[Rosalie's POV]

“One.”

I swallow down the knot that is beginning to form in my throat from the fear that is slowly rising.

“Two.”

My body comes alive in anticipation of the chase that is about to come.

“Three.”

I burst forward, throwing myself into the labyrinth ahead of me while the blare of trumpets rang out around me, indicating the beginning of the chase.

Around me, everyone rushed forward desperately. And even if anyone fell on the way, no one would stop to care. The only thing they remembered was to run, not giving two shits if they would trample to kill others or not.

This was how it worked at the auctions. You were sold to the highest bidder, but before you were taken to them, you were given one last opportunity for freedom.

You would be sent to the labyrinth and then it all came down to luck and skill. If you manage to avoid being caught by the one who bought you, you get to go free and start a new life away. But if failed, you would end up in a whole new hell.

How did I get into this mess, you may ask? It started long ago when I was taken away from my mother and back to my father's pack.

Since that day, my life was destined to be hell.

I was born to a maid who lived in the countryside. The young maid fell in love with a handsome warrior who passed by the village. They had some sweet moments and as the warrior left, she got pregnant with me.

Though that warrior never appeared again, Mom always believed Father would return and save us one day. I knew deep down that he wouldn't. He was a liar, who tricked my gullible mother.

I never regretted being the daughter of my mom. Though life wasn't easy, she worked hard to give me what I needed. We lived a modest life but we had each other at least.

However, that simple life shattered when the blood I inherited from my father manifested.

My father had a secret identity that he never revealed to my mom. He was a powerful Alpha and he already had another woman as his Luna.

I turned out to be an illegitimate child.

“Rosalie, sweetie, this is your father,” my mother cooed, urging me from behind her. “Come out and say hello.”

It was my first time to meet my father for the first time. I was five years old.

Clutching my mother’s skirt, I saw a man with raven black hair and piercing green eyes—the very same eyes I possessed and considered cursed by the villagers.

“Hello,” the man chuckled, kneeling down so that his gaze was able to meet my own. “Don’t be afraid, little one.”

As he reached out, I darted behind my mother once more and hide.

“Sorry,” my mother sighed. “Rosalie is a bit shy.”

“Rosalie,” the man repeated. “That’s a beautiful name. It’s perfect for such a beautiful girl.” As he spoke, he continued to take me in with those eyes, which seemed to almost see into my soul. “I won’t hurt you, little one.”

Won’t hurt me? How was I supposed to believe such a thing when all I knew was suffering due to the way I looked?

Of course, my mother didn’t know about the tauntings and beatings I suffered because I didn’t want her to be sad, but I felt she had been aware of that. Then that was why this man finally appeared.

“Rosalie,” my mother murmured, turning and kneeling in front of me. “I know that you’re afraid, but Gusto is here to help you.”

For the first time since this meeting began, I noticed that my mother’s eyes were filled with tears, and a look of despair rested in them.

“Mommy,” I whispered, reaching out and wiping a tear from her cheek. “What’s wrong?”

For a moment, she didn’t speak as she continued to take me in, and when a sad smile crossed her beautiful features, I knew I wasn’t going to like what I heard next.

“Mommy is unable to protect you,” she murmured, taking both my hands. “And because of that, you must go with your father, understand?”

These words were the ones that changed everything, and no amount of kicking and screaming changed the outcome.

On that beautiful day when the weather was perfect and the sky was bright blue, my hell began.

I was taken back to Silver Moon. Though Father was the alpha, I was still an illegitimate child with a poor bloodline flowing through my veins. No one there except my father would like to accept me. I was tortured and treated like a pariah, especially by my father’s luna and their daughter.

At first, the abuse was simply verbal, but after my father grew sick from an unknown illness, it progressed to physical, and when he died, everything went downhill.

I was thrown into a cell and kept as a slave by my stepmother and stepsister. I was starving to death until the day the ambassador from Blood Moon came, demanding the daughter of Silver Moon as his bride.

The alpha of Blood Moon was a cruel man with a horrible reputation that consisted of murdering those who disobeyed him, sharing the women of his pack, and using his brides as baby-making machines; if they didn’t birth a male heir, he killed them.

Of course, my stepmother didn’t want my stepsister wed to that man, but she couldn’t deny his request as Silver Moon was struggling financially after my father’s death thanks to my stepmother and sister’s insatiable spending habits.

So in place of my stepsister, I was promised to the alpha and released from my prison.

Although you would think things would get better after that, you’re wrong. Even if I was released, I was still treated like a prisoner and still beaten and bloodied on a regular basis, but I was at least fed and given an actual bed to sleep in.

When I turned eighteen, I was sent off to Blood Moon, where my fiance waited for me.

On that very day, we were wed in a small chapel with only his ambassador and mother present, and after that, I became his toy.

Day in and day out, I was used as a means for pleasure and the release of frustration. My existence became worse than death, and when he finished with me and left me bloodied on the bed, I prayed to the goddess to die, but she seemed to unheard me.

For three years, this continued until the day that he decided to share me with his beta and delta.

I would never forget their disgusting grins and their hungry eyes as they swarmed me and then held me down while one by one they took me again and again while my husband watched on as one of his mistresses pleasured him.

It was during all of this that something in me snapped, and when it was released, all I could think of was killing those that hurt me.

I let the darkness that tormented me day in and day out loose so that she could bloody her hands while I watched on in both shock and happiness.

I did try to escape after murdering every fucking one of them, but it didn’t take long for me to be captured due to chronic malnutrition.

I didn't got the death that I longed for; instead, I was sent away to the auctions and then sold to the ruthless Diego.

Diego Aguilar, the most powerful and cold-blooded King to exist in thousands of years. And the only lycan to exist in our world.

“You better run and hide, because when I catch you, you're mine, little criminal.”

I don't look back as the too-close voice reaches me, causing my heart to leap and my stomach to churn while I continue to run faster in the labyrinth.

Could I survive in this desperate game? I had no answer.