Maya's POV
I woke up in a body that wasn't mine, a fake shell wrapped around the real me. I gasped for breath, removing sheets that were drenched in my own sweat. The heat cycle had returned like always, a monthly reminder that I was wolfless and broken.
I was the first daughter of Alpha Theron of the Grimridge Pack, and yet was an embarrassment to his legacy. Lucky me.
I doubled over, my palms against my closed eyelids, attempting to shut out the hollow, thumping that sliced through my veins. The heat cycle really screwed up my body.
"Goddamn you," I murmured to no one but myself. "Goddamn your body, goddamn your life."
But the ache didn't listen. It never did. No matter how much I cursed myself.
The mirror in my cramped room reflected a stranger. I looked fragile and miserable like a wilting flower. The others saw me as something more pathetic, worse than trash. I was unwanted, unworthy of being in the pack.
I forced myself to move, since it was time for the Academy. It was a struggle finishing chores and getting there. Mist from Vareth Ridge pricked my skin, causing goosebumps. My boots crunched on gravel while I walked alone like a wandering ghost.
I had been alone, always alone, especially after Finn disappeared. My best friend. He'd been gone since the first heat cycle afflicted me years ago. I never learned why he would vanish like that.
Perhaps he ran away, was exiled, or killed by my father. No one told the wolfless girl anything, but everyone tried to take away the slightest source of her happiness. The wound his absence left behind still bled painfully.
I reached the gnarled Academy shortly. The stone walls seemed prison-like, reminding me of my own cagey body. I made it through the entrance, head bowed, clutching my books like a shield in front of me. My skin prickled, this time with the rising heat in my blood. Whispers from onlookers followed me, but I lumbered down the hall to my locker.
"Smell that?" Stacy's voice cracked through the air like a whip. She positioned herself in my way, leaning on the adjacent locker as if she owned the place.
Stacy was the golden girl of the pack. She had everything I wanted; was everything I wasn't…
"Wolfless Maya, stinking up the joint with her existence!" she taunted with a snide smirk.
I tried to sidestep her. "Let me pass," I muttered, gathering a little courage. I desperately needed a break today since I felt especially sick.
"Let you pass?" Stacy's laugh was sharp and condescending. She kicked my locker door closed with a sound that rang my ears. "You think you get to slink off without getting your due? Why should I let you pass, freak? You're a disgrace to Grimridge!"
Before I had a chance to react, she grabbed the water bottle of a sneering wolf standing nearby and emptied it over my head.
Icy water slapped me like a punch, knocking the breath out of me. My clothes were instantly soaked and flattened against my skin. I let out a ghastly gasp.
The corridor erupted in laughter as I stood dripping and shivering. My copper-red hair plastered itself to my face, stinging wet, and the heat in my veins grew hotter. And yet, though it was freezing, my pheromones spiked.
They all could smell it… My shame.
"Look at her! Dripping wet, and still smelling like a bitch in heat." Stacy hollered, closing the distance. "You're pathetic, Maya!"
She snatched my books from my shaking hands and tossed them to the floor. The crowd howled, several wolves stomping the ground in amusement, and some others comically pretending to be me with overly exaggerated impersonations.
I staggered back. "Please stop," I whispered weakly, but my voice caught in my throat. "Enough…"
The heat was a traitor, flaring through me brazenly, filling my body with a yearning I couldn't mask. I wanted to run away, but my legs wanted to buckle and collapse.
"Stop it?" Stacy taunted, stalking towards me like I was her prey, "Why should I even listen to your grievance? You're nothing, Maya. A nobody without a wolf, who can't even shift. You think you have rights here in Grimridge? You're not even an Omega!"
She was in my face, refusing to back off. I felt her hot breath. "Nobody wants you in here. Not your pack, not your family. Even Finn did not stay, did he? Ran off the second you turned into this… pitiful mess."
"Shut up," I replied, choking on my own voice.
Stacy giggled again, grabbing a clump of my wet, limp hair and tugging my head back. "Oh, look, she's crying!" she sneered as she turned to the wolves to show my twisted face. "Poor little Maya never stops whining. Perhaps if you weren't such a disappointment, your daddy might not hate you."
She shoved me suddenly. I fell into the lockers with a bang and collapsed to the floor. The crowd roared, some in the audience chanting, "Wolfless! Wolfless!" as Stacy towered over me.
"You should just vanish," she spat, kicking my books off the ground. "Crawl into a hole and don't let us smell you. Or better yet, throw yourself into the Varn River. Perhaps it will wash your shame away."
From a wolf beside her, she yanked a marker and, before I could do a thing, scribbled "FREAK" big and bold across my dripping sweater in thick black letters.
I slumped to the floor again, leaning against the lockers. My body was shaking with cold and heat… and shame.
