Chapter 1

• BELLA
• I have never experienced as much hate as was staring at me right now.
• After my father had died, my mother had asked me to come to stay with her new family. Her second chance mate, according to her, was the best thing that has ever happened to her. I wasn't about to argue with her since I knew my mother fell fast and deep.
• I had been skeptical but seeing how Alpha Moonbare had looked at her convinced me that he was in love with her too. His sons, however, not so much.
• Alpha Moonbare was exactly how Mother had described him : A huge man with a teddy bear interior but firm with his pack members.
• His sons on the other hand looked like they had inherited his looks but none of his personality. I had been in their home for all of two hours and I could already feel myself withering from their scalding looks.
• I tried to act like I wasn't bothered by their looks but I could tell that my stay here would be hell. My bags were already in the room where I would be sleeping in and as my mother finished up the introductions, I knew I would rarely leave it.
• “You'll love it here, honey. I promise you.”
• My thoughts were drawn back to my mother who had been peering at me with a curious expression.
• She knew about the way I had been bullied in my father's pack. I mentioned it to her about three times before I stopped, not wanting to be the whining daughter. As long as I wasn't being beaten, I knew I could take it.
• After his death, they didn't know what to do with me so she asked me to come to her. She had told me several times to come over but I was the only one father had left even though he was blind to all I was going through.
• In a way, I was happy I was able to leave, although sad that he had to die. I loved my parents, even after they decided they weren't in love enough to stay together.
• “Sure.” I nodded my head. From the expressions of the four hulking men in different sitting positions across me, I knew loving it here was unlikely.
• “If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask your mother, myself or any of the boys.” Alpha Moonbare said for what seemed to be the hundredth time since I arrived. His sons looked like they didn't want me to ask them.
• “I'll be fine.” I mumbled, already tired and wanting nothing more than to crash in bed. The journey had been rough and long. Every crevice of my body hurt from sitting still for several hours.
• “Boys-” He turned to his kids who looked at him, the hate in their eyes dissolving. I guess the hatred was directed at me only. “Make sure to take care of your sister.”
• Four pairs of differently colored eyes glared at me at that statement. I wished the alpha had let it go.
• “She's not our sister.” The one with the short jet-black hair and red fiery eyes said. He was introduced as Raymond, the third of the quadruplets. From what I had observed, he was the very outspoken one.
• His statement was received with nods from his brothers and a sigh from our parents which told me that wasn't the first time the conversation had been had.
• “Behave”. The Alpha said but they all smirked. I knew the last thing they would do would be to behave.
• My mother shook her head and stood up, gesturing for me to come with her. I stood up quickly and we both headed for what I guessed were the rooms. She stopped in front of one and opened the door.
• The room was large enough with a big bed and the necessary furniture. I saw my bags neatly stacked by the vanity.
• “You'd probably want to decorate yourself. We'll go shop for stuff anytime you want to”. Mom said as a way of explaining the lack of decorations. I liked that since it would give us the mother-daughter bonding time I had barely had with her.
• “Sure”. I said and walked into the room, already about to drop. She stared at me like she wanted to say something before deciding against it. She instead walked towards me and embraced me.
• I melted into her arms, tears dropping from my eyes. By her sniffles, I knew she was crying too. As we disengaged, she wiped her face with the back of her hand.
• “I'm glad you're here, honey.” She said as she held my hand, squeezing it a little.
• “Me too, Mom”. And I meant it. No matter what was going to happen, I was glad I came.
• “Get some sleep. I know you're tired and can't wait for me to leave the room.” She said and laughed.
• I nodded and waited till she left the room before stripping off. I got into the bath and rinsed off my body before putting on something that was comfortable enough.
• When I drifted off to sleep, my last thoughts were on the quadruplets. Somehow, they took over my nightmare.
• ××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××
• A WEEK LATER
• As my head slammed on the wall, I could feel the headache forming at the base of my head. The hand to my throat wasn't doing anything to help ease the tension.
• “What the fuck do you think you're doing?” Ryan shouted to my face. My heart beat rate picked up, fear coursing through my veins.
• For a week, they had been doing everything they could to make life miserable for me and they had succeeded. I was already tired of living here and looking for an out.
• It started when Ryan had hit me on my way out of my room, barely disguising it as an incident. I had just finally gotten to different them from each other. I had always managed to confuse their names for each other despite their differences.
• They had a similar build and could pass for each other if they wore glasses and a wig. I thought it was hilarious at first but they soon showed me they weren't humorous.
