Chapter 3-The Outcast Princess

"Crystalline, you are uselessly slow. Why is it so hard for you to be faster?!”

My father growls out in frustration as I cross the finish line of the track in the training building for the umpteenth time tonight.

Leaning against a pillar for support, I try my best to catch my breath and look at the clock on the wall.

Shocked to see it reads ten thirty at night, I internally groan, realizing it has been three hours since father made me run laps inside instead of letting me join the others in hand-to-hand combat outside in the winter snow.

“Father, I am trying my best, but it’s been three hours. I am exhausted and need a break to be able to go faster.”

I plead, hoping to reason with the mountain of a man before me.

All he does is growl, his anger radiating off him and towards me, but I stand my ground as the chain with the moonstone orb sways slightly from my neck.

Being the only child and without any sons, Alexander has forced me to train for years on end to be a strong heir to the throne, always forcing me to run laps at night and fight wolves in the day knowing I am unable to shift.

He thinks tough love is all I need to be a perfect heir, but this treatment only makes my hatred and resentment towards him grow stronger.

The need to run away and never look back is something I contemplate almost everyday.

“Don’t you dare talk back to me, Crystalline! It is unbefitting of a Princess!”

A hand connects to the left side of my face, sending me to the rubber floor of the track field as the pain radiates across of my face.

Holding my hand to my cheek in hopes to stop the stinging, I keep my head down as Alexander begins to rant about my purpose in life.

I have to find a proper mate and produce proper male heirs, heirs he always wanted but instead became stuck with me.

To him, I should be just like his whores he sleeps with, seen but not heard, strong but submissive.

“You are a disgrace, but the only heir I have. Had you not gotten your mother killed, and given my inability to get anyone else pregnant, you would have been sold to some Alpha long ago already.”

He scoffs.

I want to yell back, to fight and argue that had he not been fucking that pack whore, he would have been in the family room with mother and I watching the movie when the Rogues attacked.

He would have been on time to protect my mother and stop that Rogue from ripping her throat out.

Instead, the guard showed up just in time to stop the Rogue from killing me. I keep my head down, waiting for his rant to end as usual, for his anger to dissipate.

“You’re an outcast amongst this pack, and no one likes you. If you weren’t my daughter, you would have been thrown out long ago. Sadly, I need you to continue the bloodline.”

His words sting, but I am used to this verbal abuse, used to him cursing me and my existence and him belittling me in front of everyone. I just hope he leaves soon so that I can run and hide away in the forest for a while.

One thing is for sure though, because of my father’s disdain for me and outright verbal abuse, I became the outcast Princess.

No one likes me, they only tolerate me due to the ability to produce an heir.

If it weren’t for my bloodline, I know I would end up like the Omegas in the pack, abused and raped with no one to care about whether they live or die.

I hate my father for this, hate how the pack has slowly declined in strength due to his ruling.

He cares more for chasing after pack whores than training his wolves, more for trying to produce a male heir than to actually be a proper father to me.

He is toxic to the Thorn line – toxic to the Royal Pack – and I have a feeling our ancestor King Coro would disapprove of him.

With a final look of distain, my father turns away in a huff and walks out, leaving me alone to catch my breath.

Rolling onto my back, I stare up at the moon roof in the ceiling, the full moon shining down on me.

Closing my eyes and wrapping my hands around the moonstone orb on the silver chain, I think of my mother, of joining her in the Goddess’s realm and ending the misery that is my life.

She would be disappointed in me, though.

Her final words to live and fight for my life always echo in my mind when I feel like giving up.

I know that even if I want to join her, I can’t.

One day, I will become Queen, and when that day comes, I have to make sure that what happened to her never happens to anyone in this pack again.

With a sigh, I slowly climb to my feet and walk towards the closest wall of the training building before making my way towards the door facing the direction of the northern peaks.

My body is exhausted from running nonstop, my legs tired and sore from overuse, forcing me to use the walls for support until my healing power kicks in.

I want to be deep in the forest, alone in the cold snow.

One day, this pack will realize that they needed me more than they thought, and my father will regret the way he has treated me.

But right now, I need to focus on living like my mother would have wanted me to.

Stepping out of the training building, the bitter winter wind hits me first, making me shiver but invigorating me to keep walking.

The forest is my safety, the snow a reminder to keep fighting to stay alive.

