CHAPTER ONE IVORY’S POV

“Push Luna…push!” The midwife delivering my mother ordered.”The baby is almost here, I can see its head.”

My mother screamed in agony as she gave one final push with all her strength. And finally I was born.

I came out screaming, but immediately I was totally detached from the warmth of her womb. I went completely silent. I was passed to a younger midwife and she looked at me with an expression that looked both like curiosity and surprise.

“She’s quiet all of a sudden,” she whispered to the other midwives.

“All babies are different, maybe she’s calmed down now.” Another responded, moving towards the Luna, my mother to check on her.

“....No…she’s gone…” The elderly midwife muttered. “The Luna is dead!”

“It is not possible, this cannot be.” The one holding me said, as she looked down at me. My eyes began dilating to a shade of light violet.

“She’s cursed!” She screamed and tossed me out of her arms as if I was some sort of a parasite. The elder midwife caught me just in time before I fell.

“Do be careful, you’re still in the presence of the Luna and you cannot throw away a child she gave her life for!” She reprimanded the younger one and demanded for a piece of cloth to wrap me in.

After wrapping me, she placed me in a cot and the younger midwife who still stood inches away from me, pointed at the cot. “Look at her eyes, they’re violet.”

They all rounded at the cot. “They’re dilated."

“This is an unusual sighting, the moon Goddess doesn’t bless children with violet eyes.” One person stated.

“The most I’ve seen are eyes of silver, and children as such shift into white wolves.” Another chimed in.

“She must be cursed indeed. Oh my moon, what sin did we commit to have this tragedy born.” The younger midwife cried out, with her hands directed towards the moon.

“She ended the life of the very woman who brought her into this world, such an evil born.”

“Our beloved Luna is gone because of this…thing.”

Tragedy. Cursed. I was labeled deficient right from birth. The child who killed her mother. The cursed heir of Alpha Edward.

“Enough!” The older midwife commanded, standing up from her place beside my mother. She walked towards the cot, grabbed me and cradled me gently. “Call her a curse if you might. But she is still a child. And I do believe our Luna should be shown some respect for her effort to bring an heir to the throne, knowing how much she fought to get here.”

As she spoke her arms around me tightened slightly, and the warmth from her body seeped into me. She looked at me with gentle eyes and smiled.

“Let the Alpha know his heir has been born, and our Luna passed away while birthing her.” She instructed the other midwives, and turned away.

“Don’t listen to anything they say. You are a blessed child.” She whispered to me and kissed my forehead.

She was the only person who blessed me the day I was born. My father, Alpha Edward, was nowhere to be found.

Well, that was eighteen years ago. Today is the eighteenth year.

“Happy birthday to me,” I whispered to myself through the dark.

Eighteen. I was finally eighteen.

I would finally get to receive my wolf. Not that it would change anything, but it was still worth looking forward to. For the past years since the day I was born I got the worst of treatment.

My father and everyone else beside Mira who was now the head of the kitchen affairs viewed me as a curse, and immediately after my mother’s passing. My father’s mistress Selene and her daughter Celeste, of whom she had with him, had moved into the house.

Quickly occupying the space that my mother had left behind, everyone knew it was a stain to my mother’s name, but no one said a word.

I was made to live in the basements, do every menial job they demanded of me, feed on their crumbs and live by the scraps that Celeste left for me. Even the servants of the house had basic living decency than I did.

A loud knock on the door made me jump out of my thoughts.

“Ivory! Get up here. Now!” Celeste's voice came through the creaky wooden door of the basement.

“I’m coming.” I grumbled and stood up from my thin mattress. Nothing good ever came out during my birthday, I wondered what dreadful assignment they had in store for me today.

I picked up a small broken mirror from the side of my bed and inspected my eyes. The black contact lenses were still in place. Good.The special lenses hid the violet eyes I had been born with, the same eyes that had me labeled me as cursed and unnatural.

I adjusted my sturdy dress and headed upstairs, only God knows what awaited me there. Immediately I stepped into the room, I squinted my eyes and finally opened them when my eyes fully adjusted to the lights

And the view I was met with, was nothing like I had ever seen. It was a feast, one fit for a celebration. My stomach rumbled with both hunger and suspicion.

“There she is.” Alpha Edward said, his voice was filled with amusement and a terrifying coldness underneath. “Our birthday girl.”

I watched them in surprise. He was seated at the head of the dining table, Selene was seated right beside him, while Celeste sat across the table from both of them.

“Take a seat Ivory.” Selene commanded from her place beside him. “We have a special breakfast, prepared just for you.”

I refused to move, in eighteen years they had never allowed me to sit at the dining table with them. I fed on their scraps in the kitchen or leftovers in the basement, that is if I was lucky enough to eat at all.

This was a trap. It just had to be.

“Did you not hear your Luna?” Edward commanded again. “Sit.”

