Claimed by my Fathers Best friend

Aria's POV

My name is Aria. Once, I was the Silvermoon Alpha's daughter. Now, I'm nothing but an Omega treated like a slave.

Silvermoon fell seven years ago. That night I stood there helpless, watching my people cut down around me, the blood running in rivers. It broke something in me so completely that I never finished my shift, not even by eighteen.

The Moon Goddess didn't abandon me. I met Damon, the powerful, handsome Alpha of the Blackmoon Pack. He saved me and claimed me as his Luna. I should have been cherished.

But four years have passed, and every time I step into the pack's main house, the only things waiting for me are dirty water and insults, each one hitting me like a bullet. After four years I've earned myself another title: the Barren Luna.

The pack even whispers that maybe my parents' pack fell because I'm cursed. After that, the cruelty only got worse. They started using their fists on me.

The only reason I've endured any of it is my mate. Damon.

He works himself to the bone, hell-bent on making the Blackmoon Pack the strongest in the alliance, stronger even than the Bloodmoon Pack, his best friend's pack. The Alpha of Bloodmoon, Ronan Thorne, has been Damon's closest friend since they were boys. He's gorgeous, no she-wolf in the alliance would deny that. But he hates me. Ever since Damon's mark appeared on my neck, every time he comes to the manor he looks at me like I'm a mistake.

It doesn't matter. I'll have nothing to do with him. Damon is my mate. That's all.

A powerful, ambitious Alpha choosing a mate with no wolf in her, he must have caught hell for it on my account. I couldn't be a burden to him too. All I could do was keep my head down, keep him from being distracted, never let on what I went through in this pack.

And he was tender with me. Every time he came home after his Alpha duties, he'd kiss me, sometimes bringing flowers or my favorite dessert. In an instant, all the pain and resentment would melt away. But the fear that I'd never get pregnant haunted me like a ghost.

I was certain it wasn't my fault. The truth was, Damon and I had never slept together. He said I was too precious, that he wanted to wait until the pack climbed to first place before he made love to me. He said I deserved better. I believed that day was close.

I bet that the moment I bore Damon a pup, the whole pack would respect me again, even the ones who hated me most: his parents. The former Alpha and Luna.

"All right! Before that day comes, I need to focus on the floor under my feet," I told myself, trying to rally.

I dropped to my knees and rubbed my aching lower back.

I'd been scrubbing the floor for three hours. The living room of the Alpha's manor was enormous, but Damon's mother, Donna, had ordered that no one lift a finger to help me. The air in the room was hot and stifling, sweat beading on my forehead, the shirt on my back soaked through and clinging to my skin. I felt like I'd pass out from the heat at any second, but even falling sick wouldn't buy me a rest. I forced myself to keep going.

I had to finish the last three sections of floor as fast as I could, then get dinner ready for the pack. Damon had been working for the pack all day; he had to be starving.

I plunged the rag into the dirty water, wrung it out, and was about to wipe down the final section when a sharp voice rang out right above my head.

"Aria!"

A rag was flung straight into my face.

A burning sting flared across my cheek. I crumpled to the floor, and Donna was on me in an instant, her fist knotting in my hair.

"After all this time, you still can't scrub a floor properly!" Donna shrieked, her nails digging into my scalp. "You think you're a real Luna? You can't even give me an heir! I don't know why Damon bothered marking a useless Omega like you!"

My scalp burned like fire. I bit my lip to keep from crying out. If I stayed quiet, Donna's punishment would end sooner.

Damon wasn't here. And even when he was, he never once stood up for me in front of his mother.

"I wasn't slacking," I said, defending myself in a low voice.

"The fact is, you didn't finish it in the time you were given. Everyone saw it." Donna yanked my hair and shoved me down. My knees cracked against the marble, bruises blooming on contact.

"Yes, Luna Donna. She was spacing out in the kitchen this morning, didn't even touch the rag," a maid chimed in, making sure every ear in the living room caught it. "I'd say that's why she can't finish."

"That wasn't slacking!" I scrambled to my feet, unable to hold back. "I was eating breakfast. Two slices of bread. It took less than four minutes."

The maid shrugged. "I'm only telling you what I saw."

"You're lying!" I clenched my fists. "And this was supposed to be a three-hour job. You only gave me one hour."

"Enough!" Donna cut me off. "I'll deal with you later. Right now, take a shirt to Damon. He's negotiating with Alphas from the other packs at Lane Hotel. You will bring him a clean shirt."

The maid tossed an ironed white shirt into my arms.

I could finally breathe. Clutching the shirt, I dragged myself out through the manor gates. Maybe I could steal a moment in the bathtub of the hotel suite. The scrubbing had wrung me out.

Maybe tonight he'd finally want to touch me. We were staying at a hotel tonight, and we'd never spent a night at one before. Maybe that was a sign.

And it was Lane Hotel.

That building used to belong to my father. On my tenth birthday I'd spun in circles beneath the chandelier in the lobby while he promised to hand it over to me the day I came of age. Four years ago, the moment I said "I do," it became Damon's property, just like the mark on my neck.

The instant I stepped into the lobby of Lane Hotel, my steps grew lighter.

Across that marble floor I could see the ghost of the little girl I used to be, running everywhere. By the revolving doors my father had once hoisted me onto his shoulders so I could watch the snow falling outside. Behind the front desk was the mirror where I'd tried on my mother's lipstick for the first time.

At some point, my knees stopped hurting.