"Why me?" I look at the guards as Beta Luca pulls me to my feet.
"You're to join the other candidates at the Luna Battle. Alpha Prime Darius has requested that you attend after your submission made the finals."
My body stills as I’m shocked by their words. I never expected to be chosen. I feel Alpha Draven's eyes on me, and I know his anger is rising because of this. He can't refuse, he can't go against Alpha Prime Darius's orders, but he has the power to announce that I am already bitten and claimed by him.
Standing, I wait for his words, and I wait for his refusal or acceptance. Surely he will speak soon?
"Mutt, I suggest you pack your bag." I move quickly through the house and to my cell, packing the few items I have. Pulling off the top I am wearing, I winch and hold in the screams.
Someone steps into my cell as I begin to pull on my top.
"He sent me to cover your lacerations." Alex smiles, and I turn. "At least you are free." His words are whispered as I bite my lip to stop the screams as he rubs the ointment across my back.
"For a short time." I won't be forever.
"All done, good luck." He walks out. Pulling my top down, I grab my things and walk out.
As I make my way through the house, I bump into Beta Luca.
"You won't be gone long, Mutt. Enjoy the freedom; Alpha Prime Darius will quickly throw you to the curb when he realises you're a wolfless, packless whore."
His words are correct, and there's nothing I can do to change it. Maybe, though, once I am removed from this competition, I can make it to the Nightfall Citadel, the only place for rejected, wolfless people. Alpha Draven will never come there to collect me.
I stop at the door, the guards looking at me.
"See you soon, you can guarantee it." Alpha Draven watches as I walk out. I follow the guards and see the packs outside, watching as I step into the car. I'm lost on what I am meant to do. I don't know anything about this.
I know nothing about the world, either. We stop at the palace, and I step out of the car.
"The maid will guide you inside." The guard points to the door.
"Thank you." I give him a small smile, and he nods. Walking to the door, the maid looks at me.
"Follow me, please. You are the last to arrive." I walk through with her. She guides me through the palace, and I glance around, amazed. I thought Alpha Draven's home was lavish. This is on a whole new level.
"Through here." She opens the door, and I step inside. I see the other women they are standing close to each other. Already, groups are forming. I can clearly see the ones who are high up in their packs. The ones trained to be here are standing together.
Their voices quiet as they speak. Expressionless faces, as if this isn't a big event.
I stand close to the women but try not to draw attention to myself. Everyone is dressed beautifully, and I am in jeans and an old, worn T-shirt. Their dresses are something that you would expect the king’s Luna to wear.
My eyes leave them, and that's when I notice the cameras. I'm not ready for this. Panic builds in me.
"Excuse me." I glance up, looking at the man, confused. "You're too close. Please move back."
"Sorry?" I look at the news producer.
"You heard me. You're too close to the candidates. Move!"
"I-I'm a candidate."
I hear laughter. My body is pushed back, and I stumble before regaining my footing.
"Please don't disrespect the king; he won't be pleased when he arrives to see trash stood with his possible Luna!" The man pushes me back further.
"I am not lying. I was chosen to be here. Ask the maid. She brought me in." I point to her, and he laughs.
"Look, you're making us look bad. Move away, you stink." One of the women looks at me with a disgusted expression. "Surely you should be like in the cellar cleaning the floor?"
I hear some of the women laugh. The producer laughs as well.
"People like you don't belong here! You're not part of this; you would never be, and the king wouldn't allow it!" He pushes me hard, and this time, I fall and am ready for the pain when I hit the floor.
Instead, I feel a hand catch me before I can hit it.
"What is going on here?" I look up to see Alpha Kellan holding me. He has the same emerald eyes as Darius.
"She wouldn't get out of the shot; we were trying to get footage for your highness." The producer looks at him.
"And why was she required to be moved out of the shot?" He steps in front of me.
"She doesn't belong here. I am sure when Alpha Prime Darius arrives, he won't be happy with delays caused by the help."
"Well, you made the delay. Didn't you?" He steps forward. "As you're also 'the help,' you personally caused this delay."
