Chapter 3: My father's an orphan.

Victor chuckled lowly. "Of course, you won't answer. But let me tell you anyway." He exhaled slowly, as if recalling a past that still burned inside him. "I should have been the Alpha of this pack," he said.

"The former Alpha never had a child of his own, so he took me—Victor, his Beta's son—into his home. He raised me like his own. I was his heir." His voice tightened with restrained bitterness. "He treated me well. I was proud, knowing I would lead this pack one day."

Estella grabbed her knees, her heart pounding. "But then," Victor continued, his voice hardening, "one day he returned with Joan. He stated he found him in an orphanage.

He abruptly announced that Joan would also be raised as his son. "That we should be like brothers." He scoffed bitterly. "As if I needed a brother." Estella heard a harsh scrape on a chair as Victor shifted.

"Tell me," he asked coldly, "how do you think that felt? To have my proper place stolen? To see the pack that was supposed to be mine given to an orphan?" His voice lowered to a near whisper, tinged with threat. "I should've been Alpha. Not him. "Never him."

Estella bit her lip, her nails digging into her palms. Was her her father was an orphan? She had never known this and never suspected the weight of resentment Victor carried all these years.

Victor paced the dimly lit chamber, his fists clenched at his sides as his piercing gaze locked onto Scarlet, Estella's mother. His voice was rough with restrained fury.

"I could live with my right to be Alpha being stolen from me," he added, his voice quiet but venomous. "But what I can't live with is the fact that Joan stole the woman I love too."

Estella's mother's lips twisted into a mocking smirk. She tilted her head, looking at him with chilly amusement. "The woman you love?" she repeated, her tone mocking. "And how did I suddenly become that, Victor?"

His jaw tightened, his nostrils flaring. "I truly loved you," he snapped. "I saw you first. But before I could even dream of approaching you, Joan found you. And of course, you turned out to be his fated mate." His voice darkened, thick with bitterness. "Is that not ridiculous? He made sure he stole everything from me!"

Estella's mother scoffed, her smile fading into contempt. "It's not Joan's fault that the Moon Goddess favored him more than you," she said coolly.

"You were never meant to have what he had." Victor's eyes flashed with uncontained rage. "Fuck the Moon Goddess!" he snarled, slamming his fist into the wooden table beside him, cracking it. "Joan is dead.

And you, Scarlet, have managed to fall into my hands." He took a slow step toward her, relishing the sudden tension in the air. "The only blemish in all of this is the fact that Estella is still alive."

Estella's mother stiffened, her body tensed in defiance. Victor leaned closer, his voice a sinister whisper. "So tell me..." "Where did she run to?" His fingers twitched, as if ready to strike. "Before I lose my temper."

The dimly lighted room reeked of damp wood and terror, but Estella's mother remained steadfast, her chin up in defiance as she stared at Victor. "If you want to hit me, then do it," she yelled.

"But I'm not telling you anything about my daughter." Victor cocked his head, his black eyes glittering with something perverse. And then he laughed—a slow, sinister chuckle that sent shivers down her spine.

"Hit you?" he mused, stepping closer. "Oh, no, no, no. Do you really think I'd waste my energy on that?" Before she could react, his hands shot out, fingers curling around the fabric of her dress. With a sickening rip, he tore at it, his laughter turning wilder, more unhinged, as she gasped and tried to push him away.

"Stop it! Stop this right now!" she screamed, struggling against his strength. "You monster!" Victor only grinned wider, another piece of cloth shredding under his grasp.

Hidden behind the wooden panel, Estella's heart slammed against her ribs, her breath coming in shallow, horrified gasps. Her stomach twisted violently, nausea rising as she watched that beast of a man toy with her mother like a predator cornering prey.

No. No, no, no.She couldn't let this happen. Before she could think, she burst out of her hiding spot, her voice sharp and desperate. "I'm here!" she shouted.

. Victor's sharp golden eyes gleamed with amusement as he took in her presence, a slow, menacing grin spreading across his lips. "Well, well… what do we have here?" he drawled, his voice laced with mockery.

He lazily dragged his fingers through his dark hair before turning his attention back to Estella's mother, who lay trembling at his feet.

He crouched beside her, gripping the torn fabric of her dress between his fingers, then said to Estella, "If I had known that tearing your mother's clothes would make you come running out like a little rabbit, I would have done it from the very beginning." He said cruelty.

Her vision blurred with fury, her body trembling with the effort to contain the storm brewing inside her. Her mother whimpered, her face streaked with tears, but Estella saw the silent plea in her eyes—run, save yourself.But Estella wasn't going to run.

Reyna, she called within, her soul igniting with rage. It's time to fight. "We either die here or we get Mother out.". A deep growl resonated within her mind, the voice of her inner wolf rising like a battle cry. "Then let's make them bleed.".

A searing heat tore through her bones as her body cracked and reshaped, her scream morphing into a guttural snarl. Her fingers curled into claws, muscles stretching, bones shifting, skin giving way to fur that shimmered beneath the dim bulb light.

Her transformation was swift, fueled by her unyielding fury, and when she finally stood on four powerful legs, her silver-and-white coat gleamed like a celestial blaze. Victor… only laughed.