001: The invisible girl

Elara's POV

I learned to be invisible when I was seven years old, the day Mistress Cora beat me so badly I couldn't walk for three days because I made the mistake of looking her daughter in the eye. My mother held me while I cried and whispered the most important lesson of my life. Invisible girls don't get hurt, invisible girls survive. Now at twenty, I've perfected the art of being nothing, keeping my eyes down when wolves pass, making myself small in corners and doorways, never speaking unless spoken to. My brown hair hangs in my face to hide my features, and my gray shapeless clothes help me blend into shadows and walls where I belong.

Most days the wolves in the palace don't even notice me, just another human slave among hundreds who cook and clean and serve.

We're less than the lowest ranked wolf in the pack, nothing but property and tools and things that don't matter. But being invisible means staying alive, and as long as I'm alive I can dream about something more, even if those dreams never come true.

"Elara! Stop daydreaming and move faster!" Marta's sharp voice snapped me back to reality, and I hurried across the massive kitchen where chaos reigned.

"Go help Sara with the wine service. And Elara?" Marta's voice dropped to a warning growl. "Do not mess this up. If anything goes wrong tonight, the King will have our heads. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," I whispered.

The sacred mating ritual was tonight, the biggest ceremony of the year where unmated wolves gather to find their destined partners, and for the first time, I had to serve in it.

The thought twisted my stomach with anxiety because humans are barely tolerated at such holy events, warned to stay invisible and never make eye contact or touch anything sacred.

We dressed in plain white serving uniforms, and when I looked in the cracked mirror I barely recognized my pale, scared reflection. "Invisible," I whispered to myself like a prayer. "Stay invisible."

The ceremonial hall stole my breath with its massive high ceilings and walls covered in wolf carvings, hundreds of candles casting dancing shadows while the air hung thick with incense and wolf scents.

Wolves arrived in their finest clothes, moving with predatory grace while I felt like a mouse trapped in a room full of cats. Sara and I took our positions along the wall with trays of wine glass goblets, trying to disappear into the background as the hall filled with three hundred wolves or more.

"Are you nervous?" Sara asked quietly when we were alone.

"About tonight? Terrified."

Sara gave me a sympathetic look. "Just stay in the background. Serve quickly and get out. Don't look at anyone, don't touch anyone, and definitely don't go near the ceremony area. Humans at the ritual are barely tolerated as it is.”

I nodded quickly and kept my head down. This wasn't her first year serving in the ceremony, so I should better do as she does.

When the Alpha King entered, the entire room fell into terrified silence because King Roderick commanded fear like a weapon, tall and broad with silver streaked hair and ice chip eyes that made even other Alphas drop their gazes.

He ruled the Shadow Ridge Pack for thirty years. His reign was marked by strength and ruthlessness.

Then the temperature dropped another ten degrees as a figure entered from a side door, and every wolf in the hall tensed with barely hidden fear.

I couldn't help breaking my own rule as I glanced up at the most dangerous looking person I'd ever seen.

He was tall and broader than even the King, his scarred face was marked by brutal battles and his black hair was tied back to reveal cold silver eyes that looked like a born killer's.

He wore all black and moved with deadly grace while other wolves shifted away to create a clear path, leaving him to sit alone in the front row even at a ceremony meant to bring wolves together.

This was the King's Blade and most powerful warrior, the one they call the cursed alpha, though most won't speak his name aloud.

Stories say he's killed thousands in battle and that every woman chosen as his mate has died within weeks or even days. They say death follows him like a shadow wherever he goes.

The ceremony began shortly, with the High Priestess leading ancient chants. Sara and I moved through the rows refilling crystal goblets with wine until disaster struck when another server collided with me.

Wine splashed across the floor in a crimson pool as glass shattered all over the floor. The chanting stopped and every eye turned toward me while my heart stopped beating.

I stared at the mess as my mind went blank with terror as I realized that I disrupted the sacred ceremony and drew attention to myself in the worst possible way.

"Clumsy human," the wolf server hissed at me. It was his fault, but of course it was my fault. Everything is always our fault.

I dropped to my knees to clean up the mess with shaking hands as Mistress Marta's voice cut through. "Elara! Clean this up immediately and get out of this hall.”

Blood mixed with wine as I cut my finger on broken glass. I didn't care, and in my desperate rush to escape I didn't watch where I was going. My foot caught on my wet hem and I stumbled forward, falling directly into a seat beside the one person in the entire kingdom I should never get close to.

The empty space around the Cursed Alpha wasn't empty anymore as I landed on my knees, close enough to feel heat radiating from his body.

For one heartbeat nothing happened while the hall held its breath. Then the impossible occurred as golden light erupted around us like spider silk made of sunshine, visible threads connecting us in the unmistakable pattern of a mate bond.

But that was impossible because humans can't form mate bonds with wolves, yet the golden threads were real and binding and permanent as they sank into our skin. I turned my head slowly to see the Cursed Alpha staring at me with wide silver eyes.

Up close, he was even more terrifying and magnetic all at once.

"What is the meaning of this?" The Alpha King's voice cut through shocked gaps and whispers like a blade. Chaos exploded as wolves jumped up.

"Kill her!" someone shouted from the crowd. "She defiled our sacred ceremony!"

"The human must die!"

"This is blasphemy!"

They started to shift with glowing eyes and lengthening teeth, ready to tear me apart right there in the ceremonial hall while I knelt frozen at that chair and unable to move or think.

Then the Cursed Alpha stood in one fluid motion. His power rolled off him in visible waves that made every wolf coming towards me step back.

"She is mine," he roared in a voice deep and cold as a winter grave. Even the Alpha King was shocked by those words.

"This cannot stand," King Roderick snarled with fury twisting his face. "She's human and this bond is an abomination against nature itself." But Kael's silver eyes stayed locked on the crowd as he responded. “The bond had formed and it can't be undone. She is my mate and anyone who touches her will die screaming!”

The King's expression turned cruel. "Then she must prove herself worthy. A human was never mated to a wolf. She'll undergo the trials, the same as any contested bond. If she survives, we'll discuss this further. If she doesn't..." He smiled coldly. "The problem solves itself.”

Everyone knew the trials were designed to kill, but the cursed alpha simply turned to me with an unreadable expression and spoke.

"Can you walk?" he asked me.

I managed to nod. I was shaking so hard I wasn't sure if it was true.

"Then get up. You're coming with me."

He didn't touch me. He didn't offer me his hand. He just turned and walked toward the exit. He clearly expected me to follow.

I stood on trembling legs and began to follow him. Then I looked back one last time at Sara's shocked pale face and the life I knew before.

What other choice did I have other than to follow him?

Was this salvation or doom?