~Xyana~
'PIG, FAT, and UGLY' have become names I'm now accustomed to. I used to think myself beautiful until recently. All thanks to our Alpha's rumored mate, Oksana. Ever since she started deriving pleasure in dehumanizing and abusing me because she thinks I'm too fat for her liking, my life got enveloped in an endless stream of never-ending chores. She'll call me 'Pig' over and over again and I'll always answer her with a 'yes ma'am.' She makes sure I don't get to enjoy a moment of rest during the day. I work at the farms, at the pack daycare, the kitchen, I scrub the floors; I literally do everything. Yet she's never satisfied. ** Today, Mrs. Sal, the pack's Matron, assigned my best friend, Jiya, and me to clean the Alpha's living room. She must have taken pity on me and decided to give me an easy task that I'd spend most of my day doing. As Jiya and I focus on our assigned task for the day. I suddenly feel the hairs on my neck prickle. A dull pull follows, drawing me towards the large private balcony outside the room where rumor has it that the Alpha plunges in his stick into readily available holes in the pack. Since the strange pull won't stop, I let it guide me. Jiya frowns when she sees me moving towards the entrance of the balcony. "I'll be right back," I whisper and she nods. Getting to the entrance, I peek out through the corner of my eyes and see Alpha Kedar's back. The pull still won't stop. So, I step out to get a clearer view. Excitement shoots through my veins. I feel my wolf's excitement. She’s ecstatic. After many years, I feel her again; how is that even possible? My wolf is demanding. 'Him, him, him. He's ours!' I raise my eyes to Alpha Kedar and meet his gaze as he turns to see who is behind. I'm supposed to look down, 'You don't meet an Alpha's eyes.' That would be seen as a challenge. He's going to have them hang me outside the pack house because I just challenged him. But I can’t help it. 'Mine, mine, mine.' Juno, my wolf, mewls. She paws at my ribs, wanting to come out. But I don’t even know how to let her anymore, and that is crazy. 'Mate,' Juno whines louder pleading with me to let her out. How is Alpha Kedar, my mate? Isn't he rumored to be mates with Oksana? Kedar turns slowly, offering me his face first, and his body follows. Then I see Oksana, standing up from in-between his legs. She was sucking him off in a barely secluded balcony. 'Such an irresponsible man!' The balcony might be shielded with large carved balustrades that might prevent one from getting a clear view of whatever they might be doing, yet it doesn't change the fact that they're being irresponsible by making out here. People from downstairs can still see their upper body. Let's not talk about the steps connecting the balcony down. 'This man cannot be my mate.' Oksana stands up and glares at me, placing her arm around Kedar; she calls me, "Pig, what do you want?" She kisses Kedar on his mouth. 'No. Ours!' Juno lets out an inhuman wail that fills my ears from inside my skull. Suddenly, I'm shifting. My spine rips out of my skin. Pain explodes over me at the splintering bone and shredding muscles. I'm getting torn apart. I scream, collapsing to the ground. And I lay powerless on the floor, staring unblinkingly at them. Oksana's jaw dropped. Kedar is raging; his fists are clenched as if he’s straining to control himself. My vision is now sharp and focused. I can hear voices far and near, murmurings, sounds... I can smell everything. Semen, Blood, stale food, even Oksana's perfume, and she's rubbing it all over my mate. Enraged, I leap, baring my fangs. Whatever made me think I could attack Oksana? I lunge at her and she dodges me so easily, mocking me with her laughter. I hear gasps and whispers around the stairs connecting the balcony down and realize we now have an audience. Yet, I can’t seem to be able to stop. 'Fuck this mate bond.' Oksana laughs again and kicks me in the ribs. Then she snarls. Suddenly, she shifts so quickly that I'm not prepared one bit to meet her wolf, a beautiful, off-white, big she-wolf. She instantly goes for my throat. Her fangs sink into my collarbone, ripping a chunk of my skin. The pain is blinding and I instantly slump to the floor. "Enough!" Alpha Kedar yells. I’m losing blood, I'm fading by the second and none of them is doing anything about it. They are willing to just stand there and watch me bleed to death? Oh no! "Shift," Kedar commands. My bones instantly obey, cracking again, even the broken ones, snapping back into place, and I'm back to my human form. Naked and exposed, I curl into a ball and watch as Oksana slips into a free dress someone brings for her. But nobody gives me any clothing. Oksana smirks, licking my blood from her lips. I draw my knees close to my chest as I tremble. I dare to look at Kedar's face, he's glaring down at me. My stupid wolf mewls for him. She can't seem to understand the situation of