Lunar 1

Chapter 1
Let me introduce myself. I am Katia Lane, and I am 19 years old. Today is
the day I die. Don’t be sad for me. It’s okay, my wolf Aza and I agree that
our next life has to be better than this one.
Oh yeah, in case you didn’t know werewolves are real and I am one of
them. We prefer to be called shifters as we shift from human to wolf at will.
We live in communities called packs and intermingle with other
supernatural and humans. Although most humans have no clue that the
supernatural world exists.
Back to why Aza and I have decided today is the day we die. It’s simple,
really. We can no longer stand the torture, abuse, pain, and hurt we have
dealt with since my birth. I have no clue why my parents, the beta couple,
to the Night Shade pack hated me. I was their first born and they showed
absolutely no feelings for me at all. I was basically ignored except for
changing and feeding me which kept me quiet. Once I was old enough to
understand commands, I was put to cooking, cleaning, and taking care of
my younger brothers. Yes, my brothers were loved and treasured. After all,
they would become the beta and gamma of the pack someday. Just as my
father and his brother had done. My brothers learned to smack me, throw
me, choke me, and whatever else they could think of. Their favorite thing to
do was to do something they weren’t allowed and then blame me. Knowing
I would be punished. One time, when I was about eight, my brothers stole
money from my mom’s wallet. When my mom discovered money missing
from her wallet, I was blamed. I was given 50 lashes and no food for a
week. I was blamed and punished for anything that went wrong or
happened with the pack. My parents punched, kicked, whipped, and
starved. Not to mention any other ways to torture me my parents or pack
members could think of.
Why didn’t I say something to the Alpha or Luna? They were busy running
the pack and they had seen me hit and thrown across the dining room when
I tripped and dumped a tray of food on the floor. It didn’t matter that I was
only five. I figured since they didn’t say anything they really did not care.
I tried to run away when I was eight. I had been beaten and locked in a
closet as punishment for my latest transgression. I didn’t even know what it
was that I was being punished for. I made it to the woods surrounding our
pack lands. I ran and ran into them until it was so dark that not one ray of
sunlight peeked through the trees. I was terrified and had no idea what to
do. I was cold, scared of the noises and what might be making those noises.
I found a tree with a hole in the bottom of its trunk and crawled inside. As I
sat inside shivering, and hoping nothing was going to find and eat me, I
smelled my father and uncle. Already tiny for my age, I still tried to make
myself smaller. Shifter senses are stronger than a human’s even when we
have not met our wolves yet. So, for the two adult males, who had their
wolves for years, it was easy to find me. I was grabbed by my legs and
pulled from the tree. The beating I was given by my father and uncle, for
inconveniencing them, almost killed me. When they saw how badly they
had beaten me they took me to the pack hospital and said I had been
attacked by a rogue. A rogue is a wolf that has left or been thrown out of its
pack. Wolves are pack animals and have a hard time living on their own.
Some rogues cannot stand the loneliness and it does something to their
minds.
The doctor accepted their explanation and spent hours resetting bones and
putting casts on me. Stitching me up and monitoring my vitals. Once I was
out of danger of dying, he sent me home with the promise of trying not to
draw attention to myself. He did not really buy the rogue excuse. He knew
what really happened and knew he could not go up against the beta of the
pack.
I managed to do just that for about two years. I learned to never speak so no
one would hear me and remember I existed. I found ways to not be in the
same room with the worst of my ant agonizers. I was essentially a ghost. I
did what I was assigned to do every day. I learned to anticipate when
someone wanted something, and it was there before they remembered my
name and yelled for me. I waited until everyone went to sleep every night
before I would quietly slip into my room and go to sleep.
Then my tenth birthday happened….