Paula의 작품

Esme's POV I glanced at my bedroom door. It was closed, locked from the inside. No one had come in while I was training with Dorian. At least, no one I saw. But someone had been here. Someone had walked into my room, placed this envelope on my bed, and left without a trace. The thought made my skin prickle. Nightfall Pack was supposed to be safe. Xavier said so. He promised me I was protected here, that no one could hurt me anymore. But if someone could slip past all the guards, all the security, and leave something on my pillow, then how safe was I really?I sat down on the edge of the bed, the envelope still in my hands. My heart was beating too fast, my palms damp with sweat. Part of me wanted to throw it away, to pretend I never saw it. But I couldn't. Curiosity burned in my chest like a flame I couldn't put out. I needed to know what was inside. I needed to know who sent it and why. So I slid my finger under the wax seal and broke it. The sound seemed too loud in the quiet room,

Esme's POVI woke up before sunrise, the sound of training bells echoing across the Nightfall grounds. It was my first morning here, and I still felt like I was dreaming. The bed was too soft. The sheets smelled too clean. The ceiling above me wasn’t the cracked one I’d stared at for years in Shadow Pack.This was real. I was home. At least, that’s what they kept telling me.I pushed off the blanket and got dressed quickly in the simple training clothes someone had left for me. I wasn’t sure what the day held, but from the whispers I’d overheard last night, the pack wanted to “see what I was made of.” That sounded a lot like a test.And I hated tests.The hallway outside my room was empty and quiet. I followed the sound of clashing steel and barking orders until I stepped out into a wide training field. Warriors were already lined up, sparring under the rising sun. And right in the middle of it all stood Xavier.“Late,” he said the second his eyes landed on me.I blinked. “It’s not ev

Esme's POVThe iron gates of the Nightfall Pack stood taller than anything I had ever seen, black steel twisted into shapes that looked like wolves mid-howl. My heart pounded hard against my chest as I walked toward them, every step feeling heavier than the last. The road behind me was quiet now. Shadow Pack was gone and with it, the life I’d known for twenty years.“Are you sure about this?” I whispered to myself.No one answered. Of course they didn’t, it was just me. Esme, the rejected omega, the girl who had been treated like trash her whole life and now I was standing in front of the most powerful pack in the region, about to walk into a future I couldn’t even imagine.The guards at the gate looked at me, their eyes narrowing. “State your name,” one said, his voice sharp.“Esme,” I said, trying to sound braver than I felt. “I was told… this is where I belong.”The two guards exchanged a glance. One sniffed the air, then stiffened. “Wait here.”He disappeared through the gates bef

Esme's POV“Are you just going to stay there all day?”Nora’s voice dragged me out of my thoughts. Morning light poured through the kitchen window, catching the smug tilt of her mouth. She was holding a cup of coffee like a queen, while I stood at the sink elbow-deep in dirty water.“I finished the dishes,” I said. My voice sounded hollow even to me.“Then go sweep the porch,” she said. “And when you’re done, Mother wants you to scrub the floors again. We’re having guests.”Guests again. We are always having guests.“Fine,” I muttered.“What was that?” she asked sharply.“I said fine,” I repeated louder.She smirked. “Good girl. Maybe you’ll finally learn your place.”I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood. After last night, her words stung even more. My mate had rejected me in front of the entire pack. My life, already miserable, had somehow gotten worse.But beneath the shame and heartbreak, that whisper I’d overheard wouldn’t stop echoing in my head.I needed to know the

Esme's POV“Esme! Did you hear me or are you deaf now?”I flinched at the sound of Lydia’s voice. She was standing in the doorway, hands on her hips, glaring at me like I had committed the worst crime in the world.“Yes, I heard you,” I said quietly, picking up the dirty plates from the long dining table. My back ached from scrubbing floors since dawn, and my hands smelled like soap and onions.“Then move faster,” she snapped. “The Alpha will be here soon, and this place looks like a pigsty.”I bit back the words sitting on my tongue. Lydia wasn’t my mother. She wasn’t even blood. But for the last ten years, I had lived in her house, eating scraps from her table, and following every order she barked. She and her husband, Thomas, had taken me in when I was ten, or that’s what they liked to say. “Took me in” sounded nicer than “turned me into a housemaid.”“I’m trying,” I said, stacking another pile of plates and carrying them to the sink.“Trying isn’t enough,” Lydia said. “You’re twen