"I didn't mean to do that, Sir; I needed to get a clear and clean shot of only the candidates."
"Which she is." The producer stills upon hearing his words.
"I-I..." He stops.
"Assumed. Didn't the broadcast say everyone was welcome to apply and that everyone had an equal chance?"
"W-we just assumed that was for the cameras, Sir."
"Well, it wasn't. Now, apologise; I will be letting the king know about this, considering she is possibly his future Luna and your queen." His face pales at Alpha Kellan's words.
"I'm sorry, miss." He bows his head.
"Ella." Alpha Kellan waves a maid over. "Please see that Elara is dressed appropriately. Then she fits in." He turns and walks away, Ella rushes and pulls me out. Taking me into a room, she quickly helps me strip and pull on a dress.
I still look awful, but far better than I had before. I can't complain. Putting on the shoes, I stand, and Ella guides me out. I stand with the women again.
"God, they really are letting the Mutt stay." One of them glares at me.
"Well, they need to make it look real. The Mutt will be gone at the first round." One of the women laughs.
"Ladies!" Someone calls our attention to him. I look forward and see the man standing on a stage. "I'm Beta William. The personal representative for the king. He will be joining us soon, at which point I will announce the first task for you ladies. Please do not approach the king. He will not be doing personal meetings today."
The girls all nod, and some are clearly excited. I look through them, trying to find where the hell I would fit in. Right now, I don't feel like that is anywhere.
We stand quietly and wait. The camera pans across the women as we stand waiting for the king. I notice the camera lingers on the other contestants for a longer time than they do me.The producer smirks at me; I don't need time on screen; it isn't down to the public who is Luna. So, him purposely cutting my time down is fine with me.I watch the door open, and the king walks in with Alpha Kellan. His eyes scan the contestants as he makes his way to the stage. He barely settles on any of them for longer than a few seconds. Then he reaches me and stares; I shift uncomfortably; no doubt this is him noticing I have no wolf.He steps onto the stage and keeps his eyes on me the entire time. I try to be confident and look back. Yet, it cracks, and I fail. My eyes drop quickly. I'm so used to having to kneel to Alphas and Betas. I don't even feel like I should look at him without permission."Ladies," William calls our attention back to him. "After the rules are explained, you will face your f
I sit with the camera in my face; it's far closer than it had been for any of the other candidates, and I feel like it's a way to try and make me nervous. It's working."Elara, we don't have a last name. Why is that?" He smirks at me. I knew it."I do not have one. I was an orphan."He glances at his papers. "An orphan? It says here you were sold?"Shit. How much does he know?"I was, yes, but I was first an orphan.""Hmm." He looks at me. "Elara, is it true that you were a servant and prostitute for your past Alpha?"I freeze, and I watch his smile widen. Opening my mouth, I close it again."End it here." I watch him turn the camera off. "You're done.""Wait." He can’t cut it off already."Sorry, but you couldn't answer a simple question. Not only that, but you sound bored and highly unworthy of watching. You’re finished, I think you beat the candidates. One minute, well done." He laughs."Ahm." He raises his head, and I watch the roll of his throat as he swallows. "Delete it. All th
When I wake, I get myself ready. May had brought me some clothes this morning. All the contestants were given general clothing as they were only allowed to bring one small bag each.Breakfast was awkward. Some of the women were looking at me like I didn't belong here. I heard the whispers and complaints because Alpha Kellan had sat with me during my interview.That alone has already started to make the women complain and pinpoint me as a troublemaker. Yet, I've noticed they are more brutal to the other ladies.It appears they think I'm not a threat. Which is likely correct. They don't think I can possibly get through and become Luna, so while they are all taking bites out of each other and trying to make each other feel like crap.I'm here untouched. Sure, I get called mutt and Tramp, but it's far less than they are throwing at each other.~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~I'm sitting in the garden with Sage. It's still snowing. Something tells me this isn't going to stop any time soon. Yet the palace
