Ch 001: Screwed Over

[ Aysel ]

There are three thoughts that strike when you catch your lover in bed with someone else.

And not just anyone. Your step-sister.

First: you explode. Claw, scream, and make them pay. 

Second: you collapse, spilling every shred of heartbreak in front of them.

Third: you pretend you saw nothing, bide your time, and plot your revenge.

I, Aysel, chose none.

Because as I stand in the doorway, my body forgets how to move. My mind goes blank.

I stare at my mate-to-be’s hands gripping my step-sister’s waist, his head thrown back in pleasure. Somehow, that hurts more than seeing Liora riding him naked.

Because Liora has never surprised me. She’s always been cruel, never resting until she digs into my last nerve.

But Sylas? I never imagined he’d betray me like this.

I don’t even notice when the shopping bags slip from my hands and crash to the floor, the noise cutting through the obscene sounds in the room. That’s when they notice me.

But if I expected shock, guilt, or shame, then I was a fool.

Sylas doesn’t stop. Instead, his face is empty of remorse, eyes dark with lust, fingers digging into Liora as she moves faster.

Liora smirks, meeting my gaze like she’s prayed for this moment all her life.

“Well, look who’s back so early,” she says sweetly. “If it isn’t Aysel, the slave daughter.”

They laugh.

I feel sick instantly, tears blurring my vision. Liora tightens around him, breathless sounds spilling into the room as Sylas groans harder, and then they finish… right in front of me.

“Phew,” Liora giggles, sliding off him. “That was fun.”

“Gods, Liora,” Sylas says softly, cupping her chin with a tenderness he’s never shown me. “I’d give anything to make you mine. Too bad you’re leaving for the capital pack soon.”

Pain clenches my chest, bitterness flooding through me. Option one screams inside of me: rush in, tear them apart. Make them pay.

But I know better than to let my intrusive thoughts win. Even a single scratch on Liora today will see my step-mother Valerie and my father destroy me.

Because today is a special day. It is the first official stage of The Selection, after Liora and Seren had previously passed the screening stage.

From age sixteen, girls like them live for this day. Between nineteen and twenty-two, seven girls are chosen from each pack and sent to the capital pack, Emberglade, for the final ceremony. Powerful alphas, lords, and kings select women for their harems.

The benefits stretch wide: power, wealth, status and protection. Everything girls like Liora and Seren would kill for.

And me? I’ve dreamed of it. Not once. And that is because I lack the one thing that matters most: a wolf.

I’m cursed, wolfless, and the girl everyone avoids and blames for my mother’s death. The one turned into a servant in my own father’s house.

They say my curse is the reason I’m wolfless. And honestly? I have nothing left to argue with that.

Because why else would I be the only girl in the entire pack born without one?

“You shouldn’t make that face,” Liora teases, resting her chin over Sylas’s face. “You’re making me feel guilty.”

She doesn’t look guilty.

“I thought we were sisters. Sisters share, don’t they?” Her voice is saccharine. “I’ve always had my eye on Sylas. Just thought I deserved a taste before leaving.”

A harsh scoff escapes me. My eyes burn, swollen with tears and rage.

“How could you?” My voice cracks as I whisper to Sylas, despite my effort to keep it steady. “You said you loved me.”

Sylas rolls his eyes like I’m asking the dumbest question. “It’s just a one-time thing, Aysel. You’ve never let me taste you, so who says I can’t get it elsewhere?”

His words slam hard into me, and sharp pain tears through my bleeding heart. 

“You should be grateful,” he adds coldly. “You’re not my type, yet I chose you as my arranged mate. Show some gratitude instead of glaring at me.”

More tears spill over. I want to believe this is one terrible nightmare, but it isn’t. The pain and ugly emotions dancing inside me feels so real.

Sylas has never been gentle with my feelings; this much I know. He’s always been distant, detached, and careless with his words. But I accepted it. Everyone knows he’s doing me a favor by being with me. A high-ranking male choosing a wolfless girl like me is seen as charity.

And I swallowed that truth quietly. As long as it means that someday, I get to escape this hell of a family and finally get to be happy. 

