Mating night!

Joye

My hopes had been crushed even before they could begin, just on the night of the mating ball.

“Crazy! Come over asshole,” I heard Aurelia chuckle and I knew my troubles were just a step away from me.

Still scared about all that was to come, and if she was going to throw dirt on my face like she did just last week when I had ignored her call, in an attempt to avoid more bullying, I raised my face to her.

She stood in front of me wearing a beige colored dress which I would have agreed fit her perfectly well if she was not a thorn in my life.

“Is there any problem, Aurelia?”

The last thing I wanted was for Aurelia to see my weakness, as it was her strength and I did not want her depriving joy from bullying me, not on this day.

“Ohh, you now call me by my name. So much to expect from a weakling that loves to be reminded of her place.”

She was starting with the taunts again, and even as this was not just the day for it, not when I felt invigorated and positive about the ball that was happening at night, I remained indifferent.

I wanted Aurelia out of my face, so I could finish with my preparations for the mating ball. It was the day of the mating ball, something that I had looked forward to for the past three months as Mom had not stopped talking about how important it was.

“You see all the freedom you want in the world, you will get it. Once you find your mate, then he will always be there to protect you and you would not get bullied,” she would always say.

With all full attention, I’d ask, “Why do you think my mate will protect me? Why do you think it will be my freedom out of the bullies?”

“It’s simple, dear.” That was the line that I was already used to. And continuing, she would add, “Joye, I need you to understand that there’s so much greatness inside of you and I am so positive that you would be mated to a wolf with great potential. Maybe an Alpha or a Beta, and then you would agree with me that he would protect and defend you right?”

After her positive talks every time, I would smile. Mom was right, once I get mated to a wolf, preferably a Beta, because there was no way in the world that I saw an Alpha being mate with me, an ordinary omega, then I would be protected.

And waiting for this day was the only thing that kept me going and not killing myself from the endless bullies that Aurelia and every other she-wolf in the pack threw at me.

“Well, since it is what you would want me to do, I would remind you. You are just an ordinary omega, a slave and a weakling, and you are not worthy to even breathe the air that I breathe.”

“But to what interests me the most, this…” Aurelia’s voice called, as her gaze traveled down my body, with her hands moving in total mockery of me, “Don’t tell me that you are dressed for the mating ball. You think so much of yourself!” Aurelia was laughing loud this time, clapping her hands against itself.

I had just wanted to quietly walk back to my room after managing to patch up the shoes that I intended to wear for the ball with the cobbler, but now, she was doing the one thing that I did not like, creating unnecessary attention for me.

“Wow! Do you think that you would get a mate from this ball? Surprising!” Her chuckles grew louder, and the murmurings that had already begun at the passageway increased.

I could feel the sting from the various eyes that pierced my skin, and I wished at that moment that the ground would open up and swallow me.

“But you don’t think the moon goddess has done so much for you? I mean, she pitied you and let you have a wolf, so you don’t feel completely useless, because even with your wolf, you are. And you still expect her to bless you with a mate?”

“Come to think of it, you are not bothered that you would be a liability to whoever will have you as a mate? I feel you are so ungrateful Joye or whatever in the world your name is.” She voiced out, loud enough to draw the attention of whoever it was that had not caught the drama that Aurelia was creating.

“Joye dear,” her voice was more relaxed as she spoke this time, and I felt my skin boil as she placed her hands on my face, trying to wipe off the tears that had fallen to my cheeks. “It’s just friendly advice and I really would not want to hurt you,” she said. “I think the place that suits you most is cleaning cobwebs and scrubbing the kitchen floor because really, trying to belong by wearing this washed and outdated low-quality gown to attend the mating ball will do you no good.” She added, with a smile that lingered at the corner of her lips, before wiping off a teardrop that trickled down my cheeks.

“And why do you think you are fit to be with the rest of the other wolves?” I flared up at Aurelia.