After our casual chats, we all went back to our rooms to get ready for tonight's dinner. I haven't seen the producer since, but the cameras still stayed.They didn't get close enough to hear personal conversations. Still, they most certainly aimed to capture everyone's responses to what was happening in the room.I hadn't noticed that they were filming, so no doubt the footage of me and Lyra will get some views. From what I heard, the cameras picked up on our confrontation and were close enough to hear as they weren't warned to stay back at that point."Your dress for tonight." May holds it up. It's ocean blue with a sweetheart neckline. It's the most beautiful thing I own. It's simple, which is what was required for tonight's meal.Once I'm ready, I walk out, Sage meets me, and we walk down together. We walk in and see Darius and Kellan at opposite sides of the table."Okay, ladies. I will read out the name of those whom Alpha Prime Darius wishes to sit with him." William opens the p
I spent hours talking about dresses, looking at materials and colours. May has begun to work on it. I watch her from across the room. While I slept, she did some work on the dress, then got some sleep but returned to it this morning."What do you think?" She turns to me. Walking over, I pick up the fabric; it's beautiful. It's a gold fabric with black sheer fabric over the top. The two colours mix perfectly."It looks amazing, so do it." I smile and sit with her, talking about random things. She turns and smiles at me."You know, they weren't lying. Your video got the most views, comments and everything. Barely anyone mentioned Prince Kellan, just you."I highly doubt it makes a difference."I won't be winning this May. Even I know the public will change their view when it gets close to picking the final winner." I'm in no way a Luna."Oh, I don't know. People saw the showdown between you and Lyra. It made people question things. The way you spoke." She nudges me.Even so, I am far fr
I escaped to my room quickly, unwilling to give the others a chance to ask questions or assume they knew what our conversation was about. It feels like Kellan is purposely going against Darius' words when it comes to me.Why though?I spend the rest of my day with May, helping and watching her make my dress. Today is a day without an event, and that's a good thing. The ladies will need time to calm down and hate me less."I've also sorted out gloves." I look at May. "You need to wear gloves. They need to be a certain length. Gloves that are too short or not wearing gloves is against the rules. The King’s Luna needs to wear them." I nod at her words.She has made sure the dress covers my shoulders. I explained I have a scar there, one which isn't appealing, so all clothes she creates will ensure the scar is covered. I can't risk it getting seen.Later, I began walking down and saw Sage. I caught up with her, and we walked down together for dinner."So, Prince Kellan?" She looks at me.
I get woken early by knocking. Rushing to the door, I pull it open."Elara, the king has requested your attendance, please." The Beta looks at me. I look down at myself."Please give me a moment." Closing the door, I rushed and got ready; I was dressed and following him down within five minutes. He takes us through to the opposite side of the palace, the side we're not allowed in without permission.Stopping outside the door, he knocks, and I hear the king call out. The door opened, and we walked in. I stopped when I saw Aurora. Great, more drama!"Thank you, Beta Pete, you may leave." He nods and walks out. "Please, take a seat, Elara." Darius points to the seat next to Aurora.Walking over, I sit down, my head lowering."You two have made a spectacle of this competition. Your interaction last night was broadcast, and many have seen it." His words are loud."I apologise, King Darius; I never intended or wanted to make yourself or your family look bad," I speak quickly, knowing that t
I hide away, but it doesn’t last long. Soon after I hid in my room, a knock had me walking to the door. As I open it, I see Sage.“Ready?” She smiles at me.“Yes.” I guess now I need to face Kellan, which I don’t think I can ever be ready for. Part of me wants to believe he didn’t notice, but he saw the lipstick on Daius’ mouth, and even he isn’t stupid enough not to realise.We walk out in silence, and I find my place. It’s colder today; the snow seems to be coming down heavier. The others have their wolves to help them keep warm, me? I’m going to freeze. I sit on the floor in front of the wolf.“Sorry, I don’t have a wolf.” I give the wolf a small smile, knowing I have no idea what it is trying to reply.“She said her name is Moonlight.” I glance up to see Kellan. He moves and sits beside me. “This is Elara; I’m Prince Kellan; as you can no doubt tell, she doesn’t have a wolf.” He nods to the wolf.“Thank you.” I look at him, and he grins.“Oh, you’re more than welcome. Moonlight wo