Chapter 1

Elizabeth's POV

“You will never see him again!”

I felt my three months old baby ripped out of my hands and I screamed, “No! Please don’t take him from me.”

I held onto the blanket that covered the baby boy, Lucas but the baby was already gone and in front if me stood the cruel man whom I had called my mate for five months.

He has take everything from me.

“Maybe, now you will know your place. The boy is mine and from now on, you will live the rest of your life as a slave and suffer the punishment of cheating on me.”

There was obvious pain in his voice but other thank that, I could see the evil witch who has caused all of this laughing triumphantly behind him.

She has completely turned him against me and even though he was my mate and we were bound by the moon goddess. He chose her side over me.

“I have always known she was a pretender, using her weakness to get away with everything and that baby of hers... you deserve better, Zander.”

She placed her right palm on his shoulder as they both looked at me while one of his men handed my baby to him.

“Lock her up and let her reflect on what she has done.”

“No, please, don’t take baby away from me, please, Zander.”

My words fell on deaf ears as I was being dragged away. I could hear the two making sweet sounds to my baby.

No, if they robbed me of a good life, they will not take my baby away from me so all of a sudden, I pushed with all the strength I could gather, the men were caught unaware so I was able to reach for Viola’s shirt and it ripped.

A loud slap landed on my right cheek as Viola pretended to be ashamed as she rushed off.

“Look what you caused, not everyone could be as shamelessly as you are.”

He then rushed after her, leaving me with the men.

What exactly have I done wrong? I had devoted my life to him since we found out we were mates. I closed my eyes to see if tears would flow but despite that my heart ached, tears wouldn’t come out.

Something hard fell on my back and I yelped in pain

“Cheat!”

I turned around to see some teenagers laughing at me as they began to throw stuffs at me. I guess the whole pack has heard about the lies they told about me. I wanted to cry. Why was the world being so cruel to me?

“I didn’t do it.”

Not that they cared to bear if I did it or not but I could not move and the men who were taking me away seemed to want to give the kids the satisfaction of torturing me so they watched as they mauled me.

“I didn’t do it.”

My breath caught in my throat as I grabbed my chest. It felt so tight there.

Arms gripped me as they began to drag me away and not too long after, I was thrown into a dark room. The loud sound of the door was the only sigh that I was now alone, all by myself.

I sank into the ground as I thought about how I had gotten myself into this mess. I had played right into my arms by following the secret notes I got without knowing it was a sweet up by Via. Who knows what else she would have told him.

I crawled to a corner as I thought of my baby and what Viola could do to him. Zander will not hurt his own child.

The loud noise from outside jolted me from my sleep

I hadn’t even realized that I fell asleep until I heard what sounded like an uproar from outside. I knew what this was.

It was my trial.

The door was thrown open and the sound of footsteps indicated that people were coming towards me and son, two men appeared added me outside. At least, this time, they allowed me walk on my own.

I could hear the whispers as I approached the loud crowd in front of the pack house.

This was the people I have lived with for so long, all my life and none of them could even stand up for me.

I looked at the faces of all of them to see the judgemental look in their eyes, causing my heart to break.

“Elizabeth Tanner, did you or did you not cheat on the Alpha?” That was the voice of the oldest elder in the Peak and even though j hadn’t answers, I could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice that he believed I did so I did not bother 5o reply

I just stood there, looking at him and Zander. He did not have my baby with him.

“Speak, where!” Someone from the crowd shouted.

I could see the guards trying to call them to order.

“To make this easier on all of us, speak and let’s get this over with.”

“I did no such thing.”

“Liar!” a voice from the crowd said.

I wanted to ask them what proof they had as I turned to face a member of the pack who had spoken. I began to move towards him.

Truth be told, I had no intentions for going towards him but I kept going, nevertheless.

He looked afraid, “Someone do something!”

He suddenly said and that was when hands grabbed me to turn me towards the elder again.

“Since you have refused to be so stubborn, we will leave you to the Alpha to judge.”

I tilted my head slowly to look at Zander. I could see the deep pain in his eyes briefly almost as if it was never there and then, he spoke.

“Elizabeth, for the crime of cheating on your husband, you are hereby banished from the pack.”

Chapter 2

Elizabeth’s POV

My world stood still as people cheered his decision. It felt like a dream that one minute, people admire you or even envied you and the next minute, they are clamouring to send you away.

“You will choose to listen to her and not me!” I scarred and everywhere went silent.

“I curse you all! I curse you. What have I done to deserve this.”

No one replied me as they began to murmur again.

“Please give me my child.”

I suddenly said as if just realizing I had something to lose. I rushed towards Zander who looked at me indifferently.

I felt myself being lifted off the ground and no matter how hard I tried to fight it, I couldn’t escape from my captors who kept walking until the reached the pack's border.