I could not tell where the sudden burst of energy came from. If it was because I hated the feel of Aurelia’s hands on my face or if it was from remembering Mom’s words of how there is so much greatness inside of me. But one thing, I was sure of, I wanted to maintain it.

I wanted to put Aurelia in her place, even as much as I did not know how to do it and make her realize that she was no better than me. Besides, the only thing that made her feel important was that her father was the Alpha’s Beta, and asides from that, there was absolutely nothing so amazing about Aurelia.

Not forgetting to push her hands away from my face, “Answer me!” I yelled.

“I am brunette, you are too. We basically attend the same school and apparently, we are in the same class, so what makes me less, I want to know?” It was there on her face, Aurelia was shocked and I could see it. It was exactly what I wanted.

I knew all that I was doing was going to get me into so much trouble. But this time, I was damning the consequences.

“And don’t come with the strength and weakling card, you don’t have to tell me. I know I am an omega wolf, a weakling, and every other degrading thing that you address me with, but what makes you any different? You literally can do nothing, and if you don’t get to walk about with your minions every time, I can promise that even I would trash your ass in a fighting competition.”

The rage was there this time, evident in her eyes, and if Aurelia had her way, she would have strangled me. I had come at her with the right card, and I was not exactly far from the truth. She was not an omega wolf like me, but pampering made her a weak asshole.

“Joye…”

“Oh… shut it! Shut it! Shut it!” I screamed at her:

And just when I was about to tell her to shamefully walk out of my front while I go dress up for the mating ball, as I was bent on having a good day, regardless of whatever demon in a person I had to encounter, take Aurelia for example, I heard a voice behind her.

“You know Aurelia had mentioned this to me, but I have not paid close attention. And putting that in place, I would only leave you with a warning now that you respect her regardless of what she wants you to do, you might not like it the next time.” It was Ethan, son of the Alpha, who happened to be Aurelia’s boyfriend, and hearing him defend her made me sad as much as it wasn’t supposed to.

I had admired him way back in Junior high, his dark hair and ocean-blue eyes. But getting his attention was almost an impossible thing. And here he was, fighting for his bitchy girlfriend that the one thing she was good at, was torturing me.

“Let us go,” he mentioned, and because I had already gone numb, Aurelia spat on my face before leaving with him.

I could not tell what hurt the most though. But because I was positive that when the ball begins at night, I was going to meet my mate who would save me from all of this madness, I did not break down in tears.

And all through the time I completed my dressing for the ball, I prayed that my mate will be from some other pack, as the mating ceremony brought packs together, so I could go far away from the emotional torture I had received.

The ball was already at its full peak, with all of its dancing and drinking already going on. I could hear excited screams all about me as wolves found their mates, and I was already getting nervous.

Was Aurelia right? Maybe I was not lucky to get a mate.

But as the thought hit me, a scent followed. With a very strong pull, my eyes wandered through the crowds and finally, they fell on a pair of ocean-blue eyes that glittered brightly.

“Mate!” I muttered.

Ethan was my mate.

His eyes glowed as they stayed fixed on me, but instead of excitement, as all the other wolves had, I saw how his face had scrunched up in disgust.

“You are not my mate!” He bawled out immediately, moving closer to me.

“You are not my mate, and don’t you ever bring me to a level as low as yours. You are a weakling and an ordinary omega. I am an Alpha and you can not be my mate.”

Aurelia’s face which had gone wide in shock from hearing me call Ethan my mate, immediately filled with excitement and mockery.

“An omega? Did the moon goddess perhaps make a mistake?” I heard voices behind me.

Maybe all Mom told me was a lie. There was no greatness in me, and there was no beauty in having a mate.

If I knew my night would have gone that way, then I would have listened to Aurelia and stayed behind scrubbing floors.

But here I was, drowning in my shame.

Unable to withstand the voices around me, and the hateful stare of Ethan, I took steps backward and ran out of the hall.

At that point, where I was running was not exactly what bothered me, but every other place was better than the torture my wolf was going through from being in that hall.