Chapter 1

-Ciara

I tossed and turned, knowing I had to get up early the next morning, but no matter how hard I tried, sleep refused to pay me a visit, which was surprising, considering the long day I had had and the fatigue that was slowly eating me up.

I wasn’t sure what kept me awake… perhaps, it was the chirping noise from the crickets that never seemed to end; or it was probably the snores from the seven girls I shared a room with.

“Or perhaps, it is the excitement of finally turning 18 tomorrow and getting to meet your mate,” Elsa, my wolf, chipped in.

A smile that I couldn’t suppress appeared slowly on my lips, agreeing with Elsa and daydreaming about getting to meet my mate tomorrow. I had imagined how the encounter would be about a million and one times ever since I was a child, and finally, in a matter of minutes or probably hours, I would see my long awaited dreams finally come into manifestation.

Amidst my excitement, there was a tiny bit of fear I felt. What if my mate didn’t like me? What if I wasn’t what he was expecting? What if he didn’t find me attractive?

“Such nonsense! He’ll definitely find you attractive. You have long hair and everyone knows you’re beautiful,” Elsa cautioned.

I wanted to share in the same optimism, but being beautiful wasn’t the only requirement a man needed before either accepting or rejecting his fated mate. What if he wanted someone from a good family… someone that wasn’t born as a palace maid and hadn’t been taunted all her life… someone that wasn’t a mere Omega… someone that wasn’t me?

“You’ve suffered enough. Certainly, the Moon Goddess wouldn’t punish you further by giving you a mate who wouldn’t want you,” Elsa stated, maintaining her positive stance.

I heaved a deep sigh. Perhaps, Elsa was right. Everyone always says our mates are our blessings; the Moon Goddess’ way of bestowing us with her grace… her way of saying she does care about us by giving us the one who would shower us with eternal happiness.

After being treated like dirt all my life, perhaps, finding my mate would be the key to unlocking a brand new life; one that would be fascinating and different from the world of misery that I had only ever known.

It was with this thought on my mind that I slowly began to drift off to sleep, when suddenly, I heard the sound of heavy footsteps approach the little servants’ quarters. I assumed I was just hearing things, when the door opened with a loud bang and torches were flashed everywhere.

My eyes opened abruptly to see warriors of our Pack, barging into our quarters; their eyes fuming with unhinged fury as they brandished their weapons, and soon, they were pushing everything out of the way; each of them having this determined look on their faces.

“Keep them well surrounded. Ensure no one leaves the room,” a voice which I recognised as the Beta’s, thundered from outside, which made me shudder with fear.

One by one, the girls woke up to the unexpected sight, and the ones which were still asleep were forcefully awakened by the warriors.

We were all ordered to rise to our feet, even as some of the warriors started searching the whole place frantically. They were definitely looking for something, but no one knew what exactly it was.

The rest, on the command of the Beta, made us assemble on a straight line as they took turns stripping us of our torn and worn out clothes, rummaging through them before roughly manhandling our bodies and touching us in our private areas as if there was any chance that we could hide something in there.

It was getting closer to my turn and my heart was beating really fast, dreading the thought of those dangerous men seeing my nakedness and touching me in parts no one had ever touched in the past.

The other warriors were still searching for what they had come for. Grains of rice and beans spilled over as they tore open the sacks, the little furniture we had was broken as they pushed them aside recklessly, and they trampled all over our belongings like it meant nothing to them.

We thought the search would never come to an end and I had just been ordered to step out of my clothes, when one of them tripped over a jug which fell over, revealing some unusual yellow leaves that had been stored in there.

“Stop the search!” It was the Pack’s doctor who gave the order this time around.

I breathed in relief just as he made his way into the room, bent over and picked up the leaves which had been stored in the jug. He perceived them and withdrew immediately, coughing out loud.

“Yellow wolfsbane,” he stated, nodding his head at the Beta who had stepped in right after him.

“Isn’t that the poison that was discovered in His Royal Highness’ system?” the Beta asked.

