Chapter 4

• Lyric
• The one man I'd hoped would love me but never did.
• As I watched him walk over to me with a smug look on his face, I couldn’t help but squint my eyes to get a better look at him.
• Why the heck did I waste my tears and one whole year of my life on a man like him?
• I felt regret, but more than that, anger. He wasted a whole year of my life!
• His personality was like a broomstick. Seeing him again made me regret ever wanting his attention. He wasn’t all that special.
• I shook my head at myself in disbelief. When someone is desperate, they make people like him feel special.
• “So, I had to come over and speak to you myself,” he said, leaning against the counter beside me. “How daring.”
• He obviously didn't recognize me as the Lyric who was used and abandoned by him. Because I was no longer ugly, I was very confident about my current beauty. I could see that he was very interested in me, a strange beauty.
• Nothing about him was interesting. The only thing I did remember was his smug face. And I smiled to myself a little, feeling like a fool for my past mistake.
• Three guards hovered beside him, their eyes darting around. Roderick looked sophisticated, like he'd obviously been having a good life.
• What was he even doing here? Was he picking someone?
• "What's your good name?" He tilted his head as he asked.
• I said nothing, but passed him a quick head to toe glance, judging him.
• "Hello?"
• "I don’t feel like giving my name to strangers," I finally said. My voice was a little tight, because I was worried that he would recognize me by my voice. But God forbid, he didn't. Maybe he never cared about me in the past.
• His eyes shone with amusement. Here was a man who never smiled at me during the whole year we were together.
• "Let’s just say I’m overly excited today," he sighed, making me wonder what made him think I’d be interested in his small talk.
• "I’m here, waiting for a certain bitch to arrive." When I gave him a confused look, he added, "Ex-mate."
• I took a sip of coffee and muttered under my breath, “Who’s the lucky lady?”
• He chuckled, “I’m not here because I care about her or want her back. We’re done with the first step and just have one tiny step left. I’ll finally be free of her.”
• “That’s why I asked—who’s the lucky lady escaping from someone like you?” I said quietly, grinning as he misunderstood.
• "I'd have done this sooner, you know? But the horrid girl has been missing for years. Stressed us the hell out to find her." He spoke with raw disdain.
• “What makes you call her horrid?” I asked, thinking that if I ever faced him, I’d know exactly where and how to hit him.
• He chuckled. “Trust me, honey, she’s a monster. If you saw her, you’d think the same. She’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.”
• “So tell me, who do I have to do to get your number?” He really thought he was so charming that anyone would want to give him their number after he just showed how twisted his mind was.
• “Probably just leave me alone,” I said, watching his smirk slowly fade. He had no clue what I was capable of now. The good thing was, I didn’t have any pity for my enemies.
• It made sense why he was waiting at the airport. He clearly wanted to drag me to the temple for some public nonsense. Well, I wasn’t going to let him embarrass me in front of everyone. Not again.
• Thankfully, my luggage finally showed up.
• “Sorry for the delay, ma’am,” the young man said, rolling it over to me.
• Without looking at Roderick, I started to walk away. That must have caught him off guard. “I’d love to talk to you another time. Your contact, if you don’t mind.” His arrogance didn’t let him see the clear rejection.
• With a chuckle, I shook my head in disbelief again. I turned back and gave him the politest answer I could: “Even if I had to give up my number to save myself from you, I wouldn’t. Alpha.”
• When my words sank in, surprise danced in her eyes, followed by a hint of hurt.
• Something blossomed in my chest. It was pride.
• So, I rolled my luggage away, leaving him standing there in shock.
• Rufus and I arrived home to the party. It was my stepmother's birthday party.
• Not that I had any intention of attending—may the moon forbid it—I just arrived at a coincidentally perfect time.
• I wasn't dressed for the party. Had my simple jeans and shirt on with my hair in a ponytail. Yet, when I entered into the hall, heads turned in my direction.
• I felt awkward for a moment. The whole attention thing was still new to me.
• I never knew I could receive so much compliments until I was free of my scar. Now, people could hardly stare at me without telling me how beautiful I was.
• My stepsister, Nora, walked up to me with a smile. "Hi! You're a little late for the party. What's your name?"
• Typical Nora. From young, she's always wanted to be friends with the hot girls. She despised me so much as I brought a 'stain' to her name. A scarred lady being her sister.
• Five years ago, she had slammed the door in my face, not letting me in despite my pleas. Now, she was being all nice.
• "I'm not here for the party," I answered her coldly and looked away, scouring around for my father.
• I found him in a corner with my stepmother and some guests. He was the reason I was here. I needed to know what was so urgent aside cutting ties with Roderick.
• He had his eyes on me, staring suspiciously. I went toward him.
• "Hey! Who are you?" Nora came after me, sounding a little hurt.
• But I ignored her until I reached father.
• My father was a well known Alpha, hence the party filled with dignitaries. I did well to bow my head to them as I stood before father.
• "Who are you?" My stepmother asked.
• I met her gaze with a smirk. "Am I that different that you can't recognize me?" I looked to father. "What about you, father? Am I too different?"
• Audible gasps rippled around me. Nora's hand went over her mouth.
• "It's not possible," she muttered, shaking her head.
• "Lyric?" Father's eyes were filled with shock and recognition.
• "Who's this impersonator?" My stepmother snapped. "Do you think we lack knowledge of what Lyric looks like? You think we'd fall for this scam?"
• I focused my gaze on dad. "I'm only here 'cause you said there was something important you needed to talk to me about. If you don't mind, I'd like for us to have that conversation now."
• Father took me to his study, leaving numerous shocked persons behind who couldn't utter a word.
• I wouldn't deny how good it felt to know I was the reason they were speechless. They couldn't call me ugly. As a matter of fact, I'd never be called ugly by anyone, ever again.
• "What happened to you, Lyric? Your scar was impossible to get rid of," Father asked.
• "I don't wish to discuss it now." Or the horrible things that happened within five years. I was still trying to run from them. "Just tell me why you needed me here."
• "Yes, that." his countenance soured. "You have no idea how happy I was when. I found you after searching for years. You just... vanished." He sighed. "We have a problem, Lyric. Our Pack is in a deep mess with Darkspire. I—I made some mistake and lost a lot of money—a whole lot—making me indebted to Darkspire."
• Okay, I did not like where this was headed.
• Darkspire was a generational wolf pack, known to produce only the strongest Alphas. The Alphas that always ranked first in the hierarchy system. They were avoided as much as possible as they were known to be vicious. One did not get tangled with them for any reason.
• "If word of this gets out, we'd be doomed. We'd go down the ranks, and coming from a pack that was used to being at the top, believe me, it is not a good thing for us. But they're willing to let it go."
• I furrowed my brows. It didn't make any sense. I sensed a huge 'But' coming.
• "But they need a Luna from this family, for just a year."