Chapter 1: Mate

Samiya’s POV

Today was the day when a million of my dreams came true only to get destroyed right after.

“I’m pretty sure that when the moon goddess created omegas she didn’t imagine them being this fucking stubborn!” one of the alpha’s gammas yelled. An eye patch adorned his face along with some ancient tattoos, making him look scarier than everyone else who had come to kick us out of our home.

My breathing quickened, and my adrenaline spiked up, flowing through my veins aggressively.

A few more hefty men marched forward, barging into our home before tossing our items out like they were nothing more than trash. I wanted to fight back with everything in me. I wanted to yell at the idiot in front of him and let him know just how stupid I thought the entire rank system was, but I couldn’t.

I couldn’t because, in the land of Etrana, stupid moves like that could get an omega like me killed, and I wasn’t ready to die… just yet.

Forcing a smile, I swallowed any bit of pride I had left in me. “Can’t you at least give us a day to clear out our things if we really must leave, Sir.”

The man before me scoffed. He threw a comical look at one of his men. Whatever the look meant, it must have been a good joke because the two men began to laugh heartily right after. “The Wench of Etrana really thinks that she can trick me into disobeying the alpha’s orders,” he laughed.

My skin began to sizzle with a brewing anger, but I had learned to remain calm in situations like this. It wasn’t the first time that I had been referred to as “The Wench of Etrana” and it probably wouldn’t even be the last.

“She thinks that by opening her legs we’ll forget the fact that she’s a lowly omega,” another man with a protruding belly commented, wiping tears away from his eyes.

The smile on my face was getting even harder to maintain by the second, but I was determined not to let my internal struggle show.

Before I could speak, my mother barged forward. “What did we omegas even do to the rest of you anyway?! Why do we have to be the ones who have to suffer the most for the pack?! Why do we have to be the only ones who have to conform to such stupid rules?!”

The tattooed man stepped in front of my mother, his towering height making my mother seem like an ant almost immediately. “You dare question the orders of the alpha?!” he started, making everyone go silent, including my mother who was now cowering before him. My fists clenched by my sides.

“Do you know just how lucky you lowly omegas are? The alpha ensures that you are all clothed, and all well-fed, even though we all know that you don’t deserve it! He even allows you to mix in with the rest of us, despite how useless you all are and you dare question his orders!

You don’t fight to ensure the safety of the people of the land. You have no strength whatsoever and one of your kind even ruined the year’s harvest, and you can’t sacrifice your home for the more useful pack members?

The Alpha has ordered that all omegas stay closer to the pack’s borders so that higher-ranking werewolves can make better use of the space you omegas leave behind, and we will make sure it happens!”

My heart drummed in my chest.

It wasn’t enough that we had to be treated like outcasts, we had to live as outcasts too.

Before my mother had a chance to find a reply, the tattooed gamma pushed her aside, causing her to fall to the ground with a wince. “Toss everything out! It’s high time that these omegas knew their place!”

Everything was happening so fast, all my childhood memories were being tossed out while my mother and I just watched. That was until we heard his voice.

“Wait!”

There was this energy that sizzled in the air that prohibited me from moving even if I wanted to. My eyes found my mother’s and the fear in her eyes mirrored mine. Whoever gave that order had to be someone with a rank higher than any of us.

“What exactly is going on here?” The voice came again, but this time it felt as though everything in me wrapped myself in it and wanted to stay in it forever. His gruff yet honey-coated voice stirred something in me that awakened my wolf and that alone was enough for me to make me turn to find the owner of this voice.

The moment my eyes found the owner of that powerful voice, it felt as though all the air in my lungs had been kicked out and replaced with a feeling powerful enough to make me float. The sizzling beneath my skin could no longer be attributed to anger, but instead, I could only say that it was a result of pure desire and nothing else.

My wolf, Scarlet, happened to agree too.

When I caught sight of his lips parting slightly, I knew that he felt it too. Being tagged as “The Wench of Etrana” left me with special skills. One of them being the ability to know just when a man is attracted to you, and the man in front of me, Beta Meinrad Hall, wasn’t just attracted to me, he desired me. His wolf called out to mine and I could feel the buzzing sensation everywhere. He was my mate.

A growl escaped his lips, making a small whimper escape my mother’s lips, but I wasn’t scared. This was the moment that we had been waiting for our entire life.

“Mate!” he yelled, shocking everyone except me.

“Mate,” I responded with a small smile.

The tattooed gamma rushed forward, bowing furiously as if the more he did it, the more favor he would get in Meinrad's eyes. The poor fool. “Beta Meinrad, if I had known that the wench… sorry, I meant if I had known that Samiya Cordova was your mate, then I would never have ordered my men to come here. Please forgive me. I-”

“Shut up! Carry on with your duties. The Alpha’s orders remain supreme,” he ordered with a flick of his hand.

His eyes then returned to me. Almond mixed with light shades of honey. Those were the perfect words to describe Beta Meinrad’s eyes. My old best friend and my present mate. It was going to be a difficult task to stop the fluttering of butterflies in my belly.

“Samiya, come with me,” he finally said, holding out his hand.

I turned to look at my mother who was still sitting on the ground with her clothes all dirty and muddy, but none of that seemed to matter to her at that moment. She only nodded, signaling to go with my mate. “I’ll take care of things here. Don’t worry about me.”

With a nod, I turned to face Meinrad again and placed my hand in his. This was the moment that I had been waiting for my entire life. This was the sole reason why I was born and the moon goddess had been so kind to align fate in my favor. This was going to be the day I finally changed mine and my mother’s status… or so, I thought.