Only a fool looks Alpha Zavier in the eye when he speaks. You dare not interrupt him and if you’re an omega girl called Aysel, it’s best to hide. I learnt these tricks early in life. I knew not to look up, not to make a sound and to make myself invisible in the crowd of people that filled the banquet hall to celebrate the Feast of the Moon.
But I never did anything right. When asked to take a step to the left, I ended up at the right, whether I took a step to the left or not. Fate worked in reverse for me. If I sowed good, I reaped misfortune.It was the reason why, while serving with my head down, trying to make myself smaller than my small frame, I tripped on a fair leg, my tray of wine flying from my hand and tumbling to the ground, crashing – loudly – to the floor and spilling its red content against the fair feet of the Alpha’s daughter, in the middle of the Alpha’s speech. I raised my head and caught the Alpha Zavier’s gaze and at that moment, I’d broken three of the most fundamental rules of avoiding a beating.At that moment – when I made eye contact with the Alpha and sealed my fate – Skylar, the Alpha’s daughter, let out a blood-curdling scream, as if it took her that ten seconds of silence to process what I’d done. I’d spilt expensive wine on her equally expensive, white, floor length dress.Her hand smacked my head to the right as an apology dropped from my lips. Then to the left, and right again. She kept smacking me as everyone stared with their mouths open at what I had done until the Alpha cleared his throat and called for order.“That’s enough, Sky.” Alpha Zavier looked at me as he addressed his daughter, his eyes filled with deep hatred and fiery anger. I gulped, cupping my hot cheeks.“It’s not. This little bitch ruined my dress!” Skylar cried, her sweet soprano voice raising as she hit me for the last time. “Why are you so jealous of me?” She cried yet again, dragging everyone’s attention back to the scene despite the Alpha’s call for order.“I’m not,” I answered in a whispery voice with my hands shaking.My eyes stung with the tears I held at bay, blurring the faces around me. I didn’t want to cry now – not now. It would only make my humiliation worse if I broke down here. I told myself I had to wait – I had to wait for them to take me out for a beating when the enforcers would give me a good reason to cry but I wasn’t strong. My lips quivered as the tears slid down my face. I blinked rapidly to clear them but they fell faster the more I blinked.Alpha Zavier signalled something at those behind me as his daughter stumped out, pushing people out of her way as she went. Two men grabbed me from behind, dragging me out of the hall. I looked at the few people who still watched the drama unfold as the Alpha went back to his speech, a muscle twitching at the side of his jaw. Only one person watching me looked at me with anything other than scorn in her eyes as the enforcers dragged me away.They threw me into a dark room, locking the door behind them. This dark room belonged to me. I slept here, had all my possessions – a single bag – in this room, the days I had food, I ate here and every day, I cried in this same room.Two months ago, I spent two weeks locked up in my room and sometime in the two weeks, my food supply was cut off. I’d starved for at least five days but down here, in the cold, damp basement of the pack house, time became relative. I could have starved for one week or to days, there was never a way to be sure. Everything was dark – every hour of the day, night.The door handle jiggled as someone tried to get in. The door jammed a lot and needed brute force to open on most days. Skylar came in with her brother and her boyfriend all wearing nasty smirks on their lips.My eyes lingered on Skylar’s boyfriend for a minute. A few years ago, Lucien had been my best friend. I told him everything. I loved him as a best friend and more.‘Promise me we’ll never fall apart.’ I held his hand and stared up at him the night before we started high school.‘You’ve started with your cute sentiments.’ He kissed my nose. I pretended to hate it but it warmed my heart. ‘It’s me and you for life, Ay-babe.’‘Me and you and Celeste,’ I mentioned my other best friend which made him laugh.‘Whatever you say, doll.’ The sound of his laughter made my knees weak.A few years later I found out we were mates so I tried to do something sweet for him, knowing what it’d cost me.‘Lucien –‘ I just wanted to see him smile.