Many Years After
"Hey, is the entire vicinity clean? the old lady asked Ember. "You can't make even a slight mistake, or else---"
"Yeah, everything is ready," Ember replied, frowning.
Later tonight, the farm will be full of guests, and that means more work to do. It's always like this whenever it's Selection Night. Things are different here in the NightShade pack.
For the female wolves, this night is significant, except for the Omega wolves. All females can participate in the event except for the Omegas. It's like everyone has a chance to be Luna, but not the Omega females like her.
Before, when she was 16, Ember would always watch how the selection unfolded. The she-wolves in the pack except for the Omegas, of course, would wear their best dress, put on their most beautiful faces, and stand up with pride before everyone else. The selection night appears like a beauty pageant.
The she-wolves are given the chance to celebrate their beauty, their wisdom, and their worth as females. This event is being looked forward to by all females in the pack because this is the only time they are equally honored.
The Selection is the night before the mating ritual. In the selection, the she-wolves will give off their scent in a kind of display. Their scent would alone search for their mate or any Alpha or male wolves who fell attracted to their scent and beauty. And later, after the attraction, they would wait for some time until the moon goddess confirmed their mates.
Layne Ember, when she was 16, would watch the selection with dreamy eyes, with a heart yearning that she would someday be like those girls, standing beautiful, seen, and chosen, until she learned that a she-wolf like her would never get a chance to be chosen by an Alpha, that it's engraved in her destiny as the lowliest in the pack, that she is going to be a slave forever.
She is a lowly Omega who would be forever hidden in a dusty cellar with no prince charming to come and will be forever mateless. Sometimes she thinks that perhaps all the moon phases conspired to bring her bad luck.
What added to her agony was her being an orphan. Her being parentless is associated with her scar. Other wolves in the pack assumed that she was cursed, so they usually get scared to associate herself with her.
Sometimes, other wolves avoided her as if she had a contagious illness while others think that she was intentionally abandoned because of her scar. She grew up alone. No friends. In short she's an outcast in her pack.
"Hey, Ember? Are you listening?" the old lady asked her again, noticing her inattentive face. "Don't tell me you're going to sneak out again to watch the selection."
Ember stuttered, "O..of course not. Mater Cora."
Mater Cora scoffed, "Good thing you're now learning to save yourself from trouble."
Mater Cora is right. The last time she sneaked out to watch the selection, a group of wolves came to her.
First, they taunted her, telling her there was no point in watching the selection. Until they ended up hurting her for their pleasure. She came home that day with a bleeding face and bruises.
Mater Cora asked her who did this to her and if some faces were familiar. Of course, their faces were familiar; who would not know that group of friends in their pack?
But one face was striking and vivid to her: Jayden Luca, the pack's alpha and the heir to the alpha throne. She complains that his face is exactly opposite his attitude. But Mater Cora told her to just let it slide, keep quiet, and avoid the guys because here in the NightShade pack, Jayden and his friends are the law. There's nothing she can do about it.
The selection night came.
It was like the moonlight was shining on their pretty faces as the aspiring soon-to-be Luna and those she-wolves wishing to be mated stood on the stage, glammed up and sending off their scents, while the audience's eyes were fixed on them, entertained and amused. There were murmurings of admiration. Then, later, the voice of the host reverberates amidst the air, announcing that she is honoring the she-wolves in front.
Ember sighed and turned her back. She didn't want to see it, and she pitied herself once more. She was watching the selection far from the crowd, standing alone in the shadow while her hands gripped tight on the scarf.
She was actually here not to watch the selection but to deliver this scarf ordered by the event organizer. She really has no plans of going here tonight, but she was caught without a choice. As a slave, she has to obey whatever those in higher ranks ask her. And now, against her will, She's here on selection night.
That beta wolf told her that this scarf is badly needed by one of the higher-ranked female wolves in the selection. It's like some pretty girl's night would be ruined without it. So she urgently came here.
Ember took a deep breath and walked forward, making sure she wouldn't stir up attention. She sighed in relief when she successfully handed out the task without being noticed by anyone. Now her problem is going back to the farm.
Treading back to the path back to the farm. Walking down this dark alley makes her feet move faster in fear. She can't take the usual route back to the farm. She doesn't want to be seen, or else she'll be mocked again or end up in a fight. Ember walked faster. She felt like her blood was running cold as her heart raced nervously.
A few more, and I'm home. She whispered to herself.
"Hey!!!"
She gasped in shock. Ember cringed.
"Oh no," she whispered, shaking.
"Hey, lowly wolf!"
It was one from the group of men. Though it was dim, Ember could tell that they were the higher-ranked wolves, though she could not fully identify them, she could assume that they were visitors to the selection since other packs could come to the event too, especially those alphas looking for potential Lunas.
Ember stepped back.
The sound of footsteps coming towards her gives her a bad feeling. And so she began to flee. But she tipped on a protruding stone, so one of the guys caught her arms. She growled and smashed him with her claws. She heard them laughing.
"I didn't know there was such a feisty Omega!" They commented, teasing.
One of the guys dragged her and shoved her onto the ground.
She began screaming for help. Just when she thought it would be her end, a voice from the dim corners interrupted the danger.
"Leave her alone!"
That sounds authoritative and threatening, like an irresistible command from an alpha! She thinks.
Wait, is this true? Did someone get concerned about her? Ember thought to herself.
Many times when she was ridiculed and assaulted, the pack would just watch, or some would turn a blind eye.
"Hey dude, she's just an Ome---"
"I said leave her alone!" the guy in the shadow shouted. His alpha eyes glistened.
It was for a fleeting moment when Ember's heart was captured both by the thrill and shock brought to her when she looked into the alpha's eyes. Yeah, her heart fluttered, but then again, in a split second, she pulled herself back to reality. She knew she needed to.
The men raised their arms in submission after knowing that the mysterious meddler was an Alpha.
"Okay, fine!" They said, And they stormed out.
"Thanks." Ember hesitated to gaze at her savior, and with that dim light from the moon, she was certain who it was. She couldn't be mistaken, or is she just dreaming?
'Jayden Luca, is that really you?' She asked in her thoughts.
She couldn't be mistaken. That entrancing wayfarer blue eye, that nose, and that stellar smile. A charm that could melt a thousand hearts. Jayden Luca was known for all of these traits!
"Are you okay?" Jayden asked her.
'My god, he's asking me? Is this real?' Ember was screaming in her thoughts."Um...uh..." words hardly came out of her lips.
"You're an Omega, right? Layne Ember?" Jayden asked.
'She knows my name! How?' Ember wondered. And her eyes froze wide in shock.
Now it thrills her that the high and mighty Jayden is calling her by name when most of the time, other wolves will just call her hey you! Omega! or lowly Omega.
Does he know her? Is this true? How? And he even sounds friendly! Moon goddess, have you now heard my pleas? Ember felt somehow thrilled by those thoughts.
"Thank you, yeah. I'm Ember, an Omega vet on the pack's farm," Ember replied blushing.
Jayden extends out his palm for a handshake. Though shy, Ember warmly accepted him. And that was the start of their friendship. For Ember, he was a promising beginning. Yet for Jayden, she was just a bet to win him over.