CINDY'S POV

The day of the party arrived. It was held at 7:00 in the evening. All the beautiful single ladies in town wore their extravagant dresses for the alpha's attention.

Aunt Jezel and her daughters were busy all day preparing their dresses and applying makeup. Meanwhile, I spent my mornings cleaning and cooking again.

"Can I go to the party, Aunt Jezel?" I asked again as I knelt and fastened the high-heeled sandals on her foot.

"You?" she laughed. "A stupid, ugly servant attending a party hoping Alpha Luis will choose you? Don't be foolish, Cindy. No one will love you."

Her daughters laughed. Then, Stephany spilled the glass of orange juice I had freshly squeezed, at her request, and ordered me to clean it up.

"Whose dress is this?" Jenny asked, seeing a cheap, unflattering dress in the kitchen.

"I-it's mine."

Even if I hadn't told them the truth, the sisters would have ripped it up. I tried to stop them, but my dress was quickly torn. I cried. It was handmade. How could they be so heartless?

When night fell, the three of them went out in an automobile. I watched them from the window, filled with anguish and sorrow.

But as I cried, there was a knock on the door. I wiped my tears and opened it to see a beautiful lady in a white dress and radiating presence. She glowed so brightly I was almost blinded.

It was the moon goddess.

"Don't cry, Cindy," she said. "Come outside. Attend the party."

"B-but I can't. I don't have a dress. I don't even know where to rent an automobile."

She smiled, gently took my hand, and led me outside. There, I saw a shining black automobile with a private driver. The moon goddess held a beautiful blue dress with small butterfly sleeves.

"Wear this and capture Alpha Luis' heart."

My heart leaped with joy as the automobile stopped in front of Alpha Luis' mansion. Many people were ascending the huge staircase to the entrance. My mouth gaped. The mansion was so large it seemed like a castle.

"Cindy, be authentic. Spread love. Alpha Luis will choose you as his Luna. But remember, come back home before midnight strikes or else, the dress, the automobile, the private driver, everything I lend to you will vanish," the moon goddess reminded me.

I was overwhelmed when I went inside. There were so many people that I bumped elbows with others constantly.

Suddenly, a bell rang. Everyone stopped talking, eating, or walking. We all faced the top of the grand staircase where Alpha Luis stood. Even from a distance, I sensed his dominating aura. He exuded authority.

My heart pounded as he slowly descended the stairs.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Tonight, I will choose my Luna. I have traveled the world to find her, but to no avail. Tonight, these beautiful ladies will have the chance to show me they are worthy to be my mate."

The girls squealed and rushed to the front to line up. Seeing Stephany approaching, I quickly moved forward with the girls to hide. But then there was a commotion. The girls stampeded. I couldn't breathe so I struggled to get to the front for a space. And suddenly, I found myself falling at Alpha Luis' feet.

I stiffened at the sight of his boots. Looking up, my breath hitched. I noticed his pupils dilated and his eyes widen.

My wolf, Citi, thrashed. She became restless, and her howls nearly shattered my ears when I looked at him.

Then, a pair of arms helped me up. Alpha Luis raised me to my feet. When our eyes met, I heard Citi whisper, "mate.

"You're my mate," I heard Alpha Luis say.

I could feel the eyes of the people on me. They gasped and murmured, wondering who I was.

"Is she from here?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen her in our town."

"Maybe she's a witch."

Everyone's attention was on me. I wanted to leave, but I heard a familiar voice.

"I know her," Aunt Jezel said, stepping forward from the crowd. "She is my stepdaughter. She is the one who killed her father."

The crowd was shocked, especially Alpha Luis. Was she trying to portray me as a villain in front of him?

CINDY'S POV

"No, I didn't," I retorted.

I looked at my stepmother, who was surprised to see me fighting back this time.

"How can an 8-year-old kill an adult? As a matter of fact, you were with him when I found him lying on the floor unconscious."

"How dare you—"

"Enough," Alpha Luis cut Aunt Jezel off. He stepped in front of me to protect me from her.

"Don't accuse without proof. If you won't respect this event, you may leave now. Guards!"

In a second, two guards grabbed her arms and dragged her away. People moved aside to give way as Aunt Jezel tried to break free from their grip and screamed at the top of her lungs.

Stephany and Jenny ran towards their mother, hoping they could talk the guards into releasing her.

When the three were cast outside, the atmosphere of the mansion slowly returned to normal. The music continued, people talked, and Luis and I danced the night away. Everyone watched us as we devoured the wide space in the center with the gracefulness of our dance.

After our dance, Luis and I went to the balcony, where no one else was present. It was just the two of us. We talked under the full moon, sharing childhood memories and secrets that strengthened our connection.

But I heard a bell ring again. I remembered what the moon goddess said. When Luis said it was already 12 o'clock, I hurriedly excused myself and ran outside the mansion.

"Please tell me what your name is."

I heard Luis ask from the entrance, but I couldn't answer him because I was already running down the stairs while holding my dress up. I noticed my necklace slipped and fell on one of the stairs. I was about to retrieve it, but I saw Luis running down to stop me from leaving, so I left the necklace and ran towards my waiting automobile.

