The Young Woman Wrapped as a New Year Gift

Ianna, you are destined to be the strongest warrior and Luna this land has ever seen. You need to build up your strength before that.—Moon Goddess.

Ianna’s POV

Today is my sister Lissa’s Eleventh birthday, I hopped down the stairs excited about having a slice of the chocolate cake mom baked for her last night. It was big and I could not wait to have my share. My mouth watered just thinking about it.

When I got to the kitchen Lissa, my sister was already having her slice. With excitement I went and took mine. Just as I was about to take a huge bite from it, Lissa slapped the cake out of my hand, and it fell on the floor.

I looked at it with my eyes glittering with tears, why would she do that? “Who the hell do you think you are? Mom made this cake for me, for my birthday. What gave you the right to take it?” I could hear Lissa, but my eyes were still on the slice on the floor.

I really wanted that cake, I bet it tasted so good. “What are you still standing there for? Take a broom and clean this mess before mom gets here.” My hope returned when she mentioned our mother.

She might convince my sister to give me a slice. I went and took a broom, and the dustpan then cleaned the mess. Now I could not wait for mom to come back. She went to a ball at the palace.

a luna eclipse ball, the Lycan king invited everyone in the kingdom. The royal family hosted many such balls.

I was sitting in the lounge away from Lissa waiting for our mother to come back. I was so anxious that I was tapping my foot on the tiled floor and kept looking at the time like it was going to go faster if i looked at it.

Soon enough, my mother burst through the doors, and I jumped up eager to see her and ask about the cake. But as soon as she laid eyes on me, she slapped me across the face so hard that I saw stars dancing in my line of vision.

“I should have known that you are nothing but trouble, how can I have been so stupid as to not notice that it was you all along.” Still confused by what she was talking about I stood and composed myself.

“What the witch said it’s true, you really are a plague and bad luck. You have been since you were inside my womb, and I curse the day I gave birth to you.” Her words hurt me so much that I struggled to breathe for a minute after I heard them.

Lissa came rushing in. “What has she done now, mom? I was also waiting for you to tell you that she wanted to eat my cake. She even touched it with her filthy hands.” That was supposed to be my protector, but Lissa resented me just like mom.

“Oh Lissa, my darling. I met the witch at the palace just now and she gave me a prophecy. She said one of my daughters is going to be a plague, something that brings only back luck to the pack and everyone she associates with. While the other is going to be the greatest warrior and Luna of the pack.”

My mother informed her favorite daughter, and I wondered what made her think it was me in all that. if I heard correctly there is nothing that said your youngest daughter will be a plague while your oldest will be the best warrior and Luna.

So, what made my mother so certain that it was me? Maybe is because of what happened long ago, shortly after I was born, my father committed a grave sin, according to my mother of course, and left her.

They say he ran off with another woman and went to build a life with her, leaving my mother, sister, and I to fend for ourselves.

Maybe he was already having an affair with this other woman, or maybe he met her while my mother was pregnant with me. Nobody knows, but my mother never recovered from what he did, and she blames me for it.

Like I asked for my father to cheat on her and leave her for another. I was not even in this world by then and yet, my mother still blames me. I never asked to be born and I had no sin. But I guess my father’s fell on me.

My mother says I look very much like my father, the man who broke her heart, a mate who ran off with another, the one who did something that was unheard of with our kind. Mates stayed together and loved each other until death do them apart.

But my father was like no other, I guess. He left my mother without a second thought and never returned. Making her feel as if she had done something wrong or that she was not good enough.

Maybe the pitiful looks she got from people after my father left, the gossip when pack members gathered and the whispers behind her back made her resent him even more. But he was not there for her to vent her anger and I was.

And as if the gods were mocking her, I grew up to be a splitting image of my father and so, mom took out all her anger on me abusing and beating me. Because all she saw when she looked at me was my father, the man who broke her heart not her daughter.

Whoever said the sins of the father fall on the son was wrong. They can fall on the daughter too, look at me, I am the perfect example of that. I was paying for my father’s sins. Nobody care’s that I had no hand in what that man did. I couldn’t have even if I wanted to.

I was only an infant, fresh out of my mother’s womb, what sin could I have committed? At that age I knew nothing, all I wanted was my mother’s love and care. Not sure if I got it but I doubt I did judging by the way she treats me now.

Even with all the pain she has caused me, the beatings, the unfair treatment, the hate. Thinking that she loved me once upon a time soothes me and comforts me. It helps prevent me from hating her.

She is my mother after all, and she gave me life. She is to be respected and shown compassion. What my father did couldn’t have been easy on her.

So, I don’t blame my mother for her actions, in fact, I understand where she is coming from. She was deeply hurt by my father, and I think if she did not have to be reminded of him every day she would have healed by now.

There was a powerful witch in Malraux kingdom. She is the one who gave my mother the prophecy, making my life even harder than it already is.

“I knew nothing good would ever come out of someone who looks like that evil spawn!” I looked at her with my big pitiful eyes crying on the floor as she looked down on me with nothing but hatred in her eyes.

She then spat on my face and spoke. “Get away from me you daughter of the devil! Goddess, why would you bring me such evil when I have been so good all these years, what are you punishing me for?”

She kicked me on my back, and I fell face first on the floor before saying to my sister. “Vaselissa, stay away from this evil child lest she gives you her bad luck, my daughter, you are the only hope I have left to be redeemed.”

I went to bed crying, my heart was broken into a million pieces, I felt like it was bleeding. I wished I could take it out of my chest for it to get some air and maybe it would hurt less. I wanted to curse my father for leaving but I couldn’t. He left because he was in love. I couldn’t fault him for that.

I don’t remember when I fell asleep, but I had a dream of a woman. I didn’t know her, but she was beautiful. She said to me "Ianna, you belong to royalty, you are destined to be the strongest warrior and Luna this land has ever seen, and in due time I will take you back to your true father's pack. You need to build up your strength before that."

When I woke up, I dismissed the dream thinking it was my subconscious playing tricks on me after what I heard the previous night.