PENELOPE'S POV
"Only cursed children are abandoned by the moon," Alpha Atlas's statement rang in my ear as I approached Beta Kole's chamber. Even his laughter as he said those words that night still echoed in my ear like it hadn't been years ago.
Tonight is the night when everything changes. Alpha Atlas's words would stop hurting tonight. I don't even know if I'm making the right decision, but being the most useless wolf in your pack, and having the beta showing interest in you is something great, right?
Recently, he showed interest in me and called me beautiful. I'm no validation seeker, but that was the best adjective anyone had ever used for me. I'm only used to hearing woeful qualifications like 'Useless' 'Weak' 'Pathetic' and many other dislikable words.
Maybe I lied, I needed the validation that our Beta is starting to show me. Who knows, it could be the best I would ever get in my lifetime so why not embrace it and hope something meaningful comes out of it?
Beta Kole promised to take me with him to the turning party that's happening right beneath the packhouse, tonight.
No one had ever shown me a favor as fancy as that since my eighteen years of being a member of this pack, not when young wolves would be turning tonight and I who was turning my eighteenth in a few hours had no wolf.
Taking a deep breath and reassessing my blue gown outfit that I had saved to buy, I raise my hand to knock on Beta Kole's chamber, but the sudden sounds I start to hear make me hang my hand in the air.
If I'm not mistaken, it…it sounds like someone is moaning.
"Oh yes, harder, please…Oh fuck." My brows furrow on their own. My hands suddenly turn clammy and my breath comes out unevenly.
"You are so beautiful, Amira. Damn, you take my length so well," Beta Kole's unmistakably voice says after Amira's. I can feel my shoulders sinking as weakness envelopes me. This can't be happening. No.
But it is. Beta Kole and our Alpha's daughter, Amira, who hates me more than hatred itself, are inside his chamber, fornicating.
I don't know how long I've been standing there, but the door suddenly opens, jolting me from my reeling thoughts and devastating feelings.
There, stands Amira, clad in a beautiful red gown that its shoulder straps are hanging off her shoulders, her blue eyes turning ice cold as they take me in. She's all sweaty and of course, smells like sex. I've been around pack members having sex multiple numbers of times to know how sex smells.
"What the hell are you doing here, Penelope?" I try to speak, but my lips fail me. I should have left immediately. I sensed what was going on in here. I guess Beta Kole heard my name, cos he's now showing his face through the opened door.
"Are you deaf!?" Amira roars at me, and my eyes flick to Beta Kole, expecting him to say something, maybe tell Amira that he was the one who invited me.
"Be…Beta Kole, say something." I said timidly in my usual low tone. Amira rolled her eyes and faced him. "What the hell is this filthy thing talking about?" I swallowed hard, digesting her hateful words.
Beta Kole glares at me, almost disdainfully and I started losing hope already. What?
"I have no idea what she's talking about. Well, she has always been looking my way recently, so I guess she has some love confession to make…you know." he and Amira burst into mock laughter and my stomach clenched. I felt humiliated.
"Wolfless princess in distress" Amira added as her eyes took in my blue dress as if I was dressed in rags. I saved for a year to buy this dress, hoping I would turn before or on my eighteenth birthday and wear it.
I feel too innocent and naive, because why had I not expected this disappointment by someone whose status would be tainted if being seen with a weak wolf like me? Why does it hurt so much? And why are their words ruining whatever low amount of self esteem I have left?
I don't wait, I give them my back and run as fast as I can back to the cellar where I stay when I'm not cleaning or helping the pack members to run errands.
I fall on my knees on the hard concrete floor, and let the tears come fast and hard till I run out of it. My body finally weakens and I just lay on the floor, staring blankly at the wall.
The young wolves are happy to be having a turning party tonight, but I'm not. And I was humiliated by who I was starting to trust out of desperation and willingness to be accepted and cared for like other women.
"Penelope!" The sound of my name being called by a baritone voice jolts me. Who could be calling me? What for? Are they all not supposed to be celebrating at the turning party tonight?
"Penelope! Is she deaf?" The voice rings again, and I quickly scramble to my feet and wipe my tears away with the back of my hand. The face behind all the shouting finally reveals itself. He is one of the pack members, Aiden. Why is he looking for me?
"I know you would be here." He says disgustingly, his eyes scanning the Cellar's untidy area. "Well, the Alpha seeks your presence in the turning party."
"My presence?"
"Yes. Don't ask me stupid questions, and now, follow me!" He scolds. I obeyed and followed him while my heart trembled inside. Why does the Alpha want me to show up at the party? Are they going to humiliate me in front of different packs that are present tonight? My anxiety worsened at the thought.
On getting to the grand hall where the party is taking place, I follow Aiden, lowering my gaze, and not daring to meet anyone in the eye. Everyone here has their wolf, except me. Shame.
Standing before the Alpha of our pack, I lower my gaze, and mutter, "My Alpha, you seek for me"
As if everyone else is waiting for me, total silence befalls the hall and I feel their gazes on me without looking up. I am ready for the humiliation. So far as it doesn't kill me, I will be good.
"You are expected to turn tonight, Penelope. The others have had their turning session and found their mates. Where were you?" My body shakes as I look toward where young wolves like me are with their newly found mates and then look away in shame.
I don't know what to say, so I simply keep mute, expecting the worst.
"She's wolfless, Dad. Why give her such a grand honor to be here tonight? Waste of a moment." Amira's comment painfully pierces my ear, and I hear a series of laughter follow.
"How can she be wolfless?"
"The moon rebuked her" laughter upon laughter. I am about to bolt before the tear falls when I hear a deep masculine voice speak.
I can't explain how I still remember how his voice sounds. Maybe because the first and last time I heard it, I had witnessed him cutting off an Omega's head because she mistakenly spilled drinks on his shoes.
I hated him immediately, as much as I feared him. He is merciless, brutal, stinkingly rich, and has no respect for anyone in this world.
Which is why it feels lik
e a terrible nightmare now as he announces, "Penelope Blackwood is my mate."