HAERA. Blood was the first thing I saw after a punch landed on Alpha Prince Zachary's face. The blood spluttered in the air and he staggered trying to keep himself from falling but his opponent delivered another blow right in his guts that made him collapse to the floor. And that was the first round. I kept a palm on my mouth to keep me from squealing out in horror when the blow landed on his face. Everyone else cheered, drums rolled and the dignitaries all clapped and shared views as if they were watching a game. I was the closest to the signatures on the single line I and the other maids formed and so I was able to see the other pack heads nod at Luna Hegna while she smiled proudly and grinned from ear to ear like a Chesire cat. Of course. Her son delivered the first blow in just a few seconds into the duel. Everyone else was enjoying this but I wasn't. The thought of it never sat well with me even before I knew that the prince is my mate. No one deserves to be treated like a curse
HAERAIt took the scream of one person in the crowd to jerk all of us awake from what seemed like a daydream and a slumber. Luna Hegna. It took her frantic run through the crowd to get to her son who was thrown somewhere off amongst the crowd for everyone of us to actually realize what just happened. Everything happened so fast it was almost impossible. I was in a daze long before I saw my mate throw his opponent off the podium. Prince Tybalt shifting into his wolf was the first thing that put my heart in my mouth because it scared the shit out of me to see how big he was. He could sink his large teeth into anyone and they could get badly hurt before they're able to heal up. It was that fear that gripped me when I saw him. But the way prince Zachary effortlessly threw the wolf off of him was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. While everyone is trying to get out of their dazed state, he was standing on the podium, under the scorching sun. Breathing so hard I feared his chest would
HAERA The room seemed like it was closing in on me. I felt my stomach drop into a bottomless pit and I felt myself getting suffocated by the room I was in. It was a spacious dining hall. Enough to contain way more than the twenty diginatries sitting around the table. The biggest I've ever seen yet it suddenly feels so small for me. So cramped for me. The hall suddenly turned silent. Silent and grim like a graveyard but I was the only one who knew that because it was in my head. My head was the one that drew a blank line the moment the Alpha made the ground breaking announcement. My mind was the one basking in silence unlike the hall that was now bustling with shocked murmurs, excited whispers and surprised but hushed voices. My entire being is in total disarray even as my brain tried to pinpoint exactly what was going on. Trying to understand why my mate just announced someone else as his mate. Trying to understand why he's staring at her from his own end of the table with a gentle l
HAERA. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me because I didn't have the heart to stop. As I ran, my tears poured down in torrents down my face and I kept bringing my hand over my face to wipe them off. The tears blinded me, so much that I kept tripping on things as I ran and barely saved myself from falling from each trip on something. I had just one place in mind. The only place that has been my solace ever since I was old enough to serve as a maid in the pack. I've always looked cooking and so the kitchen was like a second home to me asides the cramped up room that sleep and wake up in everyday. Balfour would tease me and say my mother probably gave birth to me while she was cooking in the kitchen. Each time Gennora had her eyes on me because of something I did or mostly because the very day was my birthday, I would run to the kitchen and help Balfour with things around the kitchen. I was assigned to the kitchen at age thirteen on his demands. He told the head maid as the Alpha of
HAERA. I didn't expect anything to change the next day. In fact, I wasn't hoping for a miracle whatsoever to happen and for the Alpha to come to his senses and come running to me. No. I didn't think everything was a dream when I woke up the next day. I didn't pinch myself in hopes that I would wake up from what seemed more of a nightmare than a dream. What was the point anyway? My life was miserable; dream or not. And so I woke up the next day with no expectations. And really, nothing changed. I was still in the cramped up room I shared with the rest of the entourage of my pack. I still waited in line to wash up. I still joined the rest of the maids to clean the kitchen and the venue of the Alpha Duel. Head maids Gennora and Dina still barked orders at us with their high-pitched voices. It wasn't that I accepted my fate or what has come to me, it was just that I didn't find the will to fight for anything. There was nothing to fight for in the first place. Nothing was different. Excep
ZACHARYI heard the commotion outside of my tower before my door swung open and almost broke out of its hinges. I didn't have to look to know who it was and so I didn't let her distract me from reading the map of the woodlands that was spread over my table. I didn't even have to hear the intruder speak before I knew what they were there for. After all, I expected the reaction when I made the decree this morning that the Previous Luna of the pack was to be sent out of the Palace to one of the many houses owned by the Alpha family. I knew Luna Hegna wouldn't take it well and anticipated this kind of reaction to the decisions I made as the new Alpha of the Imperial pack. "You insolent brat! How dare you?" Luna Hegna seethed at me from where she stood by the opened door in my room. My Beta ran in after her breathlessly and I could feel his helplessness at the situation. It took about fifteen minutes to keep her from coming into my room but she still got in anyway. "Please...you really hav
HAERAEverything went back to the way they have always been once I returned to my pack. The daily routine of waking up go Gennora's angry voice, cooking in the kitchen, doing other chores that's required of maids in and out of the palace and then going back to sleep only to wake up few hours later to repeat the process. When I returned, Balfour and Ulric were so elated to see me. Balfour cooked up a feast for me secretly as a late birthday meal while Ulric took me out with the other guards to play around the fields under the guise of patrol. As much as I was downcast by my experience at the Imperial pack, I did my best to hide it from both men because of their efforts to make me happy. I smiled whenever I was with them only to shed tears when I retire to my room. And it's only being two days since the Alpha Duel and since we returned. The only things that seemed to have change is the celebratory air all around the pack. It was nothing short of good news that the Princess of the pack h
HAERAWhy? That was the first question that popped into my head once the realization hit me. It seemed far-fetched and impossible as much as it sounded like the only reasonable thing that could have happened. Why would the princess steal my sash? How would she have known about the fact that I found my mate, enough for her to even steal my sash? She wasn't even at the Imperial Pack until late at night and I don't think that gives anyone enough time to sneak into a cramped up room occupied by a dozen of maids. For all I care, princess Ilvira doesn't even know me. She knows absolutely nothing about me as much as I knew nothing about her other than the few gossips that fly around and likens her to Gennora. I've never even really crossed paths with her. When I do, my head is already bowed before she even comes close to me and she never really paid attention to me and just went on her way. I could suspect hundreds of people for stealing my sash and she wouldn't even make it into the list. P