CHAPTER 1: BEING INVISIBLE

I stand at the edge of the marble balcony with my fingers gripping at the cold stone while I hear laughter and music coming from below.

Our pack is the Velaris Hollow pack and right now, lanterns sway gently in the evening breeze, casting a golden sort of glow over the courtyard where the higher pack members dance.

I can smell the scent of wild peonies and roasted meats and I glance around a bit but of course no one notices me, actually no one ever does.

My dress is a pale gray thing that hugs my thin frame too tightly at the hips but it is nothing compared to the jeweled gowns of those downstairs.

Elayne walks in through the crowd in silver and sapphire with her golden hair curled to perfection as always and her lips parted in that perfect curve of a smile that she always leaves on them.

She's spinning in the arms of a young Alpha and laughing as he dips her low.

Of course, Elayne gets the Alpha, she always does.

She's the beta's daughter after all, the highest rank in the pack aside from the Alpha's----- measly people such as myself can't compare to her in any way.

“She looks like a goddess,” a girl sighs from behind me.

Two Omegas who are girls I recognize from the washing quarters lean against the wall to look down as well at her while trying to balance the trays of desserts to get a better view of her.

“She’ll be chosen first tomorrow you know. Everyone knows it.”

“The Moon Goddess might as well carve his name into her skin tonight,” the other one adds.

They both giggle but I don't.

I only press myself deeper into the sides of the pillars beside me as I feel the night wind stings my cheeks, or maybe that’s just the burn of shame I feel.

I don’t know anymore, actually I shouldn’t even be up here.

This balcony is for bloodline Omegas, and even then, it's only for those who are invited first by ranking families.

My mother would skin me alive if she found out I’d crept away from cleaning the dining hall.

But I just had to see, maybe to pretend, even for a second, that I belonged in a higher rank than that of a lowly Omega.

“Don’t look at her,” I whisper to myself, turning my gaze from Elayne’s beautifully carved face.

“You’re not in her world, Iryn, you never were.”

But even as I say this, I don't tear my eyes away from the courtyard below.

The music starts again and just as I wonder when it had stopped in the first place, I hear strings and wind and flutes playing while the crowd parts to form a path.

I feel the aura before I see him, Lord Theron, Alpha of Velaris Hollow, pack, and I subconsciously lower my head in submission even when he hadn't commanded me to.

Lord Alpha Theron steps onto the dais with his mate, Lady Mairead and they look like they were carved from marble... so flawless, even more than Elayne's father, Beta Garren who is standing behind them with a lot of pride on his face.

It's how it is here, the higher up the rank you are the more perfect and powerful you are.

If the Lord Alpha and the Lady Luna are the Diamond and Gold of the pack, then Beta Garren and Elayne are the rubies and I'm nothing but the stone in the sand.

... Useless, utterly useless.

Suddenly, Lord Alpha Theron raises a hand, and silence falls everywhere instantly, including in my own thoughts.

“My people,” he begins, “tonight we feast beneath the stars not only to honor the full moon, but to welcome what the next night will bring— our sacred Mate Bond Ceremony.”

I hear gasps and the flutter of fans from the crowd as everyone is excited.

“The Moon Goddess will choose,” Lady Luna Mairead continues, running her silver eyes through the crowd.

“And when She speaks, we obey.”

“And when She binds,” Lord Alpha Theron finishes, “we embrace.”

The crowd start to clap but I swallow hard on nothing.

The Mate Bond Ceremony.

My stomach bunches into knots just at the thought of it.

Tomorrow night, under the full moon’s light, the Goddess will reveal the threads that tie soul to soul, showing the fated mates.

It's not every year we werewolves get to be shown who our soul mate is so of course everyone is excited and looking forward to it but I'm not.

The people chosen to be shown their fated mates are chosen by blood, rather than rank or logic.

So it might take a while for me to find my own mate, but it doesn't really bother me, all I want is to be seen even if it is just once.

The crowd begins to go back to enjoying the party below, and I immediately slip away before anyone can notice that I've been up here.

My feet move quickly across the garden paths, past fountains and night roses that are in their blooming season, until I reach the servant quarters on the far end of the estate.

Quickly, I enter inside which smells of soap and worn linens, then I creep down the hallway to the room I share with three other Omegas and quietly slip in.

No one’s here yet, thank the moon.

