It’s just another day. It’s my anniversary, the completion of the first year of becoming mates, but it’s just another day. One just like any other.
This morning I woke up to an empty bed, no flowers or love notes. Nothing to mark the occasion. Just cold sheets beside me and the scent of my mate faint, like he had been gone for hours.
He probably didn’t even remember. He isn’t the sentimental type. Even on the night that his parents, the alpha and luna of the Fire Moon Pack, announced our bond before the entire pack and we mated for the first time, I woke up the next morning just like this.
To a cold and empty bed.
If I were the more optimistical thinking type, I guess that made this sentimental in some way. Maybe this will be like some sad form of a tradition between us. I have had few positive thoughts since the beginning of this union. It's truly just another day for me.
I crawled out from between the sheets, wincing from the pain between my legs.
Non-sentimental and rough. That’s what I am mated to. The cold, distant, and unbearably rough alpha heir of my pack.
His sexual appetite is extreme. Cruel, even. I used to ask him to be gentle, and to act more loving, but he always just snarled and went harder. It’s my job as his future luna to give him an heir, and making love won’t get the job done. At least, he doesn’t believe so.
If I was a human, I wouldn’t have survived our first night together, especially as a virgin. Waking up to him not beside me the morning after our first mating was a blessing, because it gave me a chance to cry in peace for hours on end, my wolf helping to heal me, soothing and comforting me as best she could in the process.
I wrapped a blanket around my body and walked to the window to stare at the training grounds below. It was the women’s training hour, but the ranked wolves stuck around to give pointers and help where needed.
I think they all just stood around to ogle the women, all of the female warriors scantily dressed in the assigned training outfit of micro shorts and sports bras.
There on the field in the middle of it all was my mate, Cameron Haine, standing with his arms crossed next to his future beta, whispering to one another with smirks on their faces while staring at the ass of a she-wolf in front of them.
Cortina, my wolf, whimpered in my head, feeling hurt by his actions.
If not for her, I might have left months ago. She still wants our mate. She still craves the bond that I am starting to loathe. She could not yet see this fated pairing for what it is.
A sham.
We are his fated mate, which is the only reason we are still here, sharing his bed and enduring his neglect during the day, and abuse at night. He knows, as well as any alpha, that the strongest heir will only come from their fated mate. I'm a breeder to him. Nothing else. The fact I haven't conceived a pup yet just worsens the abuse every night.
The day before I turned eighteen, he never once noticed me, though I was one of those women down there on that field during that time. I was a warrior, training to join the ranks of elite warriors to defend our pack. I never really paid much attention to him either until that morning at training.
I had just changed into my training clothes, moving to the center of the field towards the front for the best vantage point. I wasn’t paying the ranked heirs any mind. None of us really did, except for the weaker ones that showed up for training out of obligation and not because they were actually trying to get better.
Those she-wolves hung out in the back near them, flaunting their asses and hoping for a chance to be taken aside for some one-on-one attention to get out of any of the real physical labor and training drills.
Those girls ended up working support jobs for the pack after their time was up attending the mandatory training required of all wolves for two years after becoming an adult. It's enough time for our deltas to determine the ones best suited for warrior life, something I always strived for. Support roles were closer to the packhouse, usually at the digression of the ranked members. Warriors could travel and worked to guard the borders. It was a more lenient job and far more rewarding.
The day that I turned eighteen, during my stretches before our commander took her place at the head of the field, I heard a deep growl resigning behind me. I turned to see Cameron with steamy breath huffing out of his flared nostrils in the cold morning air. His dark eyes were trained on me, glowing with his beast right at the surface.
It didn’t register with me until he was just 10 feet away the reason why he was acting so hostile. As he came close, the others on the field parted to make a path for him, his scent washed over me and those dreaded words slipped from my lips before I could stop them.
Mate.
That was something I never desired to be.
It was another three months until we were mated. He wanted to wait for some reason, and his mother thought it best, since I was a warrior and needed time to be groomed to be the submissive luna they expected me to be.
Now, a year later, I feel trapped on the other side of this window, the world outside looking so much more appealing than my fate to my Alpha mate.
I turned away from the window without another glance at Cameron. Cortina is still whimpering and wanting her mate. Watching him stare at the asses of others would do her no good.
At least our beasts get along. That is really the only thing keeping me here at this point. Cortina’s connection to Cameron’s wolf, Rome.
Rome, unlike his human counterpart, seems to actually like his mate. When they go for their weekly runs every weekend, Rome is playful and attentive. He’s sweet. All the things Cameron is not. Cortina loves her half of our pairing. I can't stand mine. I dislike not only Cameron, but the entire Alpha family now too.
“Chloe!” My mother-in-law, Luna Klarissa Haine, yelled at me as I was getting out of the bath.
I rolled my eyes, hearing her pace around my bedroom, not bothering to answer her call. She would barge into the bathroom any moment anyway. There was no point.
