Born as an Omega, Riley was treated with little respect by the pack and worked like a slave to survive. Like a joke made by the Moon Goddess, she was fated to be the mate of the young Alpha, thereby becoming the pack’s Luna. Riley has been the perfect Luna for the Green Creek Pack, dedicating herself wholeheartedly to everyone’s well-being. Everyone except herself. Jude promised to love her as if they were fated mates, because he understood her, appreciated her, and cherished her. However, after a few years of separation, Jude returned with another woman, Ruth, claiming she was his fated mate. He insisted that Ruth wouldn’t affect their relationship, but that was the beginning of Riley’s nightmare. Though she had been fated to be his mate, Jude never considered Riley a proper Luna for the pack, or accepted her as his mate. He used her, exploited her, and gave her the false hope of a better life. What awaited her was a shattered heart and twisted truths to be silenced till the day she died. An evil trap closed in on her like a wild beast, ready to devour her alive. Heartbroken and torn, how will she escape the claws of these shameless people and rise from the ashes like a phoenix? How will she make them regret losing her and ensure they face the consequences they deserve? Will it eventually be her betraying husband who redeems himself and wins her back, or will she find another man who truly deserves her trust and love?
View MoreRILEY
I squint my swollen eyes to shield them from the sun as I look up at the tree’s withered branches. I cannot recall a time when it had leaves or even fruits. For as long as I remember, it has always been this dry.
As dry as my life.
Pa has made it a daily activity to tell me to smile. “Princesses never wear how they feel on their faces, so even if one day you forget your name, never forget to smile.” This he would say every night he returned, staggering, booze in hand.
But there was no reason to.
One day, I saw Pa being thrown out of the joint that he frequents for refusing to pay. Well, that was what I was told, but I knew he had no money to pay. He had bruises on his cheeks and neck as if he had been slapped multiple times and strangled.
The ten-year-old me fought back tears as I dragged my stumbling Pa home. He sang out loud like he couldn’t feel an atom of pain or shame.
He seemed extremely happy.
Pa was my all, but a strange kind of anger grew in me that night. I kept quiet, tears rolling down my cheeks as I stared intently at him. He had always been like this. I grew up with the perception that all a father does is to leave in the morning and return late at night, so I learnt to fend for us both; so imagine my shock when I realized men owned and worked in their farms and plantations.
Mine was just Pa. Pa, who would come home staggering with a huge stench of booze in his breath. Pa, who everyone hid their kids from, as he had been drunk on a full moon night and ended up being a drunk wolf and had chased every child he came across.
Yes. That was my Pa.
His sleepy eyes locked with mine, and on reading my expression, his mouth got to work.
“Princesses never wear how they feel on their…”
“Pa!” I shouted, and the dam broke.
This obviously caught him off guard as his eyes got clear and widened.
“Smile, Princess.”
“Why?” I brushed the tears off and folded my arms.
“Wh..Why?” He frowned.
“People smile when they are happy. Cassy smiles when her Ma makes her a new dress, or makes her a new braid, or when her father pats her head. Riley gets none of that. I don’t even have a Ma, so why should I smile?”
“Cassy? Who’s that?” His frown deepened.
He had never had a good memory.
“Pa, that’s the daughter of the family next door. She’s my friend and her ma brings us food sometimes.”
He nodded. “Oh. So...” his frown returned. “Who’s Riley?”
Ouch.
“Me. I’m Riley.” I tapped my chest.
“Oh,” Pa waved, smiling. “Well, nice to meet you, Riley. I’m Adam, and I always smile. I was born an Omega, the lowest in the hierarchy of werewolves, weak and never respected, but I smile. My wife, mate, and best friend died at childbirth, but I smile. Without her, I feel worthless, but Riley,” a forced bright smile came on his face, “I still smile.”
My heart broke for the thousandth time since I was born.
“Pa. I sometimes don’t remember to smile.” The tears were back.
“Even if one day you forget your name,” he stretched out himself on the bed, closing his eyes, “never forget to smile.”
Then his snores filled the room.
That day, I spoke to myself that I had no right to be sad, and promised myself that no one would ever see me not smiling.
But there just were so many things that could trigger a ten-year-old to tears. But I kept my promise, and ran down here whenever it gets too much.
Today is my third day coming under this tree for solace. I had once asked Pa where I could go find Ma, and he had answered that she was under the tree at the creek. Any wonder why I find peace here?
I come here to cry.
And the sad situation of the tree makes me feel so sad.
Why would a tree by a waterside be so dry?
I sniff and raise my hands in frustration.
“Why?!”
I wait to hear my voice echo back in response.
“My father said only weird people speak to themselves.” The voice comes from behind.
