CHAPTER 1

I was finding it a bit difficult to get the strap of the dress around my waist. I spent most of the money I had saved over the past few months on this particular dress.

"Hey Jenny, can you help me get the strap around my waist? If you want to be more of a darling, you can help me tie it at once." I said, casting a childish look at my roommate.

Jenny grunted and threw her chestnut hair over her shoulders. "Don't you think you're making a fuss over this whole thing, Layla?" She asked and groaned as she got to her feet lazily.

I rolled my eyes. "You're the only person in this maid court house who thinks turning eighteen isn't a big deal, it is a very big deal, Jenny." I replied.

"Stay still, while I tie the strap of this gown you wasted a hell lot of money on." Jenny said indifferently.

Over the past three years I had been serving as an omega in the pack, I shared a room in the maid courthouse with Jenny and I was used to her cold nature by now.

I gasped, "Wasted? You really think I wasted money on this, Jenny? You don't find it pretty? It's a flower dress, you know." I said, frowning at her.

"I hate flowers and I don't think it's pretty because of the purpose you bought it for." She replied flatly and tightened the strap around my waist until it started hurting. "There you go." She said finally and dropped on her bed again.

I looked at the full-length mirror in the cramped room we shared and I was happy with everything I saw in the mirror; I was beautiful and I knew it. The flower dress blended perfectly with my austere skin, I looked like an angel. I had to praise myself because there was no one else that would do it, Jenny was the last person that would complement anyone.

I looked perfect except for one thing, a long scar on my left cheek that stretched across my chin. I placed a finger on it and traced it down. It still hurt, it was a fresh wound I had gotten only the previous day, how I got it was still a traumatizing and horrific thought.

"You're still sore over that injury?" Jenny asked. "I thought you would have gotten used to Miss Lenny’s foul temper by now." She said and everything that happened the previous day flooded into my head.

Miss Lenny was the head of the courthouse of the maids, she supervised everything that concerned the maids and her orders were final. She made sure everyone carried out her orders by any means, her most common was physical force, no one could stop her when she was on a rampage.

I had been a victim of her cruel and sour nature countless times over the past years. She bullied, insulted, cursed and battened any of us whenever she felt like it, justifiable or not. Yesterday had been one of those days when her cause for venting out her anger was unreasonable and unjustifiable, let's just say I had been at the wrong place and at the wrong time. She had used her hair pin to leave a scar on me, just because I had arrived late for the courthouse meeting every morning.

"You know, I thought she was going to kill you for good there." Jenny said indifferently.

"She wouldn't dare, she would end up in the pack's dungeon for murder." I replied angrily.

Jenny scoffed, "You think they care about us? It's cute of you to think the Alpha and Beta give a fuck about our lives, it would just be another maiden who died by accident and nothing happens to Miss Leia. Get that in your head, the Alpha is a cruel piece of shit, you've never served him before, I have." She said, her voice slow and there was a deep warning tone to it.

I shivered at her words, then a smile lit up my face again and I turned to her, "I'm not going to let you ruin my special day with your eerie words, Jenny." I said and she smirked.

"What do you think is so special about your eighteenth birthday, Layla?" She asked, her eyes mocking as she stared at me.

I smiled even more broadly, "I get my wish," I said dreamily. "What I've been dreaming and praying to the moon goddess for years can finally come true today, my mate!"

Jenny's expression didn't change, but I wasn't discouraged or disappointed.

"You don't believe I can find my mate, Jenny?" I asked.

"I don't care, you may and you may not. It's possible you might just be lucky and it's also very possible that you might be unlucky. Nobody knows what that deity we serve has in store." She replied, Jenny didn't really believe in the Moon Goddess.

"You know what I choose, Jenny? Optimism. Optimism is contagious you know, I might just have you rooting for me and also praying I find my mate because of how optimistic I am." I said with a smile.

"When do you go away? You're obstructing my peace." She said flatly.

I smiled wider, "That's the spirit, see you later, Jenny." I said.

"You might want to make sure you do everything to avoid getting caught in that dress by Miss Lenny on your way, you might be given another tribal mark on that pretty face of yours." She said as I left the room.

Jenny was right, I had to avoid her, she didn't have to see this beautiful dress or how excited I was, she hated to see any maid happy. I couldn't contain the joy that was rumbling in me at the thought of finally finding my mate and leaving happily with him out of the shackles of this court house.

Certainly no one would let his lovely mate remain as a maid in this dreadful maid courthouse, that was another major reason I wanted to find my mate. At this point, I was desperate already, it was my only purpose in life at this point.

I walked towards the huge mansion that served as the pack house with a smile plastered on my face. I was so happy, I could have even skipped on my way, but I needed to show maturity. For fuck's sake I was eighteen now, I couldn't still be doing what I was doing when I was seventeen.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw seven figures emerging from a forest that was very close to the pack house. They all held bows and arrows and I immediately guessed that they were returning from archery practice. When they got closer, I recognized the person in the middle, he was the young Alpha of the Blue Moon's pack, Alpha Zion and next to him were his friends.

I immediately remembered Jenny's words that the alpha was cruel and something in me decided that I was going to find out for myself that day. I waited until they walked past me, then I bowed and greeted, "Good morning, Alpha Zion."

He came to a halt in front of me, the others fell behind him. He squinted at the badge on my chest and said, "A maiden, you have a lucky day," He said in a very deep voice with a brief smile. "I hit the bullseye in almost all of my arrow shots, your Alpha is a happy man today. Go on with your work..." He squinted at the badge again. "Layla." He said and walked away.

I couldn't get the smile off my face. I turned around and suddenly bumped into one of his friends and I was on my way down when another caught me with an arm by the waist.

"Way to go, Derrick is a hero today after missing all those targets." Alpha Zion remarked and the others laughed.

I knew who he was, I had seen him from afar a couple of times, Derrick, he was the Alpha of the Greenhills pack. We locked eyes for a long moment, there was an intensity on his face and a current ran from his body into mine and back into him.

His eyes were like crystals in them, my whole life flashed before my eyes and there and then, I knew that he was my mate.

"Aren't you going to let the maid go?" Alpha Zion asked and abruptly he let me drop to the ground.

His eyes never left me, even as I picked myself up and dusted my dress.

"What's the matter, Derrick?" Alpha Zion asked.

Derrick shook his head with a solemn look and turned to walk away in silence. I suddenly panicked, I couldn't let my mate just walk away from me when I had found him after so many years of longing.

"Alpha Derrick!" I cried and grabbed his hand to the shock of everyone else. "You felt it too, the bond between us, I know you did." My voice was anxious and desperate at the same time.

He turned slowly and regarded me, the look I saw in his eyes chilled my body instantly, his eyes had gone completely blank.

Blank with hatred.