BELLA’S POV.
Today is the day.
I smiled at my reflection in the mirror, my graduation cap hung up on my head. The smile was a reflection of everything I’ve been through for the past years, my strength and vitality. I sniffed in as tears started to burn in the back of my head, forming in my large black orbs.
I took some steps back, pushing back all the bad thoughts away from my head to focus on myself. It was me today. Everything was all about me. I was the Bella that survived all the thick and hard times, and I am now the Bella that needs to start living.
I stared at the blue gown I was wearing inside my graduation gown, one that my mother, or adoptive mother has given to me. Another set of fresh hot tears pooled my eyes as I thought about it. I would give anything for her to see me in it, for her to witness that everything she has poured in me and I have in her was now here to see, that I performed well and fulfilled everything.
My name is Bella Montagu, adoptive daughter of Alpha Grey and Luna Cora of the Darkmouth pack. According to them, I was found in their pack, lying unconscious in a bush when I was seven. When they asked me who I was and where I came from, I had not been able to answer because I could not remember anything. And it has been like that ever since then, my memories from before I met them or they found me has been blank, leading to me not knowing where I really originated from.
And because of that, everyone saw me as an outcast, as a curse in the pack. I was the girl whom they all took pity on and bullied as if it was the last day on earth and they needed to take it out on someone.
“Your parents never wanted you, Bella . Maybe that’s why they threw you off.”
“Maybe they wanted you dead.”
“Maybe? You think maybe? I’m sure she was such a burden and useless girl, and that’s why they threw her away. Look at her, does she look like someone that has any use in life?”
Those were words I grew up hearing from the members of the pack, including my own adoptive father, Alpha Grey. With him it was more like a hatred that I didn’t know where it came from. He looked at me like I was vomit, a disgusting thing that he didn’t want to have anything to do with. At dinners, he avoided me like a plague, he would not be seen with me or even have anything to do with me.
And on the days where our parts mistakenly crossed, he punished me for it. He would ask his guards to lock me up in the dungeon with nothing, or sometimes during one winter, stripped me bare of my clothings and asked me to stay outside in the cold till the next morning.
“Next time you’ll think well before calling me your ‘father’ you bastard!” He growled out as he slammed the door on me.
I had stayed outside for more than five hours before the door opened and Luna Cora rushed out, her eyes pooled with tears as she threw a blanket over me, covering me and ushering me outside. Maybe I should have died that night. Maybe I should have let the cold kill me and reject Luna Cora’s help. At least I wouldn’t have to face the cruel nature of everyone again. I wouldn’t have to be labelled the girl no one wants, the one that her parents wanted to kill, the one that swarmed her way through deceits and lies into the kindhearted Luna.
While her husband was a total jerk to me, Luna Cora warmed up to me in every possible way. She fed me. She nurtured me. I could still remember her voice when I was nine, reading me a bedtime story and us laughing together. Everything was good as long as she was around. Even Alpha Grey never dared to touch me whenever she was around. She cared for me. She reassured me that none of the words of every other member mattered and I mattered greatly to her.
But everything came crashing down after that night in the cold. I was woken up bitterly and harshly by Alpha Grey, dragged by my hair into a room to find Luna Cora unconscious in her room. Alpha Grey slapped me instantly, his eyes darkening red and dangerous in a way I have never seen it before,
“Look at what you’ve done, you bitch! Look at this! Why!” He slapped me again, pointing to Luna Cora.
“Your highness…I…I…” I stuttered, tears rolling down my eyes.
He approached me, dragging me again with my hair and pulling me closer to Luna Cora. She was fine when she pulled me out of the cold. She was doing all okay. What happened? Why was she not waking up? Why was her lips blue?
“I don’t know what she sees in you! But look at what you’ve caused. You’ve given her a disease! You’ve infected her with your stupid curse. You good for nothing girl! I should have let you die that night instead of taking you in! You’re very…
That day was the worst day of my entire life back then. The doctor read it loud and clear into my ears that Luna now has a heart disease. Out of anger for what her husband did, she had punished herself in the cold too, staying there until she was found unconscious outside. There were troubles with her heart already and staying in the cold, the heavy winter time just worsened it.
I was 14 back then. 14 When Alpha Grey decided to make my life a living hell, he punished me at every chance he got, and made sure I was the laughing stock of the entire pack. He was brutal to me in every way. And when the time came for me to get my wolf and I did not, the bullying tripled.
I got a new nickname, “the wolfless girl.” But I was never the wolfless girl, I had my wolf right and intact within me, our voices a breath of each other. But for some reason she asked me to keep her a secret, to not let anyone know that I have a wolf. I endured every torture and torment from every pack member and kept her a secret.
When I was 15, I decided to go to medical school. Luna Cora’s condition was worsening, and I was in debt to her. I squeezed through, working jobs and trying everything to make sure I could pass and survive, that I could get enough money to treat her or perhaps even treat her myself. When Luna Cora found out what I was doing, she assisted me. For the first time in a long time, I felt her love.
“I want you to know Bella that you’re not the cause of any of this. You were just a child and he did that to you, and I’m so sorry. You don’t have to do any of this…
“I have to do this. I have to save you. I can’t just watch you die, Luna. It’s all my fault…” I remember crying on her bed.
“No…no…” she coughed out, managing to pat my hair, “it’s not your fault. It’s my fault for allowing him to constantly treat you that way and letting him step all over you. It’s my fault. If anything, it’s my fault. Don’t blame yourself, sweet girl.”
I was always her sweet girl. The one that she cared for and would always care for. That evening, she had given me a whole lot of money, and when I asked her, she told me not to tell anyone.
“You’re my daughter. A mother ought to help her daughter.”
It was with that money I paid for most of my classes till the end and today I was graduating. I was leaving medical school with the highest Grade in my class. I looked at my teary eyes and face in the mirror, sniffing a whole lot of snort in. Today I was not the Bella that was always stepped on, but a medical student. I could now get a job and take care of Luna Cora, and I could treat her after getting a job.
I smiled as I picked up my phone and my bag. I was going to celebrate a little before returning to the pack and telling them the good news. I dialled my boyfriend’s number, Max but it went straight to his voicemail.
“Where did he put his phone?” I mumbled as I stashed my phone back into my bag, hailing a cab and giving the taxi man his address.
Max and I have been dating since the beginning of medical school. He was the alpha to the Cartmouth pack, and we were both fated mates. I felt the bond since the first day we met but because I was not allowed to reveal my wolf, we settled for being boyfriends and girlfriends. He had no idea we were mates, nor did he have any idea that I had a wolf.
“Thank you. Have a nice day.” I smiled at the taxi driver, exiting the car.
He was the first man to show me what real love is. Everywhere that Alpha Grey lacked in showing his love to me, Max has picked every point, showing me how much I mattered and how much he cared for me. I entered the elevator, beaming in all smiles as I stared at myself in the mirror.
The elevator stopped and rang out, pulling me out of my thoughts as I made my way to his apartment. A frown etched my features as I saw the door open, wondering who was in. Max was never going to be around and not pick my call. He told me he was going to be late today. I looked at my watch, the time reading 4:45. He was not supposed to be home until 7pm according to him.
I inched further, about to open the door when I heard his voice and the words that followed made my heart shatter into various pieces.
“Bella ? You mean that wolfless piece of shit? I’m just fooling around with her. I don’t need her. She’s useless. She’s poor. She feeds on me more than I ever feed on her and worst of it, she won’t even spread her legs. What the fuck do I need from a trashy woman like her?”
