Chapter 2

            A loud banging on my door disrupts my thoughts.  I tried to go to sleep when I found myself back in my old room, but it was useless.  How was I a Queen yesterday and back to an Omega today?  Am I getting some sort of second chance?

            “I have to tell someone,” I murmur quietly to myself.  But then who could I trust with this type of information?  Who would believe that I have traveled back in time to fix the future?  It sounds insane even though I know that it is the truth.  Alexander.  Alexander would have to believe me. 

            The loud banging continues and an even louder voice booms through my bedroom door.  “It is Monday, Nat,” Rebecca yells through the door.  “Laundry day.”

            “Yes ma’am,” I call through the door.  Rebecca is the head Omega, and she takes her job very seriously.  Everything must run smoothly, or she is unhappy.  Pulling myself from the bed I press my fingers against my temples trying to alleviate the pain behind them.  Pulling on my old maid’s uniform I look at my reflection in the mirror.  It is a far cry from the dresses that I wore just yesterday.  Heading out of my room I run to the laundry room knowing that I am already late. 

            As I burst through the laundry room I have to suppress the groan that forms in my throat at the sight of who I am working with for the day.  “Hey Crystal,” I try to sound cheerful but working with Crystal is the worst.  She is always so cheerful and upbeat.  The old Natalia would quietly listen to her rambling and nod here and there to pretend I was listening.  I am not sure if I have it in me now to smile and nod. 

            Crystal begins her meaningless chatter as we each grab a laundry basket of clothes and head out the back door of the castle.  As we exit the back door I slip off my black flat shoes and let my toes wiggle in the dewy grass.  We trapse down the side of the hill towards the small river that surrounds all of the werewolf kingdom.      

            A cool wind rustles through the trees creating some sort of relief on this hot summer day.  The water rushing past us laps roughly against the rocks on the banks of the river.  Each time I plunge my hands in the river to scrub dirt off the material in my hands the cold water cools the heat that is bearing down on me.

            “Do you know what I heard?” Crystal says as we scrub the clothes together in the river.

            ‘Here it comes,’ I think to myself as Crystal begins to talk.  Her love for gossip is insatiable.  While I would prefer to stay out of the endless dribble that comes out of her mouth, I smile and nod nicely at her. 

“What have you heard this time?”  I ask and her eyes light up with excitement and I cannot help the smirk that travels across my face. 

            Leaning into me closely she puts down her wash and whispers close to my ear.  “The Alpha King will finally be overseeing the mating games this month.” 

            “Uh,” I scoff already knowing this information.  This is hardly gossip.  “You mean the impossible Labyrinth.  Don’t try and lessen what it is by calling it the mating games.  It is a terrible maze that we will be forced to endure until we find our mates or stay there for three days.  Whichever comes first.  Let’s not forget what happens if we don’t find our mates,” I say beating the dress in my hands up against a rock.  “We become slaves.”   

            “Since when are you so cynical?”  Crystal asks and I simply shrug my shoulders in return.  “This is our chance to find our mates.  Don’t you want to find your mate?”

             “Do you know the odds of finding your mate in the Labyrinth?”  I say angrily, knowing that I will definitely come out of the labyrinth without my mate.

            “All but two girls found their mates last month,” Crystal says cheerfully. 

            “Three out of the five that went in,” I snap back at her. 

            “Okay,” Crystal interrupts me.  “I am just trying to be positive.” 

            “I know,” I say as nicely as I can.  “I’m sorry.  So why is the King overseeing the ‘games’ this month?”

            “Rumor has it there is someone that he is looking for in these games.  Perhaps he thinks he will find his second chance mate.” Crystal says with her eyes opened wide. 

            I cannot help but snort with laughter as she talks.  I know for a fact that Alexander is not interested in finding his second chance mate.  The Alexander I first met was only interested in finding a suitable sex slave. 

            Crystal lets out a little humph of frustration as she continues to scrub the trousers in her hands.  We work together in silence neither one of us acknowledging the other for quite some time.  “Have you decided what you are going to wear?” Crystal asks finally breaking the silence between us. 

            “Wear to what?” I ask cluelessly.

            “What are you going to wear inside the Labyrinth, of course,” Crystal says with a little chuckle.  “You want to look good when you meet your mate for the first time.” 

            A memory flashes in my mind of my trip through the Labyrinth.

**Flashback**

            The large metal gate opens in front of me at the end of a grueling three days.  For three days I hadn’t moved.  I just stayed as close to the entrance to the Labyrinth as I could.  As the gate opens the sun shines through the doorway blinding me.  Once my eyes adjust to the light I see Alpha Alexander standing in front of me with a glitter of mischief in his crystal blue eyes. 

            “I see you didn’t find your mate,” he says cold and uncaring. 

            I shake my head back and forth and burry my head in my knees once again.  “Get up,” a loud voice booms and I look up to see Beta Raphael demanding that I move. 

            My arms and legs are stiff from sitting for so long.  My maid’s dress is stuck to my body and covered in filth and waste.  Getting to my feet I keep my eyes on the ground embarrassed at the state of myself.  Alpha Alexander circles me a few times before gesturing to a guard off to the side. 

            “Get her cleaned up and have her sent to my quarters,” Alexander says with an evil smirk across his lips.  “She will be my personal slave.”

            Tears roll down my cheeks because I know what that means.  I will be his sex slave.  I had spent my whole life saving myself for my mate only to find out that I don’t have one and I will be offered to the King like breeding stock.  I lift my face in a silent prayer to Selene.  “Why?”

**End Flashback**

            The memory clears from my mind and I notice that tears are falling from my eyes.  I wipe the tears from my cheeks and look over at Crystal who is watching me intently.  “I don’t think I will find my mate,” I admit to Crystal. 

            “Of course you will,” she says sweetly, and I force a smile back at her.

            We fill our baskets with the wet laundry and head back up the hill to the castle.  “What are you going to wear?” I ask Crystal and her eyes light up with delight. 

            “I have a black dress that I have been saving just for the moment I meet my mate,” Crystal says as a bright smile spreads across her lips.  “My mother bought it for me for a Lunar Ball before they were canceled.” 

            “I have always wanted to go to a ball,” I admit.  After spending so much time in the fancy dresses as Queen it would be nice to find a reason to dress up again.  “It is too bad the Alpha King did away with them.” 

            “I wonder why he did away with them,” Crystal asks thoughtfully. 

            I think about my previous life and let out a thoughtful sigh.  “I heard that the loss of his Queen was too much for him to bear.  It made him bitter and cruel.  If he couldn’t have his mate then he didn’t want anyone to have their mates either.”

            “So he created the Labyrinth in hopes that we wouldn’t find our mates?” Crystal says with a shocked expression on her face. 

              “I am afraid so,” I say with a sad nod.