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SERAPHINE’S POV

“Mum, I’m already twenty. I will soon be given a mate by the moon goddess. Why can’t you wait till then? Why must I be given out in marriage to a man I barely know?” I cried angrily. 

They hate me.

I knew they did.

I know not everyone likes my family but they didn’t have to give out their only daughter like this.

“What do you mean to a man you barely know? He is the Alpha. You don’t know the Alpha?” my dad scorned.

“We have never asked you to do anything for us before…nothing,” mum added, staring at me like I had committed the greatest crime known to man. 

“No, I won’t do it,” I yelled, my voice cracking.

“You can’t make me marry him!” 

The small table shook as I slammed my hand on it. My body shook with fury. My mother frowned and her eyes looked at me coldly. Father sat by the corner, not saying anything. 

I breathed harshly. My mother stepped in front of me, her voice stern. 

“We have sacrificed a lot for you. Do you think food and a place to sleep comes for free. At least do something to help us for once.”

“You’re selling me. Don’t you call it marriage? Don’t you dare,” I hissed.

She flinched but composed just in time. “It is marriage. The Alpha has chosen you. Do you have any idea the kind of honor that is? Any girl in the pack would be grateful.”

“Honor?” I let out a laugh that didn’t quite reach my eyes. “So you want me to believe the Alpha would want someone like me. An Omega, nobody? This feels like a big lie.”

Her mind moved a bit as if she was going to slap me but she didn’t. She just stared at me for a moment. I looked at father. He avoided my gaze. 

The sound people walking made me turn my head. A heavy knock sounded on the door.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. I took few steps back. 

I saw sympathy flash across mother’s face for a brief moment before it disappeared. She looked away before walking to the door. “They are here” 

My blood ran cold as the door opened, revealing two big palace guards walking in with black armor. 

“Seraphine,” one of them called out, looking straight at me.

I stepped back, until my body pressed against the wall. “Please,” I pleaded, staring at my mother, hoping for some rescue. “Don’t let them take me away. Don’t do this to me.”

She could not even look me in the eyes. “Go,” she said firmly. “This is what is best for you.”

For them

Not for me

The guard walked toward me. I tried breaking free from them as they held me but it proved fruitless. My cries echoed through the room but it seemed no one cared. Father looked away and mother backed away from me.

“Mother!” I screamed. “Please!”

But she look at me.

They dragged me out on my bare feet and I felt my legs scraping against the ground. I begged, twisted, but the guards didn’t even spare me even a glance.

This didn’t feel like the treatment given to someone who is to get married to an Alpha. I knew my parents lied but what exactly am I going to do in the palace.

 As we got to the palace, I swallowed. The place loomed above me like a scary nightmare. I had screamed throughout the way here that my throat hurt. My arms where the guards dragged me were sore. 

Inside was colder. Everything told me I shouldn’t be here. 

“This one,” one of the guards said, pushing me forward toward the tall woman standing by the side of the corridor. She wore a grey dress, her hair held in a tight ponytail. Her presence felt scary and intimidating.

“Head maid,” the guard said. “By the order from the higher ups, she’s your responsibility,”

The words sent a shiver down my spine.

The woman’s face looked at me as is examining me from head to toe, and she sneered. “So this is her? So pitiful and stupid.” She shook her head disapprovingly. “We’ll fix her,”

“I’m not…” I began to speak. “I’m not supposed to be here! My mother said…”

The slap came so fast and came by surprise that it tilted my head sideways. I felt the sting greatly.

“Rule one,” the head maid said, frowning. “You speak only when spoken to. Do you understand?

“No!” I yelled, my anger turning to rage. “I can’t stay here and you can’t make me…”

The two guards shoved me down hard to the ground, and she pulled out a long whip and it landed straight on my back. I felt a hot sensation on my back which earned a loud scream. I curled and yelled. But no matter how much I yelled, the whip kept coming. 

By the time the whip stopped, my body was trembling. My face full of tears as they rolled down my cheeks in shame.

A few maids had gathered by the time she was done. Some giggled, their eyes full of delight. I bet they hadn’t seen such a spectacle in a long time.

“Take a look at her,” one whispered. “She thought she could be any different from us.”

I could hear their mocking laughter.

But some weren’t laughing. One, no older than me, looked at me with a smile.

“It’s okay,” she whispered.

Her eyes were filled with worries. But all I felt was betrayal, anger, and despair.

The head maid’s voice rang out among the crowd. “Take her to the quarters. She’ll sleep in the bed with the others. Tomorrow, she’ll start her day.”

The younger maid helped me to my feet, as my knees shook from the impact of the whipping.

We passed through long corridors until we reached the maids’ quarters. An old plate was handed to me. A piece of stale bread and jam on it. I ate it with disgust. 

Night time came and I knew this place wasn’t for me. 

I have to run