In the werewolf kingdom, a she-wolf's happiest day is supposedly when she meets her predestined mate. But for weak omega Lyra of the Crescent Moon pack, this fated day brings nothing but humiliation and heartbreak. Her chosen mate rejects her and chooses her cousin Athena , her longtime bully and tormentor. Devastated, Lyra flees the mating ceremony and goes to a bar to drown herself in sorrow. In her despair, she has a one-night stand with a stranger and becomes pregnant. Shunned by her pack, gossip about her unwanted pregnancy spreads like wildfire. Lyra decides to escape the shame by running away for good. Her already sorrowful world is thrown into further chaos when she ends up crossing paths with the stranger from that fateful night. And it turns out he has a chosen mate who will stop at nothing to get rid of Lyra. Meanwhile, Lyra's former mate, who once rejected her, now seeks to reclaim her upon learning she alone holds a special power that can save his ailing mother, the Luna of their pack. Lyra finds herself trapped in a whirlwind of emotions as people only want to use her for their own needs. Or will she finally carve her own destiny in the face of those who betrayed her trust and wrecked her dreams?
Chapter 1 Suffering
Lyra's POV
I can't stop thinking about the mating ceremony coming up tomorrow. Finally, I am going to meet the person the Moon Goddess carefully picked for me. I thought as I stood near the iron bucket I had brought along with me to clean.
The mating ceremony was an annual ceremony held only once a year. The palace was going to be beautifully decorated, and everyone in the pack was to attend. The mating ceremony was a dream come true for all the women and men in the pack, for all were given their desired mates.
I am from the Crescent Moon Pack. They were one of the most prestigious packs in the city of Oceania. The crescent moon pack is highly respected throughout Oceania due to their terrifying strength and ability to take over their prey and predators with their ferocious attacks and techniques. They are currently the strongest and most-feared pack. No one dares to harm anyone from the crescent moon pack and gets away with it.
They were well known in the whole of Oceania and also the most populated. Their manpower was significant and well distributed, which led to the very first change in the history of werewolves.
They created a silver palace in which the Alpha of the pack and his family would live with the various strongest warriors of the silver moon pack. The palace was filled with maids, who were normally the most beautiful werewolf maidens in the pack. They had various roles, from cooking to cleaning. They had control over the washing. The maidens were also ranked based on their power levels. There were six ranks in the maids district.
The highest rank, which was the chief maiden, was in charge of supervising the entire maiden in the palace, and the lowest rank was the fluffy rank, which contained maids who were lowly ranked and were in charge of the daily sweeping and cleaning of the palace.
I am currently at fluffy rank because of how weak I am,so I deal with the daily cleaning of the palace.
"I wish my parents would see me now; your daughter is getting married tomorrow, someone as weak as I am." I whispered, giving myself a hug. I have always dreamed of it.
Every girl dreams of getting a really cool, handsome mate like Alpha Alexander, even if it could never be possible, not even in a million years, but sometimes imagining is fun. You know fantasizing about a really handsome prince charming coming to take you away and wash you off your misery.
I don't really know anything about my parents; I have been living with my uncle all my life. Whenever I asked about them, he and his wife just shoved it off and told me not to talk about it again. I guessed it was top secret stuff or they just didn't want to talk about it.
They never really acted like family toward me. I got to know the former chief maid at a young age. My childhood is something not worth talking about. I have been at the fluffy rank for a long time. The weak ones don't really have value in the pack. We mostly get bullied and humiliated every day. It felt like we were viruses in the pack. Fifty percent of us get bullied to death, some of it as a result of them committing suicide, while the remaining fifty percent either endure the suffering or support the pack just to survive.
"Lyra!!! " I jumped at the sound of my name. I didn't notice when the chief maid opened the door. I turned around to see her heading towards me with the "face," which indicated that I was in deep trouble. The chief maiden was in charge of supervising the lower ranks in the palace; anyone caught slacking around was to be punished by her.
She was once my rank, though; she was a smart worker, making her way through ranks in a short while.
She was someone everyone in the palace acknowledged-a fierce maiden once like me who could do anything she put her mind to. Raising her ranks till she got to the top. Her hair was silver in color, her eyes were red, and her arms were smooth and soft but hard at the same time. She was averagely tall and had a big heart for scolding.
As she walked towards me, I adjusted my dress and stood with my head down. No lower ranks dare look at the chief maid with a face the level of hers.
*Lyra, What are you doing? slacking off again?" She asked her face an inch from mine as I could feel her breath down on me.
"I..." I staggered as she cut me off.
"Shut up, you useless, weak piece of trash." Still talking, she tugged at my hair. I could feel it when part of my hair came off. Her strength was on another level.
"Please, chief maiden, I promise I won't do it again, please." I sobbed, trying to remove her hands from my hair.
"Who would believe the words of a mere weak useless werewolf, huh, tell me? trash like you are supposed to be banished from the pack!"
Immediately, she released her hands from my hair, switching to my right side as she punched me in the stomach. She had used more strength than usual, and the impact made me fly towards the end of the room.
Soon she was on me again. I have never seen her this fierce; usually, when she punches me, she just insults me and leaves. But today was different; I hadn't reached the wall when I saw her at my back. I might be weak, but I am still much stronger in terms of speed and strength compared to a human.
Somehow, I was able to see her movements but didn't have the strength to dodge. I was weak from the punch I just received. She had reached me about 10 meters before I reached the wall when I heard a very loud bang. I was knocked out.
"You should have never been born." The chief maiden said as she shut the door.