Kaia’s POV
Never look up.
Look up!
Never speak.
Speak louder!
It was difficult to understand what they wanted. Or maybe they just enjoyed being bullies.
The empty scrub bucket was in Lupa’s hand and the muddy-brown, stinky, disgusting water all over my body.
Yet, I didn’t know if I was to apologize or stand there quietly.
“You scum of the earth!” her voice sliced the quiet morning air, sharp and rude.
She was way younger than me. But in this world, age was nothing. She was the cousin to Alpha Thakros, so if she yelled ‘shit’, I asked, “What colour?”
I bit my lips as the dirty water tried to force its way into my mouth.
“I can’t wait to get rid of you,” she continued. “My cousin is having his mate over today and you’ll be serving in her quarters. I heard she’s daughter to the Beta there and is a great warrior. She would slice your head from your neck and bring an end to your pathetic life.”
I bit deeper, until I tasted blood. But when I realized my blood couldn’t be seen, I stopped biting.
“Get lost!” she screamed.
I wished I could…or wished I didn’t get lost in the first place.
I have been a slave here for as long as I could remember. The only memory I have of my family is a terrible one. It was the purge, led by Alpha Thakros’ father and himself. Mother had told be to stay close by that day but I wandered away. When I returned, our coven was gone and there were wolves right there.
“She’s her daughter,” Alpha Thakros, then prince, said, pointing at me. “Seize her!”
I knew what they wanted but never let them know I had any powers.
The Alpha got mad.
“She’s useless and a waste of time,” he said. “Turn her into a slave.”
For the past ten years, I scrubbed every floor in this denhouse. That, I couldn't escape, or dare to use my powers. But when the filthy enforcers wanted to have me, I followed them to their rooms, and made them my slave.
It was always satisfying.
I stepped out of Lupa’s room wondering what the Luna would look like. I have seen Alpha Thankros from his youth until this moment, and he was a ruthless, ugly and dangerous beast. Only one thing would make a lady agree to be his Luna.
If she was equally unattractive.
Didn’t Lupa just say she was a warrior?
I learnt how to be unseen in the last couple of years. Once I was done with the insatiable Lupa, I took the corridor, bowed my head, and found a space under the stairs. That was basically where I slept because the other slaves hated me.
I was the outcast and they treated me that way.
No one came here. It was like my own little coven, and it was here that I began honing my powers, ready to escape this pack and find my coven. I ducked under the stairs, hitting the floor with my dirt-stained gown.
My eyes were shut as I tried to recall the spells, just like my mother had taught me.
“Esk be itch weren taklos …”
I bit my lips trying so hard to remember the last phrase. I always got it wrong and the best I’ve been able to summon was a spark of fire that burnt me.
I inhaled and exhaled slowly. “Esk be itch weren taklos sugit raben!”
I opened my eyes, expecting to see a glow. But nothing.
I clenched my jaw.
“Esk be itch weren taklos sugit raben!” I screamed louder.
But it only attracted the attention of the boy I didn’t want to talk to at the moment. His face appeared underneath the stairs.
“Hey,” he said. “Still mad at me?”
Lykaios was an enforcer and I had no idea why he liked me. Currently, I was mad at him because I wanted him far away from me. He was always in the way of my quiet time.
I frowned. “Get lost, Kaios.”
He didn’t heed. Instead he crawled beside me and pulled my head to his shoulder. “You’re so stubborn, Kaia, while I’m thinking about you all the time.”
I scoffed.
I liked Kaios. But like everyone here, he was a wolf, and I didn’t fit into this place. I wanted to find my own people and fall in love with a wizard.
“Won’t you ask how I’ve been?” he asked when I remained silent.
“I won’t because I know you’ve been fine. Alpha Thakros is away, so it’s the best time of the year for you enforcers. But slaves don’t get a break even if the Alpha is out on a hunt.”
He became quiet. I would always guilt-trip him and make him quiet.
I pulled away from his shoulder and stood up. Straightening my gown, I said, “I’ve got to go now, Kaois. Lupa is no longer my mistress, thank the moon. I hear Alpha Thakros has a mate coming and I’m dying to see the woman dumb enough to stay by his side.”
The Luna’s room hadn’t been occupied since Alpha Thakros’ mother died, and while the entire pack mourned, I rejoiced. They had taken my mother from me and it felt so good seeing the beast broken.
Walking into the room now, I wondered how my new role as the Luna’s slave would change. I wondered if the new Luna would be better or worse than Lupa. Cleaning took less than an hour. Usually, the room was always cleaned weekly so it wasn't much work.
The work always started when some over demanding wolf became your mistress.
The bed was so good that it called unto me, but that didn’t interest me as much as the fact that I was alone, in a space I could explore.
I sat on the floor, cross legged, hands clasped together and brought towards my chest, and eyes shut.
It had to work this time.
“Esk be itch weren taklos sugit raben!”
I felt it. It was faint but there alright.
An opening.
“That’s your chraks opening,” my mother would say.
I felt it. Like a fountain opening within me. I had unlocked the second phase of divine calling. When I threw my eyes open, a small fire rested on my fingers, small but precious. They didn’t burn me this time.
Finally!
But when I turned around, I gasped, air rushing out of my lungs.
A stranger stood in the room, staring intently at me. I have never seen her face before so I guessed she was the arranged mate of the Beast.
Her eyes moved from my face to the small fire that danced around my fingers.
“You’re a witch!”