Nothing can be undone when I find myself lying naked on my bed, my underwear strewn about, and my family, including my extremely favored sister, appear in front of me, staring angrily down at me.
“Harper, you shameless whore,” my mother snaps. She snatches my dress off the floor and throws it into my face. “Have you forgotten yourself? How could you do this to your family? To your pack?!”
“To Samuel,” my sister Leah says snidely. “Do you even remember your engagement?”
Samuel is my childhood sweetheart, my fiancé, and the future Alpha of the Pack. My father is the Beta of the Riverwood pack, and there has always been a tradition of marriage between the Alpha and Beta families. When Alpha asked Samuel who he wanted as his Luna, Samuel firmly chose me. He was the only one who would always stand at my side.
“I love Samuel. I value my chastity and the honor of my family. You should hear my explanation first...”
My father stands nearby, a few steps back. His arms crossed, he only glares at me. His silence is worse than any shouting, and shows just how angry he truly is.
“What were you thinking?” my mother continues, her voice sharp with fury.
“I wasn’t…” It’s difficult to explain. “I think I was in heat.”
Leah curls her upper lip in disgust. “A likely excuse. Anything to get out of accepting responsibility for your own actions.”
“You know full well I was only going out to find you!” I countered Leah. “You know this place isn't under any pack jurisdiction, so it's a mess. I went to the club to get you. I held your drink, and hell knows what I drank...”
Leah immediately begins tearing up, as if on cue. “Are you implying that I drugged you? I fell out of love, so I wanted to find a new place to stay. I don't know anything about what happened to you.” Leah covers her face, and starts making audible sobs. Her shoulders shake.
When Mother returns her glare to me, her anger has heightened tenfold. “You would dare blame your sister for this?”
Father appears equally outraged, fire blazing in his eyes. He moves away from his perch near the wall, crossing the floor to my bedside.
“Father…” I start.
Crack.
He slaps me cleanly across the face. My cheek stings so badly, I go into shock for a moment.
This can’t be happening.
“No one needed to drug you.” His voice is a growl. “Your inability to control yourself was your own undoing.” He looks over to my mother. “We will cancel the engagement with Samuel. No Alpha would want to marry a woman who has so easily surrendered her innocence.”
“Whore,” Mother says again, under her breath.
My sister peeks at me from between her fingers. There’s no trace of tears in her eyes now.
Three years later…
My sister has claimed the life I once thought reserved for myself. My fiancé Samuel? Now hers. As Samuel is next in line to become our Alpha, that makes Leah next to become our Luna.
A title she has already started calling herself during Samuel’s long disappearances conquering disputed territories. His frequent absences have delayed their mating ceremony, but Leah doesn’t seem to mind. She still walks around pack land like she’s already a queen.
At home, she’s become even more unbearable to live with.
“I need more wine, Harper,” Leah says, holding up her empty wine glass. She’s lounging across the plush sofa, where she’s been for most of the morning. Mother sits in the chair across from her, scrolling through her phone.
I stand near the fireplace, adding a fresh log to the fire. Winter has set in around us, and even with the heater on, chill has crept into certain areas of the house. Especially where I sit and sleep and try to keep to myself.
“Your sister is calling for you, Harper,” Mother says when I take too long to answer.
“Sorry,” I say. After hanging the fire poker back on its stand, I rush into the living room, grab the wine from where it’s chilling in an ice bucket on the coffee table, and refill Leah’s glass.
“You’ve gotten lazy,” Leah says, glaring at me.
I don’t point out that Leah has been lounging all day, while I’ve taken care of most of the household chores.
I’ve been told, time and again, that it’s an honor to serve the future Luna of our pack – especially for someone as lowly as me. My parents didn’t have to let me stay in their house after my disgrace, but they did. This… servitude is my rightful punishment.
Yet inside of me, a small fire burns. I still believe that through drugs, my heat was forced, which directly led to my undoing.
No one listens anymore.
Not even Samuel, who turned his back on me when I returned from that nightmare three years ago. I tried to tell him the truth, but he ignored me. He has not spoken to me again since.
Returning to my work, I’m surprised to be interrupted so quickly by another servant of the house.
“Samuel has returned,” the servant whispers to me, careful not to be overheard. “He travels with a royal messenger.”
“Harper!” my mother calls, her voice sharp. She has not said my name with affection in three long years. Sometimes I doubt my memory, wondering if she ever spoke softly to me.
I nod to the servant and rush back to the living room. The wine has been hidden. Leah has straightened her sundress, smoothing out the wrinkles with her hands. Mother stands behind her, lacing a flower through her hair.
“We need hot tea, Harper,” Mother says. “Our guests will be here any moment.”
I wonder why a royal messenger would be sent to our pack, but it’s not my place to ask. Keeping my questions confided to my mind, I hurry to prepare hot water for tea.
On the way to the kitchen, I stop in my tracks to keep from plowing into Samuel, suddenly before me. Our eyes meet for a half-second, and I’m transported to what feels like a different lifetime, when Samuel was my fiancé and he would visit to spend time with me.
Now, he looks away quickly, and I, remembering my new lowly place, step aside to let him pass. The royal messenger, a man in black with a violet sash over his arm, follows behind him.
“My orders come straight from the Lycan King.” the royal messenger says.
The Lycan King? The most powerful man in the whole werewolf kingdom?
Trying not to appear too eager for the gossip, I slowly deliver the tea set into the room, lowering it down onto the coffee table.
Leah tasted the tea and spat it out. “Harper, haven't you tasted the temperature of this pot of water? How dare you give me such a thing!” She angrily tried to splash the water on my chest. Only I knew the tea wasn't hot.
But the royal messenger stopped her rude gesture.
Leah stills, even as her eyes harden with fury. “I am allowed to keep my sister in her place, when she dreams above her station.”
“No you aren’t,” the messenger says. “Not anymore. This woman is now the property of the Lycan King, and only he can decide her punishments.”
