Blackheart

.II.

It was the day of the coronation, and I had to attend, though no one wanted me there. Little did I

know that everything after today would lead to both my demise and rise to power. I was placed

at the very back. I couldn’t see or hear anything, and the fact that everyone was taller than

I wasn’t much help. As the ceremony came to an end, everyone dispersed, some going to the

pack house, others to town. That was when I was hit with the sweetest scent, a beautiful mixture

of dew drop, and vanilla, it tickled my nose like a feather would a pair of feet. I looked around,

my eyes darting from person to person, until I found him. Atto. My wolf, Ivory, went crazy,

yelling “Mate!” repeatedly. He walks over to me, and I am becoming giddy. He presses me

against the wall, his face going from kindness to one of confused anger. Ivory begins

whimpering. He looks down at me and utters the words I never thought to hear.

“I, Atto Xavier Forde, reject you, Ororo Niha Akio Blackheart, as my mate and luna,” he gritted

through his teeth.

I began to cry, and Ivory was full-on crying and howling in my head.

“But you’re my mate. You’re supposed to love me.” I cried, “Without you we won’t survi-” I am

cut short by a hard slap to my face. I fall, hitting my face on the floor. I sit up and spit out blood.

bringing my hands to my lip, I feel that it had split, and I have an open wound on my forehead.

“You deserve everything you get!” he spat, “You deserve to rot in hell!”

The tears flowed down my cheeks freely. I pick myself up and take off into the forest and up the Forbidden Mountain.

There, I collapsed near the Lake of Artemis on the mountainside, angry and sad. I screamed and

cried into the evening sky. As I calm my raging emotions, a powerful tugging sensation

overwhelms me. As if someone had tied a string around my heart and pulled on it, I doubled over

and began convulsing.

“W-w-what’s going on, Ivory?” I asked. And her answer completely unravels and destroys me.

“Mate! Our mate is mating with someone else,” she replies. I cried even harder as I had made

sure to preserve my golden card just for him. Between tears, I cry out to our mother goddess,

screaming at her and blaming her for my misfortune. I was unsure of how long I had stayed

there, but when I got up, I noted that it was the early hours of the morning as it was still dark, but

the sky held just slight hint blue and the ground beneath me still had dew, picking myself up, I

walked back to the pack house, a broken shell of who I was. I went down into the basement and

threw on a fresh set of clothes, and went back up to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I was in the

process of frying sausages and eggs when Zaria, the pack slut, came down the stairs, with her

brother Zachary, right on her heels.

“She smells of mate!” Ivory growls. I sigh and shake my head as the rest of the pack files down

the stairs, first my brothers, then others I identify as Nyx, Kronos, Calypso, Titan, and the runner-up wanna-be slut, Rebecca, Zaria’s little sister. I turn my focus to things like lunch and how I had to fix the ping-pong table in the game room again. I was so lost in thought that I hadn’t noticed Midnight standing next to me with his plate. I jump back a little, startled by his presence.

“Sorry,” he said, “just want some egg and sausage, please.” I was so surprised by how nicely he had spoken to me that I just nodded and put some, plus a little extra, in his plate. As I had just finished distributing the others’ food, Zaria yelled at me.

“Hey pig! Can’t you see we’re hungry over here! The alpha is hungry, you worthless b***h!”

I turn to her, wide-eyed and hand on my chest, “I’m sorry, do you see a mirror here?” She looked at me, baffled.

“It’s just that you said ‘hey pig’ so I assumed you were looking in a mirror. And get off of Xavier’s lap! He’s mine!”

His face turns to amused anger, and Zaria rises off of him.

She stalks toward me and pushes me into the counter, punching my stomach. I double over, and she yanks on my hair, giving me the perfect angle to swing my fist, successfully connecting with her jaw. She drops me, and her brother comes to her aid, kicking me to the floor and in my side repeatedly until there was a successful crack, indicating he had broken my rib. As he continues,

two of my brothers, Ares and Add, join in. I look to Atto and mouth ‘help me,’ but he doesn’t. He just gets up and walks away, a hint of sadness in his eyes. Watching his back turn to me broke me even further. I lay there and took every punch, every kick, every insult. I am yanked up by my throat by Ares, and I see Zaria walk over to the stove, picking up the pot of water I had

just taken off, and walks back over to me. Ares throws me to the floor, placing his foot on my

hands and pressing down painfully, but I bite back on my tears and pain.

“So strong, aren’t we, Ororo?” Zaria mocks me as she throws the pot of water onto my back and arm. I screamed out in pain, unable to move my hand or defend myself against their brutal attacks. Ares looks at me in disgust, a maniacal smile painted onto his face. Lifting me, he dips my other hand into the hot deep fryer. I scream in pain as they continue to torture me.

“Hey, why don’t we dump this fool in the river?” Zachary said. They all laughed and agreed, lifting me onto their shoulders and walking to the lake behind the pack house. As they arrived there, I stopped fighting. Ares swung me by my legs, launching me almost into the middle of the lake. I splashed around, looking at my brothers' laughing.

“I hope you are happy with yourselves!” I yelled to my brothers, “Mom and Dad will hate you for this!” Those were the last things I remember before blacking out from the pain.