1. Once Upon A Whatever

Reyna

Three months would be ample time to get over someone who rejected you. Yet as I lay in my bed, staring up at the dusty ceiling, I can hear him in my step-sister’s bedroom above and it doesn’t hurt any less. 

“Oh, my love, this ring is so beautiful!” Abby’s shrill voice grates my ears and I roll my eyes. “Our wedding will be a grand affair. Aren’t you happy you chose me and rejected my half-breed sister?”

I know this is all theatrical and showy just to hurt me, and to be honest, it has become quite pathetic.

“I wouldn’t have chosen anyone else as my beautiful bride,” Aiden says, and I wipe the tears that start to well up in my eyes. “You are the perfect Luna.”

I should have expected this when I discovered our bond. No one wants a wolf-less shifter as their mate, and perhaps even more than that, no one wants the illegitimate daughter of an Alpha as their mate. Especially not the son of a Highborn, who would much rather mate with the true daughter of an Alpha.

“Fuck them, they deserve one another,” I grumble as I pull my blanket over my head. “I don’t need him or this family. They can all go to Hell.”

Snuggling deep into my blanket and shutting my eyes, I breathe out a sigh and try not to listen to them in the room above. It’s damn cold in this cellar. But my father, who is a weak-willed man when it comes to his wife, refuses to even give me a room in the large pack house due to my stepmother’s wishes. 

The manor is already cold as it is, but in my twenty-one years of being on this Goddess-forsaken Earth, I have never felt the warmth of the summer sun as it streams through my bedroom window.

Ha, what bedroom? This is a blasted wine cellar. It’s a wonder I haven’t fallen dangerously ill and died. Goddess knows it would have been easier for me that way.

“To hell with the lot of them,” I say yet again, fighting the tears as it springs to my eyes and breathing out a shaky breath.

You would think, given the circumstances of my birth, that I’d be quiet and submissive, right? Well, sometimes I wish I were. Being quiet would have gotten me out of a lot of bad situations, but I guess my birth mother must have been a real loudmouth.

I don’t shut up and because I don’t have my wolf yet, I’m not as strong as my sisters or parents when they decide to force me to be subservient. But being physically weak has never stopped me before. 

I love the person I have become and I may not have my wolf yet, but I can feel her laying dormant. Besides, would I have found a mate if I didn’t have a wolf spirit?

Never have I willingly bent the knee to anyone, and trust me, I am not going to anytime soon.  

Sighing, I close my eyes because tomorrow will be a busy day for the Omega maids, and yes, I am part of them. My father couldn’t bear the shame of disowning his illegitimate daughter, so he kept me because of that.

So, to earn my place in this pack, I am to be a cleaner and slave. Oh, I don’t hate it at all, do not pity me! Because not only does it keep me away from my stepsisters and their witch of a mother, but I get paid for it.

And I’ve been saving up to fund my escape.

It’s the only reason I get up and put the drive behind my daily tasks, because I am that much closer to reaching my goal. After the Hallowed Bond Ball in three days' time, I’ll be able to leave this place behind. It’s not like I’m officially in the pack because there’s no mind-link connection between me and them.

So, with that in mind, I breathe out a strained sigh and close my eyes while wishing for sleep to take me.

*

There’s a heaviness on my chest as I am roused from my sleep, and I’m about to yawn when a hand gets placed over my mouth. My eyes shoot open and I push at the weight on top of me, only to stare directly into the eyes of my assailant.

The scent of his lust feels acrid in the back of my throat, and the more I try to move, the more he holds me down.

Aiden, the mate who rejected me for my step-sister. His handsome face looms over me as his blonde hair falls into his eyes. 

“Shh, it’s okay,” he says with a grin on his face and cocks his head to the side. “No one will know I’m here with you.

My protests are muffled as he shakes his head and covers my mouth more. “Be a good little girl for me, Reyna. I know you still want to,” he says and leans toward my ear. “Let’s do it like we used to. What do you say?”

A sliver of pain stabs at my heart as I recall our times sneaking around together. He may not have marked me, but he took that part of me only reserved for your mate—then he stepped on my heart.

I can still smell Abby’s desire on him, and it angers me even more that he would think I’d gladly be the one on the side just because I once loved him. He shattered my heart, there is no way I will let him back in.

With a plan in mind, I close my eyes and breathe through my nose, knowing there would be no other way to get him off of me. So I nod, and a sick feeling coils in my stomach when I see his serpentine grin. 

He slowly removes his hand from my mouth and kisses my neck, while I lay there feeling nauseous. But as soon as I feel him slacken and not hold me down, I raise my knee towards his groin with a grunt and he cries out.

I leap from my bed and he crouches on the floor, his hands between his legs.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, you bastard? Get out of my room right now!” I cry out with my fists clenched on either side of me. But as soon as those words leave my mouth, I immediately regret it.

Aiden grins as he gets to his feet and walks towards me. Then he slaps me so hard that my eyesight blurs and I stumble to the floor. Footsteps echo through the manor and for once I wish I’d stay quiet. I cannot afford a beating right now; I need to be strong enough physically to escape!

My bedroom door slams open and I don’t even have to look up to see who it is. 

“What is going on here?!” Abby shrieks and when I look up, I see Aiden has slashed his cheek and is shaking his head. “Oh, my love, what has she done?”

He scoffs as she cups his cheek, wiping away the blood. “This harlot attempted to seduce me yet again—”

“You filthy liar, I did no such thing!” I exclaim, but Abby swiftly turns around and stalks towards me.

Her green eyes blazing with fury, she growls and kicks me in my stomach twice and stomps on my arm. I cry out as I feel the bones fracture, but it only serves to make her laugh.

Did I forget to mention that because I have no wolf, my healing is slower than most shifters? Yeah, this is not good for me at all.

“I will see to it that my father has you whipped—”

“Now, now, darling. Let us forget this happened and go about our business,” Aiden says as he wraps his arms around her and holds her close. “I merely came in here to tell her I would never love a mangy stray like her, but then she attacked me. I am sure my message has been received. Let’s leave this room before we catch something.”

I swallow my pride as I lay curled up, deciding for once to not bite back. I cannot afford another injury now when my escape is so close.

Abby huffs out and nods, and I watch them both leave without giving me a backward glance. 

Sitting up, I cradle my broken arm and fight back the tears threatening to cloud my vision. There’s only so much I can take…the Hallowed Bond ball has to be life-changing for me, or I will forever be stuck in this cycle of abuse.