About a twenty-year-old woman who has a wealthy family as she is the daughter of the Alpha of the pack. But she wants to leave them and start her own simple life because of the family’s dark secret—behind the biggest and most reputable law firm company in the human world lies a business that engages in numerous illegal activities such as murder and extortion. Also, the reason why she wants to leave her family is that her foster brother, the next Alpha always intervenes in her life, monitoring all her activities outside. Although she will not deny to herself that the moment Marcus comes into their pack when she is thirteen, she instantly gets a crush on the eighteen years old him and inwardly gets jealous of the girls who flirt with him at school or in pack gatherings. Somehow, she can't get a wolf because of her trauma in the childhood. She even gets furious when she catches a naked girl sneaking out of his room at midnight. All of her hopelessly romantic and forbidden feelings towards him are jolted in her diary. One tragedy changes her life. That is when their parents die at the hands of a rival organized crime group and the notorious rogues. Once Kayla is 18, They seek comfort from each other, so that night because they are both lonely and lost, they both get drunk, and they kiss each other until they end up in bed together. Kayla is so shocked to admit what happens, so she leaves the mansion while Marcus is still fast asleep. In the neighboring state, she goes to a new pack as a rogue and meets a charming Alpha named Caleb. In her desperation to find a place to stay, she inquires with Caleb about any vacant post in the pack. The guy doesn’t hesitate to offer a space in his place. At first, they are good friends, but as time goes by, Kayla develops feelings for Caleb because he has a good sense of humor and is a real gentleman, not taking advantage of her. The man confesses that he likes her the first time he sees her. As she lives with Caleb, along with working, she pursues her real passion—that is volunteering in orphanages for the pups left out after wars. Her heart is close to kids with no family. Although she doesn’t exactly know why. But in the same orphanage, she stumbles upon Marcus who—without her awareness—is a major sponsor of the said orphanage. After engaging in an argument, she warns him not to intervene with her life now or drag her back to the mansion, or else she will hurt herself or worse take her own life. Bothered by her threat, Marcus let her go. Weeks pass by, and as Kayla does her work in the pack, Marcus comes in. Kayla was agitated at first, but when he tells her that he finally wants to reconcile with her, promising that he will never get in her life, for the first time she feels light at him, especially when he finally approves of Caleb. Kayla asks for forgiveness for all the things she does to give him a headache. When Marcus leaves, Kayla couldn’t stop herself from thinking about him. She even imagines them being good friends if the environment around them is different. She realizes that she is just protecting herself from harm and that she will not be able to survive teenage life and school without her brother’s protection in the pack. She begins to miss him, so she gets back to helping the orphanage in the hope of seeing her foster brother again. So, she is in full bliss when she sees him—the same thing with Marcus who even invited her to one of his offices nearby so they can catch up. But Kayla has never expected the topic of their conversation, especially when Marcus gives back her old diary, claiming that he has read everything in it. Kayla is extremely embarrassed so she denies the content of the diary, saying that she is only writing fiction stories. But to her shock, Marcus kisses her and confesses that he has been in love with her since they were in the orphanage as kids. Although confused by his statements, Kayla walks away. When she gets to the other pack borders, she is greeted by flowers and a well-dressed Caleb, greeting her for their first anniversary together. Kayla urges herself to decide once and for all. She will forget everything about Marcus and her strange romantic feelings for him. Besides, she doesn’t want to be involved again in the dark world of their hidden business. And instead, she will continue to go steady with Caleb, and maybe will settle down with him in the future. But when she wakes up that night and hears him talking over the phone about murdering someone, the future she makes for them shatters into pieces. While hiding behind the door, she discovers that Caleb is the Alpha of the Black Moon pack. He is actually a rival of her pack and the main target is her and her brother. Caleb admits that it takes his pack took long enough to study their business wholly and get her trust. He also said that he is the actual killer of her parents.
Chapter 1 The Annoying half brother
There was a soft knock on the door with a three-second pause. The second wasn't as mellow as the first and the third one which was a bit harder and firmer roused Kayla from her sleep as she groaned and pulled the blanket over her shoulder.
She was partially awake but kept her eyes closed. Her eyelids felt heavy and she was about to drift back to sleep when the door creaked open and the sound of heels clacking along the floor followed.
"Oh, why my! You're still in bed Kayla?" A familiar voice said, causing her to stir in bed. She groaned and stretched her legs then turned her head towards the voice.
