The Alpha King's Swapped Luna

Elyse’s POV Pain. I used to think that the only pain I felt in my life was the one from smiling too much, or trying too hard to please my Alpha mate. But now? “Damn it.” My frozen fingers slipped for the third time in less than a minute. The tiny bar of soap clunked back into the bottom of the wooden bucket. “What are you doing standing around? Get moving!” A male warrior snarled at me, shoving my head straight into the icy soapy water. I panicked and tried to force myself up, but the hand was relentlessly strong, keeping my head completely under the water for a few more seconds before releasing me. I gulped in icy air that burned my lungs and listened to the sounds of the warrior patrol guard laughing behind me. As if my torture was an amusement for him. Madam Helga, the head Omega servant in charge of us screeched her disdain as she trudged over to me, grabbing a chunk of my wet and freezing hair. “You don’t get to stop just because you used to be a high-ranker- Omega filth. Keep working.” She slapped me and pointed to the clothes line where others were struggling to hang up their cleaned garments, just high enough that the fire beneath them didn’t spread. I merely stared at Madam Helga, my brain far too jumbled from the exhaustion to register the words immediately. “ What?” She c****d her head to the side to mock me. “Not used to having to actually work with your hands for once? " Well, let me be the one to show you just how far you’ve fallen, whore.” Madam Helga took the whip from her side and shoved me to my knees. The holes in the knees of my pants made the biting cold piercing against my bony skin. She ripped my tattered clothing from my back and cracked the whip down on it but I didn’t scream. Perhaps that’s why Madam Helga always targeted me the most. It wasn’t always like this. I once lived as the beautiful daughter of the MistFall Pack’s Beta. People looked to me as the example of the perfect daughter. I had my whole future set out for me. My older brother Vance adored me, my parents cherished me. And my mate, Alpha Grayson, promised that once the war is over, he would make me his Luna. But all that changed on the day I turned eighteen, when my wolf awakened. I was nothing but a fraud. Not only was I not the true daughter of the Beta of MistFall Pack, but my wolf was weak and docile. She was an Omega. The real daughter and true heir of the Beta name, Ashley, suddenly reappeared and took everything from me. To make matters worse, Ashley convinced the entire pack that my real parents and I in association, committed treason by allowing myself to be raised in a status I did not deserve. As punishment, they sent me to live here on the northern border as a servant to the warriors stationed here. And now… now all I have left of myself is my pain… and my hope. Something that they could never take from me no matter how much they beat me. I barely recall how I made it through the rest of the working day but I somehow ended up with a small bowl of tasteless soup and a piece of hard moldy bread in my hand. “Their beatings have become more frequent lately,” Rosie, a fellow Omega, whined near me as she nibbled on her bread. “One of these days I’m going to crack the whip on Crooked Nose Helga and see how she likes it.” Another named Isla grumbled quietly. “Yea, and see what happens when you do.” Rosie shook her head. “Well then, maybe I’ll run away across the border.” Isla stuck her nose in the air and chomped on her crunchy bread. Several girls chuckled and shook their heads. Isla fumed and puffed her cheeks. “I’ll get out of here, just you wait.” “Me too,” I added with a soft smile. All the chatter silenced in seconds then almost all the other Omega’s groaned. One muttered ‘not this again’ while others just sent me a glare. “He’s going to take me away from here,” I added, nodding. Isla angrily stood up and slapped the bowl of soup from my hands. The others giggled and cheered her on. “You’re such a delusional b***h. Do you really think that the Alpha even remembers you at all?” She pointed her finger at me, pushing my forehead back. “You’re so pathetic. I bet he’s the one who sent you here in the first place because you were so god-damn annoying!” She grumbled and slumped down on one of the piles of straw we had as beds. She threw the thread-bare blanket over herself and murmured under her breath. The other Omegas all shook their heads at me and continued eating before joining the first girl and falling asleep. “Don’t listen to them. We just have to have faith.” The sweet timid voice of my wolf Gina whispered to me. She didn’t speak to me often but she shared in my devotion to Alpha Grayson. One by one, I watched each and every one of the Omegas' breaths slow down and become steady as they fell asleep in our small sleeping quarters. Their twitching occasionally shuffled the straw around the concrete floor. With a quiet groan, I forced my legs to a stand and headed down to the basement as I’ve done for the last three nights. I quietly tiptoed past the kitchen after swiping some leftover bread from the cupboards and took the creaky steps down one at a time. At the bottom, I let my eyes adjust to the sliver of moonlight piercing through the window and went to the corner where the firewood was kept for the boiler. Behind the pile of wood was the secret I’ve kept for the past three days. A secret so great it would have me beaten until I could no longer stand. I have been keeping a man