Sweet Abomination

 The morning of my wedding doesn’t begin with the soft glow of the sun or the gentle song of birds, as it does in fairy tales.

It begins with a shock of ice-cold water that steals the air from my lungs. The brutal cold drags me violently from a dreamless sleep. I gasp, my lungs seizing as the liquid pours over my nose and mouth, stinging my eyes. I scramble upright, coughing and sputtering, my hands slapping blindly at the soaked sheets. Through the blur of wet hair and the sudden chill of the morning air, I see the woman who haunts me everywhere.

She haunts my dreams and torments me in reality, too. And she’s the woman I’m supposed to call my mother.

My stepmother, Veronica, stands at the foot of my bed, holding an empty crystal pitcher. She doesn’t look like a woman about to see her daughter off to a happy life. She looks like a woman who can’t wait to take out the trash that’s been living in her house for over twenty years.

She’s tall and lean, with her hair pulled back into a knot so tight it looks as though it’s trying to peel the skin off her forehead. Like every other werewolf in this house, she possesses an effortless, predatory grace that makes her look ready to spring even when she’s standing perfectly still.

“Get up, abomination,” she says. Her voice is dry and flat, like dead leaves skittering across a sidewalk. “It’s your wedding day. You’ve slept long enough.”

I wipe the water from my eyes and try to steady my breathing, but each breath comes out in ragged gasps. I’m shivering so hard my teeth click together. The room remains dim, with the early morning light barely registering as a grey smudge against the peeling wallpaper of my attic bedroom. Veronica makes no move to help me. She simply watches as I struggle to untangle my legs from the wet fabric of my nightgown.

Despite everything happening around me, I have only one thing on my mind. Only one thing matters to me.

“My father,” I manage to say, my voice thin and cracked. “Is there any word? Did they let him call?”

Veronica lets out a short, sharp sound that might pass for laughter if there is any warmth in her chest.

“Your father is still locked cell because of what he did. If you want him to see another sunrise, you’ll stop shaking like a wet dog and start acting like a bride. Alpha Luke expects you at the mansion by noon. He doesn’t like being kept waiting, and I’m sure as hell not going to be the one to tell him his human prize is running late.”

Look at her,” a voice sneers from the doorway.

My stepsister, Jess, leans against the frame, her arms crossed over her perfectly arranged silk robe. She’s a werewolf, like everyone else in this house. She’s lithe and strong, with an effortless grace I’ll never possess. Her hair forms a thick, honey-blonde mane, and her skin has the golden glow that comes with a high metabolism and the spirit of a wolf.

She looks at me, then at the puddle on my bed, and wrinkles her nose.

“Her eyes are so puffy, I’m sure she can barely see. You look even more like an abomination than usual, Belle. If I were Alpha Luke, I’d take one look at that face and send you straight to the silver mines.”

“Leave her be, Jess,” Veronica says, though there’s no kindness in her tone. “We just need her presentable enough to get through the vows. Once the contract is signed and your father is released, Luke can do whatever he wants with her.”

My father is the only person who has ever looked at me without disgust. While the rest of the pack sees a “human glitch” in a lineage of powerful wolves, he sees a daughter. But now he’s gone, rotting in a cell for a reason Veronica hasn't told me yet.

The only way to buy my fathers freedom is to offer myself to Alpha Luke. He’s a man known for his cruelty, a wolf whose reputation for violence makes even the strongest warriors lower their heads.

I swing my legs out of bed, my feet hitting the cold wooden floor.

“Has there at least been any word from the airport? Any letters?”

Veronica laughs.

“You think you’re in a position to ask questions? You’re lucky Luke wants you at all. Most Alphas would execute a human born into a wolf lineage the moment she fails to shift. Your mother does us no favours by bringing you into this world.”

They say my mother’s death during childbirth is the Moon Goddess’s way of scrubbing a mistake from the earth.

“I’m doing what you asked,” I whisper, my voice trembling. I try to pull the wet sheets over my chest, but they’re too heavy with water. “I’m marrying him. Just tell me my dad is okay.”

“He’ll be okay when the papers are signed and you belong to Luke,” Veronica says.

She walks to the small closet and pulls out a garment bag. She unzips it with a violent snap that echoes through the tiny room.

“Now, get in the shower. You smell like human sweat, and it makes me want to puke.”

I walk over to the vanity and pick up the garment bag. When I unzip it, I can’t stop the fresh sob that rises in my throat.

The dress is hideous. Its dull, mustard-yellow lace clashes horribly with my pale skin. The fabric is scratchy and stiff, and I know I’ll be uncomfortable in it. It’s not a wedding gown. It’s a punishment.

“Put it on,” Jess commands, stepping forward to tug at a lock of my wet hair. “And don’t you dare ruin it with more of those pathetic human tears. You’re finally going to be useful for something, abomination. Be grateful for that.”

They leave the room, Jess laughing under her breath as she shuts the door.