I shut the door softly, then kneel beside the narrow window at my small bed corner.

The moon is rising and it looks so swollen and silver- ish, like it's full to the brim with the Goddess' magic.

It's a good sign, so I take a breath and manage to breathe out.

“It’s my birthday,” I whisper, looking at the moon and wishing that SHE was looking at me now.

I’m finally eighteen and I want to make a prayer to Her.

I press my left hand to the window and my right hand to my chest, near my heart.

“Please,” I pray.

“Just… let someone see me... not because they want to send me on an errand or because I’m cleaning their boots or scrubbing their floors. Just… see me.”

A knock at the door startles me, and I quickly jump to my feet.

The wooden door creaks open, and my mother’s head peeks in.

Her brows knit into a frown immediately on seeing me. “You’re not in bed?”

“I— I just got back. I was—”

“Don’t lie, Iryn,” she snaps, entering inside and touching my hands.

“Your hands smell like rose oil; you were at the ceremony grounds,” she states rather than ask.

Sometimes I curse at the strong sense of smell all werewolves have.

“I didn’t go in,” I protest.

“I stayed on the balcony. I only watched.”

“You’re not the rank with them,” she says, narrowing her eyes at me. “You keep forgetting that.”

I bite the insides of my cheeks at her words.

“No one forgets that here, Mother,” I say quietly.

She doesn’t reply but she just exhales hard and turns toward the door.

“Be up before dawn. They’ll need help setting up the altar.”

And then she’s leaves, shutting the door behind her.

I sit back down, curling my fingers around the hem of my plain nightgown and start to think.

I used to imagine I was special, that maybe the Moon Goddess had some big plans for me.

... That someday I’d be pulled from all these like in all those great book stories I was told as a child by my nursery teacher.

But it's not like this is a book story; it's my life, and I am not special.

----------

Morning comes faster than other days, and I wake up hearing the elders chant prayers to the Moon Goddess as early as it is.

As the sun comes out fuller, more people wake up and the ceremonial field becomes very busy with preparations.

Wooden arches are being decorated with wildflowers, and small moon sculptures are coiled around their beams.

Elayne is already here, dressed in a pale blue robe embroidered with runes with many of her friends surrounding her as they discuss and talk about things I'm not worthy to hear of.

I walk by the edge to give them space----- as is required of Omegas---- with my arms full of folded cloths, until I hear a voice call out.

“Omega girl! The basin is dry!”

Immediately, I turn around to see one of the altar servants—an older woman with high cheekbones looking at me rather impatiently.

“Go fetch more water,” she barks.

I nod quickly and scurry off to drop the clothes and then run toward the well.

Along the way, I pass a group of young Alphas who laugh about something.

One of them elbow another and says, “Bet you’re praying the Goddess doesn’t pair you with some Omega. They’re all weak.”

“Weak and invisible,” the second Alpha scoffs, “They're a burden if you ask me.”

They all laugh as if what he just said was funny--- to me it wasn't, but I can't say anything so I keep walking, chewing the inside of my cheeks.

I carry the water back without spilling a drop on the already mopped floors but no one notices or thanks me for doing a good job.

But I can't keep my thoughts on it for too long; the sky is turning darker while clouds drift lazily across the once blue sky.

... the full moon is coming.

By dusk, the field is fully transformed and prepared for the ceremony.

People begin to gather, wearing clothes in colours according to their rank.

Alphas wear deep blues and blacks, Betas in warm golds and reds, and Omegas in pale, unadorned robes.

We’re not supposed to stand near the altar but at the edges which is close enough to witness our fate, but not to interfere.

Very slowly the moon rises slowly and Elayne stands near the center of the crowd with her hands clasped and her eyes lifted up to the moon like everyone else.

The crowd murmurs as they wait and then the Elders sing in the Old Tongue in low voices at the same time, calling to the Moon Goddess.

A strange wind rises in the air and then the moon starts to glow very brightly, casting beams of silver light down on the crowd.

One by one, the light falls between pairs and I hear gasps around me as mate bonds start forming.

Everyone looks around them up to see who they've been paired with.

Two Betas hold each other and sob while an Alpha grabs the hand of a wide eyed beta girl and pulls her close.

The moonlight glows even brighter and everyone gasps as we all know what this means----- The Moon Goddess is choosing.

Suddenly the wind dies, then the light condenses.

... And lands on me.