She slowly opened her eyes and could see a figure of average height, slim with beautiful long red hair walking towards the drapery.
Everything seemed blurry.
She itched her eyes for a bit and opened them almost immediately when she heard the zipping sound of the drape being drawn to the side.
The rays from the sun flooded the room with a blinding flash causing Kayla to squint as she mumbled something opaque. She slowly opened her eyes letting them adjust to the lighting.
"Are you pregnant young lady?" The woman asked with a tone of amusement lacing her voice.
She had a very mellifluous voice, soft and smooth, it was very pleasing to the ear. It also had a very subtle edge to it which suggested that she was teasing her daughter.
"Mom!" Kayla whined as she sat up, wide-eyed. Her mother chuckled and shook her head.
"Just teasing baby... just teasing," Her mom said.
She went over to the dresser, picked up a brush, and went back to sit on the bed a few inches away from Kayla who out of impulse turned her back to her.
Her mom smiled.
She took a handful of Kayla's hair and began brushing it gently.
Why was her hair so wiry? She thought as she combed out the tangles.
Kayla mustn't have been applying the essentials for her hair, she concluded as she took another handful and kept brushing. Brushing Kayla's hair usually took a while and she enjoyed the excuse of spending a long time with Kayla.
"Mrs. Alexander?"
Her secretary suddenly entered the room and called for her, disrupting her thoughts almost immediately.
Kayla's mum frowned at this. She hated it when her time with her daughter got disrupted.
"I think you forgot our family rules? Or am I too tolerant, misleading you into thinking I am kind?" she said as she went back to brushing Kayla's hair.
She spoke so calmly yet her words sent chills down her secretary's spine making her quiver in fear.
"No --- no. Mrs. Alexander.I'm sorry. There will be no next time." She spoke falteringly.
"Next time you come into a room without knocking first, I'd make a necklace out of your fingers. Do you understand?"
The secretary nodded, trembling with fear. As honeyed as her voice was and even as slender and small as she looked Mrs. Alexander could also be very baleful. She was of course the Luna of the pack, coupled with a very strong successful Alpha, she was strapping. No one dared question her.
"Speak," she ordered.
"The client from Algatron is here. Your attention is needed." She paused. "Mrs. Alexander," she added for maximum respect.
"Mr. Algaso is here? How shocking." She pulled Kayla's hair back, twisting it in a very gentle way, then she wrapped it in a circular coil around itself and secured it with a bobby pin.
"Where is Marcus by the way? Haven't seen him since dinner last night." She looked at Kayla who frowned.
"Why are you looking at me, mom? He's probably somewhere pissing off someone, as usual, I mean how hard could it be to find him just looking for trouble and he'd be there."
The Luna chuckled. "Respect your brother Kayla, things come to worse, he'd be the next Alpha and you'd have just him to protect you."
"People only need protection when they're into dangerous stuff. All I do is go to school and paint when I'm home. You barely see you, mother."
"There's one thing you need to know Kayla, if you have your eyes on two people, you'd have 6 people's eyes boring holes into your back."
Kayla made a face. "What does that even mean?"
Mrs. Alexander stood up and straightened her skirt. She stretched out her hand as she held the comb towards her secretary who dashed to collect it and placed it on the dresser.
"It means you can never tell who is watching you so be careful and never slack. Always be on guard, you would always need protection and I have every confidence in Marcus to give it to you."
She leaned forward and kissed Kayla on her forehead before heading out with the secretary.
Kayla finally had some alone time. She got up and locked the door. She walked back to her bed and dropped on it with only one thought on her mind. Marcus.
Thinking about him made her frisson with excitement. She had always had a very big crush on him but was too scared to show it and also sometimes very disgusted by her feelings because he was her brother even though not biologically.
She was adopted into the family when she was thirteen. Her birth parents had died at a construction site or so she was told and she had been living at the orphanage since she was four before the Alexanders adopted her. She never fit in with the rest of the kids and was always picked on probably because she was a short, miniature kid whereas the other kids were tall and big.
She wasn't even that short, Kayla thought.
She was going to be eighteen in a few months and she was five foot five. She sighed and closed her eyes slowly drifting into fantasy and almost immediately the doorknob rattled. She rolled her eyes and didn't move an inch.
