Chapter 1 – Fire in the Heart

My Nightmares

Azura

The laughter rings in my ears, but there is nothing merry about it, filled with malice and jeers.

“Go on!”

“Awe, what’s wrong? Too much of a wimp?”

“You’re meant to be the boss’ woman, can’t you do it? Too weak?”

I freeze, standing between my boyfriend and his men. They are torturing someone who I don’t even recognise in his wolf form, but what else is new? This is the usual for them. I always try to ignore his ways and stay out of his business, trying to focus on the good in him instead, but today, they expect me to join in with their sick games. I don’t want to do this. Staring at the bloody mass on the ground, my stomach churns. This is not meant to happen.

“Just pull the trigger.” His voice is devoid of emotions. His cold, murky eyes meet mine as he holds the gun out to me.

“I… I’m not so sure about this. This isn’t what you told me,” I reply calmly, despite the way my stomach is twisting with nerves.

“Not even for me, my little pet?” He tilts his head, looking at me whilst the rest of his friends spur me on.

I stare at the gun, trying to think of how I got here… but I don’tknow when I fell into this toxic relationship. I’m not someone who needs sympathy. I’ve never been one who can’t sleep at night because of my demons. I’m always carefree, unbothered, and wild. I love to have fun, crush on the good-looking boys in my class or whatever hot Alpha crosses my path. But now… I find myself tossing and turning, trying to push away the nightmares my so-called boyfriend has pulled me into.

“Please, come on, let’s forget this.” I try to shrug it off, wrapping my arms around his neck and hoping he listens.

His scent fills my nose, mixed with the smell of cigarettes and drugs. His hands stroke my waist, and I try to remember the man I fell in love with. Where has he gone?

“Forget what? Oh yeah, forget what he called you? Let me rephrase that, little pet. You don’t want to be an outcast, do you? The outsider… the odd one out… the freak?” His tone is a cold sneer as his eyes burn into mine.

Freak.

My heart thumps as I stare at the bloody wolf on the ground.

I’m not a freak. I am Azura Rayne Westwood, daughter of the previous Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack. Even though I’m a child born in a way that played with the very laws of nature, I’m not a freak.

I should be dead, but I’m not.

“Freak. Freak. Freak,” his men begin to chant, only making the anger rise within me. He smirks, knowing it’s getting to me, making me yank away from his hold. My heart thumps violently as I snatch the weapon from his hand.

I remember when I was a child, I didn’t understand why I was disliked. Occasionally there were kids in the pack whispering behind my back, but they didn’t dare to do anything to me because I am the daughter of their Alpha. Plus, I was not someone to mess with. I always made anyone who tried to hurt me or those I loved suffer. However, there is one name thatnever left me – The Freak.

“Do it.”

I look at my boyfriend. He knows I hate that term, but he still uses it. It’s my fault. I’m the one who was blind enough to tell him my darkest secrets.

“Fine,” I spit as I turn, pretending to do his bidding and raise the gun.

What should I do?

“Shoot him, baby.” His quiet voice, laced with a deadly warning, comes from right behind me.

My hand shakes as I stare at the whimpering wolf on the floor.

His breathing is so shallow…

No amount of logic makes this okay.

I am not going to do this, but the urge to turn around and shoot my so-called boyfriend instead tempts me. I lower my weapon, the laughter fading as a tense silence falls at my act of disobedience.

“I’m not going – “

I gasp when something knocks into me from behind, making me accidentally pull the trigger. The body on the ground shivers before it stills.

“No!” I scream, dropping the gun as I run to the wolf’s side. No, no, no!

Laughter follows me as I look at the wolf before me. I can’t feel his heartbeat, but he doesn’t even shift to his human form. Whatever those bullets contain is deadly. It is so fast that he couldn’t even shift back.

“Why, Judah?” I scream.

Silence falls as I glare at the man who stands there, his cold eyes on me. Although he says nothing, the anger in his eyes makes my blood run cold. He hates to be disrespected.

“You do not talk to me like that,” he whispers menacingly as he strides over to me. Grabbing a fistful of the wolf’s bloody fur, helifts his body from the ground in one sweep. “You did this.”

With those words, he throws the heavy body of the dead wolf on top of me, the weight crushing my legs.

“Do you feel sorry for him? Here, take care of him!” He snarls as I glare back at him. My anger rises as I try to push the body of the wolf off me. “Who said you can get up, my pet?”

“This is not a joke! I’m done with you and your sick ways,” I spit resentfully. He’s no different from all of the others. In fact, he’s worse.

His eyes darken, and he grabs a fistful of my hair.

“Oh, we aren’t done until I say we are,” he snarls menacingly.

“You don’t own me, and I am not your pet!” I hiss, glaring at him in defiance.

He simply laughs loudly, like my childish words amuse him, but I know better. He is beyond angry; I have just disrespected him in front of his men. He won’t forgive that.

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