things. "Stand up," Kedar snarls, his voice low. But I can’t, everyone will see everything... my body. "What's the meaning of this nonsense you just did?" I swallow a thick saliva and muster the courage to say it since he's pretending like he has no idea. "You're my mate," I whisper back. Oksana laughs like she's raving mad. Kedar stares at me like I've gone nuts. He squats down to meet me. "The Moon goddess won't mate me to a spineless, defenseless, weak, and worthless Elephant like you." He says and even with his cruel words, my wolf whines and cries out to him. "I have a mate and a type. Clearly, you're neither of both. Someone like you can never be this pack's Luna." I start to cry. Nothing hurts more than this. Not even the pains Oksana has been subjecting me to all these years. Juno cries with me. 'Why is he rejecting us?' She cries in my head and I shake my head as the tears slip down. I don't know why he would reject us. Kedar signals to his Gamma, who seems to be blocking our little audience from coming closer. When he approaches, Alpha Kedar points at me, anger evident in his voice. "Get this fat, shapeless Cow out of my presence. She attacked Oksana. Have her punished from now till dusk. She deserves nothing but death for what she just did." Gamma Reeder nods and turns to me, "stand up, or I'll drag you up," he says to me. I finally stagger to my feet, struggling to cover my nakedness as much as I can. As we climb down the stairs, squeezing ourselves among the crowd at the stairs, the males leer and smirk. Some of the females, too. A few of the elders present are staring at me, disapprovingly. Mrs. Sal and Jiya are standing very far away, horror on their faces. They don’t dare come closer. When we climb down, more crowd are gathered downstairs. I take my walk of shame. As I walk, my love handles flap, my thighs juggle, and the shame is unbearable. Everyone sees everything, and no one, no one stretches out a piece of clothing to me.~Xyana~ I stumble behind Gamma Reeder, shame oozing through me with every step. My mind is still reeling from Alpha Kedar’s words, the disgust in his voice, the name-calling, and the humiliation that burns deeper than the wounds Oksana physically inflicted on me. My wolf "Juno," whimpers in my head, confused and heartbroken. 'He's ours,' she repeats weakly, but I can feel her spirit gradually dying down as if she too is beginning to accept the harsh reality. The pack members whisper as I pass, their eyes filled with cruel amusement. I catch glimpses of mocking smirks, and knowing looks exchanged between them. They revel in my humiliation, every single one of them. "Pathetic," someone scoffs. "How can this fat thing try to fight a real wolf?" Another voice says. "She attacked our soon-to-be Luna." I hear someone else accuse me from the crowd. I clench my teeth, swallowing the lump in my throat. I will not cry in front of them. I refuse to give them that satisfaction. We f
~Gaston~The pain I'm feeling is excruciating; my head is spinning uncontrollably as my chauffeur, Killian, keeps driving farther away from the source of my pain."Pull over," I tell Killian.The car hitches to a stop almost immediately and he stares at me through the rearview mirror, his face lined with worry.I groan into my palms painfully as my veins go through bouts of painful constrictions. "What can I do, Alpha?" Killian asks."Turn the car around," I tell him, "and drive until I ask you to stop."He nods and kicks the car into gear, pulling it into reverse. We started heading back to the same route we were coming from. A few minutes into the ride, the maddening pain starts to fade gradually, getting replaced by an unbearable intense pull that is almost pulling me out of the car."Killian, stop the car." I groan. The car halts instantly. I push outside, staggering towards the nearby woods; the exact direction of the unbearable pull. I don't have the time to tell Killian what
~Xyana~ Slowly, consciousness comes to me in painful waves. My body feels heavy like it’s been weighed down by thick rocks, and my mind is foggy, struggling to piece together the last thing I remember. My eyelids feel like they’re glued shut by an external force, causing me to force it open. The first thing I see is a high, vaulted ceiling made of dark wood. I try to sit up, but a sharp pain shoots through my ribs, forcing me back down. A gentle hand presses against my shoulder, and I turn to see a man with kind eyes and a stethoscope around his neck. A doctor, I presume. “You have to take it easy,” he says softly. “Your body is still recovering." He places two fingers on my wrist to get my pulse reading. "What's your name?" "Xyana." I reply. "You're welcome to Gurreo-Valley pack, Xyana." He offers that comforting smile one can easily find amongst health workers in hospitals. "Do you recall how you got here?" He adds. Firstly, this man said that I'm at the Gurreo-Valley pack.
