CHAPTER 1 - IN ONE DAY
~• OLIVIA •~
I smiled slowly as I watched other people go about their daily work. It has become the everyday routine for slaves like me in the pack to do heavy jobs throughout the day, both young and old. I held my hoe a little bit high before crossing it into the soil, trying to dig out the soil.
Tears dashed out of my eyes when I felt a painful lash on my back that my clothes barely covered. "Is that how to harvest a tuber crop?" One of the head slaves yelled at me. Before I could do it right, another one was lashed on my back. I didn't bother holding on for a second before harvesting it the right way.
I dropped the tuber into my basket and straightened my back, I winced when I felt it hurt. My clothes were tattered which made my skin an easy access for punishment. I wiped my tears and continued harvesting until my basket was full. "She's the one the guards were talking about." I heard whispers from other slaves who walked past me.
Suddenly, two guards stopped in front of me. My heart somersaulted, did I do something again? Before I could ask anything, one of them carried me on his shoulder like I was a bag of cotton wool. I tried to scream as I threw my legs in the air, calling for help but the other slaves just looked at me, shook their heads, and went their way.
They threw me into a room that had just one window and looked like a pen. My nose scrunched up in disgust as I wondered what was wrong. I rushed to the door to open it but it was locked, what was it I expected? My aching body dropped to the floor as I sighed repeatedly.
My head dangled twice in the air because I was already dozing. Why did they keep me locked in here? And that was when I heard a sound from outside. Smoke filled the room almost immediately. My heart jumped in fear as I sauntered towards the window to see what was happening. I shrieked in horror, looking at houses being dismantled and people being killed in cold blood.
Was there a war in the Blue Moon pack? Why are they being killed? I rushed to the door again. "Mommy must be looking for me," I muttered, trying my best to force the door open but it wasn't working. Tired of trying, I rushed back to the window again. My eyes got bulged out seeing blood dripping down from the sword one of the killers was holding.
"Mommy...." I whispered, covering my mouth. Her body was on the floor, beneath the man that just murdered her in cold blood. I looked at the killer in anger but his face was somewhat wrapped with clothes. "Leave my family alone." I blinked my wet eyes, grasping onto the window to call for my father who was just dragged outside.
I watched my baby brother grasp my father's hands but the killer took his small hands away and carried him. "No! Not my son again, please. Let him live..." Before my father could finish talking, the killer slit his throat and blood splashed on the floor but I felt it on my face.
"Murderer!!!" I yelled with my remaining strength. I saw the murderer look my way but before I could register what would happen next, something big was hit on the back of my head and I slumped to the ground.
××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××
"Why hasn't she woken up yet?" I heard a faint voice ask, it sounded like the person was worried. "Her wounds will take long to heal because she doesn't have a wolf." Another voice but it sounded like that of the pack doctor. I have heard the pack doctor's voice about twice when I was sent to the pack hospital to deliver some newly washed clothes.
Why is it difficult for me to move? I slowly opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings. It looked like a hospital. The pack hospital! I sprang up with so much force, pain shot through my entire body system that I hissed in pain but that was less of my concern. I'd be punished severely if someone found me as a slave sleeping on the pack hospital's bed.
"Hey! Be careful. Your wounds are still very much open." I looked at who touched my dirty hands. She looked young but rich, what is someone like her doing here? I listened to her and laid back on the bed. My head and back were bandaged like I had an accident.
Someone burst in as some guards tried to stop her. "Grace!!" I sprang up again slowly and she fell into my arms, crying profusely. "What's wrong, Grace?" I asked surprisingly, I'm not dead, right? Why is she crying so much then?
"Olivia, I'm so sorry. I had no idea. I was sent to town and didn't take your brother with me. He begged to go with me but I shunned him because I didn't want to get punished if the head of slaves found out." Grace explained while crying.
I chuckled. "So what is the problem? I only had a little accident and my brother is fine with mommy and daddy." I replied, stroking her hair. Grace burst into tears again. "Olivia, your parents are dead and your brother is gone!" She yelled in agony.