‘It’s Beta Lucien to you,’ he snapped, his hand around Skylar’s shoulder. The alpha female stared at me with indifference on her face but a spark of glee in her eyes.‘Beta Lucien, can we – can we talk?’ I watched as he twirled Skylar’s hair between his fingers.‘We can talk here.’ Someone behind them chuckled at his mocking tone. ‘What do you want? You’re wasting my time.’He stared at the gold watch on his wrist to emphasize his point.I stretched out flowers with shaky hands while the school watched with bathed breath. It was a secret he kept well but I’d been his best friend since we were in diapers and I knew he loved receiving flowers. He hid that part of himself because it wasn’t considered manly but he didn’t have to be manly with me.‘I love you.’ Loud guffaws surrounded me. Tears stung my eyes when my best friend and mate joined in the derisive laughter.“It’s time for you to pay.” Skylar smirked, pulling me back to the present. She’d taken off her ruined dress to come black combat shorts and a black long-sleeved keyhole shirt.“On your knees,” Alpha Bethel, the future leader of our pack called, dragging me out of my flat bed. I got on my knees without protest, facing my back to him. “Come hold her, Lucien.”“There’s no need to hold me,” I muttered. My head spun at the blow that landed on my head from behind when I dared to say anything.“Keep quiet!” Beta Lucien hissed. He not only humiliated me in front of the entire school that day, he also rejected me that same night.‘We can’t be mates. You’re ugly, poor and a stain on my reputation. I’d be a madman to mate with you.’ Those were the words he said to me before he rejected me.“I won’t – I won’t fight.” I took a step back when Lucien approached me. The worst part of taking a beating was being held down by Lucien. I’d learnt to take a beating without trying to run like the other omegas did because when Lucien was involved, it meant paramount pain. He was a choker and gasping for air with a belt lashing down wasn’t pretty.“Oh, really?” A strong hand gripped my jaw with bruising force, forcing me to look up at cold black eyes. Everyone in the Redville pack hated me but Lucien had a special place in his heart for hating me, a part of his mind dedicated to formulating many ways to torture me and make me wish I’d never been born all because I’d loved him.“Take off your clothes then.” I blinked. Tears spilt from my eyes when I blinked. I didn’t expect that but it made Bethel guffaw. He’d become especially cruel to me after we broke our mate bond.“W – what?” I swiped at my cheeks as the next alpha continued to laugh. I wouldn’t fight didn’t mean I wanted to humiliate myself in that way.“What the fuck is wrong with you, Lucien? Oh, so you want to see her naked?” Skylar boomed from behind us. I jerked away, Lucien’s hands falling from my face.“Baby –“ Her yelling cut off his soft, simpering tone.“Don’t baby me! Hold her, let’s get this over with!” Skylar’s jealousy saved me from humiliation but it made Lucien angry. He forced my head down by my neck, squeezing my neck with one hand while the other held my hands.Bethel’s belt came down hard against my back forcing a gasp from me. The gasp caught in my throat as Lucien squeezed harder. He wanted me to die and it seemed he wanted it today. The belt came back again with Lucien continuing to squeeze the life out of me. But the third strike, I could not keep silent anymore. Choked words spilt from my mouth, falling with tears and a bit of saliva.The belt came down faster and harder, Lucien squeezing my neck harder. My wolf whimpered, the physical pain getting to her as the men broke me.“Enough,” Skylar commanded. Bethel didn’t stop at once. He brought the belt down three times more after that command. I’d become a mess by then. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t thrash, couldn’t beg or fight. They overpowered me as they liked and ripped me apart the way they liked.Even after Lucien let go, I couldn’t raise myself from the table they bent me over. My body slid to the ground when my quivering legs couldn’t hold me up for much longer.My back bled with my throat raw and my eyes were swollen. I gasped for air now that I could take as much as I needed while Bethel put on his belt and Lucien wiped his hands on my sheets.“Next time, when you want to be unfortunate, make sure I’m nowhere near.” Skylar’s words came from a distance away, echoing faintly in my ringing ears. “You’re not only stupid, you’re also useless. Learn to stay in your lane.” She finished.