~Xyana~Two days later, I wake up feeling better than I did a couple of days ago. The memory of my first day here is still fresh in my mind.'Is any of this really happening or is this just the Moon goddess trying to play tricks on me?'Alpha Kedar denied me almost a week ago and now I have three men fighting over me. The only word to describe any of this is 'surreal.''You think you're special now?' Juno laughs at me, 'keep being stupid.'"Whatever did I do to you, Juno? I'm not the reason Alpha Kedar refused to acknowledge us. He just didn't want to."'He told you why.' Juno insists."He said I'm worthless, and I'm not!" I yell. "It's okay if he chooses Oksana as his real mate. But I'm not worthless, neither am I spineless."'But you're an Elephant, a Pig, fat...' "Don't say those words to me, please." I plead with my wolf.She snorts and starts sinking back inside, 'suit yourself, Pig.'I shut my eyes as the pain of her words hit me. She's waiting, watching, hoping that I'll count
~Xyana~"I can't feel my mates," I say out loud, the distress in my voice, evident as I pace the room I'm assigned to.Breakfast was hectic and I don't even blame any of my mates if they're upset. If the Moon goddess deemed it fit to give me second chance mates, that only means she understands perfectly that right now, I'm so alone with no one in the world to turn to.But I'm failing them; I'm failing my mates; I'm failing the Moon goddess, and it's all because of Juno, my wolf, who has refused to do her job."How long do you plan on shutting out our mates, Juno?" I ask her. She yawns and stretches out a bit, acting unconcerned. "Juno?"'As long as I wish.' she snaps."You're pushing them away. Their wolves are trying to connect with you and you're shutting them out."'So? What should I do with that information?.'"But you're a part of me for crying out loud. We ought to be working together, hand in hand." I try to make her see things from my own perspective.'The Moon goddess forbid
~Xyana~"You're winning," Oona says grumpily. I wasn't so eager to play chess with a pup her age, but her Nanny reassured me that Oona always plays and is good."She's good at the game," Declan says from the door. "She truly is," I reply to him. I may be winning the game, but Oona isn't making it easy for me either. He walks into Oona's game room and takes a seat, all smiles. "I've been meaning to spend quality time with you, Pretty. But the pack is preparing for the annual mating ceremony which happens yearly for us. So, we're working harder on getting more warrior recruits to toughen security." He explains."An annual mating ceremony? When will that be?""You would be surprised, because it's still a few months away. About three months and a couple of days.""And the warriors are already taking their training seriously?" I ask him."Yeah. Can't remember that stuff they say about powerful preparation." He winks at me as Oona packs up the chess board.She walks past me with the boa
~Xyana~"You have to answer me," Clifton says, climbing on the bed and pinning my arms above my head while his frame towers above me. "Your wolf called me an Abomination, didn't she?""I'm going to scream." I let out the only words that came to my mind."And you think that would stop me? Was it your wolf, Xyana?" He presses on."Gaston says to follow my cue and not to overwhelm me," I tell him instead. "It looks like your presence..." "I'm not playing this game with you." He growls, cutting me short. He lowers his body and whispers in my ear. "You are my fucking mate. I have the right to know."My heart skips a beat as I feel his breath in my ear, making me mewl softly. "And you, mine," I say, panting inaudibly."You believe so?" I nod. "So as your mate, can you listen to me by letting me go?" I try another approach.He chuckles, "nice try, Baby. In case you have no idea, it's going to take a while before my brothers finds us. So, I have all the time in the world."Alarm bells ring
