The Luneria Omega-Born to Burn

Episode3

Melissa’s POV

FIVE YEARS EARLIER

The morning of the Great Full Moon ceremony began as every other day did: with the stench of someone else’s filth and the stinging pain of someone's hand as they met with my face.

"Hey b***h, make sure to wash those clothes properly or else..." My cousin, Rita, didn't finish the sentence but she didn't have to.

The threat was written all over her face as she dumped the pile of clothes over my head.

I gagged.

The sour, metallic smell of wolf musk was suffocating.

As I scrambled to peel the damp fabric from my skin, my elbow caught the edge of the pile, sending a few shirts tumbling to the dusty floor.

The slap I got in response was deafening.

It didn't just hurt; it rang through my skull like a funeral bell.

My head snapped to the side, my vision blurring as the cold, metallic taste of blood filled my lips.

"How dare you toss my clothes away like they are some sort of trash?" Rita screamed.

Her voice was a shrill blade, cutting through the morning air. "You are the trash here, Melissa. Never forget that."

"I a-am s-sorry," I stuttered, my voice sounding small and broken even to my own ears.

I bent down immediately, my fingers trembling as I gathered the laundry.

My cheek was already beginning to throb, heat radiating from the skin where her palm had landed.

She huffed, a sound of pure animalistic disgust, before turning on her heel and marching out of the laundry room.

I stood there for a moment, clutching the dirty fabric to my chest.

Ever since my parents died on my fifteenth birthday which was also the very same night the pack doctor coldly announced I was an Omega, my life had been a masterclass in misery.

My aunt and uncle had taken me in, not out of love, but out of a begrudging sense of duty to my father’s memory.

They treated me like a persistent mold in the corners of their beautiful home.

To the pack, I wasn't just an Omega; I was a curse.

Because my parents died the night my rank was revealed, the rumor mill had decided my "bad luck" had killed them.

And in the darkest hours of the night, when the house was silent and my bones ached, I believed them.

If I hadn't thrown that tantrum about my birthday dinner, if we hadn't been on the road at that exact moment... maybe they’d still be here. Maybe I wouldn't be scrubbing Rita's socks.

By noon, the sun was a scorching hammer, beating down on the backyard. I was hanging the last of the heavy linens when a shadow fell over me.

"Hey, Omega."

I didn't need to look up to recognize the voice.

It was Ashley, the Beta’s daughter and Rita’s best friend, was standing there.

She looked like a portrait of wealth, dressed in silk, a personal guard holding a lace umbrella over her head to protect her porcelain skin from the rays I was forced to endure.

"You smell like rotten eggs," Ashley remarked, her voice airy and cruel. "I'm just doing the world a favor and cleaning you up."

She raised her iced tea and poured it slowly over my head.

The sticky, amber liquid soaked through my hair and ran down my neck, ruining the one decent dress I owned.

She winked, a gesture of casual malice, before gliding back into the house toward the air conditioning.

I didn't cry.

I couldn't afford to.

If I reacted, I’d end up with more than just a bruised cheek, I might even end up with broken ribs.

Ashley was the pack’s golden girl and tonight, during the full moon, it was widely expected that she would be revealed as the fated mate of our Alpha, Frederick.

They were close, they were powerful, and they were "perfect” for each other.

As I stood there, dripping with tea and sweat, I clung to the one thing they couldn't take: my hope.

Tonight was my ceremony, too.

Even an Omega has a mate.

I had prayed to the Moon Goddess every night for a year.