“To think they tried taking over.” Bethel laughed his loud obnoxious laughter. I curled into myself, tears sliding into my ears from the position I lay in.“She has always wanted what I have. Nasty little thing.” Skylar clicked her tongue. “She deserves another beating just for bringing up bad memories.” I shut my eyes tight. I wouldn’t survive another beating. I wouldn’t.“She wouldn’t make it through another beating. Look at her,” Lucien sneered. “She doesn’t deserve an easy death.”I didn’t deserve any of this. Why did they make me pay for the sins of my people? I had done nothing to warrant this!This was for the disrespect I dealt Skylar. How would I cope with the Alpha’s wrath when it came? I interrupted his speech and dared look him in the eye.“Stay wretched.” Skylar crooned. She jabbed her boot into the side of my head in a hard kick that stole the light from my eyes.‘Maybe today is the day I die’ Were my last thoughts as my world went black.“Aysel.” I curled away from the person touching me.I didn’t want to open my eyes. I refused to awaken to a world that hated me. The only thing I wanted was to sleep the sleep of death to join my parents in the world after. I didn’t deserve any of the pain and suffering that awaited me in the world of the living.“Aysel, wake up.” My eyes fluttered open when the person shaking me refused to relent. “You have five minutes to eat before Monica comes barging in.” Celeste pushed a tray of food to me.“I’m not hungry.” I sat up in my dark room, wiping caked blood off my lips. “What time is it?” I didn’t know how long I’d succumbed to the darkness.“It’s morning.” Celeste brushed aside my question with haste, pushing the tray of food to me again. “The Feast of the Moon continues today. You have a lot of work waiting for you so you better eat now before you collapse doing your duties.”It’ll be unfortunate to faint while working today yet my stomach was a tight knot that wanted nothing in it
“You can’t let them win,” I repeated my mantra in my head as two men held me down while a third lashes at me. The wounds on my back never healed. I didn’t go a week without being introduced to one or more new ways of torture. I’d developed a high tolerance to pain and to keep me down, Redville pack got more creative in their methods.“They won’t break your spirit.” If I proved deeper, I’d find my spirit in shambles – what was left of it – but my mantra kept me going. The Redville wolves used me as their lab rat – the victim that they tested out new methods of torture on.“I’ll be strong.” These words repeated in my head, a steady mantra that lived with me for the past eleven years.Eleven years ago, my parents betrayed the pack. I had friends and a good life until they ruined it. They wanted more. My father wanted Alpha Zavier’s position and he went for it. My mother never learnt not to support her mate so through it all, through the secrets, the going about behind the pack, the infil
I loved Lucien once. Along with Celeste, he’d been my best friend. His parents always quarrelled with him to stay away from me but he never listened to them. Things started to change when we entered high school six years ago. As we are older than Celeste by a year, it left the two of us as high school friends and Celeste still in middle school.It was around that time his infatuation with Skylar began. She’d been the hottest girl in our high school. I didn’t blame him for abandoning our friendship and choosing her. They made a golden couple – the Beta’s son with his mop of curly black hair, lean muscular build, and long legs and the Alpha’s daughter with the perfect figure eight and shiny long hair.Lucien couldn’t be friends with me while dating Skylar who hated me from childhood. She abhorred me even before she had a reason to. I let him choose his girlfriend before me but he wouldn’t let me go. He gave me false hopes that ruined what little reputation I had amongst my peers.“Are y
