Chapter 2 The Wolfless Girl

ADRIANA

The pain was blinding. My hand felt like it was on fire, the skin already blistering. My leg throbbed where the coffee had soaked through. Blood mixed with coffee on the floor where the broken ceramic had sliced deep into my palm.

"Oops." Lisa smiled. "My hand slipped."

She turned and walked out, her laughter echoing behind her.

I was shaking, staring at my burned hand as blood dripped steadily onto the white tiles. The pain was nothing compared to what I'd felt at Landon's apartment, but somehow it was the final straw. Physical pain on top of emotional devastation.

Everything hurts. Everything.

I stumbled to the sink and turned on the tap, shoving my burnt and injured hand under the cold water.

I stared out the window, my vision blurred by tears and pain. My free hand grabbed the necklace around my neck-the only reminder I had of my mother, since my father had burnt everything she owned the moment she died.

"I wish you were here, mum," I whispered through the tears. "I wouldn't be treated like this. I hate being alone."

The words barely made it past the lump in my throat. My hand was still bleeding into the sink, the burn marks angry and red.

"You're not alone."

I turned around sharply, looking for who was behind me, but the kitchen was empty.

I blinked and continued staring blankly at my hand under the running water. Maybe I was losing my mind. Or the pain was making me hear things.

"My name is Yara."

I paused, my heart beating faster. The voice was soft, feminine, and seemed to come from... inside my head?

"Who are you?" I finally asked, my voice shaky.

"I'm your wolf, silly."

A wolf. My wolf. After three years of waiting, after being mocked and ridiculed, after giving up hope-

I sighed. How stupid did Lisa think I was to pull this prank? This had to be another one of her cruel games.

"Lisa isn't smart enough to pull this off. I'm really your wolf."

"Oh yeah, prove it."

"Look at your hand."

I pulled my hand from under the water and stared.

My mouth dropped open. The burns were... fading. The blisters were smoothing out. The deep cuts in my palm were knitting themselves back together, the blood flow stopping. Within seconds, my hand looked almost normal, just slightly pink where the worst of the damage had been.

"H-how did you do that?"

She giggled, the sound warm in my mind.

"I'm kinda special. Listen, I don't have a lot of time to talk but I need to tell you this. You can't tell anyone about me."

I frowned, staring at my now-healed hand in wonder. After three years of nothing, I finally had my wolf.

"What? What're you saying?"

"I'm saying you have to keep this to yourself. Just follow your heart and I'll explain everything later."

"What? No, explain it now. Hello?"

Silence.

"Hello?!"

A guard walked past the kitchen door and I suddenly remembered why I was here in the first place.

I quickly grabbed new cups and prepared more coffee, my mind reeling. I had a wolf. I had Yara. Everything could change now. Maybe-

I placed the coffee cups on the tray and practically ran to the office. I stood outside the door, readying myself to enter, wondering how I was going to hide Yara without my father sensing her. He was the Alpha, he knew everything.

The voices from inside made me pause.

"But he's the Lycan King." My dad's voice was filled with the authority only alphas seemed to possess.

"All the more reason why we should offer Adriana to him." Lisa said after.

Offer Adriana? Me?

I stood there, listening keenly to them as they decided my future like it was up to them. I gripped the tray nervously, making sure that I didn't make a sound.

"B-but Lisa, I don't think that's a good deal." Landon stammered.

"What do you mean?" I could imagine that ugly frown on her face right now.

"I mean, I've heard things. The Lycan King... he's cruel to women. My brother says he's seen with a different one every night. He uses them and throws them away like trash. Some of them are never seen again."

"That's nonsense. Those are just rumors." Lisa scoffed.

"My brother works the border, Lisa. He sees things. He hears things. The Lycan King is dangerous."

I didn't even know who to believe. Nobody had ever been to the Lycans lands because it was forbidden. Wolves and Lycans shared nothing in common except a border.

"So what if it's true?" Lisa's voice was cold. "She's wolfless. She's weak. She's an embarrassment to this pack. At least this way, Father gets his treaty and we get rid of her. It's perfect."

So this was the meeting Lisa wanted to have. They were planning on selling me off to the Lycan King. Making my life hell wasn't enough-they wanted me gone for good. To be used and discarded by a monster.

I knew Lisa hated me and she would do anything to see that I suffered. I wasn't putting much hope on Landon either because he was a coward and a cheater.

The only person I could hope on now was my father. Although he had cast me aside as soon as my mother died, I was still his daughter, and I hoped that fact alone would save me from Lisa's evil plan.

There was silence in the room and I bit my lip, waiting for someone to say something.

My eyes burned the longer I stayed there. Realization settling in me that dad would never say no to Lisa.

"But who cares if he's dangerous? She's the one who'll have to deal with him. Dad, all that matters to us is that we get to have a relationship with them. Wouldn't that be good for us?"

The man I call father sighed.

"Yes it will, but I think there are other ways to make peace with them."

Lisa slammed the table.

"No! There is no other way. The best way is to make sure she marries him-that way, he would think you gave your most prized possession to him. You really need him to sign the treaty. Else, there would never be peace."

So she wanted me to be the sacrificial lamb and be shipped off to a foreign land to marry a man who hurt women for sport?

No way. There was no way my dad would agree to this.

I heard another sigh and my heart dropped.

"Fine. But you get to break the news to her."

The tray almost slipped out of my hand. I stood there in utter shock, recounting those words over and over again. He had just agreed to it.

Tears gathered in my eyes as though called on, and I felt the dull ache in my heart at the betrayal. The people I had thought would be there for me were the ones plotting my downfall.

I stepped back from the door quietly and ran.