7. An Unclaimed Prize.

EUDORA

I didnt leave that week as the Alpha and his Luna proposed. 

Their agitation to get rid of me yielded no results and I sensed it when they gave up on trying. There was nowhere to go, no one who wanted me and no way for me to escape the misery I was plunged into without my permission. I have never questioned our wolven traditions despite how questionable they were. Like why we don’t get to choose the soulmates we would be spending the rest of our lives with or why some of us have to be born as nothing short of preys for the powerful ones amongst us. 

I have never questioned them. Neither have I hated the moon goddess like I did at that moment in my life. Maybe things would have been better–I thought to myself countless times that week. Maybe things would have been better if we were allowed to decide who we ended up with in the long run but I knew. I knew that even then, I’d choose Connan. I’d choose Connan over and over again because he is the only one I have ever wanted in every sense of that word. 

Now?Not so much. 

When there was nothing else to do and for reasons obvious to everyone of us,  I was confined to my room after that night. They didn’t have to but both the Alpha and the Luna appeared in my room and let me know in half-threatening tones that I wasn't allowed to leave my room till they had control of the situation. Like the obedient Omega I was, I listened to them dictate what my life would become in the coming days.

 On my knees, fingers fiddling with one another and tears threatening to spill down my chubby cheeks, my ears bore the harsh words of the family that had once shown me so much love now show the deepest form of hate I never knew they were capable of. 

I was banned from leaving my room unless allowed to. 

Luna Eleanor brought food to me everyday without sparing me a glance. When she did, it was with so much contempt that made me coil into myself and lose my appetite no matter how hungry I was. But I knew better than to let the food go to waste too so I gobbled every bit of it down and with my tears as an added flavor. 

It was the same for Connan. He was prohibited from coming imto my room. Laying in my bed on that night they gave me those rules, I heard the arguments come from different parts of the house after they left. They had been Connan’s angry voices mixed with his parent’s equally angry ones. As expected, I had been the object of the argument. He was banned from going into my room or seeing me. It was almost like they were protecting him from me or keeping me from further causing trouble and corrupting their son. 

That tension going around the house was something I was glad being confined in my room made me escape. 

And Connan too. Being in the four walls of my room without him anywhere around me made my confinement easy to stomach. 

I never thought I would fear the mere scent of him. His footsteps give me anxiety whenever they pass by my room. The sound of his voice makes my heart leap and not in a good way if it seems like it’s going to forcefully tear itself out of my rib cages. Sometimes, he stops. He takes a pause outside my door and my anxiety intensifies in a way that threatens my breathing and then he walks away like he only for a brief moment contemplated coming into my room. Each day that passed in that long torturous week,  I feared him breaking his parents rules more than I feared breaking them myself and getting punished for it. 

I still cringe when I think of the ways he touched me. The skin his fingers grazed and the ones it gripped without the tenderness I have always known him for. 

And I never want it to happen again. 

Only that was just wishful thinking. I knew I had it coming when I noticed the shift in the atmosphere of the house and the pack has a whole. The long torturous week has finally come to an end and the Alpha of the Onyx Moon pack was visiting with his family. It became more real by then—the fact that I was still not gone before they arrived and the fact that Connan would be getting a mate and a Luna. 

I wondered what lies would be spurned to the pack as to why the future Alpha of the pack was already getting mated and having a Luna but I was in no position to care when I had so much going on for my own self. I was in no position to worry about the legacy of a family that made it clear that I was only wanted when I wasn’t a burden to them. 

I listened in on all of their conversations that my sharp hearing senses could pick up and the ones that were kept too quiet, I placed my ears on the walls of my rooms to listen to them. 

It was how I was able to know that the day was today. 

The day Connan's new mate would be visiting the pack. 

It was insane how I looked forward to the day and dreaded it at the same time. I needed it to go by fast and that was the only reason I anticipated it. I needed the pain of losing my mate to someone else to go by fast so I don’t feel the sting of it anymore yet I dreaded it. Because either way, my fate was still undecided. 

Connan wanted me by his side as a tool of pleasure but it was clear his parents had other ideas. Somehow, somewhere deep in my guts, I knew today would change something. If not the entire thing, part of my fate would be decided today. 

As usual, I was in my room, ears planted on the walls and waiting to hear something. To know something. I knew the moment the Alpha of the Onyx moon pack arrived because the scent of new wolves crossing our territory was all over the air. I heard the heavy footsteps of Luna Eleanor and Alpha Oslo going up and down the house trying to put things in order for the meeting with the Alpha and his family. It went on like that for minutes into noon until I heard or sensed nothing anymore. I could only guess the meeting had already started. 

