CH002

Sheryl sat up on the edge of the bed completely naked, her chest rising and falling as she ran a hand through her tangled black hair.

“Took you long enough to answer, slow cow,” she muttered without looking at her.

Olivia didn’t speak but instead bowed her head and stepped forward, kneeling by the bed with the wipes.

As she reached forward to clean, her hand trembled but she didn’t stop lest she would be punished. She wiped the floor quietly, swallowing down the bitter bile rising in her throat.

Sheryl chuckled softly.

“You love this, don’t you?” she said mockingly. “Always crawling behind me like a loyal little rat.”

Olivia didn’t answer.

The scent in the room hadn’t changed. If anything, it was worse now as it was thicker, clinging to the walls like a dirty memory.

The man on the bed shifted with his face still hidden. But when she looked up after a while, she froze.

The way Sheryl kept glancing at the man beside her and was smiling to herself as if she had won a lottery had made her feel off. And just when she looked, her jaws dropped.

There, standing near the bed and pulling on his shirt with shaking hands was Connor.

Her fingers curled slightly, the wipes crumpling under her grip. For a moment, she forgot how to breathe.

"Connor?" She muttered to herself, the name not leaving her lips.

He didn’t see her at first as his back was still turned, his dark brown hair still messy from what had just happened. She stared, her throat tightening as he fastened his belt slowly with tense shoulders.

When he turned, their eyes finally met. She stood up from the floor and walked towards the bed as if going to dress it.

His shirt was half-buttoned while his face flushed. His wolf scent was still mixed with hers. With Sheryl’s.

Time slowed and Olivia didn’t move nor could she speak.

Connor looked at her but only for a moment.

There was guilt in his eyes. Shame. And something else. Something she couldn't identify.

He opened his mouth to speak but said nothing and then... he walked past her without a single word, their shoulders brushing as he did so.

She felt like a fool. Like a piece of furniture standing by.

Her heart didn’t break all at once. But it cracked quietly beneath her ribs, like something stepping on glass, just enough to hollow her out.

Connor had been her friend. Her only one.

The soldier boy who used to sneak her bread when she was denied dinner. The one who spoke to her like she mattered. Who said he’d fight the whole pack if the Moon Goddess didn’t give her a mate. He had even looked her in the eye once and promised, that if the gods were cruel enough and left her alone without anyone as her mate, that he would claim her for himself.

She had believed him.

That maybe, in this whole pack of wolves, he was the only one who didn’t see her as less. The only one who hadn't appeared smitten by Sheryl's seduction.

Now he was just another body Sheryl had collected. And she, still the girl with the wipes. The girl who cleaned the floor after they were done.

She blinked back the heat rising in her eyes and dropped to her knees again to continue wiping the floor.

The wipes made a soft noise as she pulled them free, the sharp scent of citrus stabbing her nose. She wiped carefully, her hands trembling with every swipe.

The floor was stained. With thick white streaks that smeared the glossy tiles beneath the bed.

She swallowed her nausea.

Sheryl lay back against the pillows, completely unbothered, her hair cascading over her shoulder like a waterfall of ink. She didn’t bother covering herself. Her long legs stretched like she owned the world.

She watched Olivia, smirking as she did.

“You didn’t know, did you?” she said lazily, her voice smug and laced with mockery. “Poor little you.”

Olivia didn’t reply. It wasn't time for her to reply the beta's precious daughter. She hadn't been given the cue to.

Sheryl laughed lightly, licking her lips. “Even he couldn’t resist me Olivia. I knew it. He kept acting all loyal to you like some dog, but they all come to me in the end.”

Olivia focused on the floor as if wiping harder would scrub away the sound of her voice.

“They beg for me,” Sheryl continued. “It’s like a curse on them. No man ever walks away untouched. Not even the Alpha’s sons. They just don’t know it yet.”

Her last words caught Olivia’s attention.

She looked up briefly and confused. “The Alpha’s sons?”

Sheryl stretched, arching her back with a contented sigh. “Mmhm. Kade, Zenon, and Knox. I’ve been playing with them since I turned sixteen. Waiting to see which one the Moon Goddess gives me.”

Olivia’s brows furrowed slightly and her lips parted. “But… isn’t one of them supposed to be your fated mate?”

Sheryl rolled her eyes. “So?”

“You still sleep with the others?” Olivia asked before she could stop herself.

Sheryl’s face snapped toward her, a sharp edge in her expression.

“I can do whatever I want,” she snapped suddenly. “Just because fate picks someone for you doesn’t mean I have to be a nun until it happens.”

“But the tradition.....” she wanted to say but her voice trailed off before she could finish. According to the tradition, beta's daughters were always fated mates to Alpha's sons.

Sheryl knew this and was even dating the Alpha's sons waiting for the night of her eighteenth birthday to know which of the boys she was going to be mated to. But despite this, she still slept around with any man willing to pump his member inside her mould.

“Screw tradition.” Sheryl's voice came, cutting her off and snapping her back from her thoughts. “I’m the Beta’s daughter. I can take whoever I want to bed, whenever I want!. And if one of those Alpha boys ends up being mine?” She gave a wicked smile. “He’ll just have to deal with it.”

Olivia felt her chest twist again.

She couldn’t imagine having that kind of power. That freedom. To be chosen and to have options.

She thought about her own future.

What would she get? A drunk rogue from the outlands? Some pitiful warrior with no rank? Maybe no one at all since she was well past eighteen, the year females got to know their mates.

She had already passed sixteen with no wolf, and in Crescent moon pack, being without a wolf by that age meant disgrace.

If she were anyone else—anyone higher—things could’ve been different.

If only she were the Beta’s daughter or if her mother had been loyal to the Alpha.

Olivia blinked back the sting behind her eyes and went back to wiping. Her hands moved faster and almost angrily.

And then, suddenly, a shout echoed from the hallway.

A deep and familiar voice. It was the Beta.

Olivia froze, looking toward the door.

Another shout followed immediately after, louder this time with his tone being angry and stern and almost demanding an answer from someone.

Sheryl’s eyes narrowed.

She sat up quickly, wrapped herself in a silk robe and stormed toward the door.

Olivia didn’t move.

But before she could catch her breath....

SMACK!

A hard slap landed across her cheek.

Her head snapped sideways, her lip splitting against her teeth.

The sting came fast and her skin burned.

Sheryl stood over her, eyes blazing. She was the one who had landed her the harsh slap.