Chapter 1

[Aurora’s POV]

A week before my eighteenth birthday, I returned from the restaurant where I served meals. Wearing a brown dress and black slippers, I walked into the white mansion and went to my room on the ground floor to bathe and change.

Just then, I heard my older sister call my name.

“Aurora!”

“Yes, sister,” I replied and rushed out to meet her.

It was 6:20 p.m. My sister stood there in a dazzling green dress, towering above me. I barely reached her shoulder. I was the rejected daughter of the family.

My two siblings were Beta wolves. I had been born an Omega. Because of this, my entire family looked down on me.

“Where is the jade earring I kept in my locker? Did you steal it?” Quincy asked, her eyes glaring daggers at me.

Quincy was more favored by our parents. They believed she would become Alpha Xander’s mate. After all, she was twenty and I was seventeen.

“Quincy, I didn’t take your earring. What could I possibly use it for?” I asked, subtly annoyed because she always blamed me first.

“We have two maids in this house. Why not ask them first?” I replied bluntly.

She smacked me so hard across my left cheek that my head spun and I nearly collapsed. I staggered backward, staring at her in shock.

“Quincy, you slapped me?” I asked, holding my left cheek as tears brimmed in my eyes.

“I will slap you again if you do not tell me where you kept my earring. You know how much I love that jade earring because Alpha Xander gave it to me last year on my nineteenth birthday. Did you steal it to wear to his birthday party tonight?” she demanded, her tone sharp and anger boiling in her veins.

The rest of my family came downstairs into the living room. They clearly treasured Quincy, believing she would become the future Luna and bring blessings to them, while I was the unwanted child.

“Quincy, what’s going on?” our mother, Sarah Stanley, asked as she entered the corridor first. My father and older brother trailed behind her.

“Mom,” Quincy broke into tears as if I had slapped her. “Mom, Aurora stole my jade earring,” she cried in our mother’s arms.

Our mother had been born an Omega, yet she looked down on Omegas after marrying my father, the Beta of this pack.

“Is that true, Aurora?” Mom asked, her eyes shooting daggers at me. “Hand over your sister’s earring!” She stretched out her right hand for the earring I had neither seen nor taken.

“Mom, I didn’t take Quincy’s earring. You’re accusing me wrongly. I just came back from work, and now she’s calling me out for it. When could I have possibly stolen it?” I asked. My mother scowled.

“Shut up, you thief!” She smacked me across my right cheek. I staggered backward again as tears fell like pearls.

“Do you think I don’t see how you admire that jade earring on Quincy’s ears? You want to steal it because you know Alpha Xander gave it to her. Are you trying to steal his attention by taking what belongs to your sister?” Mom demanded, her words slicing deep into my heart.

I stared at her, speechless. My older brother, Kaleb—a tall twenty-five-year-old—walked up to me, his eyes also shooting daggers.

“Where is the jade earring, Aurora? An Omega like you shouldn’t wear anything pricey. You’re meant to work as a servant. That’s what lowborns like you are born to be!” he said furiously.

Dad stepped forward and looked down at me. “Aurora, not only do you not have a wolf, you’re also useless to this family. How dare you steal your sister’s earring. Guards!” He summoned his warriors. Two guards entered.

“Search Aurora’s room for the jade earring,” Dad ordered. The guards went to work at once.

I was not allowed to use the rooms on the top floor. I lived as a servant in my own father’s house.

I stood in the passage and watched. The guards searched my room, scattering all my things.

“Dad, we’ll be late for Xander’s twenty-seventh birthday. This is all Aurora’s doing—to make us late,” Quincy said, crying as our mother hugged her.

“Don’t worry, Quincy. We’ll find that jade earring before we leave,” Mom replied, her tone soft only when she spoke to my sister.

“Found it!” the guards announced. Dread washed down my spine as they walked out. One handed the jade earring to my father.

“How dare you do this, Aurora?” Kaleb yelled and rushed forward to smack me to the ground.

“Kaleb, that’s enough. You shouldn’t raise your hand to Aurora. Don’t forget she is still your sister,” my father stated, despite his anger.

“Dad, I reject Aurora as my sister. I cannot have a thief for a sister. Why would she steal from Quincy when she knows how special this gift is?” Kaleb said, his voice filled with rage. Our father tried to calm him.

“Kaleb, as a man, it’s not proper to raise your hand to a woman. Leave me to handle this,” Dad dismissed him, then looked at me with disappointment.

“Tell me, Aurora. Why did you steal the jade earring from Quincy’s room?” he asked as I stood there with tears in my eyes.

“Dad, why would I steal from Quincy? I don’t know how this earring got into my room. This house has surveillance cameras. Let’s see who stole it and tried to frame me,” I said. My father frowned, as if he had almost forgotten the CCTV.

“That’s right, Dad. Let’s see the recording. That will be enough evidence to send Aurora to jail. She keeps bringing disgrace to us,” Kaleb spat. Dad frowned; he did not want me to go to jail.

“I didn’t steal the earring. I deserve to see the footage,” I said. Quincy panicked.

“Dad, we’re going to be late to Alpha Xander’s twenty-seventh birthday party. Let’s go, and when we return we’ll deal with Aurora,” Quincy said in her sweet, soft voice.

I looked at her face. Wasn’t she my older sister? Why frame me for a crime I hadn’t committed? I knew I hadn’t taken the jade earring. Quincy was trying to frame me—but why?

I sobbed as I watched them agree like a happy family.

“You’re right, Quincy. Let’s go,” Mom said. They were all dressed and ready to leave. It was 8:00 p.m., and the birthday celebration would already have started. Alpha Xander wanted a late-night party.

I wasn’t invited, and I had no desire to be around them or attend.

Before my mother left the corridor, she glanced back at me. “Let me warn you, Aurora. Don’t you dare leave this house or show yourself at the Alpha’s mansion. Got it?”

“Yes, Mom,” I replied despite my brokenness. They left. The sound of their cars starting filled the compound. I went to my bed, sat down, and cried my heart out to the Moon Goddess.

“Why, Moon Goddess? Why did you give me to a family that didn’t want me?” I cried aloud, howling in pain—until a soft voice startled me.

“It’s okay, Aurora. I am here now,” the lovely voice said. I panicked as I saw a white spirit wolf appeared beside my window.