I was thrown unceremoniously into a ditch outside the border. They left without a word. There are two challenges here, it would either take me too long to get out or take me too long and still wouldn’t be able to get out.

The cloud was darkening already and if it rained, it would be even harder to get out.

“Somebody help!”

I shouted and began to frantically try to crawl my way out of the ditch. Love did this to me and the sudden realization of that made my hear hurt and for the first time since this whole situation, a tear flowed down my face.

I cannot cry now.

What is the point of crying when I cannot do anything about my miserable situation?

I gave been trying to get out for over one hour now and I was starting to get tired. At this point, I have finally accepted fate that if it rains, I would die in the ditch until I heard a voice from above me.

“Hey, give me your hand.”

That was hope.

The answer to my silent prayer. I didn’t waste my time to reach out to the person whom I was yet to see their face until I got out of the ditch only to see a female with two other male.

They looked scary and as they stared at me as if waiting for an explanation, I got scared.

I had thought they should pity me and maybe offer me some water or anything but they stood there waiting for me to say anything.

I shivered slightly as my eyes went from one to another.

“There’s no need to frighten the poor girl. You saved her like you wanted to, let’s go.”

A voice called from the distance and the guys around me rolled their eyes as they began to leave buy before the lady could make her decision, I had zeroed down

I have nowhere to go and I cannot even try to return to my old pack. I needed refuge and a plan.

“Take me with you.”

That was the first thing that came out of my mouth to them.

Even I was surprised that I said that.

“No way,” that was the grumpy voice that had called them but now, there was a face to him now.

He was handsome, deep brown skin, deep blurted eyes and blonde hair which was slightly parted on the side. He looked like he called the shots and I could feel the air of authority around him..

When our eyes met, his gaze deepened but he didn’t speak directly to me.

“Leave her and let’s be on our way, that is an order.”

“I am right here and don’t like to be spoken about in third person as if I am not here.”

“Tell her to stop talking or she foes back into the ditch.”

My eyes widened and instinctively, I jumped behind the girl who had pulled me out.

“Come on, don’t scare the girl. And you, if you want to come with us, don’t speak to him like that.”

I looked down at my feet, I wanted to throw a temper tantrum about my feelings and pains but these people are strange and would not care.

I had no idea I had gone emotional until I felt a pat on my shoulder.

“You are coming with us.”

“She is on you.” He said without looking back. Why does he hate me? Has he met me before.

“Yes, Alpha.” She whispered to me, “Don’t take it serious, he is like that to every stranger.”

I nodded slowly but remained behind the girl because I was scared the angry Alpha would change his mind although I feel like the girl could protect me.

“I am Megan and that’s my brother, Lancelot.”

No wonder he speaks like that. He is the Alpha. What pack are they from?

I did not want to ask too many questions but more than anything, I was not in the mood to actually ask any more questions so I kept quiet throughout the whole journey by car. It was a black SUV. I was sitting at the back with Megan while one of the other guys drove. The Alpha and the other two men drove another SUV behind us.

“You are lucky that we heard your screams.” Megan, the girl said as we reached a big black gate which opened all by itself.

The rain began to fall very heavily. My heart reached out to my son and all of a sudden, I broke down in tears, would I never see my son again?

It was the only thing that mattered to me now even though at the back of my mind, I could not help but wish I had listened to my family when they warned me about Zander. I did not even get to see my family before I was sent out of the pack.

My heart clenched as I grabbed my chest and went on the floor. I could vaguely hear the voices around me for some seconds and the next thing...

Darkness

Chapter 3

ElIZABETH'S POV

I groaned, my head pounding as I slowly came to. Where was I? The last thing I remembered was being banished from my pack, and then... nothing.

As my vision cleared, I saw a woman with long, curly brown hair smiling at me. “Hey, you’re awake,” she said, her voice warm.

I tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness washed over me. “Who... where am I?” I stammered.

“You’re in our pack’s territory,” the woman replied. “My brother, Alpha Lance, found you in a ditch. You’d fainted.”

I remembered the ditch, the rain pouring down, and the feeling of desperation. And that was when it all came to me... the rude guy, the kind lady who had helped me out of the ditch, Megan.

She helped me sit up, and I saw a tall, imposing man standing in the doorway. His piercing blue eyes seemed to bore into my soul, Lance.

He had that same look when we were in the forest, it was chilling and scary.

“Ah, you’re awake,” he said, his voice firm, I caught Megan roll her eyes. I already know that he didn’t like me but I nodded slowly anyway as my eyes settled on him.

He was quiet and I didn’t know what to say.

I hesitated, unsure how much to reveal. “I... I’m Elizabeth,” I said slowly.