• Ryan, who was currently tormenting me, was the second of the quadruplets. His shoulder-length hair was auburn and he had lazy sapphire eyes, the type one could get lost in.
• Richard, the first, had shoulder length ashen hair and hunter-golden eyes. He barely talked with me and was very cold. Colder than the rest of his brothers.
• Raymond was the first I was able to correctly identify with his red eyes and short jet black hair. He hated me the most, more than his brothers and I just couldn't fathom why.
• The last quadruplet was Raven whom I barely knew anything about. The guy had phoenix golden eyes that blazed when he was angry. His black hair was accompanied by a freaking red fringe. He was the one whom I try to avoid the most. His silence seemed to be more dangerous.
• “Cat got your tongue?” Ryan taunted, his hand tightening around my throat. I had learnt the hard way to not talk back at them even when I was tempted to.
• “N-no.” I stammered, knowing I couldn't stay silent in this situation.
• “Oh, she stammers” Raymond said and snickered alongside his brothers.
• The hand loosened but I was still pinned to the wall. “Kneel”
• I raised my head to look at him, wondering just how he thought that would be possible. “You're holding me against the wall. I can't kneel.”
• He looked at me before releasing me. I managed to back away before he could reach for me again, only to back into Raven. I hadn't seen or heard him move from where he had been.
• “Going somewhere?” He drawled in a bored voice. I knew I was truly fucked if he has stepped in. He was usually an onlooker.
• “Please, just let me go.” I begged. Even as the words left my lips, I knew it was futile. “What did I do now?”
• “Maybe the fact that you tried to report us to our father? What were you hoping would happen? He'd kick us out? Make you his successor?”
• The incident being referred to happened four days prior. They had come up to me, cornering me by the door of the living room. There had been no one else in the house other than us so I knew no one could hear me scream. They hit me in places that wouldn't create an obvious bruise and left me with emotional abuse.
• I tried to tell my mom about it when Alpha Moonbare walked in on us. He must have heard what I had told her because I heard him shouting at his sons not long after. They had trooped in to apologize to me as he had ordered them to but I knew they had something else in mind.
• I had assumed they had forgotten all about it since they didn't mention it after then but I guess they had to wait for the perfect time. A replica of that day, since no one else was home.
• “I didn't mean to. He overheard–” I was interrupted with a slap that snapped my head to the side. My palm immediately went to my stinging face and I could feel the tears threatening to drop. I held it in, knowing they would take satisfaction in seeing me cry.
• “All of these are excuses. You ratted to him and you know snitches deserve to be punished. How then would you learn to behave?” Raymond spat at me.
• “Please.” I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. “Just let me go. I'm sorry.” I knelt like I had been asked to. I didn't look at any of them in the eyes, knowing what I would already see there.
• “Shut up”. Raven’s quiet but deadly command had me swallowing the sob that was at the back of my throat. I knew better than to defy that.
• “Let her go.” We all simultaneously turned to Richard who hasn't said anything since they found me.
• “But–” Raymond tried to argue but was cut off.
• “You wouldn't want to be caught here with her, would you?” Due to how engrossed they were with torturing me, none of us, other than Richard, had heard the alpha's car drive in. He was in the process of packing his car and we all knew he would be in the house in a matter of minutes.
• “Not a word”. Ryan said to me as they dispersed into their rooms. I scuttled into my room and laid face down on the bed, yelling into the pillow.
• I didn't know how long I could continue to take this but I knew I couldn't tell my mom anything about it. She would eventually tell her husband and I could only imagine what worse things they would do next.
• I must have dozed off because the next time I was conscious, my mom was shaking me awake.
• “Honey, are you okay?” She said as she sat down beside me on the bed. I sat up, resting my back against the headboard and arranging the pillows around me.
• She stared at my face for a long time before shuffling closer to me. “Are the boys bothering you again?”
• I realized my face must be red where I had been slapped and I quickly covered it up with my hair. “No, Mom. I'm fine. I promise. I just backed up a door and hit my face.”
• I knew she didn't believe me. She must have sensed that I didn't want to say anything about it any longer because she nodded her head. “You know you can tell me if anything happens, right?”
• “Yes, mom”. I said before having a proper look at her face.
• I wasn't sure before when I had come but now I could clearly see that something was wrong with her. She looked like she had lost a lot of weight in a short time and her face looked very pale.
• “Mom, are you okay?” I asked in alarm, right before she fainted in my arms.