Walking deeper, I feel the pain in my body lessen, each step becoming steadier until I no longer need the support of the trees to keep moving.

But my journey is short when I come across the river I like to sit beside, the water surprisingly warm due to the hot springs it flows from.

Taking a seat by the water’s edge on a patch of green grass unaffected by the cold weather, I quickly remove my shoes and dip my feet into the flowing warm water, relishing in the warmth that travels through me and soothes the aches from running for long periods of time.

“Hey, Crysta!”

A voice calls out. I smile, turning my head in the direction of the call just in time to see my friend Matrix walking out from the tree line towards me, the guard-in-training giving me one of his famous easygoing smiles.

“Hey, Trix.”

I call back, watching as the fifteen year old takes a seat beside me and pulls out his Swiss Army knife from his pocket to whittle away at a piece of pine wood that he picked up from the tree line before joining me.

“What brings you out here?”

I ask, watching his hands work away at the wood. The warmth from the river prevents me from feeling the bitter cold of the winter, the grass I sit on still releasing its fresh scent that calms me down.

"Nothing really. I seen you exit the training grounds and thought you would like some company.”

His answer has me smiling as a comfortable silence settles between us with only the sounds of his knife scraping away at the wood. My best friend always knows what I need when I needed something, and right now his silent company is definitely what I need. I turn away from watching the wood in his hand change forms to look at the changing sky above me. I lean back on my hands and focus on the stars, wondering if I will be one of them one day. And then I see it.

Shooting across the sky in a brilliant silver light is a shooting star, the star twinkling and dancing in the dark indigo sky, with a tail trailing behind it like fairy dust left in its wake. Closing my eyes, I make a silent wish, wishing my life will change for the better. It’s stupid, but right now I can use a bit of magic, even if it is in the form of a simple wish.

Opening my eyes just in time to see the star disappear, I smile, turning to Matrix, wanting to go back to the palace and get some sleep as tomorrow will be a long day. That is when I feel it.

Pain like hundreds of knives heated to a thousand degrees stabs through me, wreaking havoc on my body. My mouth opens in a silent scream as I curl into myself, tears streaming down my face with me being unable to form any words. It feels like death is consuming me, but I want to fight it. I can’t die yet at only thirteen years old.

“Crystalline!”

Matrix calls out, dropping the wood and knife to cradle my body. His worried gaze searches my face for any answer before moving to my body. I watch as his face goes from tense with worry to soft with relief as he lets out a chuckle. This idiot has the gall to laugh while I am in pain.

“Try to take a deep breath, Crysta. The pain is you shifting for the first time.”

He reassures me, running fingers through my hair as he coaches me into breathing slowly. The pain lessens, but I am still left curled into a ball feeling like death is clawing at me, ready to take me away.

“Breathe, Crysta! You just have to let the shift happen. Fighting it will only kill you.”

Matrix advises. I whimper wondering what he expects me to do while my insides feel like they are being ripped apart by burning claws. I want to keep fighting this pain, to prevent it from hurting me but his reminder that fighting will kill me causes me to close my eyes and focus on breathing.

I feel my bones snapping, my breath catching in my throat as the pain causes me to scream. I feel pin pricks through my skin as something grows out excruciatingly slow. My face elongates, my jaw snapping without warning, causing my scream to turn into a gurgling mix between a howl and a whimper.

Finally, the pain eases its deathlike grip on me and my breath comes easily. My body feels heightened, the scents in the air stronger. I sneeze from the overwhelming scent of pine, rubbing my nose with my paw.

“Crystalline!”

Matrix gasps forcing me to open my prismatic eyes to stare at him with confusion.

“You… You are a white wolf.”

My tail thumps happily. A white wolf is rare, only reserved for those with royal blood line. It means we are closely related to Alpha Spirit, the first Alpha King.

“You don’t get it, Crystalline. You’re a white runt!”

Worry and fear is evident in his voice as the seriousness of the situation settles. A runt is the worst thing anyone can be in the Royal Pack. It is cause for instant banishment if not death, depending on if the runt in question is male or female. Runts are only good for one thing in my fathers eyes – being bred to produce strong pups or sold to form alliances.

My father will kill me if he finds out that his so-called useless daughter is a runt. That or he will wait for my first heat and breed me with a wolf he chooses for a true heir.