It kept on for ten seconds before a deep yet euphonious voice that sent an exhilarating feeling all over her body made her hold her breath impulsively.
"Open this door, Kayla!"
The way he drew her name. It was several more seconds before she was able to take deep breaths, even longer before she was able to utter more than a strangled sound.
"What do you want, Marcus?" She pulled herself together. "Go away!"
Despite her massive crush on him, she hated him sometimes or so she tried to force herself to believe.
There was a time she caught a naked girl hastily leaving his room and she was so consumed with the jealousy she didn't talk or go close to him for a week.
She saw a lot of girls hit on him at school but she didn't think he'd have anything intimate to do with any of them. He looked good only with her...
"Kayla!" He growled, swearing silently as his body quivered with building rage.
Why wasn't she opening the door? Did she have someone in there with her?
Was it one of the guards or the boys at school?
The thought of Kayla having a boy with her alone in the room infuriated him and he didn't know why.
He was already thinking of where in his room he'd put the skull of the boy he found in there when he heard a faint click almost not audible but loud enough for his werewolf ears and the door slowly opened.
His face held no expression to it but his mind was blown away. She had her hair in this beautiful bun though she looked like she just got off her bed. He moved closer causing her to pull back a little.
The sleeve of her gown was a little loose and the motion caused it to slide off her shoulder revealing smooth glistening skin. His eyes immediately darted to her shoulder as he felt his inner wolf stir.
Kayla wasn't having it any better on her end. She caught a whiff of his eau de cologne and all she wanted to do was hug him till she smelt like him. She looked up at his face and couldn't tell what he was feeling. His eyes met hers and her heart melted but then his expression turned from placid to anger.
"Why didn't you open the door and why was your door locked in the first place?" He entered the room, his eyes flickering, searching every corner of the room like a detective on a search.
Kayla glared at him. She had forgotten how meddling he could be. "What do you mean why did I lock the door? I could be naked."
Immediately the thought of what she'd look like without clothes flooded Marcus's mind and he felt a little tickle down his member.
"The servants have strict orders to always knock."
"Marcus, you can't encroach on my personal life all the time. What? They didn't teach you privacy in school? Oh yeah!" She drawled. "You must have been too busy with all the girls, your flat brain couldn't absorb anything!"
In a split second, he was in front of her as quick as a wink. He hit her two shoulders with his big palm gently but firm enough to make her weak. He picked her up almost immediately with one arm and slammed her to the bed. Before she could regain her breath he was right on top of her and he had this look in his eyes that she couldn't place a finger on. His face entailed anger but his eyes were conveying a different message.
He hissed and his eyes turned blue. Her expression wavered between fear and curiosity but as he snarled at her, curiosity left the chat and all she could feel was nothing but blind terror. His eyes were blue!
Blue!!
It meant he had killed someone. He had taken an innocent life if not lives. Beta's eyes were supposed to be golden and only turned blue if they had committed murder.
He held her wrists over her head and pinned them down on the bed with one palm. She tried wrestling it out but he was too strong for her feeble mind to push off.
"You don't get to talk to me like that! Next time you disrespect me I'd have you naked and the Tie Bian used on you. Do you understand?!"
Her eyes widened at the mention of Tie Bian. No! She thought. He was joking, he couldn't do that to her... right?
She looked at him. His eyes were still glowing and his face hardened. He meant it. She didn't care though as the thought that he'd do that angered her.
"Understand what?" She retorted. "I don't speak bullshit."
It felt like the world paused for a second. Was that a smile she caught? She couldn't tell because it came as quickly as it went.
"Get off me." He didn't move. "Get off me now!" She repeated with a firmer voice.
He released her wrists but still hovered near her.
"We're going to learn how to control that tongue of yours because I wouldn't have you speaking to me like that when I become Alpha."
She eyed him and scoffed, searching every corner of her mind for the next scornful thing she could say to him.
"I'd rather go live in the slums than stay and let you control me. Poor wolves. You couldn't even lead yourself out of school with good grades let alone these beautiful people...Tsk-tsk."
He immediately got off her like her words were hot lava on his skin. He glared at her for two seconds long and then stormed off, almost tearing the door off its hinges.
She drew a few shaky breaths to calm herself as soon as Marcus left.
He was so terrifying. It took every gut in her to talk back at him and it wasn't as easy as she made it seem.
Why was he always meddling in her life?