Chapter One

Anita Pov

One could say life is a rollercoaster journey, but mine is a journey of unending happiness. I have never enjoyed or seen the excellent part of life ever since I was born. 

I have always been an outcast in my pack. For as long as I can remember, I've been subjected to abuse and ridicule from everyone, especially our alpha, Ethan. He's made my life a living hell, and I've often wondered if there's any escape from this torment.

For as long as I can remember, pain and suffering have been my daily companions. The constant taunts, the harsh treatment, it's all I've ever known. I had hoped that finding my mate would be my salvation, that it would free me from this nightmare, but what the moon goddess struck me with was a demon in human form. 

I could still remember the look on face when he found out I was his mate. 

I was working late that night in the kitchen, I had almost forgotten it was my birthday till I heard his voice.

His eyes widened in shock, and his face contorted in disgust. "You're my mate?" he spat, as if the mere idea was repulsive. I nodded, trying to hold back tears, but he just laughed. "Impossible," he sneered.

"You're nothing but a slave, a mere omega," he continued, his voice dripping with disdain. "I'd never be bound to someone like you. You're not even worthy of being my mate." His words cut deep, and I felt a stinging sensation in my chest. I tried to hold my head up high, but his rejection was like a punch to the gut.

I remembered the days when I used to dream of finding my mate, thinking it would be a loving and joyful experience. Thinking that when I finally find him, he will take away all my pain and torture and I will finally be free from this nightmare, but Ethan didn’t reject me that night but made me wish I was rejected.

… 

"Pick up those trash cans now!" A voice thundered at me, and I flinched, as the voice interrupted my thoughts. There stood my only cause of pain, my mate.      

"Are you deaf?" He dragged me by my hair as I winced in severe pain, following him around to lessen the pain shooting through my scalp. 

"Make sure you clean this place and get the tables set accordingly. I don't want to come back and meet you here. Ok?" 

My head faced down as I could not look at him with my rough, sweaty face, and then I nodded to him. 

"Good! After that, move your ugly self out of this premises. I repeat, I don't want to come here and meet this pungent smell oozing out of you. Before I come here again, you must have cleaned and left. Am I clear?" 

I nodded again, faster this time, and he walked out on me. As he was moving, I looked at him, and what seemed like pain and agony pierced through my skin. 

Since I knew Alpha Ethan was my mate, I haven't known peace since then. Whenever he sets his eyes on me, a shade of annoyance flushes through his face, and he'd like to humiliate me right then. 

Tomorrow is a day for the coronation of the new Alpha of the pack. 

I hurriedly packed the empty cans and filled the waste bin, then moved out of the place into the palace before Alpha Ethan could return and start shouting at me again. 

Just as I moved into the palace, I heard Ethan and his father, Alpha Lucas, arguing, and I hid at the back of the door, wanting to hear more of it.

"Ethan, how many times would I tell you that you can't be an alpha without a Luna!" Alpha Lucas yelled at him. 

"Dad, how do you expect me to get married to a wench? Someone that isn't anyway up to my standards, a mere omega." He screamed at the top of his voice, but what followed was the sound of a slam on the table. 

"Enough! You will engage with her tomorrow alongside your coronation."

"No, Dad! You can't control me on this. I am not getting married to that riffraff. If I get married to her, what would happen to my fiance? Besides she will make a better Luna than Anita ever could" Ethan stated. 

Alpha Lucas's face turned red with anger, his eyes blazing with fury. "You will do as I say, Ethan! You will mate with the omega, and that's final!" He roared, his voice echoing through the palace halls.

Ethan's face twisted in defiance, his eyes flashing with rebellion. "I won't do it, Dad! I won't mate with someone who's beneath me!"

I bent my head slowly in disappointment at his words. Is it because I'm a slave in this palace? Why was he behaving this way? Just because I am an omega doesn’t mean I am less of a wolf. 

“Not only are you useless, you’re now eavesdropping on people's conversations?”

Immediately, I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at his face. Ethan has finally caught me eavesdropping, "Have I done anything to you?" I asked him, but my tone was still filled with uncertainty. 

"You want to know why? Firstly, you’re useless and an omega. How can you ever dream of being a mate to an alpha? Why don’t you follow your mother’s footsteps, at least she stuck to an omega like herself.” He spat firmly.  

My eyes widened in shock and I froze at his words, my body became paralyzed at that instant from the humiliation I was receiving from him.

“What’s your full name?” He added. 

“Anita…”. 

“I asked you a fucking question!” he yelled and I flinched. 

"I'm Anita Marie Thompson" I responded, shaking. 

"Good! Now, It'll be better if I reject you this instant so you would know how serious I am. From today, I, Ethan Cladius, the soon-to-be alpha of the Dark Moon pack, rejects you, Anita Marie Thompson, as my mate!" He blasted the last words out at me and walked away immediately, then he turned and looked at me again. 

“Now go back to cleaning, I still have my coronation tomorrow. I want everywhere sparkling clean!"

As soon as he said this, a sharp pain coursed through my chest. A pain I've never experienced in my entire life. But I've heard people say that there's a pain that comes with rejection. Could this be it?

I bent down, trying to see if that could ease the pain, but it didn’t. The screaming noise Ethan made was loud, drawing everyone’s attention to us. Shame and depression surfaced all over my body as goosebumps filled them immediately. It felt like the world was crumbling before me as I stood there.

The other servants who witnessed the scene started laughing and ridiculing me. The rejection pain was unbearable, like a thousand knives stabbing my heart repeatedly. 

I clutched my chest, feeling my soul being ripped apart. The bond between mates was meant to be sacred, a source of strength and love. But for me, it was a source of unending agony.