she had walked away from him.
Alpha Leighton is a household name in the business.
He was the man who had ruled his pack at such a young age of 14, gathering enough training and skill while he was making sure that the pack had not met the same fate as it did from before. It was the most reliable allies that his father had, and if he managed to f**k this up—he would indeed have his head served on a silver platter.
“By the way. Before I even forgot,” Louise muttered, walked back to him. “The man preferred to have the dishes served in his country. So you better not f**k this up.”
Carson holds his head as he had massaged it, knowing who is the only person in the room who could cook foreign dishes. Due to his errors in handling the staff properly, they had not been trained the way the old omega has been. He would have let the cooks do the trick, but he would not let one of them freeze up upon knowing whom the food will serve.
He could not believe that he let her off of that f*****g basement to cook for some Alpha. Carson would not do s**t like this if he were not terrified of the man.
Alpha Leighton is a beast, and he was glad that he was living on the other side of the world or would not know how to deal with the man. Even his father was scared of that boy, and he just turned 20 years old. He was forced to act mature for his age and losing the childhood that he had known.
Then again, it was better than to lose the woman you love.
Walking down the basement, he had found that Mint was lying on the floor and gathering enough strength. The bare marks on her face had subdued in such a short time, but he could still see an impact.
Squatting before her, he could not help but show a frown.
Due to the year of neglect in her face, the bangs that she had going on had grown longer, and so does her hair. Nobody had seen her have the capacity to shift in her wolf that it was a passing gossip that she is a hybrid. It was normal for hybrids to have a wolf inside of them, but they could not shift quite easily than pure blood.
Mint Hearst was unlike all the girls in the pack.
She was different… and without even being aware of it, she had his heart on his palms. Only, he needed to be tough for her before she was whipped away from him. There is no other man who had held her.
It can only be him.
Him.
She belongs to him. She belongs to Carson Waden.