Chapter 1

Harlyn

I rushed down towards the main palace in fear of what might become of me. I made a mistake today and it might lead to me either getting scolded which would be the lesser punishment for what I did or getting sent to the dungeon to receive at least ten lashes of cane. It was a horrific experience that I never wanted to happen to me. That's why I always made sure to do all my work on time and make sure to answer as soon as I am called but today, I made a mistake. I was called to the king’s chamber but before I could go, Princess Sophie, the alpha king’s younger stepsister called me and made me wash her feet which took longer than I expected. I thought she would at least tell her brother that she was the one that requested for me but she didn’t say anything and now I am going to face a very angry alpha king.

Alpha Benardo is the alpha of the crimson moon pack and is known to be ruthless and unforgiven. Not only was he an alpha but he was king too. Many years ago, his forefathers had settled on the hills of Crimson and built a community that quickly grew wide and over the years, the royal family, as they came to be known, ruled the pack that grew in numbers to the point of becoming a whole kingdom which also became so powerful that no other packs stood a chance. Benardo took over as king at a very young age after his father was killed in a war that almost broke the kingdom apart. The same war that led to me becoming an orphan. I didn’t know who my mother was because I never met her but my dad raised me until he was killed at war and I had to go into an orphanage until I was of age.

Because of how big our pack became, the alpha now had to choose betas who took care of various sub-packs within the pack but they all answered and reported to the alpha king. If one gets banished from the pack, then that person has to leave the crimson moon completely and I have heard of Benardo banishing a pack member before. However, he deserved it because he took the life of his mate and their unborn child.

Ever since I started working in the palace when I turned nineteen, I did my best to avoid Benardo and succeeded for seven years because I worked under the queen's mother who sadly passed away nearly a year ago and since then, I have been exposed to the worst treatment ever. I didn’t know just how much the Queen mother shielded me until she passed away and I was made to face the cruelty of everyone who lived within the palace and even from people who lived outside the place. I am an outcast in the crimson moon pack and the fact that I am wolf-less made everything worse for me. I couldn’t fight back because I had no power. The moon goddess didn’t see me worthy of anything, not even my parents.

I shook off the thoughts of my sad reality out of my mind as I made my way to the king’s chamber. Even though I worked in the palace for eight years now, this would be the first time that I would be facing the king. Like I said, I avoided him as much as I could. Not because of anything else but because of what people said about him and how easy it was for a woman to fall for his charms. And yes, I fell for his charms even though I never interacted with him personally. I wondered how he knew my name to request for me. The palace was very huge and there were hundreds of people working for the royal family so it was easy for me to get lost in the mix and not be noticed. Until one of the other palace workers had told me the king wanted to see me, I actually thought he didn’t know of my existence.

“Think on the bright side, you get to meet your crush,”

My wolf voiced. Yes, I had a wolf, but no one knew I had one because I couldn’t transform. Even though I couldn’t transform, my wolf came alive when I turned twenty and she has been my best friend ever since. She was too weak to come out but she had a sassy voice and always had something smart and crazy to say.

“That’s if he doesn’t kill me for not showing up on time,”

I answered and straightened my posture when I got closer to the king’s chamber.

“The Alpha requested to see me,”

I said to the guard at the entrance of the alpha king’s chamber. He looked at me like I was crazy.

“Are you trying to lie just to get into the king’s chamber because he left a while ago and he never said anything about anyone coming to see him,”

He said. Well, maybe he waited and left when I didn’t show up. there was no way for me to prove that I really got called by the alpha so I turned to leave, as I walked away, I heard the guard whistle. I knew why. I had a very nice and attractive body that always called for attention whenever I got near anyone and that felt like the moon goddess' way of compensating me for everything else that I didn’t get. Being so attractive drew attention to me sometimes that I didn’t want and I resulted in covering up my shape with bigger dresses and skirts. But that barely did anything. I had fair and smooth skin that didn’t need skincare to be flawless, the only thing in my body that felt off was the birthmark on my right shoulder. No one except the ones at the orphanage who cared for me when I was younger knew about my birthmark. I didn’t know what it signified but when the dead queen mother saw it one time when I was changing, she told me I was special. Of course, I didn’t believe her. I was odd, not special. Special would be me having divine powers but I didn’t have any of those. All I had was a wolf who couldn’t make an appearance.

“Why am I dragged into it?”

She smirked. I rolled my eyes.

“You know, I can help you if you do what I want. No one will know you were in the king’s chamber,’

The guard called out. I turned around to ask him what he meant and got the idea when I saw the expression on his face. He was licking his lips and trying to flirt with me.

“No, thank you. I will just come back when the alpha shows up,”

He didn’t like that I turned down his offer and glared at me. I turned around to walk away again but collided with a hard chest. I looked up to see who I had collided with and my breath caught in my throat, I tried to get away but he placed his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I gasped.