I blinked once, the second and the third time but it didn't seem like I understood what she just said. "Murderer!!" The scenes came back flooding into my head and I whimpered. My hands are gripping my head in pain. They are all dead? All in one day?
Grace hugged me tightly, crying like she was the one who lost her family. My eyes finally brimmed with tears as I remembered how my mother's blood dripped from the killer's sword, how he slit my mother's throat and took my baby brother away. Who the hell is he? And why was I locked in that room? Whoever did that should have allowed me to die alongside my family.
Nobody in the ward said a word. Only Grace's cries were heard but my heart ached and my inside was burning hard. I was angry at myself and also at that killer's sword. Were other families killed too? Was it war? Why isn't the pack Alpha saying anything about the m******e?
The door opened again but my ears were deaf to it. Grace released herself from me and I noticed they all bowed. I raised my head to look at who just came in. With his fine-shaped jawline, shaved beard, his nice thin lips, curved nose, and blue eyes; he was breathtaking.
"Where is she?" I found myself listening to his voice while my heart was still in pain. "Where is my mate?" My ear felt like it bled when I heard what he said. Mate? Grace has finally found her mate? I got envious. It is easy for her mate to find her since she has a wolf unlike me.
The woman in the room stood up to stand in front of the young man who just entered. "Behave Tony!" She reprimanded him and he scoffed. "That's her. She just survived an accident." The woman pointed and I had to travel where her hand was pointing, it was me.
Just like I thought, he looked at me like I had two horns dipped in red chocolate and foamy cream. "Mate?!" I managed not to sound off but everyone knew I was shocked. I am wolfless, how come I have a mate? "How come she is my mate?" The one called Tony asked, looking at me scornfully.
Well, I expected more because I knew how the hell I looked. I am just a dirty slave who wears just one dress every day and doesn't even have a panty. A slave who does all the dirty work in the yard, a slave that the head of slaves just wants to have their way with, a slave who just lost her family in one day.
"She can't be my mate. I can't even get a single scent from her, all I perceive stinks." Tony said and I folded my lips. "Alpha Tony, she's still recovering. Luna has made all arrangements once she recovers." The pack doctor said.
My eyes widened. He is the Alpha of the Blue Moon pack? And the woman standing beside him is his mother, the Luna of the pack? I have just been hearing stories of the Alpha and old Luna of the pack but have never seen them because I'm just a slave and not a maid in the palace.
"She can't and can never be my mate!" Alpha Tony shouted. I didn't know why but that stung me deep. Just because I was a slave? I understand his plight. He is an Alpha and obviously can't make an ordinary slave his Luna, it's just not possible. What was I expecting? That he will accept me as his mate?
I winced slowly when my head banged and I felt something seep out of my body too. The pack doctor rushed to me, readjusting my sitting position. His eyes dimmed when he withdrew his hands from my back and I saw blood.
"Why is there blood again?" Luna asked and I looked at him, wondering too. "Her wound has opened again." The pack doctor replied. Immediately, I was assisted to lay on my stomach. Grace burst into tears seeing my back. "Why is it so bloody?" She asked, trying not to sound heartbroken.
I heard an angry scoff. "She is wolfless? That's why I couldn't pick any scent from her." Alpha Tony's words were like cutting into my bloody flesh. Everyone calls me human but hearing it from him is different. "Tony, can you please just behave?" Luna reprimanded him but he's not ready to listen.
"How can I behave when I found out my supposed mate is a f*****g slave after waiting for so long? When she's wolf-less and doesn't have a single scent, not even a faint one? How can I behave when it's this trash that is to be my crowned Luna?" He yelled at his mother angrily.
My back was bandaged again and I was assisted up. I wanted to yell back at him for calling me all sorts of names but are they not true? Why would the moon goddess pair me with an Alpha? Can't she just give me a mate that is just like me, a slave like me, or just a normal person?
"Calm down, Tony. I've made arrangements for her, she'll suit you well." The Luna tried to talk him out of it but he wasn't listening at all. "I will not accept a slave as my mate. I reject her!" He thundered, walking out of the ward. I didn't know when tears slipped from my eyes.