I sighed. 

Deciding I had no choice but to sit this one out, I plopped heavily on my bed and waited for the moment it would all be over. I tried to close my eyes to sleep but the anxiety wouldn’t let me.

I was on my third trial of finding sleep when my door barged open.  My eyes shot open just as Luna Eleanor took hurried steps into the room. My eyes roamed her frame looking for the usual plate of food that has been the only reason this woman has been to my room in the past few days but her hands were empty and flayed as her eyes roamed the room. 

She wasn’t supposed to be here. Wasn’t she meant to be outside at the meeting with the other families? 

 I could sense the urgency her whole frame embodied. It stank in the air and had the same feeling rising up inside of me as well. I couldn’t help but feel like something was terribly wrong or about to. Luna Eleanor didn’t look at me. She said nothing to me. Instead she stalked towards my closet and began to pull my clothes to the ground. 

I crawled out of my bed slowly, afraid that the raging Luna would tear me apart like she was doing to my closet. 

“Luna…” I whispered. She didn’t look at me. Each time she fell a bunch of clothes to the ground, she’d rummage through them on their new place on the ground. She’d take one out and examine it for barely a second before discarding it and letting it join all of the other discarded ones on the floor. 

I couldn’t help but let my thoughts wander down many lanes. None of which was smooth. Why was she going through my clothes? Was I leaving? Was it time? Did an Alpha already find a use for me? 

The sense of urgency morphed into something bigger than myself. Something along the line of fear. If I knew this was going to be my fate in the end, why was I still so unprepared for it to happen? 

“Luna…” I called again, hoping this time that she’d turn to me and I could at least read the look in her eyes and know what this was all about. She only turned to me when it seemed like she finally found what she was looking for. Her eyes sized me up, every curve and dip of my huge body in a matter of seconds and then a she threw the clothe she found at me. I caught it, confused.

“Wear it,”  was her explanation for throwing the clothe ag me.

I wanted to tell her that I couldn’t wear a dress I wore a few months ago before I got even bigger and that wouldn’t fit but one look at her burning gaze and crossed arms as she stood waiting for me, I chose to snap my mouth shut and do as I was told. 

As I thought, the dress barely fit. It hugged my body tight like a glove and I could barely breathe wearing it. It fell short on my huge thighs and no matter how hard I tried to pull it down, it failed to go pass the spot it has chosen to stick too. 

 She seemed satisfied though. Like she got the needed results by seeing me that way. Since I was already used to being objectified, I suspected if I was leaving now, it was leaving dressed as the slut that I was going to be for the Alpha that was going to take me. 

That was the only way I could explain the Luna's questionable behavior. Then she grabbed one of the many wigs I use to cover my multicolored hair and threw it at me.

“Put that on and follow me,” she said and turned around to leave but stopped when I hesitated with the wig style dangling in my hands. Her eyes narrowed when she added, “Now.” 

I instantly put the wig on and used my fingers to comb through it. I followed her just as she commanded, down the hall that led to the kitchen. I was finally seeing some place other than the four walls of my room.

Luna Eleanor handed me a tray with a glass of wine and wine glass to go with it. I was confused all through the time she spent searching for the best wine and became even more clueless when she handed the tray over to me, not knowing what I was meant to do with it. 

“Go serve the visiting Alpha at the table,” She finally said. 

For a second, I thought Luna Eleanor lost it. Thought she forgot who I was and why I was never meant to be out in the open in the first place. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why she so casually told me to go out to serve the Alpha of the pack whose daughter their son was getting mated to. 

No one was supposed to know about me. No one was even supposed to know that Connan had a mate he rejected. It was meant to be covered up as a needed alliance between both packs. Did she forget so soon? Or was there more to it that I could tell just by standing and staring at her like a moron.

“Did you not hear me?” 

Oh…I did. I just needed to make sure I understood what she meant.

“You want me to go serve the Alpha at the table?” I asked quietly.

“Do it right now.” 

Yep. That was the answer I needed even if I didn’t understand why she was doing this. 

“Yes, Luna.” 

There was no use arguing with her. I fought a greater battle within myself as I walked gingerly towards the dining hall . The voices I didn’t hear from my room got clearer with each step I took towards the living room. My heart palpitated when I heard the deep voice of Connan. I was so focused on the way that voice made all of my senses heighten, to care about what he was saying or what he said that elicited a loud roaring laughter that I have never heard before coming from someone else in the hall . 

It had to be the Alpha of the Onyx moon pack. 

I immediately realized I was walking into something similar to a Minecraft. A disaster waiting to happen if I wasn’t careful how and where I treaded. I was walking into a meeting half-naked with no idea why I was doing so. 

