“I…I… am..” but before Cassandra could say more she was startled by a strong vicious punch hurtling toward her, a searing hot pain shot through her body and she gasped, unable to protect herself, she fell to the floor. The basket in Cassandra’s hand met the same fate.

The room which earlier was filled with the sound of washers and dryers, was shrouded in mocking laughter.

“Ouch, Princess.” Omega named Rayna mocked her, feigning innocence.

“Look what you've done, now. Not only did you dirty the clothes but the floor,” Isa chuckled as she poured muddy water on Cassandra’s freshly washed clothes.

“Such a disgrace,” Maya piped in.

“Thinks she is too good for us,” Rayna piped in.

Cassandra was in the clutches of the Omegas of Scarlet Moon Pack. The trio that had circled Cassandra were ruthless and cruel in nature. To them, Cassandra was nothing but a punching bag, which they made sure to use to hone their skills.

Cassandra’s heart thudded in her chest, the relentless throbbing made her eyes welled up with tears, she covered her face with her long fiery red hair trying to conceal her painful expression, which might have upset the cruel trio as Isa kicked her again and she stumbled back to the floor, this time the pain was overwhelming, breathing had become hard and she felt that her ribs were shattered with powerful blow, she curled up in a fetal position, broken and bruised.

“You really do think that you are better than us right? But this is where you are wrong. You are delusional. This is your life,” Rayne gestured toward the laundry room they were in and continued, “And this is what you deserve,” she kicked her, emphasizing what she meant by this.

A low painful whimper left Cassandra’s body, making her body tremble with agonizing pain.

“You shameless bitch, you are nothing but a burden,” she spat at Cassandra, her voice laced with venom.

Isa’s cruelty knew no bounds as her slap landed on Cassandra’s face with brutal force. Cassandra’s whole body shook in pain, as she cried out and spat the blood on the floor.

The trio kept on blaming her, cursing her, and they destroyed the whole laundry room, being completely aware that Cassandra had to clean everything on her own again. But they didn’t care, because they knew it was her job after all like they had mentioned she deserved it.

Maya was the only one who was standing by the side and she thought she had enough, her eyes gleamed with maniac glint as suddenly she smashed her foot on Cassandra’s hand, pain shot through her already bruised fingers, and she cried out in pain.

“Ahh,”

However, Rayna leaned closer and whispered. “Don’t you dare to make a sound,”

“What’s going on over there,” a loud booming voice echoed in the room.

Their eyes widened a little, but Isa had a cruel smirk on her face.

“Nothing, Mrs. Dunbury, we saw Cassandra sitting over here, doing nothing. So we were telling her to get back to work but she snarled at us and snapped that she knows what she is doing. We are just teaching her a little lesson.” Maya smiled as she increased the pressure of her foot on her hand.

“Ahh, p…please,” Cassandra begged, but all in vain.

“Stop this, and get back to work. And you Cassandra, if I see you wasting your time, I will make sure that you would have nothing to eat tonight.” Mrs. Danbury snapped at Cassandra and led the trio with her.

They snickered and left.

Cassandra was whimpering lying on the floor, her tears flooded, blurred her vision. Cassandra’s blood marred the otherwise clean floor.

Cassandra was tired of everything.

She was tired of getting bullied by everyone in the Scarlet Moon Pack. She was tired of getting humiliated time and again. She was tired of this life where she was nothing but a disgrace. She was tired of life altogether.

“Goddess, Mercy,” she cried, helplessness gnawing at her.

But why she had to endure all the pain, yeah, she remembered, it was because she deserved it. Because of what she was. Her life was never like this, she was treated like the princess in the pack. She was the daughter of Pack’s beta after all.

But things took a turn for the worse when her father decided that his greed was bigger than his dignity.

He betrayed the pack, but things didn’t stop there, he attacked June Hughes, the pack’s Luna. And amidst this fighting, she died protecting Cassandra.

The goodwill of June became the final nail in Cassandra’s coffin. She became what people despised the most, a symbol of what would happen if you betrayed your people.

Cassandra’s body was throbbing because of the pain, and she could hear the dull wheezing sound in her heart. She just wanted to get lost in the darkness and never wanted to be found, but this was wishful thinking.

Cassandra tried to stand up, every movement sent a fresh wave of pain through her bruised body, her vision blurred for a moment and she swayed unsteadily on her feet. She was exhausted and hungry. Last night there was nothing left for her to eat after dinner and in the morning too, only some stale bread was there.

She was nothing but a shadow of her past self. There was not an ounce of fat on her skinny bones, she rarely had enough to eat and she doesn’t even remember the last time her belly was full. Like it was a clue, her stomach growled, as if it was pleading from her for some food.

Cassandra knew the reason why she was the slave of the Scarlet Moon Pack, but she wasn’t resigned to that position. She was waiting for her transformation. And a long wait it was, because, ideally she should have shifted two years ago, but nothing happened on that fateful night and now Cassandra was waiting hopefully to meet her wolf, for her first shift.

For Cassandra these last few years were not less than hell, maybe hell was a better place for her than the pack.

She took a deep breath, to align her thoughts. She needed a moment to herself because she knew the darkness of her life was enough to drown her alive and she couldn’t let that happen. She had a promise to keep and how could she let it go when her life was a gift from June herself? She died to protect her and now it was Cassandra’s duty to live.

It doesn’t matter if she was living in hell, she had to live.

Silently she picked the clothes up, her movements slow and deliberate, even though her body protested with every single move she knew she had to work because the consequences of slacking off was worse than death. Her whole day was packed according to the chores she had to complete, and in that period of time, there was not a single moment where she could rest or eat. Maybe this was her punishment, this was the cost of staying alive.

After completing everything she headed back to her small, dingy cell, which for these past eight years was her home.

Cassandra was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realize where she was going and she bumped into a rock-solid muscle wall.

“Sor…” her words lodged in her throat when she saw the person she bumped into.