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.

"Here." Mia handed me the tray. "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, the tray rattling in my shaky grip.

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 got no response, so I pushed the door open slightly and slipped in to drop the coffee on the table. My heart was racing violently 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 tucked into his pant pocket, his free hand trailing the rail as he looked outside at nothing I could pick.

My presence wasn't acknowledged.

Good. Perfect.

The room was massive, almost intimidating in its grandeur. A large mattress at the centre, a sleek bar stand at one corner, a wardrobe stretched along the far wall, and beside it a reading table neatly arranged with towering shelves packed with books. Morning light filtered through the window in a soft glow, though the atmosphere remained heavy and unsettling despite the early hour.

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

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

"Two minutes late," he muttered, sharp and piercing.

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

Then I felt the shift, that dangerous shift in the air, when he suddenly moved. Slowly. Measured. 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.

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. His gaze swept over me. Cold, dangerous, dominating, and maddeningly annoying.

"You never added sugar?"

My lungs dropped. My heart slammed furiously.

How could I forget such a crucial detail?

"Ahhh… uhm…" I stammered, 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 back 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 and scrambled toward the door.

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

My breath turned ragged. I took a few steps closer until I was inches away from him, his rich and spicy scent wrapping 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. 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 toward 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 morning list 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, just excused herself and helped get another coffee quickly, and I turned back down that hallway again.

I sucked in a deep breath and forced my trembling form to move. With Liam, it was better to 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 was left questioning why me, more often than ever.

I was locked up in silent sobs 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 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, ghosts you like your very existence wasn't worth it.

"Breathe, my dear." I felt Mia's arms cup around my shoulders, soothing and comforting.

"But why me? Why do I have to constantly be humiliated over the slightest mistakes? Isn't it normal for a living being to make mistakes?" My eyes stung from the burn, adding to my fuzziness.

Silence. Thick, but comforting in a way.

"It hurts pretty deep," I blurted through the fog in my chest.

"I know," Mia whispered. "But don't take it so deeply that you stop seeing the bright sides of every turn."

"What do you mean?"

Mia met my gaze. "You are turning eighteen in two days, right?" I nodded. "That's the perfect remedy."

"I don't understand."

"It pisses me off that you haven't thought in this line." Her face contorted into a frown, then settled into a conscious, calculative stare. "You turn eighteen and find your mate, then bid this life of torture goodbye."

I looked at Mia doubtfully. "And you think Liam is going to allow that?"

"Is he the Moon Goddess who bestows mates? Or is he fate who would stop you from finding happiness?" Mia's rage tugged at me.

"I'm sorry I got you pissed off," I said quickly. "I just doubt Liam would give me a chance to be loved by my mate. He believes I'm some piece of item used to pay off a debt I don't yet understand."

I swallowed hard as the realization settled heavier than before, but I didn't voice the rest of it.

Even if Liam didn't stop me, I'm only certain my mate would reject me on the spot.

"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 she forgot anyone, including Liam, could walk in on us.

My breath spiked as I turned toward the door, breathing a shallow sigh of relief when I found no one there.

But that relief wasn't going to settle the thoughts already filling my chest with sheer brutality.

I still felt that small part of me that clung to the bright side. 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 hoped…

Just maybe…

Time would change everything.