I feel different

(IVORY)

“Where am I?” I repeated.

Ignoring my question, he took slow, deliberate strides toward me.

Turning around, I took notice of the room. It was spacious and furnished minimally. What is this place? Having no time to waste, I said urgently, “Take me to Regina. I am here for Regina.”

The stranger’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean? Which Regina are you referring to?”

I sat upright, trying to discard the duvet from my body. “I must help her.”

I let out a little groan, suddenly feeling nauseous.

“Regina is a victim of a curse—a rare spell that only I can understand.” I slowly stated, but his eyes held confusion. I noticed he avoided my gaze.

“Calm down, would you? You’re not even fit yet; you just gained consciousness.” His gruff voice was firm.

Shaking my head in disapproval, “You don’t get it. She is not the weakling everyone portrays her to be. She is sick, and I have to see her. No matter what.”

He sat next to me, and I felt the weight of his presence dip under the bed. His scent invaded my senses, causing goosebumps to appear around my body. It was strange; I had never reacted like that in my life. The energy he carried was different. It seemed electrical because of the sparks that were exploding deep within me.

His eyes flickered, growing darker and more dangerous. I found myself lost in them like a vast sea. “What do you mean by that? Why are you speaking in riddles?”

Even I didn’t know what I was talking about or how I knew this so-called Regina. I wondered what my connection to her was and how I knew about an omega, the daughter of Tristan. Prior to this, I never knew about her existence.

It drove me crazy the more I thought about it. Who was I? What had I become? Or has my life always been a lie?

Everything felt so vague; my memory was like missing puzzle pieces, as if I were stuck in a trance. I felt different—my skin, my reflection, my scent, everything. Even my wolf was silent; I couldn’t feel her. I wondered if this was my rebirth.

Settling my eyes on the man, who was busy staring at me like I was an experiment, I realized I didn’t even remember him. My head hurts just thinking about it.

“Take me to her—the omega who is yet to shift,” I instructed him.

Why was I so certain? That, I can’t tell, but I was sure it wasn’t a natural disability. Four years ago, after Regina had failed to shift, she was forced to become mute. She isn’t the one controlling it.

I noticed his eyes widened slightly, as if he couldn’t believe my audacity in instructing him. After much persuasion, he reluctantly agreed.

We walked in silence as I realized how much authority he carried. I could see how others responded to him—the way they stepped aside, acknowledging his presence with respect. My king is what they referred to him as.

We were accompanied by a young woman I heard him call ‘Heather,’ and two guards trailing behind.

We finally reached the destination, and my stomach churned at the sight. It was a room detached from the main building. Its neglect was very visible. From the peeling paint down to the overgrown weeds.

My heart raced when my eyes landed on her frail figure, slumped low. Sensing our presence, her eyes met mine, and she offered a weak smile.

I was taken aback. In her, I saw a streak of the girl I once was. Alone, vulnerable, and useless. Trapped in a world that valued strength over compassion.

My mind drifted back to me, as a little girl in the Red Pack who never belonged. I could almost hear the cruel laughter echoing around me from my peers, labeling me as a “by-product of humans.”

No one ever wanted to play with me. After my mother’s demise while giving birth to me, my father was too consumed by grief to consider that it wasn’t just his loss but mine too.

He always considered me bad luck, and after I was born, the streams immediately dried up, and the drought followed, leading to food shortages.

It all made sense at the time. I was also tagged a witch because the first time I opened my eyes, light shone through them.

Father never saw me as anything but the killer of the woman he loved; I was just a burden he never forgave. What he didn’t see was a scared, broken child wishing she had never been born.

I stepped closer, and Regina’s gaze held a question I had often pondered: Why had the moon goddess chosen us for this fate?

Snapping out of my memory lane, “What are you in this pack?” I questioned. They all looked at me as if I were doing something impractical.

Tears welled in Regina’s eyes as she shook her head in disapproval.

I stroked her gently, urging her. “Go on. You can do it. Try.”

I watched as her parched lips parted, and the words left her mouth in a croaking voice. “I... am an omega.”

Gasps resounded around me; they couldn’t believe the miracle unfolding before them.

I smiled, turning back to them. “Her wolf has been suppressed.” They watched me intently while the omega’s mother, whose eyes brimmed with tears, sighed. “I… I cannot believe this.”

Reassuring her, I said, “I will nurture Regina myself. I understand her language—the language of the unfortunate, which people label as ‘weak.’ I will restore her fate.”

Her mother nodded frantically, desperate for hope in this cruel world. She bowed to me. “Thank you.” Then she turned to the man. “Thank you, my king. I am grateful.” Why did they keep referring to him as king?

With everything seemingly settled, I turned to leave when an excruciating pain shot through my head. I felt like it was splitting in two.

“Bind her,... sentence her, Wolfsbane, cheater...” The world around me spun, and I clutched my head as the whispers echoed louder. “Argh, make it stop!”

“Hey?” The stranger, called King, called out, but his voice drowned in the chaos. I could feel it—lashes of cane on my body; it also felt like I was being injected with wolfsbane, setting every fiber of my being on fire.

“First, I need to go. I have to finish what they started,” I choked out. I didn't know what was forming my words, but I had memories of events colliding in my head.

I tried to move, but my legs buckled beneath me, flashes of angry amber eyes haunting my mind.

My body gave up, and before I could hit the floor, the king moved swiftly to my side and caught me.

I heard the voices fading, becoming indistinguishable, followed by a low hum and the sensation of a strong wind, as if he were an anti-suppressant, suppressing the demons that were chasing after me.

Something stirred deep within me, and my eyes shone with a light that hadn’t appeared since my birth. What in the world is happening? I thought it was all a myth! His glowed a deep green, matching my white ones.

Before my brain could make sense of it all, I succumbed to darkness.