*Please,* I begged. *Give me a gentleman. Someone kind. Someone who will see me, not my rank. Just take me away from here.*

~~~

The night finally arrived.

The air was electric, charged with the pull of the moon.

Outside, I could hear the distant cheers of young she wolves and the howling of wolves ready to find their souls.

I stood before the cracked, yellowing mirror in my small basement room.

I was wearing my best gown, the one I had worn for my fifteenth birthday.

It was old and had been outgrown, but I’d spent months of hidden savings to have a local seamstress mend and resize it.

It was a soft, faded blue, the color of a twilight sky.

When I stepped out into the hallway, the contrast was jarring.

My aunt was fussing over Ashley, who looked radiant in a gown of shimmering gold that must have cost more than my parents’ car.

Rita was fanning her, acting like a lady-in-waiting to a queen.

"Alpha Frederick wouldn't be able to tear his eyes off you tonight," my aunt gushed, her face full of a pride she never showed me.

"Of course he won't," Rita giggled. "Ashley is the most beautiful she-wolf in the history of this pack. We better hurry; we need to be there before the moon reaches its apex."

I stepped forward, my heart thumping against my ribs. "I'm ready," I said softly.

The room went cold. Ashley turned, her eyes narrowing as she pointed a manicured finger at me. "She is following us? In *that*?"

My aunt’s face contorted into a mask of disgust. "Surely not. She just came up to make sure the car was cleaned for your departure."

The lie felt like a physical blow. "But... you promised me," I whispered, my voice cracking. "You said if I finished the chores, I could go."

My aunt shot me a look so venomous, so full of unspoken violence, that the words died in my throat.

I watched them walk out, their laughter echoing in the driveway as the car roared to life and zoomed away, leaving me standing in the dark.

'Does this mean I won't get to see my mate?' The thought was a panic-stricken scream in my head.

No. I wouldn't let them win.

I began to walk.

I walked for miles down the dirt road until a kind, elderly couple from the outskirts of the territory pulled over.

They didn't care that I was an Omega; they saw a girl in a blue dress with tears in her eyes, and they took me to the palace.

When the heavy oak doors opened, the sheer opulence nearly took my breath away.

The Great Hall was a sea of silk, perfume, and power.

I felt like a sparrow in a room full of peacocks or eagles or whatever.

I stayed near the edges, trying to blend into the shadows, feeling the urge to run back to my basement.

Then, the scent hit me.

It wasn't just a smell; it was a physical force. It was cedar wood, rain-drenched earth, and something primal—something that smelled like home.

My wolf, usually silent and suppressed, let out a howl of recognition that vibrated through my whole body.

My legs moved on their own. I followed the scent through the crowd, pushing past socialites and warriors, until I reached the base of the grand staircase.

There he stood. Alpha Frederick.

He was breathtaking—tall, broad-shouldered, with eyes that held the authority of a king.

Ashley was draped over his arm, her smile triumphant.

But as I approached, Frederick’s body went rigid.

His head snapped in my direction, his nostrils flaring.

His eyes bled from blue to the midnight black of his wolf.

"Mate," he growled. The word silenced the entire hall.

Ashley’s eyes lit up with predatory joy. "Really? Oh, Frederick, I knew it! I am your—"

But Frederick wasn't looking at her.

He wasn't even aware she existed at the moment.

His gaze was locked onto mine with a terrifying intensity.

My heart pounded so hard it was suffocating. ‘He was my mate? The Alpha?’

A ripple of shock went through the crowd as Frederick stepped away from Ashley.

She looked like she’d been punched in the gut, the color draining from her face as she realized his trajectory wasn't toward her, but toward the tattered girl in the faded blue dress.

Frederick stopped inches from me.

He sniffed the air, his expression shifting from shock to something much darker.

Something cold.

"You are an Omega?" he asked. The disgust in his voice was as clear as day.

I swallowed hard, my voice a mere whisper. "Yes."

"f**k!" He slammed a fist into the stone banister, the c***k echoing like a gunshot. "A mistake. This has to be a mistake."

He looked at me as if I were a stain on his polished floor. "An Omega isn't worthy to be my Luna. You cannot lead a pack. You cannot produce strong heirs. You are a weakness I cannot afford."

The air left my lungs. The hope I had nursed for five years withered and died in the span of a heartbeat.

"I, Alpha Frederick of the Silver Moon Pack," he declared, his voice booming so all could hear, "hereby reject you as my mate."

The rejection hit me like a physical explosion.

The bond, which had only just flickered to life, was ripped apart.

I let out a choked cry, my chest feeling as though it were being crushed by a vice.

My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the cold marble floor with a heavy thud.

Laughter bubbled up from the crowd… Ashley’s laughter.

She stepped forward, her face twisted in a smug, cruel grin.

She was about to say something, no doubt a final insult to bury me, when Frederick spoke again.

His voice had changed.

It was no longer just cold; it was predatory.

He looked down at my shivering form, his eyes tracing the line of my throat, the curve of my waist.

"But," he mused, a dark, twisted smile tugging at his lips, "you are far too beautiful to let go. And the Moon Goddess gave you to me for a reason, didn't she?"

I looked up, hope trying to spark one last time, only to be extinguished by his next words.

"You won't be my Luna," Frederick said, his voice dropping to a low, terrifying purr. "But you will serve a purpose. I shall take you in as my breeder. You will live in the palace, and you will give me the children your rank usually denies us."

The room went silent.

The "gentleman" I had prayed for was a monster.

The savior I had dreamed of was my new jailer.

As the guards stepped forward to claim me, I realized with a soul-crushing certainty:

My life hadn't been saved tonight. It had simply entered a new kind of hell.