When I arrived home, a painful slap to the face greeted me.

"You, bitch! Making me embarrassed tonight? Is it because Alpha Luis is your mate, so you think you're superior now!?" Aunt Jezel shouted at me.

Jenny stepped forward, pointing at my cheap, worn, tattered clothes. The beautiful gown I wore was gone, and I was back in my old clothes. "And look at you. You're a piece of trash. You shouldn't belong here, Cindy. You should be grateful mom adopted you, so you should show some manners."

"You're nothing like your pet mice," Stephany interjected. "Both of you are pests in this household."

They were so angry that they started pulling my hair and slapping my face. I cried so much I almost couldn't breathe. I yelled for help, but no one came. Our house is far from our neighbors.

But they weren't satisfied. They put me in the dark storage room with nothing but old, broken furniture; dust and cobwebs were everywhere. They imprisoned me there.

"Let me out!" I yelled as I banged my fist on the door, but all I could hear was laughter from the other side.

That night, I cried until I fell asleep.

———

ALPHA LUIS' POV

I need to find the girl I danced from the party who also owned the necklace. I know she's my mate. My wolf is reacting to her presence, and for some unexplainable reason, I'm drawn to her. I want to protect her.

So I went to her residence, Lunaris family. My messenger indicated this is where she lives.

"Alpha Luis! What brings you here?" A middle-aged widow greeted me at the door. "Was it for my daughters, Stephany and Jenny?"

Her daughters, who were obviously lazy and nosy, peeked out from beside the door.

"No, I came here for your stepdaughter."

The lady frowned. "Who? Cindy?"

I didn't know her name yet, but maybe it's Cindy. "Yes," I said, unsure.

The lady frowned. "Oh, dear, Alpha. After she disrespected me last night, she went home and packed her things. She said she's going to your mansion to marry you for your money. I tried to reason with her, but she said it was her chance to escape this poor life since she had effectively seduced you that night."

What the lady said made me uneasy. My mate was after my money? Is that why she didn't tell me her name last night?

CINDY'S POV

I woke up to the sound of an automobile engine going off the road. I blinked, trying to decipher where I was, and realized I was still in the storage room.

Even though my stomach growled loudly because I hadn't eaten, I mustered all my energy to pound my fist on the door and screamed, "Let me out!"

Were they trying to kill me?

I stopped when I heard footsteps near the room. The small cat-door at the bottom of the door opened, and a tray containing a plate of leftover food and brownish water was dropped inside.

"Eat up! Thank us for still letting you live," Aunt Jezel's voice said.

"Auntie, please, open the door. I won't ever rebel against you again."

But she just laughed and walked away.

I don't know how many days passed while I was imprisoned in the storage room. It felt like forever. I hadn't bathed or seen the sun. They really treated me like an animal.

One day, I was lying on the makeshift bed I'd made when the cat-door on the lower part of the main door opened. The person who left my food spoke. It was Henry.

I quickly scrambled to my feet and peeked through the cat-door to plead with Henry to let me out.

"I can't possibly do it."

"Why?" I asked, my eyes streaked with tears. I was surprised my eyes weren't dry from crying all the time.

"You were a bad girl, Cindy. It's right for you to be punished like this."

"I thought you loved me."

He laughed. "You think so? Let me tell you the truth, Cindy. It wasn't you I loved. It was Jenny. Don't be so delusional."

Suddenly, Jenny appeared beside him, caressing her small baby bump. She smirked as she looked at me.

"Pathetic. He was just using you to be close to me. Who would want to be with an abandoned daughter like you?"

No matter how many insults they threw at me, I was still affected. It hurt so much that I'd served them, yet I wasn't worthy of their acceptance as part of their family.

When Henry left to go home, Jenny stayed in front of the storage room. She threw insults at me, saying I should be dead.

I was okay with their insults, really, but when she mentioned my father and how I'd killed my mother during childbirth, I snapped.

"Your family is evil. You should all be dead, instead," I said, and that made her cry.

Her mother and sister came to her and were shocked when Jenny told them what I'd said.

Aunt Jezel was furious. For the first time since she'd locked me up, she opened the door and stormed toward me. She grabbed my hair and dragged me outside.

I was almost blinded when the light hit my eyes; I hadn't seen sunlight for days. She dragged me to the stables. The horses neighed as Aunt Jezel pushed me into a pile of horse manure. My face was covered in it, and I could even taste it. I wanted to cry, but I controlled myself.

"That's what you deserve for being ungrateful to us. You want to be free, right? Well, then, go. No one would accept you, anyway. You'll come back here again, and you'll be cleaning horse shit again."

That night, after cleaning myself, I decided to follow my plan to leave the house for good. Even though my body ached from Aunt Jezel and her daughters' slaps and kicks, I packed my clothes and left my father's house, poisoned by her.

I walked past Henry's house and cried. Afterward, I wiped my tears and straightened my posture. I picked up the love letters he'd sent me before from my bag and threw them in their mailbox, along with a new letter for him that said: I loved you, but you treated me like an animal. Now, you will all regret what you did to me.