In fright, I turn to see who owned the voice that had interrupted my Alone Time.
The brightest emeralds I have seen stare back at me. He has small cuts on his left cheek and his lower lip. His light brown hair captures the ray of the sun, adding a glow to his small frame.
Noticing my stare, he gives a broad smile. He winces as the smile stretches the cut on his lip. My eyes zero in on it.
“That must hurt.” I blink when I hear my voice. That was supposed to have been in my thought.
“It does. But don’t worry, I am used to it, and besides, a man needs to feel no pain.”
Man?
I wipe away the little tears remaining in my eyes and scan him up to down. I am ten and a whole foot taller than he is.
“Hey, Little boy, who told you that?” I fold my hands.
“My father. And don’t call me little. I’m seven and big.” He folds his palms and pushes out his chest.
The act makes me throw back my head in laughter.
“Big? My Pa is big. You are not.”
“I am. And if your Pa does not want you anymore, I can be your Pa.”
That reminds me of the reason I am there. Pa had forgotten my name. He is sick, and when I brought him part of the food Cassy’s Ma gave us, he asked who I was. When I wouldn’t answer, he felt ignored and pushed me hard to the floor. I walked down here with a limp.
I hold back tears as they almost spill out.
“Why would you say that?” A tear slides down my cheek.
“You kept on saying that I’m not big. My father says I’m big enough.” He strolls closer to where I stand.
“Then I am bigger.” I almost shout.
“Why?”
I wipe my tears, ready to brag. “I am ten.”
His eyes widen, saucer plate size.
“You are?”
“Yes.”
“Meaning, you can be my Ma if she does not want me anymore?”
“If you will be a good boy, of course. I am my own Ma.”
“Wow. Why?” he squints his eyes, looking really confused.
“My Ma is not here.”
“Where is she?”
I turn to face the tree, then I point at its root. “There.”
His eyes follow the direction of my hand, and he frowns.
“Under the ground? Is she dead?”
“That is what my Pa says.”
“So if my father goes under the ground, I can become my own Pa?” Interest shone in his eyes.
“Hey, that is not a nice thing to say.” I scold.
“Hmm? Why?”
Why?
“Don’t just say that.”
He pouts, avoiding her gaze. Then his mood changes abruptly, and he gives his wide, toothy smile again.
“You answer all my questions. Ma says it’s annoying when I ask many questions.”
“See? You are not big. When you become big, you will know everything, and will not need to ask anybody.”
“Yeah? I’ll be smart like you?”
“Yes.”
We stay quiet till he starts looking at the ground as if searching for something. He moves towards a large fallen tree branch and sits.
“Come sit, Ma.” He beckons, patting a side beside him.
“I’m not your Ma.” I protest, but still walk over there and sit.
“Do you think this branch fell from this tree where your Ma is?” he asks.
“I don’t know. But I feel like the tree is as dry as my life.”
“How?”
“A tree should have leaves. But it doesn’t.”
“Why?”
“I can’t say. But it would have been so beautiful if it had flowers.”
“Why?”
“Flowers are beautiful.”
“Flowers smell.”
“No, they don’t. I love flowers, and when I grow up and get married, I will have my own garden.” I can’t help the smile that comes to my face.
“When you become my Ma, though I don’t like them, I will get you many beautiful flowers. Pretty flowers just like you.” He has his chest puffed out again.
“Cassy’s ma says I’m pretty and will one day get married to a prince.”
His pout returns.
“No, you are mine. Not for any prince. For me.”
He looks as if he is on the verge of tears, but stares straight into my eyes and begins to whisper words cannot hear.
“Hmm?” I ask.
But he ignores me and instead of answering me, he pinches deeper into the cut on his cheek, drawing blood.
“Hey, don’t do that. It was almost healed.” I scold, reaching for his hand.
He pulls his hand away. With a serious expression on his face, he places the bloodied fingers on the side of my neck.
“Eww.” I pull away and stand up.
He replies with a very weird grin. Then I feel a sharp pinch where his blood is.
“Ouch.”
The pinch, very quickly, becomes a slight burn.
Then it stops.
All this while. The grin hasn’t left his face, so I give him a straight look.
“You should say sorry when you hurt someone. Instead, you are smiling? Little boy.” I stick out my tongue at him.
“Hey. I’m not…”
I don’t wait for his response as I turn and run.