As if on cue, she swung open the French doors and gasped as if she was completely caught off guard at seeing me naked in my own bathroom.
Clutching her chest, she simpers, “Why, my goddess. How can you still be indecent at this hour?”
“At this hour?” I checked the clock on the counter. It isn’t even eight yet.
“Yes, well, come, child. Hurry and dress. Ready yourself. There are to be visitors this evening, and as future luna, there is a lot to prepare.”
“Visitors?” I dried my hair with a towel, then walked into the massive closet, mostly filled with Cameron’s things, to get a pair of underwear and my bra. My clothes took up one small corner of my side. His are overflowing on his, stuffed to the brim thanks to his mother's frequent shopping trips for him.
As I was about to pull on a pair of jeans, she stopped me.
“Oh, no. Not that one, Chloe,dear. It’s much too informal for a luna.” She sighed deeply, shaking her head. “My, my. If only you had parents to teach you such things, it would have made my life so much easier.”
Cortina huffs at the reminder angrily as I grit my teeth, standing back as Luna Klarissa picked out an outfit she deemed more fitting.
A dress. A boxy, a-line dress in blood red.
Figures. Red is the pack color after all.
The rest of the day was filled with the endless tasks of getting ready for a stiff dinner with a visiting alpha and his family. His daughter is about my age, and I’m reminded multiple times that Luna Klarissa was hoping she would turn out to be Cameron’s mate. She didn’t say it, but I could tell she was thinking, not a classless orphan like me.
Cameron didn’t show himself to me the entire day until I was back in our bathroom, changing into a formal gown his mother had again picked out. A gown that I found wildly impractical with its tight fit and the way it restricted my leg movement, despite the slit up the back of it. The neckline was stiff, but plunged almost to my belly button. It reminded me of a tacky corset with its strapless design and wireframe. She had it readied with heels that looked far too high to walk in. It looked like something she would wear to a cocktail party. Not my style at all. I was pinning my hair up on one side, showing my mark on my neck like I had been instructed to do, declaring my ownership to Cameron, when he came up from behind me with a disgruntled look on his face.
His eyes roamed my body, looking full of disapproval.
“Your mother picked this out. Not me. If you don’t like it, take it up with her.”
His lips curled in disdain, but he didn’t say a word. He just turned towards the shower and stripped out of his clothes.
I hurried out of the bathroom, not wanting to be in an enclosed space with the man after all the talk from his mom about how he should have been mated to someone else.
I wish he was. Then I could be enjoying my evening with the other warrior women in the annex on the west wing of the packhouse instead of enduring what was already set to be an uncomfortable night.
I made my way down to the foyer, standing patiently off to the side to wait and welcome our guests. I was the first one down, Alpha Carlton and Luna Klarissa in their suite getting ready as well. The alpha family, vain as could be, always took far too long to ready themselves. When you are the utmost authority in a pack, making others wait for you isn’t considered rude. It’s your right. At least that is what they thought.
To my dismay, the guests arrived early, and I was the only one there welcoming the visiting Alpha couple, Marvin and Bernice Wright, and their son and daughter, Kevin and Odette.
“This place hasn’t changed at all,” the Luna looked around with distaste. “Here,” she shoved her fur coat towards me. “That’s mink and fox tail. I expect you to take better care of hanging it than you have these awful drapes.” “Ma’am, ” one of the omegas rushed over and took the coat from me. “I’ll take that for you.” “Thank you, Caroline,” I smiled at the omega, then fixed the visitors with a leveled look. “It seems our guests have forgotten who I am since we last met?” “Indeed,” Alpha Marvin looked me up and down, a scowl on his severe and wrinkled face. “I thought you might be another one of those harlot warriors your pack keeps as pets. I had forgotten the future alpha here had the misfortune of being mated to one.” I grit my teeth, trying my best to ignore the snide smirks of the women before me. “All things are better with experience,” the son, Kevin, gave me a sickly smile, his eyes lingering on my neckline. “I am very much looking forward to the hospitality shown to me by
Cameron POV“I don’t know what happened.” Odette cried to my mother, no tears actually rolling down her cakey cheeks anymore. Her blush was getting black streaks through it from her previous attempts to cry, but those tears lasted about ten seconds. “She just fell. I think she wasn’t used to the high heels she was wearing.”“It’s not your fault,” my mother comforted her.“She only has herself to blame for being so uncultured in the ways of a Luna,” Odette’s mother ran a hand through Odette’s hair to smooth it out. Even in this situation, her mother is fixing her hair and making excuses instead of giving two shits about my mate who the doctor is saying is gravely injured.Rome is snarling, blaming Odette for Chloe’s accident, even though we don’t have proof it was her.Chloe’s last words to me are still ringing in my head. “I hate you. I fucking hate you.”She didn’t ask for help. She didn’t say she was pushed. Even if Rome thinks Odette did this, I can’t help but to think that Chloe m
