The Broken Queen

Chapter 10; Meeting Bree: PART ONE

Bree's POV:

I can't stand this pack anymore, they treat me and the other omegas like shit, but no one gets it as bad as Dani. What they do to her is disgusting and cruel. When my parents died in the war twelve years back, I was only four. I miss them every day and even though I was young, I still remember them, and the wound of losing your parents, especially at such a young age, stays with you forever. I'm so lucky that Shiva took me in with open arms, as I'm an only child. I was devastated when I lost her in the rogue attack last year.

We only lost Shiva and Margaret, one of our teachers as it was only a group of three rogues that got across the border but it was broad daylight so they were caught and slaughtered pretty fast. Though I still carry Shiva with me each day. I hung out with Dani pretty often when we were really young, but we were never very close. As the Alpha's youngest, she was very popular growing up, and as an omega, I was the total opposite. I always felt pretty invisible growing up.

Dani was one of my only friends as she was one of the only people who gave me the light of day. Dani would always be there for me and cheer me up anytime she saw I was sad, she didn't like anyone being sad. She's by far one of the kindest people I have ever known. She never failed to cheer me up, and we developed a weak friendship, which I was hoping we could build on over time, but that never got a chance to happen after the attack, when she basically disappeared and became a recluse.

No one knew for sure why Dani isolated herself so much and was practically never seen for three years or so after the attack, but we were told that Dani was so traumatised that she was deeply frightened of being around anyone other than her twin brothers and father. We were also led to believe that the pack's hierarchy simply wanted to respect that by not letting anyone else see her. I didn't know what to believe but I knew that she must have been having a rough time. At first when we met again, almost three years back, I felt so sorry for her.

She had lost her mother and brother at the age of ten, in an attack she was involved in too. I can't even begin to imagine how terrifying and damaging that was for her. My heart breaks each time I even think about it. That kind of horrific experience would destroy anyone, just the news alone, never mind witnessing it, and running for your life while knowing you can't help save them. The guilt and weight of that would eat you alive, especially at such a young age.

Sadly, losing a parent and sibling at a young age is something I can personally resonate with. My parents died in the war, my brother Thomas died two years later when he was five from eating poisonous berries from a bush at the border, and Shiva died in the attack last year. I've also experienced a lot of loss so I am uniquely situated to understand Dani's trauma, though there are many aspects of our stories that are different to each other's. It is traumatizing as hell and I could never blame her for pulling away from all her friends, but I never believed that was the full story.

I would catch glimpses of her through the attic window of the pack house in the first year, she looked scared and miserable. At the beginning I associated it with the attack, but when I heard the Alpha's yelling coming from the pack house on three different occasions, I became unsure. It sounded like he was shouting at a child the way he was speaking down to them, but the only child who would have been in the attic was...Dani. After a year, no one saw her anymore, even as members passed through the pack house, they never saw the young Alpha heir anymore. Now that it's approaching the twin's 18th birthday, they will soon fight for the title of Alpha, so everyone is on edge at the incoming power shift. I personally don't know if either of them would be a good Alpha, considering how Alpha Reece has changed over the last 5-6 years. I haven't got confirmation from Dani, but I have gotten hints over the last while that her twin brothers have also been involved in her abuse and if that's true, then this pack has no hope with either of them as Alpha.

I found it pretty suspicious how Dani had vanished completely a year after the attack and I no longer believed that Alpha Reece and the hierarchy were telling the truth. I knew we were being lied to and the true events of that day and every day since, were being hidden from the pack, especially after our Beta's disappearance two weeks before the attack was discovered to have been an exile, ordered by Alpha Reece.

Both beta Mathew and his son Blare were ordered to leave the Crimson Moon pack and never return due to allegations of betrayal to the pack, but Beta Mathew was the best and his son was a perfect imitation of his father, heroic empathetic and protective. They would both do anything for this pack, including giving up their lives without a moment of hesitation. Beta Mathew was brave, selfless, kind, loving, strong and a hero many times over the years, his 11-year-old son following closely in his footsteps.

The pack was so confused by these allegations, as it simply seemed impossible to be true. It was traumatic when our Beta and Beta heir disappeared overnight without a trace and everyone was horrified when it was discovered to be a banishment. Alpha Reece was incredibly vague with his explanation of why and became furious when we asked too many questions, accusing many of being part of the Betas' treason and sending them to the dungeons.

That had put a stop to most of the questions but from then on there were always whispers and you could feel the entire pack's fear and animosity towards our Alpha in the air. After that many wolves ran away/transferred as soon as they found their mates, and no one could blame them, no one wanted to live like this. It's almost as if we have all become prisoners on our own pack lands. After the first year following the attack on our Luna and rightful Alpha to be, I only saw Dani in the window once more.

I was curious, but as time went on and she was never heard from, I became more and more worried. When I saw Dani again, it was the first time since before the attack that I saw her outside of the pack house, or where anyone could clearly catch sight of her. It took me a while to realize it was her I had caught a glance of. I could barely recognize her. She was taller, her hair was longer, reaching her lower back and her eyes were a deep-sea blue.

She was very pretty, but the part that shocked me to my core was the number of bruises that littered her skin, along with many painful looking scars, both old and new. She had been sneaking back up the stairs early one morning towards the attic with a small backpack on her shoulder. I had three questions in my head. Where has she been all this time? And where did she get all those bruises and scars? Some of them could have been from the attack but not all of them, as many of which were fresh...