Chapter 1: Chosen

Tonight wasn’t supposed to matter for someone like me

The other girls gleamed and sparkled while I struggled with a dress twice my size. 

Selene had only slid the notice of my invite under my door three hours ago. I could still recall how wide my eyes were when I read the notice. 

I had checked the name three times, tracing the ink like it might change if I looked long enough. It didn’t. 

The moon goddess couldn’t have cared about rank if she picked me. That was what I told myself, it was what I needed to believe.

The ceremony began, high priestesses walked the line slowly with an open scroll. An audience was present, the scent of wolves, perfume, candle and smoke along with a silence heavy enough to choke on.

Even the air felt expectant. Waiting and watching. 

Prince Adrian stood at the altar, his face devoid of emotion, as though this could only be a formality. As he walked, girls around me vibrated with an excitement I couldn’t understand even as the air seemed to bend to his every movement. 

Slowly, my heart picked up a hurried beat. He was walking hand in hand with the high priestesses and they were reaching the end of the line.

She reached me and time stopped. 

Our eyes locked gazes. Instantly, I could read the slight hint of shock and mockery in her eyes. The way they raked me up and down, to analyze if someone of my caliber could actually be here.

Then as though she was shaking off a bad dream, she looked down at the scroll and read. “Lena Ashford.”

My brows raised in confusion. Whispers pierced the once silent halls. None subtle.

“Definitely not Her”

“The ashford omega? It can’t be. She didn’t even have a wolf form yet!”

They went on and on but I stopped hearing them. A slight hiss escaped my lips as a searing pain spread around my wrists.

A warm glow surrounded my flesh, whispers gave way to astonished gasps as a gold light burned into my skin. 

Sealing my fate. I was no longer an ordinary omega. I was the Goddess’ chosen.

A bride.

My legs wobbled, the marble floor was cold through the thin soles of my shoes as I walked to the alter where candles blurred the edges of my vision.

This couldn’t have been a dream because Adrian was looking at me. His dark eyes circled around my figure and in a moment, something in them shifted.

I gulped.  I have never felt this before but yet, I knew what it was. 

And it wasn’t love. It was recognition. Something close to an equal, a golden warmth and a sincere rightness.

My eyes tinged a little from the tears I refused to shed. Finally, I belonged somewhere. 

The priestess bound our wrists and said the sacred words, afterwards people suddenly knew my name.

Suddenly, they said it as though they weren’t the same ones who mocked me. People looked at me and smiled and at the reception, it was worse.

Adrian didn’t say a word, of course but the way people fawned over us, you would believe we have been engaged since birth. 

The journey back home was even more adventurous than ever but by the time I sat on my bed, the coldness of the bedroom knocked me back to my reality. 

My thoughts spun but faded when I caught the warm glow still on my wrist. A sense of safety overwhelmed me and my heart tightened.

This was the closest thing to happiness I had ever felt. 

I heaved a content sigh. This was good, this was real and it was all mine. For once, something had not been taken from me. 

Sleep came quietly until a harsh sound snatched me out from under. 

I was sitting up, my breathing erratic as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. 

A harsh gasp escaped my lips as I made out Cara in the doorway. 

My perfect stepsister, two years older and still clad in her deep red fitted ceremony dress. Everything about her screamed perfect but not her face.

She walked menacingly towards me and I pressed my spine to the wall. Her jaw was set on something I couldn’t name. 

Behind her, Selene stepped into the room and it dawned on me how fast the room had dropped its temperature.

“So,” Cara started, her voice sounding dangerously flat. 

“You think you can just—“ she stopped, pressed her lips together, looked at the ceiling for a second like she was asking for patience.

I could hear the sound of my heart in my ears. 

“Cara—“

“Luna of this pack,” she interrupted, her voice taking on an edge as though she tasted something disgusting. 

“You think you can stand next to him. Lead this pack, bear his pups?” She moved dangerously towards me and I realized I had caged myself. 

“While I’m standing here?” She finished and I shook my head, goosebumps already growing on my arms as something glinted against the moonlight from her hands.

“You are not the goddess’ chosen. You can’t be, not trash like you,” she suddenly grabbed my wrists, her fingers closing around the mark and squeezed. 

A pain, electric and something deeper than physical pain spread from the point of contact to my heart. A raw sound escaped me as I struggled but Cara was stronger than me and I hadn’t eaten in two days now. 

“T–that hurts, Cara stop,” I struggled but the pain only deepened, till I was sure tears were falling freely from my eyes.

“Good.” She pulled forcibly dragging me halfway off the bed. I tried to grab the bedpost as leverage but something happened. 

Cara must have seen my attempt because the sound echoed first before I realized my neck was snapped to the side. A burning sensation engulfed the left side of my face.

A ringing in my ears halted all movements as the realization dawned on me.

Claws grabbed my hair and face, my body thrown like a ragdoll for entertainment as she forced me to look at her.

“Dont think a mark makes you grown. As long as I am alive, you will remember your place. Is that clear?” She questioned.

I didn’t answer.

Her eyes turned molten as she pushed me to the floor and stepped back. That was when Selene moved, arms folded watching with an expression of pride.

“You thought you looked pretty huh?” She questioned and I shook my head feverishly. 

If staying with the ashfords taught me anything, it was that Selene was evil on her own but with Cara? It was phenomenal.

Suddenly, something glinted at the edge of my vision as Cara, bearing an expression of madness lunged at me. I tried to escape but it was too late.

“Mother! Please,” I begged but only got shoved back. Selene walked in front of me and crouched.

“I can never be the mother of low-life like you. You are a stupid child,” she hissed and I flinched. My body raked with emotions and tremors as I begged with my eyes until she rose to her feet.

“And nobody outshines my daughter. Nobody!” She declared and Cara pounced on me.

The scissors went into my hair, the soft definitive snick. The weight was gone from one side while I stood with my face to the wall while Selene and Cara worked methodically. 

Pieces of hair fell to my feet but I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t scream and when they were done, they dragged me to my broken mirror and forced me to look at myself.

I could barely recognize myself, red rimmed eyes blazing with a quiet fury.

“The alpha,” Cara whispered behind me, “is mine.”

They left quietly and I just stood there in the quiet, the warm glow untouched despite the welts surrounding the golden mate mark.

They may have tried to disfigure me but the goddess had chosen me. For the first time in my life something had chosen me back. 

And nobody gets to finish what they started tonight because tomorrow, I will be their queen.