She is a fighter, so she took all of it. She held her head high every day, acting as if I completely didn’t matter, and she was unaffected by anything I did. That’s the only reason I bothered to give the fake and clingy bitch visiting with her father, Alpha Wright, any attention at all. I was hoping to affect Chloe in some small way. Just one frown, one hurt expression, one tear in her eye, and I would have stopped and gladly turned my attention to her, but she wouldn’t do any of those things. She remained bored and exasperated the entire evening, rolling her eyes and yawning through dinner, sitting next to me in that dress that I could tell that bastard Kevin wanted to just peel off her. My own father and Alpha Wright were eye-fucking her every time my mother or Luna Bernice weren’t looking.Odette, the other she-wolf warriors, or any other woman for that matter, could never compare to Chloe. In her natural beauty or her raw and fierce demeanor.I wanted her, but I needed her to want
Four Months Later… “Still not awake yet?” my dad asked, sitting behind his desk in his office at the packhouse. I had just gotten home from the hospital to shower and change when he called for me to come to his office to talk. I knew what he wanted. He had been pressuring me more and more over the last few weeks, and I’ve been avoiding him like the plague, spending more and more time with Chloe, hoping what little bond we had would help her to wake up. “No,” I said through clenched teeth. “Then it’s settled,” father said coldly, no question in his tone. “You will pull the cord on her and take another, or you will never be the Alpha of this pack.” “She needs more time,” I argued, knowing it was in vain. My father didn’t care. A Luna had one purpose for an Alpha. To provide an heir. Of course, he also had the traditional expectations of a Luna, all to elevate the Alpha and provide him with unyielding support, but the ability to carry pups was first on his list. With Chloe in the st
“That was great, Alpha. We should go back to-”“Shut up,” I said in a deep warning voice. “You know where to go.”They all know the drill, and this one is no different. My father set aside a part of the packhouse for these whores to be looked after until one of them gets pregnant. Still, most of them need a reminder of the protocol. My father made promises about the first one that could conceive my child, which makes them clingier than needed.After the annoyance leaves, I'm left alone with Chloe again. I didn’t realize how tightly I was holding on to her. Her hand looks so small and white in mine. As I loosen my grip, the color returns to it, and I almost feel her tension lessen.I stared at her for some time, willing her dark brown eyes to open and scowl at me like they did in the past. Her face looks less peaceful than before. I keep thinking she is going to wake up, but maybe it’s the act of what I just did that is causing her tension. Maybe she is feeling it….No. She can’t. The
Hours Earlier….Chloe POVCortina was crying softly to herself after Cameron left, her pain radiating through both of us. That fucking bastard. Saying it was my fault that he was dipping his dick inside other women. Daily. All while holding my hand and ignoring the pain he was causing my wolf.There was no longer any reason for me to stay. I was enduring for her, but only for her. I never wanted an Alpha mate, especially one as self-centered as the one I got. The ranked wolves all had a reputation. I knew he objectified women, but to use them and me the way he did, all to get an heir, should be a crime. I would never let myself be used like that, so he could abuse his power over a whole harem of women.Fuck him. Not literally, because I sure as hell will never be doing that again. I just wish I could reject him to his face before running away.Actually….Maybe I should give the bastard a taste of what he’s been doing to Cortina before I reject him. I should make him hurt as much as he
By the time I had made it to the front door, I was confident that we had gotten away safely.“Miss!” I heard someone call out behind me. My entire body tensed up. I thought about running, but if I did, that could be worse and draw more attention than just facing the one behind me. “Miss, wait one second!”I turned slowly, seeing a young doctor taking long, purposeful strides in my direction, a determined look on his face. He had a phone in his hands, his hand over the receiver. Did he already call Cameron? The packhouse? Was I too late?“Miss!” I braced myself as the doctor closed the distance between us…..And then he walked right past me. I turned with him to see him jogging now towards a young girl about to head out the door.“Miss, I have your mother on the line. She would like for you to stay and have the scan done after all, just to be safe. She’s on her way to…..”My heart was hammering in my chest, the tension leaving me as I realized it wasn’t me he was calling for after all.
I stared at the vial of liquid in my hands, the eerie glow of the fluid inside making my stomach roll. I was standing behind the witches’ store, hidden by the shadows, contemplating my next move now that I got what I needed to stay hidden in the human world.“This, little wolf, will provide you with the protection that you seek,” the witch had told me. She and her more silent partner were more than happy to give me as much as I needed of the potion, and told me to come back if I ran out. One good thing came from being Cameron’s mate. Having Luna's blood excited the witches, and two syringes full of it got me a year’s supply of the scent blocking potion, and even some cash which the talkative witch said would help me to start a new life. I don’t know what kind of life I will be starting with $120, but I was thankful nonetheless. They even gave me a bohemian dress that smelled strongly of hemp and patchouli and a woven hemp satchel to carry all the potions I received.I lifted the cork