down here. I found him in the woods near the border early in the morning three days ago. He was unconscious and bleeding out in the snow. The man was by far one of the most handsome men I’ve ever been blessed with laying my eyes on. Each night, I tried my best to treat his wounds, including the long slashes that tore up his back. Last night, I stayed up till dawn treating his fever by laying a wet cloth on his forehead and wiping the constant sweat dripping down his neck. That was why I was so exhausted all day I could barely function. Tonight I didn’t know what challenges were ahead of me, but if it meant saving a life- I would do it, no matter the cost. I pulled back the canvas tarp and gasped at what I saw. The man was gone. I glanced around the room hoping perhaps he had moved around in his delirious state but all that remained of the mysterious man was the haphazardly thrown blanket behind the stack of logs, dirty and forgotten. I didn’t get a chance to dwell on the emotions I felt when the sound of heavy footsteps sounded on the creaking stairs. My heart jumped in my throat as I attempted to hide behind the same pile of logs but it was far too late to prevent the person coming down the steps from seeing me. “I thought I heard something. Looks like I found a little Omega mouse running around the house at night.” A large warrior came casually down the stairs in his nightwear. And not just any warrior. Reed Simmons. Reed was one of the cruelest warriors housed in the barracks. He’s a captain of his unit and was known for his torturing of individuals who got on his bad side- especially the Omega servants, or as he likes to call us- slaves. His victims could be heard screaming late into the night having unspeakable things done to them. I was fortunate enough to not be his favorite type of victim- screamers, but it appears my luck ran out tonight. “I heard you were a w***e but to be honest, I’m quite surprised. Were you so anxious for some c**k that you decided to make it so easy for me to hear you and follow you down here. You must have been begging for me.” He smirked, undoing the belt of his cotton pants as he continued walking over to me. I stood frozen in the center of the room. A prey caught in the trap of a predator. The only path out of here was through the very steps he just took and in order to get there I would have to somehow get around this vicious wolf looking for his next meal. Me. “There’s nothing we can do. We have to submit.” My wolf Gina said. If she couldn’t even see a way out of this, then I was doomed. I kept my eyes on the floor and clasped my hands in front of me to stop my obvious shaking. For a moment, Reed watched me tremble. I stood there contemplating what he was going to do to me when all of a sudden, I felt a yank on my hair. The pull was hard enough to send me crashing to the floor, landing harshly on my side. I bit my tongue to stop myself from crying out. He loved it when we cried. He loved the sound of pain- and I refused to give it to him. “I was talking to you, slut. You should learn to listen when your superiors are speaking to you.” He bent over and snarled in my ear, spit spewing on my cheek. “Now say it.” He yanked my hair again in warning. I cried out and grabbed my tight hold on my scalp on instinct. “Say you’ve been begging for my c**k like the w***e you are.” He taunted. “Just say it. Then we can get this over with faster.”Gina urged in my mind “No.” I found myself whispering out, breathing through the pain he was causing. “What did you just say?” He snarled, pulling my hair closer to him, practically forcing me off my butt. “I-I-” I stammered, tears threatening to fall from my eyes. Gina whimpered at my defiance and laid her mental head down and shut her eyes. The sound of heavy knocking made us stop and look up at the basement door. “Reed! We need you up here! There’s been a message from the Alpha!” “I’m a little busy at the moment,” Reed snarled to the guard who called for him. He pulled my hair tighter to emphasize his point. I couldn’t stop the tiny whimper from escaping me. “The Head Warrior says it’s urgent.” The guard looked down at me momentarily before looking back at Reed. “And to bring the Omega with you.” Reed snarled and threw my head to the side. I crashed the side of my skull into the concrete but sighed in relief at the lack of contact. “What did you do now, slave?” He kicked my stomach. “Captain Reed!” The guard gulped, clearly nervous to be talking back to his superior. “What?!” He snarled at the poor warrior, quaking in his boots. “The Head Warrior requested her to be brought… unharmed.” With another snarl directed at me, Reed gripped my elbow and hauled me upstairs. “So this is the Omega causing all the fuss.” Head Warrior Michael peered at me humorlessly when Captain Reed and the other warrior dragged me into his office. Madam Helga was there in her night clothes as well looking extremely uncomfortable and refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. I kept my eyes down as per regulation. I was not “worthy” enough to look any stronger wolves in the eyes. My Omega eyes would taint their virtue supposedly. “The Alpha sent a very peculiar letter and sent orders for us to follow. Can you guess what those orders might be, Omega?” Michael examined me, as if searching for an answer that would be exposed on my face. I shook my head, staring at my hands in my lap. “He, along with your family, have requested that you be sent home… immediately.”