VALENCIA'S POV

Sometimes life gives you a million reasons to run from your problems. To run away from a place where you are not respected. To end your life, and with it, end all your miseries and sufferings that make your life hard to live.

But even after all that, there is one thing, one reason that holds you and your sanity like the last thread that hasn't been broken.

That one thing that is enough for you to look over everything in this world and fight to live.

For me, that one thing was my mate. I smiled as I looked out of the window of the car.

A mate, a bond formed by the supreme moon goddess herself that every werewolf in this cursed world was gifted with.

The kind of love that spins your world and makes you forget about all the hardships in your life, the kind of love you want to die and live for. 

That was what my grandmother told me in all those bedtime stories full of envious love that I have grown to long for. 

She used to say that there would be a person who would love me more than anything in this world, who would look over my shortcomings and accept me the way I was. A mate who would accept my lantern self.

A lantern. A wolf that doesn't change into their wolf even with the wolf genes. An abomination among werewolf species and one of the rarest cases.

That was what I have been called countless times since everyone found out I couldn't turn either.

I used to be the prestigious beta's daughter, but it only took one night to steal everything away from me.

Flashback ~~~

"What's wrong? Call her out,"

"Are you feeling something?"

My father, the beta of the pack, probed me to transition, anger clear in his eyes at his daughter's failed attempts again and again while everyone watched us in mockery.

I tried.

I won't lie. I even begged my wolf to come out and show her face for once. 'Never show you again if you don't like it,' I even made a pact with her, but to no avail did I feel anything inside me. 

I kept trying to call her.

However, when even after midnight, I didn't turn into my wolf, I saw the love die in my father's eyes.

It was replaced by hatred.

The kind of hatred that was even worse than his hatred for rogue wolves.

"Did you see that? The beta's second daughter didn't turn into a wolf,"

"Is that the so-called curse of being a lantern?"

"If I had been the beta and had this kind of abomination as my daughter, I would've left my position immediately,"

"It's so shameful that I feel like dying just thinking about it,"

People around me started talking and belittling my existence. 

However, none of those people's words mattered to me as long as my father believed me. 

"Please don't say things like these. I have a wolf. I swear on the moon goo-" The rest of the words were cut off when I heard them scoff.

"Dad, please believe me," I rushed to my father.

His nonchalance bothered me a little. 

Does he agree with those people too? No. How could that happen? He was my father, right? 

In desperation to make my father believe I had a wolf, I tried to hold his hand but what happened next shook me to the core.

My father who never even shouted at me in my entire life, slapped me, throwing me on the ground.

"Get away from me, you filthy abomination!" He shouted. 

I didn't know what hurt the most. The pain from his slap, or his words. 

I could taste the metallic liquid in my mouth, making me spit the blood before I looked back at my father to continue pestering him.

"B-but, dad,"

"Don't call me dad, you freak! Why wouldn't you turn into your wolf?! How dare you shame me in front of my own people?! If I had known you would turn out to be a lantern omega, I wouldn't have held you in my hands. I would've squeezed the life out of you with my bare hands," My father seethed while his wolf itched to take over and shred me to pieces.

Tears rolled down my cheeks that I quickly wiped furiously. He didn't like seeing me. I remembered how he used to hate my tears. I was his princess.

He wasn't serious. He was just angry. It has to be it. 

How can a person change so much just because of a simple fact?

"Please don't say-" I started, but the next moment, I felt a sharp pang in my abdomen as my father kicked me. 

The sickening sound of my bones breaking echoed in the silent environment as I crouched further in a cocoon position to bear the pain.

The thick metallic liquid filled my mouth once again as I choked on my own blood, lying there pathetically while everyone watched the scene with apathetic eyes. 

He didn't hold back.

"You still dare to open your mouth in front of me?! Die, bitch!" My father shouted, breaking my heart with each word that came out of his mouth.

"Please, don't say that, Dad. I am your princess," I looked at him, but seeing his unwavering eyes, I looked around at the people, hoping to see just one gaze that would give me the hope to live.

The one gaze that would tell me I wasn't a curse and someone worth killing. That I was worthy of living. 

"Mom, Mom, at least you believe me. I am your daughter. Your blood and flesh and -" I tried to catch her attention. My vision was blurred from my tears, but I could still make her silhouette in the crowd. A ray of hope ignited in my heart.

