Alora was alone in a world she was forced into, where her senses had become more active that every sound made her heart jump.
To work in the field for a week would be fun for a werewolf, since Selene blessed them with great strength, but for her kind who had no wolf, it would be savaging.
Was it the freezing cold of the night? Or the ruthless rogues who would leave only her corpse, just as it nearly happened ere while.
Providentially, Duanne intervened timely but got himself a present of hurt, wrapped in the alpha's rage.
If her heart could, it would have knelt for her brain, to erase the memory of that time as the thought made it skip a beat.
Perhaps she would plead with Otto, to reconsider the punishment.
Her ears were at alert for a call or message from the beta and when none came, she left her shambled room to peer at every distance, hoping to see his shadow striding towards her.
Maybe, he wished her to rest for few hours before the tough journey which she was certain would commence the next day.
The loud growl from her stomach which startled her was a reminder that it hadn't been fed since the night before.
She already knew nothing would be left for her, yet headed to the kitchen with an elevated hope that crumbs from leftovers would be lying around.
Just as expected, she met a soulless kitchen with messy dishes and utensils littered on the floor.
Only a wolf-less creature was fit to clean up those hundreds of dishes and Broln pack had one of such creature. Herself.
Her stomach couldn't hold on any longer as it growled louder and repeatedly. At that point, any edible that would shut it up was okay.
She searched the messed dishes and gathered enough to satisfy her appetite, then gulped down the food.
When the last bit was about going in, a hard slap pushed both the spoon and plate off her hands and jarred her.
The force it came with swept her off the ground that she stumbled and hit the floor.
Shifting her gaze to the direction of the slap, it was Thalia, another lowly omega, giving her a deep scowl, her eyes filled with hatred.
"Who asked you eat?"
So the goddess was up there and all these evil were meted on her, yet remained silent. Even if her wolf was asleep, couldn't Serene wake it?
"It's just leftover from these plates."
Her voice was thick with tears and her eyes misty, ready to release a pool.
Thalia glanced at the dishes and sneered.
"Only dogs eat left over." Then gave her a kick, pushing her further on the messy dishes.
"Dog!!" She stormed out, leaving her in the pool of her own tears.
In the depth of her misery, her mind wandered to the place she called home for sixteen years. A place that should shield and protect her but the same home exposed her to the wicked claws of many
If only those who brought her into the world were kinder, she wouldn't be lying on a pile of messy dishes.
She wouldn't be smacked for eating leftover meant for the trash can, but who made her the trash can? Alpha Floyd and her parents.
What of her siblings? The youngest met his wolf eight moons ago at sixteen. Her siblings were doing well as the children of the former beta with due respect accorded to them, but she was the lowly one, many levels below the Omegas.
No matter how much she cried in exasperation or how deep she had settled in her misery, only the appearance of her wolf would cease the aches.
She scrambled up, glanced at the several patches of sauce oil on her best dress and an enormous pang grasped her heart.
Quickly, she began to wash the dishes until deep in the night.
Even her body had turned against her and inflicted her with unbearable pains on her waist, legs and back.
Done, she staggered to her room, pulled off her cloth and took out the bucket of water under the bed.
Straight to a hidden corner beside her room, she took the first bath for the day, then returned to her room and hit the sack.
RIVERVILLE PACK
The whistling of bird was the only disturbance for the quiet and moonless night which was disadvantageous for the pack's hunting, so no wolf was seen outside.
Howls ceased aside the faint ones from other packs.
But inside the chamber had a deeper air of quietude coursing in it. It exuded deep stillness that tossed ones soul into the abyss of trepidation.
Sebastene stood with his rigid back, facing away from a woman who wore a regal apparel, his mother.
Darkness covered her face and her eyes bore sorrow as she pierced her gaze on his firm back.
A different person he was from his father and grandfather, who shielded themselves with happiness against the cruelty of their fate.
After the curse took his father, the past alpha at fifty, the responsibility of the pack rested on his shoulder.
A heavy burden it was, which grabbed the little joy left in him, shredded it, dumped him in the massive pit of sorrow, then fed him daily with wails from passing of wolves, cries from rogues attack and insecurity from his dwarf, debilitated wolf.
"The alphas gathered today at Broln." She finally spoke in a dismal voice.
"You're well informed mother." He didn't take a look at her and his rigid back became more rigid.
"He took a luna today, heard she's the daughter of Denovan of the Herith Pack."
She took several slow steps towards him, placed her hand on his shoulder.
Mother's hands gave solace. He believed it that moment as a temporary peace spanned him.
"Isn't it time to take a luna son?"
Luna? The name snatched the peace around him, and his pupils darkened instantly.
"Lunas aren't meant for half alphas." He spat as his temper sparked.
Was he a werewolf? Yes, sorry no, okay, perhaps a half werewolf, mmmh! Wrong again, another breed of werewolf, no, the worst breed of werewolf who had no intention of taking a luna.
"But a luna will help you run the pack's affairs."
Quite interesting!! Run the affairs? His mother was quite humorous.
A deep chuckle slipped out of his gut, and then he needed to pierce his gaze on her.
"What affairs mother? To watch the death at fifty or frequent attacks!! To hide from enemies for lack of strength!! Is there any other affair mother?"
Other packs bustled with activities, while theirs was lifeless, void of any happy event.
Most wolves would be in the wild by that time hunting, and the moonlight would happily grace their paths.
What about them? Only during the day when many games had hibernated could they hunt, since the moonlight was forbidden to reach them.
The muscles in his body swell alongside his anger. His face burnt at the thought of their misfortune.
"Son, this life we..."
"I need a quiet space mother!!" He interrupted her with an explosion ready to take out everyone and everything around, and she hastily left the chamber.
His darkened gaze shot at the dark sky, his brows furrowed in deep lines.
"Isn't it enough goddess?" He muttered, then trudged to his bed.