1: Cruelty

Aurora

“Nooo!” I screamed at the top of my voice, jumping up on my feet with panting breaths. Hot sweat beaded on my forehead as I straightened, my eyes rolling around.

I was in my room.

It was one of those relentless nightmares that always left me drenched, shaken to my very core.

I didn’t waste another second. I scrambled out of bed and rushed toward the kitchen, only to halt abruptly when Mia stepped in, her brows drawn into a deep frown.

“Don't tell me you’re still here, Aurora?” Mia's voice snapped at me, and my arms trembled around the coffee-dispensing machine.

“I’m almost done,” I murmured.

“You should.” She sighed, turning to get something.

My arms quivered uncontrollably against the machine as I battled to input the right button, my pulse thundering loudly in my ears.

“Here.” Mia handed me the tray containing the mug cup.

“You better hurry,” she added sharply.

I pulled out the coffee, heading out of the kitchen, almost missing steps and tripping over.

“Be careful!” Mia’s voice faded just as I closed the kitchen door behind me.

I was practically sprinting now, the tray rattling in my shaky grip as I ignored everything around me.

‘I can't be late. I can't give him or anyone any more reasons to treat me more cruelly’

I kept muttering those lines and didn’t even know I was standing at Liam's room.

I knocked and didn’t get any response, so I pushed the door open slightly and slipped in to go drop the coffee on the table. My heart was racing violently in my chest under his suffocating and intimidating presence.

There he was.

Liam.

His citrus and mint scent flooded me.

He was standing against the two-railed window with one arm casually tugged into his pant pockets. His free hand trailed the rail along the window, looking outside at nothing I could pick.

My presence wasn’t acknowledged.

Good. Perfect.

The room was massive in size, almost intimidating in its grandeur. A large mattress at the centre, while a sleek bar stand sat at one corner. A wardrobe stretched along the far wall, and beside it, a reading table stood neatly arranged with towering shelves packed with books.

Morning light filtered through the window, spilling across the room in a soft glow, though the atmosphere remained heavy, dim, and unsettling despite the early hour.

I simply dropped down the tray and had almost slipped out of the door when his voice snapped at me.

I froze, my body trembling under the weight of his stare.

“Two minutes late,” he muttered under his breath, sharp and piercing.

My breath hitched, and my stomach twisted into knots. Still, I forced myself to remain standing, even as my body trembled uncontrollably.

Then, I felt the shift… That dangerous shift in the air, when he suddenly moved. Slowly, measured, almost predatory.

Each step he took toward the table sent a fresh wave of dread crashing through me.

Every step measured to lunge, to torture.

My instinct told me to run.

Trouble. Danger. Dangerous.

But even I knew that wasn’t possible. With Liam, or even the Alpha King, Lucas, you don’t leave unless you are permitted to. Then what made me think I could slip out safely earlier on?

My head remained bowed as my chest rose and fell at a brutal pace. Fear and panic were already digging holes of their own in my body.

From my peripheral vision, I saw him stir the coffee, drawing it close to his nose with practiced ease, each movement deliberate.

Liam took a sip, and I swallowed hard, not even letting it settle when his gaze swept over me. Cold, dangerous, dominating, and maddeningly annoying.

“You never added sugar?”

And there again, my lungs dropped. My heart slammed furiously.

How come I forgot such a crucial detail? Why would I even…

“Ahhh… uhm…” I stammered at a terrifying pace, swiftly rubbing my arms around my body. The sting from the hot coffee Liam had splashed on me burned into my soul straight from my skin.

“Next time you serve me coffee without adding sugar, be ready for the mug to also smack those ugly lines on that plump body.” His voice was sharp and bruising.

I was so consumed by the burning that I didn’t notice when he set down the mug and moved over to his earlier spot, until he roared hoarsely,

“Now take that away and go get me a proper coffee.”

My feet moved before I could stop them. I carried the tray along with the empty mug and scrambled towards the door.

“Stop,” he ordered coldly, and my feet quivered. “Now step closer.”

My breath had turned ragged. And for a moment, I wished the floor would open and swallow me up for fear of what awaited me. Past memories flooded me as I took a few steps closer, until I was inches away from him. His rich and spicy scent wrapped around me with unusual precision, making breathing such a difficult task.

Liam stood there, glaring, watching. Too casual. Too cold. Too dominating.

Time faded. The world spun. My body drew close to a panicked wretch when he covered the distance between us, lifting my chin like it was just some everyday routine and making me look directly at his darkened deep blue orbs.