Lance nodded, his expression unreadable. “So, Elizabeth, “ the look in his eyes was a direct pointer to what he was about to say and I knew I had a lot to answer for.

“What were you doing out there alone?”

“Bad timing, brother, at least let her get better.”

“There’s no better time than now, Elizabeth or what do you think?”

I shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “Just... just wandering, I guess.”

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Wandering? With no supplies, no food, no shelter? You’re not exactly dressed for hiking.”

I felt a surge of panic, unsure how much to reveal. “I... I just want to take back what belongs to me,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

Lance’s eyes narrowed. “What belongs to you? What are you talking about?”

I shook my head, refusing to say more. Lance’s gaze lingered on me, then he nodded.

Megan interrupted again, “We’ll talk more about this later. For now, let’s get you cleaned up and fed.”

As he turned to leave, I felt a sense of unease. Something about Lance didn’t feel right. It was like he didn’t believe me and I can not even blame the guy.

“Wait,” I said, my voice firm. “What do you plan to do with me?”

Lance turned back, his expression cold. “You’ll be staying with us for a while. But don’t get too comfortable. You’re not one of us.”

I felt a shiver run down my spine as he turned and walked away. What did he mean? And what lay ahead for me?

“Look, I just want shelter till I can find my way.”

“Shelter, you will get but finding your way? Not so sure.”

As I stood up, Megan, took my arm. “Come on, I’ll show you to the kitchen. You must be starving.”

I followed her, my mind racing with questions. What did Lance plan to do with me? And what did I have to do to survive in this new pack?

As we walked, Megan chatted about the pack’s daily life, but I barely listened. My mind was focused on Lance’s words, and the sense of unease that lingered.

Suddenly, Megan stopped and whispered, “Be careful around my brother. He’s not always... predictable. But you really have nothing to worry about. He is just like that because of the situation in which we found you.”

I raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “What do you mean?”

But before Megan could answer, a loud voice boomed from behind us. “Megan, what’s taking so long?”

Megan’s eyes darted nervously to the side, and I turned to see lance standing behind us, his eyes flashing with anger. “Tell me you have not started spending quality time with another stray.”

“Don’t do that,” Megan warned with anger in her eyes.”

“I... I was just showing Elizabeth to the kitchen,” She added.

Lance’s gaze lingered on me, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. “Elizabeth,” he said, his voice low. “You’re coming with me.”

And with that, he turned and walked away, expecting me to follow. But where was he taking me? And what lay ahead?

I trudged through the pack’s territory, my head held low. It had been days since Alpha Lance had taken me in, and I’d been treated like a slave ever since.

“Hey, you,” one of the pack members called out. “Get over here and help me with the firewood.”

I sighed inwardly, but obeyed without hesitation. I’d learned that resistance was futile. Lance had made it clear that I was to do as I was told, without question.

As I worked, Megan approached me, a sympathetic look on her face. “Hey, Elizabeth, how are you holding up?” she asked, her voice low.

I shrugged, not wanting to show weakness. “I’m fine,” I lied.

Megan nodded, but I could tell she didn’t believe me. “I know you’re not fine.”

I shrugged, grateful for her concern. But before I could respond, Lance appeared, his eyes scanning the area.

“Elizabeth, I need you to come with me,” he said, his voice firm.

I followed him, wondering what task he’d assigned me to next. But instead of giving me orders, he led me to a small cabin on the outskirts of the territory.

“This is where you’ll be sleeping,” he said, his voice neutral. “You’ll be working in the kitchens, starting tomorrow.”

I nodded, trying to process the information. But before I could ask any questions, Lance turned to leave.

“One more thing,” he said, his voice low. “If you try to escape, or cause any trouble, there will be consequences. Do you understand?”

I nodded, feeling a shiver run down my spine. What kind of consequences?

As Lance walked away, I felt a surge of determination. I would not be held captive forever. I would find a way to reclaim what belonged to me, no matter what.

But as I turned to enter the cabin, I heard a voice behind me.

“You’re going to have a hard time adjusting, Elizabeth,” the voice said.

I turned to see one of the pack members, a tall, muscular man with a sneer on his face.

“You’re not like us,” he continued. “You’re weak. You’ll never survive here.”

I felt a surge of anger, but bit back my retort. Instead, I smiled sweetly.

“We’ll see about that,” I said, my voice low.

The man’s eyes narrowed, and for a moment, I thought he might attack me. But then he turned and walked away, leaving me to wonder what lay ahead.

As I entered the cabin, I felt a sense of unease. I was trapped, and I didn’t know how to escape. But I was determined to find a way, no matter what.

And then, just as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard a faint scratching sound coming from outside the cabin. I froze, my heart pounding in my chest.

Who – or what – was out there?