~Declan~All my life I've longed for my mate. The one-woman created to be my everything. Love has never meant a thing to me until the day I set my eyes on Xyana.I thought my heart would explode. Everything about her is perfect and I decided while she was still recovering that there is nothing I won't do to protect and keep her safe.My joy was in excess because I'd found my mate. Not until Diony said she was his mate, and Clif said the same. I've never been mad at the Moon goddess like I was that day.But after taking my time to think about it, I realized I was neither ready nor willing to give her up. My Wolf Lucas was smitten as I was and nothing in this world would have made him agree to rejecting our mate.Even when he couldn't reach Xyana's Wolf, he didn't give up. We've been waiting for this all our lives, and at that point, I was willing to accept my brothers being with my mate as long as I got to be with her, too.As long as she doesn't reject me, and she lets me do right by
~Gaston~ I spent the entire night asking myself if I am insane. What have I done? It's a fact that I'm lusting after my brothers' mate but what I did last night is pure madness from my end. I had watched her leave the pack yesterday in the company of Claret and I was still up when she got back. I can't go to sleep, not without being sure of her safety. I had to text Claret at some point, and she confirmed they were fine and were heading back home. I shouldn't be as bothered as I was yesterday. Claret can take care of Xyana in all aspects. She's a strong she-wolf who I trust so much that I put Xyana in her care. It isn't just about the sports center. The Ardbrys have proven themselves over and over again to my family. Her brother Gideon is my step-in Beta on days Clifton isn't around to help. And he personally trained Claret in combat. Yet I stayed up all day until Xyana came home. When I caught sight of her through my office wi
~Xyana~ "Are you alright, Xyana?" Gaston repeats his question; his voice laced with worry and strangeness. "Mhmm," I nod, wishing he would just go away so that I can peacefully continue to my room. "You don't look okay." He insists, taking a step towards me. "Gaston, I'm... I'm... fi...ne." I tell him, my voice a bit unsteady and my words, not so coherent. Gaston is now close to me and he's staring at me, his gaze darkening as if he's mad at me or someone. When he stares a little longer and our gaze finally meets, his expression morphs, losing its worried traits. "Xyana," he calls again, my name rolling off his tongue like it's a euphoric drug. "Did he hurt you?" He didn't have to mention a name; we both knew who he was talking about. "No," I manage to let out. "Did you guys fight?" "Not really," I replied, clearing my throat so as to sound less husky. Then I bite my bottom
~Xyana~ Tranquility is not enough word to describe what I'm feeling streaming through me as Clifton moves his hands up to hold my face while he returns my kiss. I moan against his lips, wrapping my arms around his neck, and he moves his hands to the back of my head and down my body. He lifts me up and slams me against the wall of his room, beating out the little air I had still left in my lungs, his hands resting on my ass. His muscular abs presses against my body, making it impossible for me to think straight. I let him devour me, enjoying every second of it. He breaks the kiss to move his lips along my jawline and further down to my neck. I claw down onto his shoulders, throwing my head back against the wall, my heart beating so fast, risking suffocation. Suddenly, a warm sensation of surrender streams through me and I knew instantly that it's all coming from Clifton. I can feel his emotions and he's already surrende
~Xyana~ Overwhelmed by Clifton's sudden closeness, I jump out of my seat and take a step back. Still, he takes a step closer to me. Looking back up at him defiantly, I take another step back. I almost break into a panic, but he smiles and shakes his head. "You don't have to be scared, Baby. I won't hurt you physically." "But your wolf will." I voice out before I can stop myself. "He would never hurt you." He says tenderly, closing the gap between us. He wants you more than anything. I'm afraid he wants you too much that if I stay around as much as I want to, he might damn the consequences and mark you, even though he shouldn't just yet." He finally eases away from me and goes back to take his seat with a sigh. In his absence, I regain my equilibrium and slowly walk back to my seat. "Tell me what you want, Baby." He says, focusing his gaze on me. "Why is everyone worried about your Wolf, Clifton?" That is at least the t
