"W-what did you say?"
The moment those words left his mouth, I knew I had made a mistake. I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have said anything.
But the deed has been done already.
I'd spent the entire night pacing my thin mattress in the servant's quarters, chewing my bottom lip until it bled, whispering the words I would say into the darkness. I had clung to the tiny thread of hope I wasn't even supposed to have.
And now, standing before Alpha Bastian--this towering monster of a man with heart like a devil 😈--
Still, my voice shook as I forced the words out again, hating myself for sounding so small. "I… I was just asking if I could go to the Mating Moon Gathering."
Silence.
Then--
Crack.
Pain exploded across my cheek. My vision danced with white sparks as I hit the floor. The cold tile kissed my knees like an old enemy, and my heart folded in on itself.
"Get up"
But I didn't move fast enough.
A brutal yank on my hair wrenched a cry from my throat as he dragged me up. My scalp burned with my toes barely touching the ground.
I was dangling. Like a rag doll.
And when I looked into his face, I wished I hadn't.Hatred. Disgust. Rage. It was all there, carved into every line on his cruel face."You want to what?" he hissed, his voice like a dagger across my skin. "You want to go and find a mate? You?"
My lips trembled. "I—I just thought maybe…"
Another strike. Harder this time. My head whipped sideways. Blood filled my mouth. It taste so foreign even though my tongue should now be acustomized to the coppery taste now.
"Think, she says," he mocked with a dry, cold laugh. "Who gave you permission to think, you wolfless bitch?"
The tears streaming down my eyes made it so hard to see his now.
"Do you really believe someone out there will claim you?" His grip tightened on my hair until my scalp screamed. "That the Moon Goddess actually gave you a mate?"
I couldn't speak, hell I couldn't even breathe. All I could do was listen to the sound of my dreams being ripped apart.
"You're cursed," he snarled. "You're wolfless. All you are is a thorn in my pack, a daughter of traitors." he spat.
My knees wobbled. I tried to tell myself this isn't the first time. That I've heard worse. Felt worse.
But it didn't matter.
Because this time… I at least felt some hope.
"I-I wasn't going to—"
His eyes narrowed into slits.
"Don't lie to me." He slammed me against the wall. My spine hit the stone with a crack, and my body slumped. But his hand that held my hair was now on my neck, keeping me pinned on the wall"What?, you planning to spread your legs to the first mutt that pays you attention in Mountain Pack so he'll take you away from here? So he'll claim the whore of Moonbeam?"
His words cut deeper than his hand in my neck
My entire body flushed with shame. My breath came in short, broken gasps. "No. I wasn't—I swear, Alpha—"
He shoved me away.
I crumpled, halard tile bit into my knees, my hip, my palms. I stayed down. I didn't dare move.
Above me, his voice came again, quiet and deadly.
"No one will ever want you, Elyssa. No one will want someone like you."
I didn't look up.
"I let you live because I choose to. Don't make me question that."
Then he turned and walked away. Just like that.
---
I don't know how long I stayed there.
Minutes? Hours?
All I know is that the tiles beneath me were cold. And wet. I think I was crying, but I couldn't feel it. I only felt hollow. Like someone had carved everything out of me and left the skin behind.
Stupid, stupid girl.
Why did I ask? I should have known...he'd never let me leave the pack. I should have hoped....hope is a poison. It made you believe lies, makes you forget who you were.
And I knew exactly who I am
I was the cursed girl with no wolf.
The daughter of traitors who were executed in front of the pack
The servant who cleaned their floors and got slapped for breathing wrong.
Who did I think I was, dreaming of a mate?
Of love?
Of anything?
I pressed my forehead to the cold tile and closed my eyes. Who am I to dream of someone loving me? I don't deserve that...
______
The cold always crept into my bones at night.
Even now, curled beneath the threadbare blanket on my thin mattress, the ache in my jaw and the swelling on my cheek throbbed but exhaustment had taken me eventually.
Then came the sound that shattered everything.
WEE-OOO. WEE-OOO. WEE-OOO.
I shot up.The shrill, piercing alarm slammed into my ears like a scream made of metal.
For a moment, I didn't know where I was.
My heart thundered against my ribs, and my breath caught in my throat as the sound stabbed through the walls again. It was only then I realized what it was
The intrusion alarm.
Screams followed it--distant but getting louder. Terrified voices.
My hands scrambled beneath the blanket, pushing it off. My legs swung off the mattress, bare feet hitting the stone floor with a jolt that sent pain shooting up my bruised hip.
I staggered to my feet.
My door burst open.
No one was there.
Just the echo of footsteps running past, too fast to register who. Warriors? Servants?
My pulse surged.
The pack was under attack.
I stumbled toward the small window in the corner, the only view the servant quarters offered. Smoke curled into the sky from somewhere near the northern training yard. Fires. Fires?
Another explosion rocked the ground beneath my feet, making the entire building tremble.
I fell against the wall, grabbing the frame of the window as the world swayed beneath me.
Is this really happening.Had someone actually gotten past the barriers?
"No, no…" I whispered, blinking rapidly. My throat was dry. Too dry
The hallway was chaos. I peeked out and saw servants shoving each other in panic, some dragging children, others crying, confused. A warrior dashed past, eyes wild, his blade already bloodied.
I backed away.
My legs wanted to run, but to where?
I had no idea what to do.
I had never been told what to do in a crisis like this. They didn't bother training me for emergencies. Why would they? I was disposable.
Another howl tore through the night.
A wolf.
But it sound so different from what I've heard before...I don't know how but it did.
I needed to hide. Or run. Or--something.
A scream rang out—closer this time. A woman's. And it was cut short by the swishing sound of a blade. My hands flew to cover my mouth from screaming when I realized what just happened
I turned back into the room in panic, my breath coming out in uneven flow. I crouched to grab the small knife I kept under my mattress--not that it would do much but it was all I had.
I took a shaky breath and crept to the door again, peeking out.
The lights flickered.
A shadow passed the corridor. It didn't look human.
And then I saw the blood.
Splattered along the stone wall, dark and fresh.
My legs went numb.
The scent hit next--coppery, thick, mixed with smoke and something foul making me gag.
A shriek echoed again--no, not just one. Many. And the feeling that it was more of our pack members than the intruders made my heart almost fall out
I couldn't walk out of the room, the fear of the unknown, of what I'll face outside not letting me.My back hit the wall again as I slid slowly to the floor, knife shaking in my grip. I knew I had to escape...I have to but I can't move my legs
The invasion was real.
And no one's coming for me.
They wouldn't care if I lived or died. I pressed my head against my knees, fighting the shaking in my limbs, trying to silence the panic rising in my throat.
Another explosion rocked the pack house, louder and closer than before--it felt like the very walls around me cracked with the force. The floor shuddered beneath me, dust and fragments falling from the ceiling as screams tore through the air like blades. My ears rang, my vision swam, and the overwhelming stench of blood and smoke invaded every breath I took. Something--someone--let out a bone-chilling growl just beyond the corridor, and my heart stuttered in terror. My knees buckled, the knife slipped from my trembling fingers, and before I could cry out or crawl away, darkness rushed up and swallowed me whole.