“You are no different from a lowly maid, wagered to me. You are cheap, fat, wretched-looking, and ugly,” he spat coldly, his eyes carving holes into my gaze. “Never test my patience again. Follow instructions. And never show up late.”

“Am I clear?”

My head spun, but I forced the words out.

“Yes… Liam.”

His expression darkened instantly.

“Title?”

“Ye-yes… Al—Alpha Liam.”

“Better. Now get that silly, fat, pathetic frame to work.”

I scrambled back towards the door, even forgetting how I turned the knob open.

“Two minutes,” his voice followed, vanishing with my hurried footsteps to the kitchen.

When I entered, Mia was still preparing the list of items for the morning alongside two other omegas, Sable and Abigail. She immediately sensed the tension as her eyes ran over my body. She didn’t say a word but excused herself from the omegas and assisted in getting another coffee pretty quickly, and I turned back to that hallway again.

I sucked in a deep breath and forced my trembling form to move. With Liam, it was better to go hug a high voltage transformer than do anything wrongly.

Most times, I wondered what crimes I had ever committed for the moon to turn her back on me. Once a despised daughter of the former Beta of Dark Shades Pack, to an ordinary omega all in one day.

Fate turned so cruel that I am even questioning why me, more often than ever. I was locked up in silent sobs, just like what I was expressing as I set down the tray and crawled out of his room.

He was still standing by the window and didn’t even turn to me, but I felt the weight of his unspoken promises.

I was wagered to him by my own parents. That had been the story for four years, and those years had taught me more than they should. I wasn’t a daughter cherished by my family, and as much as that stung, it still wasn’t enough to use me as a payoff for whatever bargain that was.

I had more questions yet without answers, and I hadn’t even set eyes on Dad, Mum, or Lena these past years. It’s even worse when your own family treats you like trash, like you meant nothing, and still ghosts you like your very existence wasn’t worth it.

“Breathe, my dear.” I felt Mia’s arms cup around my shoulders, both soothing and comforting.

“But why me? Why do I have to constantly be humiliated even over the slightest of mistakes? Isn’t it normal for a human to make mistakes?” My eyes stung with the brutal sensation from the burn, adding to my fuzziness.

Silence. Thick, but comforting in a way.

“It hurts pretty deep,” I blurted through the fog already in my chest. I needed to pour it out. To crash down on the emotions.

“I know,” Mia whispered, barely audible. “But don’t take it so deeply and make it affect you to the extent of not seeing the bright sides of every turn.”

“What do you mean?” My eyelids battered in confusion.

Mia shook her head, bringing her gaze to meet mine. “You are turning eighteen in two days, right?” I nodded in confirmation, imagining where she was heading with the subtle question.

“That’s the perfect bait. The perfect remedy.”

“I don’t understand.”

Mia’s lids fluttered. “It pisses me off that you haven’t thought in this line. But I’ll do you a favor to enlighten you.” Her face contorted into a frown. It soon disappeared, followed by a conscious, calculative stare.

“You turn eighteen and find your mate, then bid this life of torture goodbye and live your free life with your mate.”

I was amazed in a certain kind of way as I looked at Mia doubtfully. “And you think Liam is going to allow that?”

“What do you mean by if he’s going to allow that? Is he the Moon Goddess who bestows mates to the unmated? Or is he fate who would stop you from finding happiness with your mate?” Mia’s rage tugged at me, and I was pressed to explain.

“I’m sorry I got you pissed off.” I shook my head. “I doubt Liam would even give me a chance to be loved by my mate if eventually the moon pairs me. He believes I’m some piece of item used to pay off a debt, which I don’t yet understand.”

I swallowed hard as the realization weighed on me, heavier than before, but I didn’t voice it out.

Even if Liam didn’t stop me from being with my mate, I’m only certain my mate would reject me on the spot and wouldn’t want me either.

“That doesn’t change anything. Let’s hope for the bright side and stop worrying over some over-pathetic, silly ass.” She was so pissed that she forgot she was in the kitchen, and anyone, including Liam, could walk up to us.

My breath spiked when I turned towards the door and breathed a shallow sigh of relief when I didn’t find anyone there.

But that relief wasn’t going to settle with the thoughts from our earlier discussion filling my chest once again with sheer brutality.

I still felt that small part of me that clung to the bright side. At least that had always been one of my secret prayers, to leave this damn life of torture.

But time, they said, would determine that fate, and I hope maybe…

Just maybe…

Time would change everything.