I finally moved to an empty seat, far from any of theirs. Celeste looked at me with barely contained amusement. She knew something I didn’t.

“Eat,” Edward said, gesturing to the massive spread of food before me. I paused for a minute and finally reached out to grab a piece of bread, but I was stopped immediately by a snort from Selene.

"Not yet, darling," she said sweetly. "First, we should acknowledge the significance of this day.”

"Eighteen years ago today," Edward began with false solemnity, "This house lost its light. Luna Evelyn, my true mate, the heart of the Moonridge Pack, died bringing you into this world.”

"She was kind," Selena continued from where he stopped in sympathetic mockery. "Beloved by everyone. The Moon Goddess blessed her with a spiritual connection that only a few ever achieve." She paused, for a few seconds, using that time to adjust her fake pitiful look before continuing. "And then she died, bleeding out while giving birth to you."

“You don’t get to speak about her that way.” I whispered, but no one heard me.

"My beautiful, beloved Luna did everything she could to give me an heir." Edward said in feigned grief.

"Ten children she lost before you. Ten times her body tried to give me an heir, and ten times it failed. Everyone said she was cursed. That the Moon Goddess had turned her back on her."

"But she tried one more time," Selena added, dabbing her eyes with a napkin.

"I should have stopped her. Maybe she wouldn't have met the cruel fate of bringing you into this world. She risked everything, the love of the pack, my care, just to bring you into the world."

"If my Luna had only listened, you wouldn't have killed her," Selena finished as tears formed on her eyelids.

Edward drew her closer and rested his hand resting protectively on her shoulder. "I know you adored her, but stop crying. It's over."

Then he turned towards me. "Ivory, your mother was a virtuous woman. She taught Selena everything she knows today. I loved her. Everyone loved her. Selena loved her."

Yeah right, she loved her so much that she could fuck her husband behind her back and finally take her place once she died.

"We don't celebrate your birthday so that we don't reopen a healed wound. Birthdays aren't worth remembering when they mark tragedy. This day isn't a celebration, it's the anniversary of the day you murdered your mother."

I felt tears form at the sides of my eyes, I’m already aware of what they think I did, can’t they just let it slide? I muttered, cursing inwardly.

The tears I had  been holding back dropped from my eyes. I was innocent. I never wanted her dead, if she was alive I wouldn’t be subjected to this torture. She would shield me and protect me from these vultures who called themselves human.

"I didn't—" I sniffed. "I didn't ask to be born."

"No, you didn't," Edward agreed coldly. "But you were. And every day since then, this pack has paid the price for your existence."

"I did all I could to care for you," Selena sniffed, with her flawless performance. "To repay all that Evelyn had done for me. We could have left you to die with your mother. We could have exposed you as the cursed thing you are. But no we did not, we showed you mercy."

Mercy, That had to be a joke. They had beaten me, starved me, and locked me in the basement like an animal. They'd made my life a living hell for eighteen years and they dared to call it mercy.

"So today," Edward continued, "We thought it only appropriate to finally celebrate. After all, you're eighteen now. And it's time you learned what your life has cost this family, and how you'll repay us."

He gestured to the food spread across the table. "This feast? This is what your mother's funeral would have looked like, had she been given the honor she deserved. But there was no time for a proper funeral. No time for mourning. It was just...you. The screaming cursed child marked by the Moon Goddess as a mistake."

“Maybe if you cared about her enough, you would have actually had time to give her a proper funeral.” I said in anger, as the words slipped out before I could stop them.

“What did you say?!” Edward rose from his seat, heading towards me. But Selene held him back. “Nevermind her darling, recall we do have more pressing matters on ground.” She cooed and caressed his arm.

“Yes we do.” He responded and shifted his weight to look directly at me. I knew nothing good ever came out of them. “You are eighteen now.” He paused. “And very old to be useful. I have arranged your marriage to Elder Harkin.

Marriage.

To Elder Harkin.

A man with an ego bigger than his age. A sixty-three year old elder who was known for his greed and cruelty towards women. A man who already had six wives, two already deceased from labour and continuos torture. They wanted to sell me off to death himself.

“You’re sending me off to a man who would kill me within a week.” I spoke, shaking with both fear and anger.

“An elder.” He corrected me. “Elder Harkin. And yes, you should be honored. For once in your miserable existence, you'll actually be useful to this pack."

I took a deep breath and spoke. “No. I don’t want to go. I refuse to!”

A slap landed on my face faster than I could comprehend, my head turned to the side and my cheeks burned with pain. Selene stood over me, with anger clearly written all over her face.

"You don't get a choice!" she shrieked. "After what you did to this family, after you murdered the woman who gave you life. You really think you have the right to refuse?"

"Your mother died for you," Edward said coldly. "The least you can do is die for this pack."

“You will be married to Elder Harkin and that is final.” He said with finality. “Make yourself presentable, the representatives will be here tomorrow.”