Without looking back
RILEYI feel good.So good I could break into a happy dance.Don’t be too surprised that I can dance. Pa had held my hands multiple times and broken into a drunken dance on several occasions.He had been good at it so his quick and steady moves hid slurry ones of my two left legs.Well, I can’t brag that I’m good at dancing, but I sure can move.It’s a bright morning and the pleasant memory of my Pa plastered in my mind, already reveals the promises of a good day.Last night’s fight seemed like a dream. It had happened so fast and I had been so bold, I could hardly recognize myself.After giving the wolf its souvenir- a tiny nip on the ear that might seem like a small cut on it in its wolf form but might be a large wound on its ear when it finally shifts back to its human form- I stalked off feeling pleasant within myself.My wolf must left that injury on her to both warn her and to give me the opportunity to find whoever it is before the wolf’s quick healing sets in.I had felt like
RILEYThe pain in my back has worsened.We are all gathered in the Base space; men, women, elderly and young. All that are of the shifting age. That is, above eighteen.There is a heightened tension in the air as we all look up at the sky, waiting for the rising moon.This day reminds me of the first day I shifted. I had been in Stefani’s parents’ house and didn’t know what to do.There had been a similar burning pain at my back, but I had thought it was cramps from my oncoming monthly flow.Stefani and her parent had gone to the Base space, like every other normal person did, but I was left behind with a few more work to do.I am older than Stefani with a few months, so when she got her wolf before me, I felt that maybe I wont have one. Maybe I wasn’t for my kind. Maybe the Moon Goddess didn’t see me fit or strong enough to have a wolf. All these and many more ran through my head.It had been difficult to swallow down any iota of envy I had when Stefani wouldn’t just stop rambling a
RYANThere are so many ways to kill.This, I have realized from reading books and experience itself.From my findings, there is the easy way of poisoning ones food, injecting said poison straight into the heart or even pushing the person down a cliff.Then the hard ways involve strangling, drowning, burning, amputation of the body bit by bit.As my mind go the latter, I feel a slight low burn at me back and sides, so I roll over in the mattress to get comfortable. My body had not been cut off, but by back and the sides of my ribs tell a different story.Well, all these are ways to kill a man, but the easiest, fastest and deadliest way to kill our kid is to take his mate away.Drag her by the hand through the mud and let her bleed. Then you have successfully murdered two people, as he would never recover from that loss.I clear my throat and try to rid y head of such thought.On this cool night, the last pleasant thing I want to be thinking of, is death and dying.But my inability to s
RILEYI have been all I can to not grow some kind of hatred towards this girl.Claire.But I feel that her presence here will not yield anything positive. It will either annoy the pups, or annoy me.The latter is more likely.“Why is no one saying anything? What is going on here? And why the noise?” her both hand move to cup both sides of her waist.Milly and Paul’s hands shoot up.I smile at that gesture. If only they are old enough to realize that this is no question, but a confrontation.“Put your hands down, pups. She’s not referring to you.” I smile at them, trying to tone down the confusion on their faces.“Yes of course, you know I’m talking to you. You are the only sane person here…well, sane is not the right word. What is the right word?” she asks no one in particular.I can obviously see the wheels turning in her head. No insult intended, but in smartness, she is definitely not the brightest. She sometimes stutter, not because it comes up in her speech like mine, but because
RILEY“Claire is my mate.”Because of the length of our lifespan as wolves, it is very rear to hear the news of death. One only died, probably because of a natural disaster, like flood, sand falling into the gold mine, or a serious sickness. Age was never the cause of death.And I have never heard of a person that died of hearing a sad news.I might just be the first.Because as those set of words leave Jude’s mouth, it takes away my breath and my thought. Completely.I can’t breathe.I can’t think.I can’t feel.I go numb.I sense this is my body’s new way of absorbing shock. Because if I have time to process Jude’s words, I might just slump from disappointment and heartbreak.That she is his mate? What does that even mean? What on earth does that even mean?I was chosen by the Moon Goddess to be Jude’s Mate. His Luna. His wife. Yes, initially, when I stepped to open spaces that had a lot of people in it, that is before I came to the Base, I had seen mates, everywhere, I when I did
RILEYIhad thought my arm would fall off from how hot I felt about Jude’s grip on my wrist.But now, as he pulls me out of the rrom hurriedly, his grip gets tighter and I know there would be bruises there by morning. He’s hurting me. But I don’t think he is aware off it, so I just let it happen. “why are you holding her like that?”I have no time to look towards Claire as she voices out her dislike, because I am still being pulled out of the room. This, seems more to me like an escape.From what exactly are we escapinmg from?I believe that the proper thing to do here, if he wants to speak to me in private, is to ask Claire to excuse us. Ther is no point in leaving your space for a stranger.Pain courses all over my left foot as it comes into harsh contact with the door frame. “ouch.” I say unconscious at the impact of the pain.Jude comes to an instant halt at that spot. Then he turns.Joy begins to bloom in my chest like corn popping in a heated pot, that I have finally gotten g
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