Chapter 4

Mira’s POV

I woke up to the streaming light rays, which were so bright that they hurt my eyes. I gasped and shielded my face in an attempt to block out the sudden painful brightness. The air felt chilly against my skin, from where I had laid.

Disoriented, I looked around the room, trying to figure out where I was. “What’s going on?” I asked myself, my heart racing, ‘Where am I?’ I tried to figure out what this place was.

I stood up and walked to where the light streamed from. As I approached the light, I realized that I was in a dungeon. “But why?” I asked myself.

The walls were made of stone, and the only light came from a small window high up on the wall. Metal bars covered the window, so I couldn’t see outside.

I paced around the dungeon, trying to recall what happened last night. The last thing I remembered was the mating ceremony, where I had found my mate, and spoke for the very first time. Trying to recall the past event as I trailed my hand to my throat, and felt a warm feeling in my stomach, but that joy turned to sadness when I remembered the rejection.

I wondered why I was in this dungeon. What had I done to deserve such a fate? What would happen to me now? These questions filled my mind, and I struggled to piece the events together.

So, turn out the whole idea of your soul mate accepting you no matter what is just a load of crap, a fairy tale that feeds naive pups like us.

 My family and pack mates have been insulting me about how I’d never find a mate, especially since no one would want to put up with a wolf like me.

 I couldn’t help but burst into laughter and tears at the same time. Like, seriously, what else was there to feel in this messed-up moment? ‘Well, at least I got upgraded from my tiny store room to a dungeon.’

‘So now what next?’ I thought to myself, ‘He might as well reject me while he’s at it, and free me from my cold, cruel fate.’

Rejection for an Omega is like a slow death, just like poison. Our inner wolf fades away as the rejection and sadness tear at their spirit, leaving the human a shell of their former self. Gradually, the Omegas succumb to their broken hearts, taking their own lives or simply fading away.

Meanwhile, the Alpha and Beta wolves feel the sting of heartbreak for the rest of their lives, but it doesn’t kill them.

 I was lost in my world of thought as I heard the clanging of the chains on the bars of the dungeon, followed by the click of the lock.

The sound of the guard’s heavy boots on the stone tile as broke me out of my daydream, and I turned to see the meanest guard I had ever seen. His face twisted into a sneer as he looked at me. With a sharp tug, he unlocked the chains around my wrists, and I felt the cold metal fall away from my skin.

I felt the guard’s hand on my shoulder, urging me to move faster. “Come on, don’t waste my time,” he barked. I gritted my teeth and hurried to keep up.

We passed through a large doorway and into the great hall. I looked around in awe at the towering statues and glittering decorations. But the guard’s harsh voice yanked me out of my musings.

 “Keep moving,” he snapped, the anger in his voice made me quicken up my pace as I started walking till we got to the throne room,

“Stay here, don’t move.” The guard ordered, his voice cold and commanding, as he went through the other room at the end of the hall. I guess he went to call his Alpha, I thought bitterly.

I stood still, trying to ignore the butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I was filled with a mix of hope and dread, hoping that the Alpha had changed his mind to accept me and dread that he’d reject me still.

I tried to calm my racing heart, as  I waited for so long I was already itching to sit as I looked around the room in fascination, a particular portrait caught my attention, I walked there and took the glass portrait from the wall and admired the lady in the portrait running my hands, on it captivated by the lady’s beauty.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” My mate shouts, startling me in the process, making the portrait drop from my hands and shatter to the floor.

I gasped and shook my head, not knowing how to demonstrate to him that I didn’t mean to break the portrait. I quickly bent down to pick up the shards of glass on the floor, wincing as it cut my finger.

“Leave it.” He snapped at me and turned to the guard by the door. “Get someone to clean up this mess.” He said to the guard standing by the door. I lowered my eyes to the floor in shame, unable to meet his eyes.

“You haven’t been here less than a day, and you’ve started destroying the whole place.” He yelled at me, making me flinch.

I raised my eyes to meet his eyes. I saw deep disgust and disappointment in his eyes and waited for whatever he was going to tell me.

“I have decided not to reject you. For obvious reasons, we won’t delve into.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, my eyes widened in hope. Maybe yesterday’s incident had been a shock, and he was now ready to accept me. I swallowed in relief.

“Don’t get your hopes up, mute,” he drawled. “Put yourself together, because whatever is going on in your mind right now, it’s never gonna happen, trust me”.

He continued, his tone firm. “You’re nothing like my late mate, Miranda. You’ll never be my Luna. You are mute, and you will never be able to replace her nor take her place in this pack. Do you understand?”.

I nodded, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. Hearing him compare me to his dead mate was like a punch in the guts. “Well, I’m glad we got that out of the way."

He scowled. “Since you’re mute, so it’s not worth my time trying to talk to you,” he said, his tone cold and dismissive. “The only thing I’m grateful to the moon goddess for is that you can hear, at least you ain’t completely useless, and can listen to instructions.”

“Now there is something you need to know, and the earlier you accept it, the better for you.” He stood up and walked towards me.

 “Instead of being my mate, you’re going to be my maid and mistress.” He smirked, and I gasped in horror.