"You better stop saying that, or I will rip that head out of your body. You are not my daughter from this day! If you ever call yourself my daughter, I will see to it that you are buried right under my house," my dad said, and I whimpered, closing my mouth.

"Sister -" I crawled towards her, hoping she would talk our parents out of it. 

"Sister, please ask Dad- mph!" She kicked me straight in the face, and I fell on the ground backward, my head hitting the rough ground, making stars appear in my vision.

"Don't even think of coming near me. I can't have a pathetic sister like you. God knows what kind of curse you have," She spat on me. 

"What a disgrace,"

"Let's go. There is nothing to see here. What if we get cursed just by looking at her," 

Someone threw a stone at me for fun, and it was soon followed by other people too.

"Please don't hit me. I am not cursed. I have a wolf. I swear," I begged them to stop, their every hit hitting my soul and heart more than my body. 

The slap and kicking was just the beginning of the horrifying events. I clenched my teeth and shut my eyes, not wanting to see what my father was doing to me. 

He wasn't my father at the moment. He acted like a monster possessed him or something.

He held my hair in his fist as he slammed my face into the nearby tree, making my vision blur as black dots started to appear in front of me which was followed by redness of my own blood.

"I will kill you today, b"tch! I don't have a cursed daughter like you!" He shouted in my face as he threw me back on the ground and choked me with his hands. 

It was beyond painful, but what was more painful was what I was feeling emotionally.

I thought I was going to die. Who am I lying to? I wanted to die to escape the excruciating pain.

However, it was almost as if the moon goddess had other plans for me, like a ray of sunlight, I heard that sound.

"Get away from her!" A boy's dominant voice resounded, and it was enough for my father to stop.

No one could say anything and stop the beta of the pack apart from the alpha of the pack, and the boy who came and saved me was none other than the alpha's son.

Tyler Anderson, that was the name of my hero. 

"Have you lost your mind? She stays and she lives!" Those were the last words I heard before I passed out.

End of flashback ~~~~

"If you are done daydreaming, can you step aside?"

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard the familiar voice and heat crept up my neck. 

"Sure, Alpha Tyler," I spoke softly, and the boy looked at me amused. 

"What got you smiling like that?" He asked me as he plopped on the stool while he tried to make a sandwich for himself, making me raise my brows at his attempt to murder the bread.

"Let me do it," I whispered before preparing breakfast for him.

I could feel his gaze on my back, and it wouldn't be wrong to say that I enjoyed it. 

He has been my crush, my hero, someone I really admire from the day he saved me. 

'Look at you crushing over a taken man. Tut... Tut... Valencia, what a naughty girl,' My sarcastic conscience commented, and I couldn't help but scowl at her.

'Shut up. Don't forget that we all share a mind-link. What if someone hears you?' I asked my conscience before rolling my eyes at myself. 

I was so hopeful of getting a wolf that I started talking to myself, and strangely my other side always talked back to me like it was really someone else.

"Do you need a ride to school? It's already 7:30, and at this pace, I don't think you'll be able to make it," Tyler said, his intense gaze leaving me enchanted before I shook my head at him.

"That's okay, the council is checking up on me again," I whispered while placing the things back in the original place and the empty dishes in the sink.

"What do you mean?" He walked behind me, his chest almost touching my back, leaving me wanting for more. 

Don't judge me. I know it was wrong of me to think of him like that. Heck, I wasn't some kind of home-wrecker evil person who would fall for the same person my sister was dating, but I just couldn't help it. 

I know my sister confessed her likeness to the alpha's son only after discovering my crush on him. 

Yes. That was the kind of person she was. The smile on Tyler's face right now was all because he came out of my sister's room and I don't need to describe what they did. 

"Dylan is coming to check up on me,"

"Dylan? Why is he coming? Wasn't he here last week too? And the week before that too? Does the council really need to check on all the lanterns so frequently?" Tyler scowled, and I chuckled.

"Easy there, Alpha. Don't let my sister catch you worrying about me or she might think I seduced you," I chuckled, as I noticed the same flicker of emotions in his eyes that I am never able to understand, making me sigh.

"Just stay away from that boy. I don't like it," Tyler said, grabbing my forearm, and making me flinch slightly at his tight grip.

He looked at his grip on my hand before huffing loudly and leaving the pack house, the sound of the door slamming echoing, making me tremble in my place as I looked at the door, confused.

What was his deal today? 

I shrugged and picked up my bag as soon as I heard the sound of the horn and a missed call from Dylan before hurrying out.