“You are correct, Beta,” the Pack’s doctor responded.

We exchanged glances, each of us unsure of what exactly was going on and just silently hoping that this ended as quickly as it had started.

“Which one of you does this jug belong to?” the Beta asked, picking up the jug and throwing a cold glance in our direction, thoroughly scrutinising us with the penetrating look in his eyes, which none of us could meet.

All eyes fell on me, but even then, I didn’t think much of it. Yes, it was my jug. So what?

“Is this yours?” the Beta asked in a deep tone, as he approached me menacingly.

My eyes fell to the floor, as I rubbed my toes against each other, unable to look up at the man who scared me to death.

I nodded my head in the affirmative.

“I need an answer, young woman! This jug… is it yours?” he roared, making my heart nearly jump out of my chest.

I swallowed hard, “Yes, it is mine,” I heard myself say.

“How much were you paid?” he asked, lifting my chin with his cold hand, so that I had no choice than to look him in the eye, probably to ascertain how guilty I was.

I hiccuped, only now understanding the implication of the jug belonging to me, but still, anyone could have put the poisonous leaves in there.

“I… I…” I stuttered. I was trying to speak up and say something, but it was impossible since I was burdened with fear.

“If you’re honest, I can lighten your sentence. Tell me, how much did the Alpha’s enemies pay you to bring him to an unfortunate end?” he thundered, even more frighteningly.

There were murmurs in the room, as it had just been revealed to us that the Alpha King was dead, and since the poison which had been found in his system had been discovered in my jug, then I was a likely suspect.

The Beta pulled my hair and struck me hard on my cheeks, so that I fell to the ground with a thud and sustained a bruise on my wrist. With his heavy boots, he kicked me over and over again then stepped on me as though I were a doormat.

I bit my lip, as tears streamed down my eyes, while I shook my head in denial, knowing he wasn’t going to stop until I gave him an answer. “I didn’t… I didn’t accept anything from anyone…” I managed to say, almost out of breath.

“I see. So, you did it out of your own free will?”

“No, no! I am nothing but a mere Omega. How dare I commit such atrocity against the Alpha and the Moonstone Pack? I have nothing to gain!” I stated firmly, trying the hardest I could to prove my innocence despite the pain that every part in my body felt.

“More like you have nothing to lose. I remember you. You’re the servant girl that served the Alpha’s dinner. I saw you when you entered and left his chambers,” one of the warriors stated.

The Beta lowered himself and fixated his eyes on me, making me tremble in fear. “I’ll give you one last chance to say the truth. Who ordered you to do this?”

The tears that had been streaming from my eyes multiplied, all because I felt helpless. My heart was breaking and I was in pure agony, hoping this was a dream, praying it was another one of my dreadful nightmares.

I wanted to say that I had never even used that jug after I had found it and mended it, I wanted to say that all I did was serve the food the Cook had instructed me to give to the Alpha King and that he hadn’t even tasted it as he had claimed that he wasn’t hungry, I wanted to say that I had never even seen a yellow wolfsbane flower in my life; but no one cared to know and no one cared if I was indeed innocent or not.

It was clear that they were all pointing accusing fingers at me. Irrespective of what I said or did, their minds were made up. They needed me to name someone, but I couldn’t do that, and even if there was anyone else, the outcome would still be the same for me. After all, I was just a worthless Omega with no family, no one to protect me and no one to speak on my behalf.

I shook my head slowly in the negative. “No one ordered me to do anything, and inasmuch as the evidence points to me, I didn’t…”

The Beta raised his hand, compelling me to keep quiet, not wishing to hear anything more from me.

“I believe we have all heard what needs to be heard. I, Beta Nelson Coleman, second-in-command of the Moonstone Pack, hereby sentences the Omega, Ciara Sinclair, to death for the murder of His Royal Highness, Alpha Alvin Dakota. You shall be executed at dawn,” the Beta pronounced his judgement.