3

3

Not a Prison, Not a home.

Lilith’s POV

They sold me to another mate.

That was the kind of twisted joke my fate liked to play.

Alpha Rowan didn't answer me... he didn’t have to.

"Aren't you afraid? You could die like the rest." I had to ask but he just shrugged like death was just another rumour.

"I won't."

My mates... they just never learned.

I sighed and turned my face away to the window of the cart, not out of fear, but exhaustion.

I didn't know where we were going...only that it wasn't home, and it wasn't freedom.

Everything fell apart the year I turned sixteen, which was three years ago... the year my wolf never came.

The taunts of my wolflessness began as small jokes in the house till it became a major problem some six months after that.

And it dawned on me that I had to leave home before it became worse. I had always believed my mate would come as my knight in shining armor and save me from them but the first wolf who had showed up posing as my mate died a month after we began dating.

Two months later, a new mate came.

He was from a distant pack. Bold. Handsome. His e

yes lit up when he saw me and he dropped to his knees like I was royalty.

I smiled. Not because I felt the bond, how could I when I didn't have a wolf? But because I believed the universe had finally heard my plea.

He died three weeks in.

A rogue attack. A sudden invasion. The doctors claimed they tried their best to save him.

The third and fourth didn't even last a week. I stopped counting after that. I stopped hoping.

When I woke the next morning, there was no one to comfort me. Only mocking stares and silence at the breakfast table.

“You’re cursed,” my mother finally said, dabbing at her mouth with her napkin like she hadn’t just pronounced a death sentence.

I hadn’t spoken a word back.

I went six months being single before the next two came. I wasn't shocked when they were announced dead, my only reaction was silence.

Silence, I realized, was my only weapon. Words were used against me.

So I stayed quiet. Watched. Listened.

And my last dead mate, the seventh wolf. Everyone warned him. I avoided him as a plague but he was stubborn and just as we expected, he didn't wake up the next day. That was when I was moved to the maids quarters.

By the time Alpha Rowan showed up at our doorstep, I had already come to terms with the fact that I was no one’s prize. Not a Luna. Not even a mate.

Just... a cursed girl locked in a shed like a blemish the family wanted to hide.

And yet, he didn't look at me like filth. He looked at me like I belonged to him.

That was when I knew he could be another mate of mine.

The eighth.

---

I must have fallen asleep in the cart. When I stirred again, the sun was setting behind rows of trees I didn’t recognize.

The cart slowed down, and I sat up, stretching my legs as the door of the cart opened. The air smelled different. Cleaner.

When I looked down, I saw a guard waiting for me to step down on my own. No one offered help. No one stopped me either.

"Hey, you! You are fired. Get out!" 

Alpha Rowan's voice echoed from the other side of the cart and I turned to see that he was talking to the guard who had helped me open the cart's door.

What had he done? I was confused.

"I'm sorry, Alpha. I didn't..."

"Get....out!" He growled again, emphasizing each word.

"Why didn't you help her out of the cart?" Another guard snapped, nudging him away before Alpha Rowan got more angry.

"Baby!!!" A woman's voice sang from the direction of the door and I watched Alpha Rowan's expression suddenly soften as he turned to her with a wide smile on his face.

"Hey!" She approached him gracefully while holding up her gold flowing ball gown. When she got to him, she hugged him passionately and he kissed her on both cheeks and on the lips.

I looked away. I'd known pain but not this kind...the kind that reminded me I would always come second, even to the women who would never carry his child.

"Look at you, you got more beautiful because I was away for a few hours " Alpha Rowan said to her as he hooked her arms around her and pulled her towards him.

She laughed heartily as she lightly hit his shoulders. 

"Stop it, Alpha Rowan, we are outside."

"Yes we are." He rolled his eyes and let her go.

So, Alpha Rowan could smile. As much as I was happy for him, I couldn't ignore the knot in my stomach that he was my mate but was happy with another.

"Where is she?" She suddenly asked, looking around.

For me, obviously.

"Over there." He was looking in my direction. I immediately looked down so they wouldn't catch me watching them.

"Why is she so lean?" She asked him in a low voice. I swallowed hard.

"Well, I trust you to feed her till she is the right size." Alpha Rowan responded and she sighed.

Then I felt her walk towards me.

"Hi dear. You are Lilith, right?" She asked with a smile and I nodded.

I kept my head down. I couldn't be a threat...not to her. Not to anyone. If possible, I wanted to avoid anything that would make her think I had business with her husband.

"I am Luna Rachel, Alpha Rowan's wife. It's good to have you, come on in. You must be tired after such a long journey." 

"Thank you." I said, barely louder than a breath.

She was a beautiful woman. Very beautiful. I couldn't understand why the Moon Goddess would never give it all to one wolf. How else would you explain such a beautiful woman being barren?

She led me to a room...bigger than any I'd ever seen before and opened the door. I stepped inside.

A bed. A basin. A closet. A table.

Not a prison. Not quite a home either.

“I’ll have clothes brought up,” she said quietly, still not looking at me. “You’ll eat with us tonight. You should rest.”

I nodded. She gave a small smile and shut the door behind her.

I sighed in relief when I was finally alone and sat on the bed staring at the floor and my new surroundings. For the first time in a long while, my head was quiet, and my heart.... It just had that dull ache where something should have lived..

A few hours later, the knock came.

I followed the servant in silence. My new clothes were soft but plain. No jewelry. No lace. Just enough to cover the bruises on my body and hide the weight I had lost from too many skipped meals.

The dining hall was dim and long, only one end of the table set with different plates of food. Maids and guards were hovering around, busy, trying to be useful.

Alpha Rowan sat at the table, his Luna at the other side. He gestured for me to sit. I did.

We ate in silence.

The food was warm, delicious even, but my throat was tight. I kept my eyes on the plate. I had forgotten this feeling.

"Did you rest well?" Luna Rachel finally asked, breaking the silence and I nodded.

"Yes, thank you."

"And the room, are they to your liking?" She asked again.

"Yes."

"And the clothes? I didn't know if they would fit."

"They do, Luna. Thank you." 

“You are quiet." Alpha Rowan said.

I shrugged. “Words never saved me.”

He didn’t press. Just studied me for a long moment, then leaned back in his chair.

"Gather around everyone." He ordered and all the maids and guards came around. Some more came in from the door.

"This is Lilith. She is our guest and will be with us from now on for an important project. I expect all of you to accord her respect and give her all she needs, is that understood?"

"Yes, Alpha." They all thundered.

"Good. You can all retire to your duty posts." He dismissed them.

I blinked, stunned. I was their slave, I was bought to serve, but this was not how slaves were usually treated.

I didn't bother hoping. My happiness never lasted.

"I'll go get something from the kitchen." Luna Rachael suddenly said and stood up from the table.

"You can send one of the maids, you know." Alpha Rowan muttered while chewing on the meat.

"It's specially made for you, I want to bring it myself." She said and pecked him on the cheeks while he shrugged as she walked away.

"Whatever you wish, my Queen."

Immediately, Luna Rachael was out the dining door, he set down his fork and leaned forward. “Hey! I don’t care if you shift or not. But you’re mine now. That's all that matters.”

My heart stuttered. Mine? I had heard that word before and it ended with a funeral.

But, I met his gaze, and without flinching, I nodded.

"And another thing." He hesitated for a moment, looked around for a bit while I listened.

"My wife must never find out that you are my mate."

My chest pulled tight in pain. Of course, I should've known. The surviving one would want me hidden.

"Because if she does... She'll kill you.”