I wish I could run but the Luna was right behind me and I didn’t have to look to see if her watchful eyes were waiting to know what my next move would be. I breathed in and out before stepping into the room.

At once, all of the voices stopped. I wished they didn’t. 

I wished their eyes—all eight pairs of them—didn’t bore through my exposed parts, my flabby arms, heavy thighs and huge boobs.

In the short period of time that I had their eyes fixated on me, I was able to detect what all of them felt about my sudden appearance. They all had noteworthy reactions but none was more profound like that of Connan who was seated side by side with Alpha Oslo. Unlike any other, Connan was surprised to see me. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that he had no idea I would be there. 

Surprise then anger. Presumably at the way I was dressed. I wasn’t comfortable either and a feeling nudged to the back of my mind especially when I made eye contact with the visiting Alpha. I had this gut  feeling that I pushed back to the back of my mind. My excuse was that there was no way in hell what I was thinking would be real. It was impossible for Luna Eleanor to have asked me to show up here because of the visiting Alpha. No way they would ever think of sending me off to a man who was just as big as me—if not bigger—someone whose old age was written in bold lines of wrinkles and scruffy beards on his face. 

There was no way they would do that to me. 

I avoided Conan’s questioning gaze. I had no business with him anyway. I just needed to serve the Alpha and run back into the safety of my room that I didn’t know I’d miss this much. I took slow steps into the hall, afraid I’d fall as I kept my eyes fixed on the ground. I decided to follow the scent of the visiting Alpha instead of looking up to find where he is seated. His scent was strong as an Alpha. Powerful. Not the kind of one an omega like me would miss. 

I chose to avoid all of the eyes that burned into my body and went in the direction of the Alpha that was seated opposite Alpha Oslo and Conan. I saved myself another pain by choosing to not look at the mate Conan’s parents found for him but I knew she was pretty. I knew she didn’t have to spend hours at shopping malls looking for clothes that would fit her big body. I knew her long hair had just one color and I knew she wasn’t unwanted. I knew her life was perfect. 

I finally stopped beside the Alpha of the onyx moon pack and slowly set the tray down on the table in front of him. I screwed the wine open and began to pour it in the glass. It was hard for me to keep my hands steady. They shook and the wine was at risk of pouring into a place other than the glass of  wine in front of me.

“Let me help you with that, young woman.” 

The Alpha of the Onyx moon pack placed his huge hand on mine before I could process his words. A violent shudder rocked my spine as he gripped my hand and poured the wine with me. My hands turned sweaty and clammy from his unexpected hold. His eyes weren't on the wine we were pouring together. Instead, it roamed my body—the exposed parts. I wanted to shrink into myself realizing predatory his gaze was and how it made my skin crawl. 

I could bet everything I had that the sound of me letting out a relieved breath after the glass was finally full, was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. The Alpha let my hands go after…barely.  He let his fingers graze my arm as he leaned backward. 

“Alpha Oslo, you didn’t tell me you had such a prize at your home.” The Alpha said. That tone…

“She is an omega, when were they ever prizes?” Alpha Oslo didn’t sound surprised by the visiting Alpha asking. I was forced to think they already forgot about their children and now have their attention set on me. Even if I wanted to leave, I couldn’t. 

The visiting Alpha crept his hands around my waist even as he was seated. 

“When they are unclaimed and smell of innocence like this one here.” 

It was then that I knew. No, I already did. I just didn’t believe it was possible. I just didn’t believe they could do that to me. The Alpha’s hands left my waist and slowly crept down my body as he talked. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t say anything. Not even a wince as I bit my lips and closed my eyes as his dry and wrinkled hands continued to seek through my exposed part. 

This was what I was brought out here for. Dressed like this for. I would be taken by this Alpha. An old Alpha who could be a father to not just me but Conan and then his daughter who was 

“You have to win a prize, Alpha Tauren, that is how things are done. Especially when we are seated here for other reasons.” 

Alpha Oslo was baiting the grizzly Alpha whose name I now knew as Alpha Tauren. He pretended to sound like he didn’t want this anymore than I did but I could read between the lines. This was how they planned to get rid of me and also receive a favor in return. 

Alpha Tauren’s hands continued to creep up my dress. I squirmed and tried to understand how he could shamelessly do this in front of his daughter. I opened my eyes and looked at Conan. He was already looking at me and I saw rage in his eyes. 

He knew I was being touched. Being violated and he clenched his fist above the table. I wanted help and he was the only one I could look to for help. 

“Tell me, Alpha Oslo…what do I need to do to win this prize?”