~Xyana~ When we were done shopping, the trunk of our car wasn't enough to contain the shopping bags, so we had to move the ones I got for Mona to the back seat of the car. Once we get down from the car and the guards around the garage see the contents of the trunk, a couple of them get into action by helping out with moving them upstairs to my room. Mona is in a hurry to get back home after receiving a phone call from her brother. So I told one of the guards to take her home, and he did! 'Trying out my power as the Beta female.’ Oh wow! It is so late. We were even the last people to leave the 'Cleave Boutique' in the town center. I had no doubt they stayed open way past their closing time. But they had lots of fine stuff that it was so hard to actually choose. I made Mona get lots of nice stuff for herself, and she was super excited and appreciative. We bought a couple of outfits that we plan on twinning together wh
~Xyana~ Our car stops at a nice restaurant a moment later. "Wow!" I let out a breath when I see the beautiful building the restaurant is housed in. Gurreo-Valley is such a beautiful place and maybe the Alpha has a rule in place that prevents store owners from erecting shabby shop buildings because that might be the only reason I haven't seen the type of shops we have back at Black-haw pack. "Aren't there smaller-looking shops here in Gurreo-Valley?" I ask Mona. "Of course there are." She points to very beautiful shops in front. But that's not what I mean by small. "I mean, shops opened in old-looking buildings?" She shakes her head. "The Alpha makes sure the buildings are up to the architectural plan of the pack and he renovates them every five years. Might be lesser at times. Even smaller roadside stalls are regulated to pass certain set rules." "I've noticed," I reply, nodding my understanding.
~Xyana~ Mona comes to pick me up just as she promised. Today is my day off and I'm practically in the mood for all the mischief she has planned out for us. We head over to the garage that houses Dion's car and we take one of his cars, with Mona behind the wheels since I can't drive. I didn't go down for breakfast in the morning because I wasn't sure I had to strength to face Clifton or any of the Howling brothers at that. Oona would have made the atmosphere less awkward. But since she started her term paper, she left for school much earlier. So she eats before any of us. And with her schedule after school well planned by her nanny, I wasn't sure it was a good thing to disrupt any of that. At least until her papers are over. Since I have my own worries to take care of anyway. While Mona is driving us to the town center, I spot Declan walking down to the pack house, his body glistering under the scorching sun. "I need to
~Xyana~ I did have the feeling that something was off about Clifton early enough. Especially from the day he overheard Juno in my head. It had been obvious but I just didn't want to think about it. Maybe that was stupid of me. After my heart-to-heart moment with Dion, my understanding of what I might be up against in respect to Clifton's Wolf became a bit clearer. Dion spent more time soothing me and reassuring me that he was never going to leave me. Maybe Juno said the truth, I'm just a bloody attention-seeker. I've been starved of attention that I'm willing to clutch to these men so hard. Goddess! If they reject me, I'll be alone with absolutely no one in my corner. When Dion got a mind-link from someone, I didn't need to be told that it was time to go back out there and face my reality. He held me in a hug for a very long time and kissed me over and over again before he finally let me go. My heart is so heavy when
~Xyana~"D, please." I plead in a whisper and watch Dion cave in."It's Amon, Clif 's wolf." He replies. "We are all worried about him. You see, Amon is special. He's powerful, a protector, a lover of family, and now you are his family. The truth is we're worried about the fact that you have three of us as your Mates. Amon is possessive. So, he might not be able to handle the multiple-mate situation very well. We saw it the other day in Declan's room. Worst still, Clifton's character doesn't help the situation at all." He takes a deep breath before he goes on. "We think Clif has to speak to you first and explain to you how special Amon is, and maybe if you accept him and he does the same, the rest of us can join in. So we're just waiting for Clif to get it going for all of us."I swallow hard as everything he says doesn't really make sense to me. "What do you mean when you said Clifton's Wolf is 'special'?" I ask, feeling more and more worried. "What is going on, Dion?".He shakes hi