I had never been called to Alpha Bale's presence, not for once.
So when Urma woke me up and told me he had sent it for me, I could hardly believe it.
She gave me some medicine to ease the pain and a new dress to wear.
As I walked down the hallway with two guards at my side to the throne room, which I had never been called to but frequently scrubbed its floors, I felt my tummy move with unease.
What could this be all about?
Were they finally going to kill me? Was he ready to announce my death sentence?
They opened the doors for me, and I saw him.
Luna Maria, Abel, and Jessica were standing by his side with the pack head advisor.
In his sixties, an old Lycan named Leman had been in the pack for years.
My eyes went straight to the man who had fathered me. Who had supposedly given me life but never acknowledged me as his.
He was looking at me eye to eye for the first time in my entire life.
I swallowed.
"Your wounds." He said. "Are they visible?"
I blinked, confused.
Was this why he had called me? To ask about my wounds?
"I'm not sure, Your Majesty," I said, bowing my head down.
Alpha Bale nudged to Leman, and Leman walked up to me.
"Turn around, girl, " the old man instructed. I did as he told me, and then I felt his hand undo the ribbons on my back.
I yelped, but he held me. "Stay still, girl!"
I froze, my heart racing.
What was he trying to do?
Humiliate me further?
Then I felt my dress open at the back but not revealed below my waist, and I stiffened.
"I could do it for you." Abel offered Leman
I felt my whole body go cold.
I knew what Abel could do.
Times without number, Abel, the first legitimate son of Alpha Bale and also my stepbrother, had tried to force himself on me.
He would look at me lustfully when I worked, and the only thing I could do was ignore him.
I had once been cleaning his room when he had jumped in and ripped my dress apart.
I had fled the room and steered clear of him ever since.
He was almost the same age as me and had the same attitude as Jessica, except he lusted after my body.
No one knew. And even if they did, nothing would be done about it.
"Leave. Leman will do it." Alpha Bale said.
There was silence when my back was in full view.
"Gods." Alpha Bale said. "Why isn't she healing?"
"She is a Latent. She can not shift." Leman replied.
"Gods." I heard Alpha Bale say, irritated. "Get me Urma."
I heard footsteps leave, and I knew some guards had gone to give him orders.
I felt my heart break. He hadn't even bothered to know about me how I had fared. Did he even know how old I was? Did he even know anything about me at all?
Even though I had lived in the pack for nineteen good years.
I could feel their disgust towards me for what I was.
I should have shifted when I was sixteen, but till today I haven't.
I wasn't just a latent wolf but an outcast.
"How old is she?" Alpha Bale asked.
Like Luna Maria, he regarded me as if I wasn't even present.
Leman turned to me. "How old are you?"
"Nineteen," I answered.
"She is nineteen." He replied.
"Can they heal? Quickly? Her wounds?" Alpha Bale asked.
I felt Leman's hand over my back.
I shuddered and wanted to throw them off, but I couldn't.
"It feels like there have been traces of healing," Leman said. "Urma must have used her blood on her back."
The doors were opened, and I heard Urma's voice. "You called for me?"
She didn't even regard him by his title.
"The child. Is latent. Why?" He asked her.
"She is not a latent," Urma replied. "Her wolf is just taking its time to
"Goddess! How could I have birthed something that can't even change? How much more of a disgrace can she be? Look at the scar!" Alpha Bale busts out.
I felt the tears in my eyes burn.
I hadn't felt heartbreak before, not once, and this was my first. It came from my father.
"Jasmine is a special child." She said, walking up to Leman and me. "She survived even though she was born prematurely. I don't think anyone you know could do that."
I felt she was referring to his wife and the children.
She snapped at Leman. "If you're done with your examinations, I want to cover her up."
When he didn't respond, she tied my dress back up and held my hand.
"If she can't even change, what would Xaden and the other pack members say?" My father asked.
Xaden? Other pack members? What was he talking about?
"Daddy, this is a mess!" Jessica screwed her face. "I am supposed to be getting married to Dean. How can I marry him when everyone thinks she is me? Just look at how ugly she is!"
Everyone thinks I will be her? What was going on?
"There will be no marriage." My father said. "Dean has been missing since the battle. I lost him during the entire fight with Xaden."
"What?!" Jessica cried.
She burst into tears.
I was lost in a labyrinth. Nothing they were saying made sense.
Xaden? Who was Xaden?
"We don't have time." Alpha Bale said. "Urma, you used your blood on her. It deserves punishment, as it's against our law to heal a Latent wolf."
"A latent wolf, according to your law, should be banished," Urma told him.
I panicked. What was she saying? She wanted me banished?
I watched the heated eye contact filled with tension between them.
Did Urma have no right to contest with the Alpha, but he didn't do anything?
What hold did she have on him?
"There would be no need for punishments." He said. "Get her dressed and ready. They would be here tonight. Maria would give everything she can."
Get who dressed? Me?
"I want you to tell me yourself, Alpha," Urma demanded. Why are these arrangements being made? I heard the rumors, but you have to tell me yourself."
I had never seen anyone talk to him the way Urma did.
His face was grim, and he seemed furious, but he said, "We lost the battle. Xaden, the Wolf council, and his army will be here. Xaden will take Jasmine as his prize."
I balked.
Xaden would take me as his prize?
What battle had we lost?
What was happening?
"Get her ready. Her future husband wouldn't want to be kept waiting."