Stacy squatted down in front of me with a pair of scissors. She meant to cut off my hair. "Please don't," I begged.
"You're not even worth the dirt on my boots," she spat, pulling my hair by the length. "Now let's see how much I can shave off that wolfless head of yours. You don't need it anyway."
"Enough!" a voice boomed down the corridor. All eyes turned in that direction.
Alpha Theron loomed at the entrance, looking intimidating. The wolves scattered like leaves under a leaf-blower. Even Stacy, the boldest among them, scurried away in fright.
My heart leapt. Did my father come to protect me? Maybe, just this once…
"Maya," he snarled, "You stand here dripping, reeking, shaming my bloodline? You are a stain on my name!"
It was wishful thinking. The hope turned to dust; there was nothing left but abandonment and pain. "I never asked for this," I muttered apologetically, the water dripping from my hair, mingling with the tears. "I'm trying…"
"Trying?" Alpha Theron moved closer so he was towering above me, "I have given you enough chance to redeem yourself. You will do something for me. Your sister's too young for the task, so you will take her place."
I looked up at him confused, as he retrieved a black envelope from his coat. My stomach twisted. What task? Another humiliation? No, wait. I recognized the print.
My father looked down at me with disdain. "The Werewolf Pairing Gala. You've been invited. You will attend."
"No," I cried, panic closing around my throat. The Gala was a circus, a rounding up of unclaimed wolves, where Alphas decided chose their mates beneath the full moon. I couldn't go… not without my wolf, and definitely not while in heat… It was my worst nightmare.
"Father, please, I can't…"
"You will," Theron growled, flinging the card at my feet. It landed with a soft thud.
"This is from the Lycan King himself. Decline, and you will shame the Grimridge pack, and face the consequences. Do you understand?"
"We leave at dawn," he added like a command without waiting for an answer. He stared into my weeping eyes once before turning away and leaving.
I stared at the envelope blankly. Father's words echoed in my head: a shame on my name. Wasn't I already a taint on the Grimridge Pack? What is lower than rock bottom?
I wanted to shout, but who would hear my cries? I wished to cry out my heart but that would only attract more bullies. I wanted to run, but there was nowhere to flee.
Alarmed, I immediately ran back home. As if one could call it that. It was more of a dog kennel, but it was the only place where I could hide and cower, allowing my thoughts to roam.
"What am I supposed to do? If I walk into a room full of Alphas, smelling like this..." I muttered to myself, "They'll tear me apart."
I collapsed to the floor and hugged my knees, rocking slowly, waiting for the nightmare to end. "Please let this be a dream. I want to wake up."
A sharp knock startled me. Who was it? As if my day wasn't going bad already. I jumped back as the door creaked open.
"Well, well," Veyra, my stepmother purred. "What a pathetic sight you make, Maya. My eyes are sore within seconds of looking at you."
I swallowed. "I… What do you want?"
Veyra chuckled, leaning in closer. "Don't give me lip, girl. You were born a curse. Your whore of a mother was lucky she got to die giving birth to you. Or she'd lament the moment you entered this world all her life."
She pointed at me with disdain. "It saved her the humiliation of… of looking at… this."
"Please…" I choked, as tears burned my eyes. "Can you ask Father not to send me to the Gala… I will stay out of sight for the rest of my life."
"Shut the fuck up! It is finally time for you to serve this family," she said, ignoring my pleas. "The Lycan Leader himself sent the invitation. You refuse, and I will have you hogtied and dragged to the Ashskull Wastes myself."
The mention of that place made me freeze. Veyra smirked cruelly, enjoying the terror in my eyes. She whispered, meeting my eyes, "You know what happens to creatures like you there, don't you? Sold to slavers, hunted for sport, thrown to beasts… or worse. They'd tear you apart, and no one would care. Is that what you want?"
I looked back at her in horror. "No! Father would never allow it…" My voice trailed off, realizing how untrue my words were. Alpha Theron would throw me to the wolves any day, literally. He didn't give a flying fuck about his first daughter.
Veyra threw back her head and laughed. "You have no idea of the things your father would allow. If you are here now, breathing, it's because I've been keeping you safe. Not because I care about you, but because I have plans for you."
I whimpered. "Veyra, you wouldn't…"
She grabbed me by the hair and made me face her. "Call me Mother! Where are your manners, you bitch?"
Veyra released her grip and shoved me, causing my head to slam against the wall. "You will attend the Gala," she pronounced, straightening herself. "Or the Wastes will be your new home."
She spun sharply, her frilly dress scuffing against the floor. Veyra halted at the door again and said with finality, "Go clean yourself up, Maya. Scrub your skin until you draw blood. I need you to look pretty for the Alphas. Now!"