He’s the only hope I have. My only escape plan. 

And now, it’s all come crashing down. 

It hurts to think that while I was running around the pack, exhausting myself to prepare my sisters’ dresses and belongings for their departure, he was in bed with one of them.

“Honestly, what were you thinking, sis?” Liora laughs cruelly in amusement. “Did you think a man like him would stay faithful to a cursed, wolfless girl he’s doing a favor for?”

Red flashes through my vision. I want to throw all reason away and tear her smug smile off.

Valerie’s voice interrupts just then as she pushes the door open.

“Liora! The guards from Emberglade are here!”

She barrels past me, shoulder slamming mine, sending me into the wall. Pain shoots through my side, but she doesn’t glance at me. Excitement drives her forward.

Even seeing Liora and Sylas naked, there’s no flicker of surprise on her face. 

That alone tells me everything. She knew about them. 

The pain in my chest doubles over. 

“Hurry,” Valerie says briskly, waving a hand like this is nothing more than a small delay. “There’s no time.”

“Really, Mama? They’re here?” Liora gasps, suddenly energized. She leaps out of bed and slips into her dress in record time, all traces of mischief replaced with excitement. 

She rushes out with Valerie, the two of them brushing past me like I’m invisible.

Sylas gets up lazily, pulls on his clothes without urgency, then finally walks toward me. 

“You stay back,” he says coldly. “We don’t want you ruining things for your sisters.”

Then he leaves, shutting the door behind me. 

Once alone, I collapse.

My knees hit the floor as a sob rips free from my chest. Everything I’ve been holding back finally breaks loose. My already sick heart bleeds like it’s been stabbed countless times by a knife.

This is so unfair. So cruel. What did I ever do to deserve this? Why can’t I ever catch a fucking break?

I didn’t ask to be born. And I sure as hell didn’t ask to be this pathetic. So, why do I get to be treated less than a church rat?

Screw the gods! Screw every last one of them!

I stay there, clutching my chest as if it might rip apart, tears soaking into my dress. Then my gaze falls to the shopping bags scattered on the floor.

My heart drops.

The dresses. The expensive dresses Valerie sent me to buy.

“Shit.” I whisper. If anything happens to them, I’ll pay dearly for it. 

I scramble up, grab the bags, and rush out of the room, forcing my legs to move despite the ache in my body. 

I hurry down the stairs and just when I’m about to step into the living room, the sound of unfamiliar voices makes me stop dead in my tracks. 

“…Are these the only girls in this household?” The deep, commanding, unfamiliar voice is enough to tell me that this is one of the Emberglade guards.

I quickly step back and press myself against the wall, hiding just out of sight.

“Yes,” Valerie answers brightly. “Liora and Seren are my only girls.”

I swallow hard. That’s my warning to stay out of sight. I turn on my heels to go back upstairs. 

“All right, then,” the guard says. “Get your girls ready—”

THUD.

Pain explodes through my toes as they catch on the step. My body pitches forward, crashing loudly onto the stairs.

The sound echoes and cold silence follows.

My heart stops at once, frozen by panic. Holy shit! What have I done?

Footsteps rush toward me. I slowly lift my head to see the guards standing over me now, tall and imposing. 

Behind them are Liora, Seren, and Sylas—every single one of them staring at me like I’ve just committed an unforgivable crime.

And maybe I have. 

“I thought you said you had only two girls.” The guard says, his gaze lifting to Valerie.

Valerie laughs awkwardly, her fingers twisting into her dress. “Well… yes. I did say that. It’s just that…” She hesitates, then her eyes widens, an idea forming. “The girl is wolfless. Surely she doesn’t meet the most essential requirement. Plus, she wasn’t even selected…”

“Leave that to us to decide.” The guard’s voice is firm. His gaze drops to me as I struggle to sit up. There’s a glint of interest in his eyes. “This one is really pretty. We can make an exception.”

“What?” Liora and Seren gasp at the same time, horror written across their faces.

I blink, stunned. My mind can’t keep up. What in the moon’s eyes is going on?

Then the guard turns to the man beside him.

“We’re taking this one with us too.”