3| Jealousy!

The pack house has never been so unpleasant to live in, up until these few days. After Alpha Harry discovered that Lauren—Luna Lauren—was his mate, they mated immediately, with Luna Lauren getting full rights to her position.

But Luna Lauren finds tormenting me more useful to her time than her Luna duties. Which is why, she has turned me into her personal rag. And the worst part of it all is that Alpha Harry is always on her side.

Sometimes, he even goes the extra mile to punish me whenever I find it hard to carry out his mate's impossible tasks. I knew things would change after he became Alpha of the pack, but I didn't know that he would change along with things.

I miss the old Harry. The nice one, the caring one, the one that stood up for me through all things, not the current Harry. This cruel being he's made himself to be, a leader that rules with an iron fist and a caged heart. Things weren't supposed to be like this.

"Why are you just coming in now?" Luna Lauren asks me as I walk into her room with a tray of food on my hands. I take in a deep breath and smile politely.

"The kitchen workers weren't around, so I had to make the meal myself." I say in a respectful tone, looking down.

"You mean, you cooked this yourself?" She says slowly, standing up from her chair and walking over to me.

"Yes, I—" I started, but the sound of the tray thrashing against the floor tears through the air, cut off my sentence midway.

"How dare you?" She seethes, grabbing a fistful of my hair and triggering a pained cry from my throat.

"Luna, please—"

"You think I don't know that you poisoned my meal?" She says it in disgust, and I try to shake my head, but her grip on my hair is too painful.

"I didn't try anything," I say as tears stream down from my eyes.

"You lowly she-wolf, you think you can kill me, right?" She says, throwing me against a wall, and I wince at the impact.

Her figure looms over me, and I let out a silent prayer to the moon goddess, begging her to save me from this situation.

"I think it's high time you knew your place in this pack, stupid mutt." Luna Lauren says as she presses her high heels against my stomach and I cry aloud, screaming at the top of my lungs.

"Below me." She sneers, digging her heels into my stomach, relishing in my pain. I don't know how much of this pain I can take. I can't–

"Luna!" Someone says loudly, busting through the doors of the room, and Luna Lauren immediately disentangles from me, marching towards the person.

It takes me a while to gather myself together before I stand up from the ground shakily.

"Luna Lauren, Isla is a member of your pack. You can't treat her like that." My savior, Beta Oliver, says in my defense:

"This mutt you're trying to save poisoned my meal." Luna Lauren says, and my jaw drops at the same time Beta Oliver gasps aloud.

"Isla isn't capable of such. Luna, you must be mistaken—"

"Are you trying to say that I'm a liar?" Luna Lauren cuts off Oliver's sentence harshly.

"Not at all; I'm just saying that surely there must be some mistake here," Beta Oliver says before turning to me. "You didn't poison her food, right?" He says it in a tone that makes me believe that he can't possibly believe what he's asking.

"I didn't, I swear." I answer breathlessly, wheezing a bit since my sides still hurt from the previous beating.

"You see, she didn't try to poison you." Beta Oliver says this to Luna Lauren, but she still looks doubtful. Not a second later, Alpha Harry steps into the room with a scowl on his face, and I immediately feel weaker and smaller.

His eyes clashed with Luna Lauren's first, before glancing at Beta Oliver and settling on me. His expression alone makes me want to crawl into a hole and never come out.

"Oh, Harry, you're here." Luna Lauren cries out dramatically as she clings to Harry—Alpha Harry. I hate how close she is to him.

"This lowly she-wolf—" Luna Lauren points to me, "tried to poison me!" She ends dramatically, and I see Alpha Harry's jaw tick as he glares at me.

"You tried to kill my mate, your Luna." He emphasizes each word as he marches towards me.

"I didn't; I just brought food to her since the kitchen workers were—"

"Silence!" He yells, gripping my forearm tightly and almost sweeping me off my feet.

"You tried to kill my mate." He repeats it again, and I start to shake my head as words find it hard to escape my mouth.

"Alpha, Isla wouldn't do such. What reason is there to poison your mate?" Beta Oliver interjects.

"Jealousy!" Luna Lauren screeches. "She's jealous that I am your mate instead of her. She even told me so herself!" She continues, and I wish for the ground to open up and swallow me whole because of the look that Alpha Harry is giving me right now.

"I see," Alpha Harry says, more to himself than us, as he nods his head continuously.

"Return to your chambers; I'll pass my punishment tomorrow morning." He says, releasing his firm grip on my arm and causing me to stumble a little.

I feel lightheaded at the thought. I wonder what is going to happen to me tomorrow. Will he hang me for this false accusation?

"Why are you still standing here? I've dismissed you!" Alpha Harry barks at me, and immediately I rush to the exit of the room, pain aching every corner of my body.

"Isla!" A voice calls out, stopping me in my tracks as I turn to look at the owner of the voice.

Beta Oliver reaches me with a panicked expression, and I can't help but feel stupid around him.

"I'm sorry for what just happened to you," he says in a sympathetic tone, and I wave him off.

"It's fine; I'll be fine." I say.

"No, you won't. Not as long as you're here." He says, whispering the last part, and I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion.

"Follow me," he says, intertwining our fingers as he leads me out of the hallway and into his room. He locks the door once we're in before turning back to me.

"Beta Oliver, what's going on?" I ask him.

"I know you didn't try to poison Luna. And I know that she and the Alpha are just toying with you." He says, and I turn my gaze to the floor.

"But it doesn't have to be that way," he says, using two of his fingers to lift my chin up so that I can look at his face.

"I don't understand," I say breathlessly.

"We could leave this place, you and I. And go to the human world. There won't be any Alphas or Lunas to torment you. You'll live a happy life." He says in a soft tone.

"Oliver, you can't be serious," I say, turning away from him, but he holds me back.

"I am; you don't have to decide now. I'll give you time to think about it. Okay?" He says, and I nod my head.

"But not too much time. Every second you spend here drains a bit of your life. I've noticed it, and I'm sure you have too. Just think about it." He adds once again.

"I will," I say, before turning to leave his room.

***

"You'll be the pack's slave." Alpha Harry announces.

"Anything and everything that any member of the pack asks of you, you shall obey." He continues, and I try my best to hold back the tears from my eyes.

"You're dismissed... For now." He adds.

Luna Lauren smiles in satisfaction at my punishment, and I feel my stomach drop as I think of all the things that people are allowed to ask of me.

I don't think I'll be able to survive in this pack for long. I'll be a walking target—more than I already am. Was Oliver right? Should I leave this pack?

The devious smirk on Alpha Harry's face tells me exactly what I should do. I turned away from the room and set out to find Beta Oliver.

Something must be done.