CURSED HEART

Lila

I sighed nervously for the umpteenth time.

The night all wolves my age had been waiting for had arrived. It was the night of the annual crystal ball, an ancestral ceremony passed down through the generations. Though some wolves, like my mother and father, had the good fortune of finding their mates before the ceremony, the rest of us looked forward to getting to know the fated mates our moon goddess had chosen for us.

For two years, I had waited for the day I would finally find out if the moon goddess had been merciful enough to give me a mate that would save me from my stepmother and her daughter. I had hoped that fate would change everything, that I would find my mate and finally leave the prison I called home to embark upon a happy life.

After my mother’s death, my father had remarried. Though my stepmother wasn’t his mate, they had lived peacefully, but at the cost of my happiness. Every day, my stepmother and her daughter made my life hell. I had become nothing more than a slave in my father’s house.

Anytime he was away, my stepmother forced me to do all the work while my stepsister slept around. If I made a mistake, they always hit me or, worse, starved me.

I had endured through the years because I had hope. A day would come when I would gain my freedom. Finally, that day had arrived.

Voices and laughter came from the room next to mine as my stepmother helped my stepsister, Vivian, get dressed and ready for the ceremony.

Unsurprisingly, they had left me to my own devices to prepare. Though I had begged for help, my stepmother refused. No doubt she wanted to ensure Vivian looked far better than usual, while I looked as dejected as always. Vivian detested it if I ever looked good or when Father got me a new dress.

Thankfully, it didn’t matter how one looked when it came to fated mate bonds. Mates loved one another regardless of looks. Smiling at that thought, I went to my closet to begin my preparations. But to my astonishment, the sequence on my gown had been removed and the velvety texture had been covered in mud.

“Ah!” I shrieked, holding my ruined dress. “Oh no!” Tears welled as I removed it from the closet and tried to dust the mud off, as if that was going to make it look any different.

“Sister?” Vivian said from behind me.

I fell to my knees, holding the dress and weeping.

“Is something wrong?” She approached, snickering, making it obvious she was the culprit responsible for this evil. Who else if not Vivian?

“Oh my, my, my. What happened to your dress?” She snatched it from me, curling her lip in disgust.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t do this?” I yelled, sniffling. “What the hell is wrong with you? How could you have done something so cruel? Why this dress? Why tonight of all nights?” I stared at the ugly state of the dress.

My father had gotten it for me three days prior, especially for the ball, and she had waited until the evening of the ceremony to destroy it.

“Why?” I wailed.

“Come on Lila, don’t be silly. We both know you didn’t deserve the dress to begin with.” She rolled her eyes. “Did you really think I was going to let you put this on for the crystal ball?” She threw the dress at me and laughed. “If you did, you were dreaming, dear sister. You’re too pathetic. It would be embarrassing for a gown like that to be worn by someone like you. It’s a shame Dad didn’t think of that before wasting so much money on it,” she hissed, then turned on her heel.

“Why did you do this?” I screamed at her back. “Don’t you want me to find a mate tonight? Then I’ll finally move out of the house. You’ve always wanted me to leave, right? How am I supposed to leave if I don’t attend the ball, if I don’t find my mate?” Painful thoughts of missing the chance to meet my fated mate ate at me.

Vivian chuckled. “I’m sorry, but did you say mate? And leave?” She turned around, still laughing. “Sister, sister, sister, you are really delusional, you know? You think any wolf would want to be mated to someone like you? If I were your mate, I would reject you on the spot, and I’m pretty sure your fated mate will, too. That’s if you even have a fated mate. The moon goddess definitely has better things to do than waste her time finding a match for someone as useless as you,” she spat, then turned and left.

I remained glued to the spot, thinking about what she’d said. There were cases where wolves never found their mates because they were in packs too far away. I had never even considered the possibility of never finding my mate. But what if she was right? What if the moon goddess never mated me to anyone? I sick feeling flooded my stomach. Could I end up being a lone wolf?

As it was,

A tear slipped from my eye as I remembered Vivian’s words. “If I were your mate, I would reject you on the spot, and I’m pretty sure your fated mate will, too.” Was I so bad that even my mate would reject me?

“Dad, here she is!” My door flung open with my father, stepsister, and stepmother coming in.

“Lila…” My dad rushed to my side and hugged me like something had hurt me. “Your sister said—” He took in the ruined dress in my hands. “What the hell happened?” he asked, taking the dress from my hands.

“I don’t know, Dad,” Vivian said. “I came in here and found her crying over the dress, and she refused to say anything about it.”

“What?” I said, my eyes wide at her lie.

My stepmother, Veronica, glared at me in warning. If I said anything against her daughter, I’d pay for it. She’d make sure of it. I had learned to always keep my mouth shut.

“What happened to your dress, Lila?” my father asked again.

I gulped, trying to think of a lie, but couldn’t come up with one. “I-I-I… don’t know.” My shoulders slumped.

“What?”

“Um… darling,” Veronica said sweetly, coming to stand beside me. “She probably doesn’t know.”

“But—”

“But nothing Jackson,” she said. “If she knew what happened, she wouldn’t be crying over it, would she?” She wrapped her hands around me and drew me close to her.

I wished I could push her and her disgusting lies away.

“One of the neighbor’s foxes probably found its way into our house. It wouldn’t be the first time those little creatures destroyed something in our home,” she said, lying flawlessly, smoothly, like she’d planned it.

My father held the dress up, “But this doesn’t—”

“I’ll talk to them first thing tomorrow morning,” she said, smiling as she dug her nails into my back, “and I’m sure they’ll reimburse us for it.”

My father peered at me. “If that’s fine by Lila?”

“It’s okay, Dad,” I said, lying. Nothing was okay. Still, I said, “I’ll just get something else to wear.”

“If you say so,” he said, sounding skeptical.

“Let’s give her some time to change, shall we?” Veronica said, then they left the room.

I cried for a while before putting on another gown. Frowning, I assessed myself in the mirror. My collar bones stuck out, and the gown was loose and too long. But what choice did I have? I added a silver chain pendant to try to offset it, then packed my hair into the tightest ponytail I could create.

After one last look, I stepped out with my purse in my hand. But my dad wasn’t in the living room, and no laugher or voices came from Vivian’s room. I worked up the courage to go to her room to check, but she wasn’t there. Neither was Veronica.

Where had they gone?

I continued searching the house until I found a note on the dining table.

Hi Lila. Something came up, and I had to leave. I dropped Vivian and Veronica off at the pack house. I hope you can make it to the ball in time. Have fun. Dad.

They had left me. He had left me.

My eyes welled again. The first tear escaped as I trashed the note. Was I even still considered part of the family?