MY ARABELLA: Thousand years of loving you

Rosemary POV

The smell of wet pine trees and woodsmoke usually brought comfort to the Silver Moon pack. But for Rosemary Parker, it only reminded her that she was trapped. At twenty years old, she was like a ghost in the busy pack house. She was an Omega, and the others treated her like her very existence was an offense.

"Look at her. Still scrubbing the floors like a stray dog," a sharp voice cut through the noise of the kitchen.

Rosemary did not look up from her hands. They were raw and stinging from the harsh soap. She kept her head down, letting her long dark hair hide her face. She knew that voice too well. It belonged to Anna.

Anna was also an Omega. But in the cruel world of the lower ranks, Anna made herself the boss by stomping on Rosemary. In a werewolf pack, strength was everything. Being an Omega was already hard, but Rosemary was something worse—she was weak.

"Are you deaf, Rosemary? Or is your wolf so weak that your ears stopped working?" Anna sneered. She walked closer and kicked over Rosemary's bucket of soapy water. The dirty water rushed across the stone floor, soaking right through Rosemary's old shoes.

The three other Omegas standing behind Anna laughed. They were a tight group, and they loved making Rosemary miserable.

"Leave me alone, Anna," Rosemary whispered. Her throat felt dry.

"What did you say?" Anna leaned down. She grabbed a fistful of Rosemary's hair and forced her face up. "You don't get to talk back to us. Your wolf can barely make a sound, let alone protect you. You are a disgrace to the pack."

It was the truth, and it hurt deeply. Two years ago, when Rosemary turned eighteen, her wolf finally woke up. But while other teenagers felt a rush of power and pride, Rosemary's wolf was small, quiet, and very weak. She could not fight back or show any of the strength that real shifters had. Because she was so vulnerable, everyone picked on her.

"And let's not forget the best part," Anna mocked. She shoved Rosemary's hair away, making her lose her balance on the wet floor. "Two years. It has been two whole years since your wolf woke up, and you are still... mateless. Nobody wants a broken orphan like you."

The girls laughed even louder. The word mateless felt like a burning brand. In their world, if you did not find a mate by twenty, people pitied you or laughed at you. For an orphan like Rosemary, who had no family to protect her, it meant the bullying never stopped.

Alpha Richard and Luna Elena, the leaders of the Silver Moon pack, were good and kind. They truly thought everyone in their pack was happy. They believed the Omegas lived together in peace. But the Alpha and Luna were very busy running a huge territory and dealing with pack politics. They had absolutely no idea about the quiet cruelty happening in their own kitchen. Rosemary never complained. She knew that if she told the Alpha, the bullying would only get ten times worse the moment his back was turned.

"Clean this up," Anna ordered, pointing at the messy floor with a mean smile. "Make sure it is spotless before the evening feast, or we will make sure you don't get any dinner tonight."

With a final laugh, the girls walked out of the kitchen. Rosemary was left all alone in the quiet room.

Rosemary closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. As she reached for the spilled bucket, a strange, vivid memory flashed in her mind. She saw the intense, piercing eyes of a man. She had never met him in the real world, but she knew him perfectly in her mind. He felt like safety, like pure power, and like a promise.

It's just a dream, she told herself firmly, pushing the memory away. He only exists in your dreams.

By the time Rosemary finished mopping the floor, her back ached and her fingers were completely numb from the cold water. She slipped out of the kitchen quietly, avoiding the main dining hall where the rest of the pack was gathering for the evening feast.

She walked down into the quiet basement corridors to her room. It was a tiny space, little more than an old storage closet with a small cot and a single thin blanket, but to Rosemary, it was a sanctuary. It was the only place where Anna and the others couldn't reach her.

She closed the wooden door behind her and pushed the small bolt lock into place. A soft sigh of relief escaped her lips as she kicked off her damp shoes. Finally, she was alone.

She lay down on the narrow cot, pulling the faded blanket up to her chin. This was always the best part of her day. In this tiny, dark room, she didn't have to be the broken, mateless Omega. She didn't have to carry the weight of everyone's mockery.

She closed her eyes, letting the tension leave her tired muscles, and waited for sleep to take her. She smiled softly into the dark. It was time to escape.