CHAPTER 1

Mia’s POV

When I stood in front of the principal, my hands were shaking as I tried

not to cry. It was too crowded in the room, and each charge hit me like a

ton of rocks. My mind was racing with painful images from the past.

Like before, I thought with anger. No one ever believes me. It's always

what they think.

As I thought about the mean comments that had been said about me in

the halls for years, the familiar pain in my chest got worse. "Bastard,"

they'd call me, and their words hurt more than any hit. My dad left my

mom before I was born, that's why I was treated as a shame of the

society. As if I had any control over that. My mother also didn’t love me

much, she left me for her new boyfriend, Alpha Diego. She didn’t even

care about me once, or meet me once. Why am I treated with no love or

respect?

"I didn't do it, sir," I said in a low voice that was hard to hear. "I swear."

As Principal Sharma leaned back in his chair and looked at me carefully,

his eyes got wrinkled. Despite my desire to shrink, I resisted the urge.

After years of being picked on, I learned this defense mechanism: if I

could simply disappear, they might leave me alone.

"Mia, you were found with a rock next to the broken glass. Are you sure

I'll think this was an accident?"

"Of course you don't believe me." I thought, anger and hopelessness

were fighting inside me. No one ever does. Always point the finger at the

me.

"They made me do it," I said, using a weak voice. "I didn't want to, but

they—"

His words echoed off the walls as he yelled, "Enough!" I jerked back as

memories of being yelled at in busy halls came back to me. "This isn't

the first time you've done something like this. After the fake bombing,

this! You need to understand how bad what you did is.”

It was a fake blast. It was another set-up where I was cornered and had

to take the fall. I felt ashamed and powerless all over again, like that day

was never going to go away.

"I didn't—" As I started to speak, the door flew open, and Alpha Diego

walked in, changing the aura of the whole room.

I felt a spark of hope in my chest, but it was quickly dampened by fear. I

had learned the hard way not to put too much faith in people and think

they would protect me. But something about Alpha Diego made me think

he would help me, for an alpha sake.

"Principal Sharma," he said in a cool, firm voice, "I think you're making

a very big mistake."

The principal's eyes got really big when he got up from his chair. "Alpha

Diego, I didn't realize you were here. This girl is—"

Alpha Diego glanced at me. "My stepdaughter," he said.

Stepdaughter? The word kept going through my mind, strange and

almost unbelievable. I had been by myself for a long time, helpless

against the mean kids and adults who didn't care about me. The thought

that someone might be on my side was almost too much to bear.

"And I promise you that, as an Omega, she can't do these things by

herself. She was made to do it by someone, maybe an Alpha.”

The principal blinked and looked shocked. "Stepdaughter? I—I didn't

know..."

As Alpha Diego continued to protect me, questioning the principal's

claims and calling for justice, I had a strange range of feelings. There was

relief, but there was also a growing feeling of being weak. For a long

time, I had put up walls around myself and learned to think the worst of

everyone. Now that I was being protected and shown care out of the blue,

I wasn't sure how to respond.

When Alpha Diego told me he was pulling me out of school, I felt a lot of

different feelings at once. I was scared of the unknown and desperately

wanted a new start, a place where I wouldn't be judged all the time for

things I couldn't change.

It was very quiet in the hallway as we left the office, and I could feel my

peers' eyes burning into me. It felt like they were following us, so I

naturally hunched my shoulders to make myself less noticeable.

"Mia," Alpha Diego said, in a soft voice as we got closer to his car. "I'm

sorry you had to go through this."

Still having a hard time making sense of everything that had happened, I

shrugged. "It's not your fault. It was my parents duty to protect me but

they failed."

"No, but it's now my job to make sure you're safe," he said in a strong

voice. "And I will."

“So you and my mom got married?” I questioned him, because I wanted

to know how a stanger was helping me this much.

“Yes we did, and she wanted to come to see you but she has to go another

pack for the work. She will be happy to see you,” He tried to defend her.

I didn’t know what to say him, because my own mom didn’t even cared

me for once since I was born and today her new husband has saved me.

I looked at him for the first time. His mouth was set, and even though his

eyes were angry, they were full of worry. He meant what he said, not just

what he said.

"Do you really think your pack will accept me?" Before I could stop

myself, I asked the question that had been on my mind ever since he

called me his stepdaughter.

He gave me a soft smile and opened the door to the car. "I'm sure they

will. My pack and I will protect you. You're not alone anymore, Mia."

I took one last look at the school as I got into the car. It had felt like a jail

there, but now it was just a memory as we drove away. It made my chest

feel strange.

Hope.

This could have been the start of a new story. I really hope that one day I

will have a family and a place where I fit.

Alpha Diego must have felt how stressed I was. He smiled at me again as

he caught my eye in the rearview mirror. "Mia, I know this is a big

change for you," he said in a friendly tone. "But I want you to know that

you're not alone anymore. Now you'll have a family and a house.

I slowly nodded as I tried to understand what he was saying. Thoughts of

leaving everything behind and going into the unknown were both scary

and exciting.

"There's something else you should know," he said, his voice getting

more serious. "You have four stepbrothers."

I was shocked. "Four?"

He laughed softly. "Yes. I'm sure they'll be as shocked to meet you as you

are to meet them. They're all older than you.”

"Will they... like me?" I asked slowly, nervously twisting my fingers in

my lap. Having four bigger brothers all of a sudden was too much to

handle after years of being rejected and picked on.

Alpha Diego's smile got a little weaker, and he let out a sigh. "Mia, it

might take a while for everyone to get used to it. A lot has happened to

them, and this is also a big change for them. But they're good boys, and

I'm sure they'll care about you once they get to know you. It's just that...

they look out for the family the most."

I nodded, but what he said didn't really calm me down. Looking forward

to my new life, I couldn't help but wonder if I was trading one group of

bullies for another. But I let myself hope that maybe, just maybe, things