The Alpha’s Fallen Angel

“You stupid thing, what the hell do you think you’re staring at?” A loud voice taunted, startling me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the very voice I hated most, the voice of someone who should have loved me more than anyone in the world, but instead despised me most. “I’m talking to you, answer me, mutt! Or have you gone deaf?” “Sir,” I straightened my posture at once, brushing invisible dirt from my skirt as I lowered my head. The so-called man was my father, though he had forbidden me from ever calling him that. His words still echoed in my mind: ‘The goddess forbids that my blood should run in your veins.’ As If I chose to be fathered by him. He closed the distance between us, grabbing a fistful of my hair, twisting it so hard a yelp slipped from my throat. The same hair I grew to hate, wild and unruly, the bright blue strands that made me look even more like a curse. But it wasn’t just my hair I hated, It was everything. From my sharp, fox-like eyes with their piercing irises, eyes that people said looked inhuman, down to my toe nail, there wasn’t anything about me that I liked. In conclusion, I was ugly, and hideous. Nothing like my flawless half-sister, Sasha. “Are you even listening to me, fool?” Father’s growl snapped me out of my daze, as I blinked at him. It was a bad habit mine, zoning out whenever his cruelty became too much, or I was spoken to. “Stay here and polish every single piece of armor until it shines like the moon. Don’t you dare move from this spot, do you hear me?” My eyes instinctively drifted to the mountain of armor stacked in the corner. I won’t. You know what? Why don’t you grab one of those metal sheets and shove it and ram it where even the moonlight refuses to reach. That’s what I wanted to say. Instead, what actually slipped out was a pitiful, “Y… yes, sir,” while every muscle in my body screamed from being stretched past exhaustion. As if on cue, my stomach growled, reminding me that apparently I could, in fact, be more pathetic. I was starving. I wasn’t allowed to eat until I finished every task, and even then, I had to pray Nicole, my stepmother might be generous enough to toss me a scrap or two. Otherwise, it was another night of lying in bed with nothing but hunger chewing at my insides. Father was one of the largest armor suppliers in the kingdom, yet most of the burden fell on me. When other children were training in the pack grounds or laughing with their families, I was here, scrubbing steel until my hands bled. I had no skills, I couldn’t even shift. “Honey,” Nicole‘s venomous voice floated in. The hag who made my already miserable life ten times worse. She hated me with every fiber of her being and never hesitated to show it. From the nights she locked me out in the cold rain, to the times she starved me near death, or the days she beat me bloody until I passed out, she took pleasure in my suffering. “Why are you wasting your precious time on this bad omen?” I watched in silence as she walked toward us with a stupid smirk plastered on her face. “Oops, my bad,” she gasped with a flick of her wrist, knocking the half-empty armor lacquer from my hands. It hit the ground, splattering thick, oily streaks all over my skirt. “Clumsy, disgusting thing,” she sneered, as if I were an insect that dared crawl too close. Behind her, Sasha giggled, covering her smile with delicate fingers. “Oh, darling,” Father said sweetly as he walked toward Nicole, running a hand through her hair before kissing her cheek. “I was only reminding her not to dare show her face at the wedding ceremony. We don’t need her bringing misfortune to us.” I bit back the sting in my eyes, blinking fast before they could catch on and realize how much this all got to me. Of course, they looked perfect, as if the universe had hand-picked them. Nicole swept in wearing pastel satin, her face airbrushed to soulless perfection, lips painted a shade of ruby that could’ve been bottled straight from vanity itself. Beside her, Sasha glowed like she had swallowed the sun. And the irony? She actually was a bride. Her wedding was today, and naturally, they had to shove the fact down my throat like it was some grand achievement. Because what better way to remind me where I stood than to dress my humiliation in white silk and diamond smiles? Last week, Beta Anthonio Reece came with the proposal that Zade, the current Alpha of the Clawpack would wed Sasha. Today was her wedding day. As for me? Well, of course I wasn’t invited. Why would I be, when rubbing salt in my wounds worked just fine from a distance? Nicole’s lip curled as threw me the last dirty look. “I don’t know why you won’t just die and spare us the shame. You’re nothing but a curse we can’t get rid of.” Her words sank into me like knives as they turned their backs and walked away, leaving me to rot in the shadows. Falling to my knees, I trembled as hot tears spilled freely. “Why don’t I just die?” My voice cracked as I whispered to the silence. “Why, Moon Goddess? Why am I so ill-fated? What did I ever do to deserve this?” But all I was met with was silence, the same silence I’d always received. Maybe she hated me too. I had cried to her, begged her, countless nights to take away my pain. But she never answered. Not once. With shaky hands, I went ahead to pick up an armor plate, my finger tracing the engraving of two eagles on a cross, the ClawPack’s sigil. “I hate you,” I muttered through clenched teeth, my voice directed at myself. “I hate you for being so pathetic.” Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed into my skull as I carried another armor, the impact making me stagger. I clutched my head, trying to steady myself. And when I closed my eyes, piercing green eyes, so vivid, knocked the air from my lungs. I managed to press a trembling hand to the window of the room. Maybe, the fresh air would help. Outside, the lilies Sasha had chosen for her ceremony swayed gently in the breeze. But the instant my reflection brushed the glass, the nearest flowers recoiled, their petals curling in on themselves, blackening until they crumbled into dust at the roots. My chest hollowed at the sight, an ugly mirror of myself. No matter where I went, life shrank back, wilted, died. I was rot, ruin. “I’m damned,” I whispered, clutching my scarred face. “I’m a curse that even Mother Nature can’t stand to look at.”