Chapter 1
Luna's POV
I couldn't remember the last time I looked in the mirror and saw myself. The girl that I see now was bruised, hollow, and scared. It feels like I'm someone else entirely. My name , Luna, often sounds intriguing, which isn't because I’m not strong like a moon. I’m like the shadow.
The Silverclaw Pack house looks so glamorous and expensive from the outside, the shining glass walls, the sleek modern architecture, the luxurious cars that were parked out front. But inside, it’s very cold.
Not because of the AC, but because of the, people here treat me like I am a trash that was dragged in from the alley.
I have cleaned the marble floors three times already this morning. That was part of my daily routine. My knees ache, and my fingers are raw from scrubbing, but no one notices, no one ever does.
“Move, Omega,” Piper sneered, walking past me in her six inch heels like she was walking a damn runway corner.
Piper, she is Alpha Cassius’s favorite, had Long legs, sharp eyes, a voice that dripped so cold like venom that was wrapped in honey. She loves to remind me that she is the perfect wolf and that I am the complete opposite of that.
My sponge slipped from my hand, I reached for it, but her heel came down hard on my wrist.
I gasped in pain.
“Oh, did I hurt you?” she asked mockingly, tilting her head. “Poor thing.”
I didn’t say anything, I never do that will make it worse. That’s how you survive here, by keeping quiet, keeping low, and praying someone merciful will notice you.
Alpha Cassius came down the stairs then. Tall, dressed in a black designer suit, a Rolex on his wrist. He looked like every rich Alpha fantasy, except he never looked at me, never did.
His eyes scanned the entire room, passing over me like, but when they landed on Piper, they softened.
“Morning, Alpha,” she purred, walking over and placing a hand on his chest.
He smirked. “Looking good, Piper.”
Of course, she always does and she knows it. I swallowed the tight lump in my throat and turned back to the floor, trying to finish before anyone else found a reason to hurt me.
It didn’t take long before they did.
"Hey, Omega!” one of the pack warriors barked. I think his name was Vince. “You missed a spot.”
He kicked over his soda can, spilling sticky red liquid across the floor that I had just mopped there. He did it on purpose, they always do, every single one of them.
I dropped to my knees again and started cleaning it. My chest heaved from the effort, but I didn’t stop, I couldn’t.
Just then I felt a heavy slap at the back of my head that made me stumble to the ground..
“Useless,” Piper spat. “Why don’t you just leave, Luna? No one wants you here.”
I blinked hard, trying so hard to hold in the tears, the last time I cried, they laughed. So now, I don’t let them see it.
But Alpha Cassius was still watching. He saw I knew he did, he stood with his arms crossed and his jaw tight. For a moment, I thought maybe, maybe that he would say something.
He didn’t,he just turned and walked out, like always. I went so numb after that, I finished cleaning, served breakfast, and cleared the dishes. Took several insults from the house mates, I laughed at jokes that were not funny. And by midday, I couldn’t feel my body anymore, I felt so weak, tired and famished.
My feet were blistered from walking back and forth. I hadn’t eaten since yesterday, my head throbbed as the headache hit me forcefully, but with everything I just told myself,
“Just make it to the ceremony, Just a few more days.”
The Mating Ceremony, that was the only hope I had.
That was the only thing keeping me breathing. I didn’t know who I was going to be paired with, but I prayed it would be someone, anyone, who would take me away from here.
Later that evening, I walked into the laundry room to pick up the Alpha’s dry cleaned suits. It was there I found Piper waiting.
She was with two other wolves I didn’t know well. Probably her little followers or minions, they looked at me with that same look, the outcast look, like I was dirt.
“Look what the trash dragged in,” one of them giggled.
I turned to leave, I should have run instead but Piper grabbed my hair and yanked me back.
“You think you are better than us, huh?” she hissed. “Just because you were born with a stupid name like Luna?”
“I don’t-” I started, trying to convince them to just let me go, to just let me be.
She slapped me, her palm connected with my face hardly, my lip splitted in agony and pain.
“Don’t talk,” she snapped. “You have been eyeing Cassius, haven’t you?”
My heart pounded. “No, I…I swear-”
She hit me again. “You think he will pick you as a mate?” she sneered. “You? You are nothing but a pathetic Omega.”
The others joined in, they kicked, pulled, hit with all their strength. My ribs vibrated, my shoulder cracked when someone stomped on it.
I tried to shield my face, curling into a ball, praying they would stop. But they didn’t, I don’t know how long it lasted. Minutes? Hours?
Everything blurred, their voices echoed in my head.
“Slut.”
“Ugly rat.”
“Should’ve died at birth.”
Then silence, they left me there, bloodied and broken on the cold tiled floor. I tasted blood in my mouth. My whole body trembled, deep pain pulsed in, I couldn’t move.
Somewhere outside the laundry room, I heard music playing, followed by the sound of laughter.
A party?
Of course, Piper was throwing a pre mating ceremony celebration, everyone was invited, everyone except me.
I tried to crawl toward the door, my vision doubled and blurred as I moved. My arms gave out weakly, I slumped to the ground, my cheek pressed against the cold tile.
I thought of the moon, of the stars, of someone, anyone who might be my fated mate.
Would he find me? Would he love me? Would he save me? I didn’t know, but I clung to that hope like it was my life. I closed my eyes.
And everything went dark.