Chapter One

/-Aria-/

The cry of the baby sounded like a melody to my ears. I did it! I gave my mate a child! The curse was broken! Happy tears streamed down my cheeks. I was not the useless omega after all. Finally, my mate would be able to present me to the Elders with pride.

No one would look down on my tiny weak wolf anymore.

Most importantly, I would stop being Alpha's dirty secret.

“You did it, Aria. It’s a beautiful girl. She has her father’s eyes and your smile,” Mary, the nurse told me. Tears of joy streamed down my cheeks.

All those months of humiliation had been worth it. When I became pregnant with the baby, Asher pleaded I keep it a secret. That his father would never let him take over the pack if he discovered he’d impregnated a cursed omega.

I tried not to be hurt by that. Everyone called me cursed because no one knew my parents or where I had come from. I was a stray who stumbled into their pack years ago and since then, I have been doing my best to serve them so they don’t send me away.

Frankly, I had nowhere else to go.

During my stay, I heard the rumors flying around the Alpha’s son. Asher had been betrothed to about five Lunas but they all died during childbirth. Neither mother nor child survived. It was the night I met him drunk in his chambers that I discovered he was my mate.

For some reason, he didn’t feel the bond between us but I did and it pushed me to seek his happiness. I met with a white witch for a portion to help him but she told me only I could. That my scent was a very powerful one.

He called me a liar, of course, a desperate whore seeking to claw her way to the top. In my defense, I took him to her and even now, I could hear her croaky voice scolding me.

“Just because I said you could give him a child, doesn’t mean you should! He does not deserve it! Do not even think of breaking the curse, Aria. You will regret it!”

I didn’t listen, he was my mate! How was I supposed to endure his suffering?

He became nicer to me after that, although in secret. We started an affair even though his fiancee had arrived. Sometimes, I felt jealous that he couldn’t flaunt me before others the way he did for her.

But I knew all that was about to end soon. The humiliation and insults grew when it became obvious I was pregnant. I protected him from the shame because it wasn’t his fault. He assured me every night that once I gave him a child and broke the curse, he would introduce me as his bride to the pack.

Today was that day.

“Please send the news to the Alpha,” I told the nurse weakly. “He should be the first to hear this news.”

Her eyes were clouded in confusion. I couldn’t blame her for being surprised. Everyone would be after the big announcement tonight.

The thought brought a blush to my pale cheeks.

“Why?”

“He was the one who called you, remember? It’s only right that he knows first,” I answered with a weak smile. It wasn't my place to break the news just yet.

“Okay.”

I expected she would return with an excited man, aching to touch his daughter but she returned with an army of wolves.

“What is going on?” I panicked, reaching for the covers to hide my nakedness away from their prying eyes.

No one bothered to give me an answer. They yanked me away from the sheets without considering my weak state.

“Where are you taking me? My baby… my baby…” I could hear her cries as they dragged me out of the room.

“Mate! I smell him,” Flair stirred restlessly in my mind.

“What is happening?” I asked, just as they tossed me into the middle of wolves more powerful than I was. Every wolf was more powerful than I was, frankly. Flair whimpered at the back of my mind.

It wasn’t her fault. It didn’t make me love her any less. Her frail form made me itch to protect her at all times. The wolves before me were people I couldn’t dare look at, even as they encircled me in dangerous strides.

“Mate!” Flair leaped again. I smelled him too.

Just as we suspected, he walked into the center.

“I knew you would come, Ash. I don’t know what is happening. Our baby…”

“How dare you call me by my name? Have you no respect?!” He barked and I whimpered.

“Forgive me, Alpha.”

“Remind me that your name again,” he said and it felt like a sharp pain cut through me. All through our times together, he never for once called me by my name. Was it because he’d long forgotten it?

“Aria,” I swallowed the hurt. “My name is Aria, Alpha.”

“Aria,” he said the name with distaste, then mumbled something about how he could have never remembered such an insignificant name, I forced myself to believe I heard wrong. “I believe you know the punishment for witches in this part of our world.”

My limps went weak,” Witches?”

I was a wolf, not a witch. I would have never dared to live in a pack of weres if I was one. I knew how deep their feud ran until it became pure hatred.

“I am not a witch, Alpha.”

“No, but you employed the services of a witch to help you get into my bed so you could get pregnant, and what? Become Luna? Did you really think we would never find out?” His tone held pure disdain, different from the one heard every other night.

“No… No… I didn’t…”

“You didn’t seek out a witch then?” An Elder asked. I swallowed thickly.

“I did but…”

“The child in there is not the Alpha’s?” He questioned.

“It is but I swear…”

“Then you are guilty and must be punished as a warning to others,” he declared and I paled out.

“No, please… don’t do this. Asher, please, you can’t let them do this to me. Remember our love, all the times we shared…” A violent kick met me in the face and spat blood. Flair whimpered.

“Mate,” she mumbled weakly as the tears streamed down my cheeks.

“I would be an ingrate if I didn’t thank you for breaking the curse, Aria. At least now, I wouldn’t have to bother about my Luna and unborn child,” he smirked.

“What?”

“Crystal, Of course, Your Luna. You seem to be the only one in Night Blades who doesn’t know she is pregnant,” he chuckled, and then his expression suddenly became serious. “Burn her! Don’t forget that thing whining in there. We need our quiet.”

My eyes widened on hearing that. No! He couldn’t! He wouldn’t!

My heart must have skipped a hundred beats when I saw them heading towards me with my baby. They held her upside down, ignoring her tears.

“No! No! No! Not my baby. Punish me but let her be, please. She is innocent, don’t hurt her please,” I sobbed but they tossed her to me and I quickly caught her before she hit the floor.

“We will have nothing to do with a witch’s offspring. Burn them both.”

“No please… no…” I pleaded as they dragged me away. I cried, pleaded, promised everything I could think of, offered my body, anything for them to spare the innocent life in my hands but no one listened to me.

As we approached the furnace, I lost hope. I was going to die. My baby would die with me too. I looked up at the sky with tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Goddess please… don’t let them do this…” They tossed me into the fire and I Screamed as my body went up in flames.

“YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS! I WILL COME BACK FOR ALL OF YOU I SWEAR!”