“What is that noise?” Monica asked for the tenth time while I washed the dishes used for the morning ceremony.The Feast of the Moon would come to an end this night with a pack run and an initiation into the pack for those that mated into the pack within the last year. Every werewolf able to shift was expected to honour the Alpha’s Call at the first sight of the full moon. Alpha Zavier would howl to call his pack and those who could, would rend their human forms and gallop into the woods for the final ritual of the Feast of the Moon. The rest of us stood outside with our faces raised to the moon, praying for a successful initiation and the opportunity to partake in the next Feast of the Moon.“What noise?” Claudia asked, pausing her washing to listen.Omegas didn’t have as good senses as other wolves. We were the weak links in most packs, valued only for our empathy and service. Monica as a Beta could hear sounds hundreds of miles away but we the omegas could barely hear what went on
I didn’t cry as I sat outside the sanctuary while everyone else ran to take cover. I didn’t cry when Skylar paused her frantic run to laugh in my face. I didn’t cry when Lucien tried forcing Celeste to join them in the sanctuary. I held the tears that threatened to spill.The moon would grace us soon. Goddess only knew what was going on as we sat outside at the foot of the stairs of one house. The decoration hanging from every porch didn’t look happy anymore as they did during the start of the Feast of the Moon. The chirping birds seemed to carry a mournful tone with them. The darkening skies brought gloom with them.“You still have time to join them,” I told Celeste.I didn’t want her out here with me where I would worry about her every minute. If she went into the bunker like everyone else, I’d rest easy knowing I was the only one risking my life by being out here.“If you can’t go in, I won’t.” She took my hand in hers, squeezing them. I laid my head on her shoulder, inhaling her n
Latency meant I couldn’t shift; I had a wolf trapped inside of me that wouldn’t come out no matter how much I tried. My kind shifted at eighteen, with Alpha wolves shifting earlier – at seventeen. I would be twenty in a few weeks which meant for two years, I bore the stigma of being a traitor’s daughter and a latent wolf. I couldn’t shift until that night.Pain bloomed on every inch of my skin. Tiny pinpricks, sharp stabs, I felt them all at once as my body changed. Then the worst of them happened in my head, my skull. As if an external force pressed my skull together, I felt my head squeeze, my brain seemed to be crushed. It passed with excruciating slowness, my eardrums and eyes, nose, everything, changing all at once. If someone took a broken shard of glass and ran it into my eyeballs, they may not hurt as much as they did then.I hit the ground face first as I fell, my half-open mouth taking in sand and leaves. I hunched over but when the second wave came, it hit harder than the f
“It’s no secret that the Alpha Pack has taken up residence amongst us.” As Alpha Zavier spoke, a few members of the Alpha Pack walked by without sparing him a glance. No, it wasn’t a secret. “It’s also no secret what they want.” A few people began muttering as Alpha Zavier drew out his speech, keeping us all in suspense.Everyone already went into hiding but he called us all out of hiding. For what? A speech without a head or tail? The two girls behind me fidgeted, tapping their feet and holding on to each other as the entire shifted wolves in the pack gather in the arena in response to the second Alpha‘s Call of the night.“I had a brief conversation with him and we agreed on a method that will save us from war.” He took a deep, stuttered breath, his loud voice subdued as he spoke. It made the wolf in me lower her head, placing a paw across her eyes at the weakened state of our Alpha.In less than twenty-four hours, another Alpha came to throw our lives on its head and made our Alpha
A new week came with a new administration. I hadn’t set eyes on Alpha Valens but I saw the changes. One by one, his men filled every top spot in the pack. Beta Jabari became the pack beta, a new witch who we didn’t know became the pack’s oracle, his men replaced the head warriors of each brigade and Skylar didn’t step on people as much as she used to.Alpha Valens, in a rare show of mercy, banished Alpha Zavier from the pack lands rather than kill him as any other alpha would have done in a takeover. Skylar and Bethel refused to leave with their father to become rogues or solitary wolves so the Alpha left alone, shamed and disgraced with his pack watching forlornly.None of this affected me in any way. All the changes happened at the top and people like me at the bottom weren’t affected in any way. People like Skylar and Lucien suffered but people like me who never had relevance or status still had no relevance or status after the violent takeover.I only pitied Celeste as her parents