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Emma POV
Today is my eighteenth birthday and it is the day that I should be able to find my mate. Many my age would be jumping around for joy, excited to meet their other half but I am not. I would be happy not to meet my mate, I just want to live my life and do what I want. My brother and father support me on this one, but my mother and sister have taken to bullying me over it. Not that they needed another excuse. I stand in front of the mirror; I am currently in a navy-blue strapless dress. It is heart shaped at the top, showing off my assets but looking smart at the same time. The top of the dress is adorned with silver gems and goes to my waist, where the dress is made of chiffon and goes to the ground. I have on a diamond necklace and bracelet with tear drop silver earrings. My hair is half up and half down, showing off all of my piercings on my ears much to my mother’s chagrin. But I refuse to not show who I am. Afterall, it may be a pack party to welcome Alpha Inga and his associates, but it is also my birthday and I want to do me. Hello Emma. Happy birthday girl! I hear a voice in my head, one I have never heard before. Confusion fills my brain before realisation it’s me. Oh my god! Oh my god! You’re my wolf, aren’t you? Hello, it is lovely to meet you. I am Emma, and I will try to do my best for you. Hello Emma, I am Ruby. And from what I have seen you already are. What do you mean? I ma nothing but a warrior’s daughter. You are kind-hearted, always lending a hand and don’t let others actions of hate towards you taint your own heart. We will get along just fine. I smile, thinking that I have the kindest and best wolf in the history of werewolves. A knock on the door pulls me from my thoughts. “Come in.” I say. The door opens and Matt enters, a smile on his face. “Hey sis, looking lovely today. That dress is stunning on you.” “Oh brother, you jest. I just look ordinary. You look smart in your tuxedo.” I say, smiling. Matt looks really smart; I am sure his mate made him dress up like that. “Ha-ha, thanks sis, that means a lot. And you looks stunning, I am sure you will be the belle of the ball.” He says, pulling me into a greeting. “Oh yeah, before I forget. Happy birthday sis!” Matt passes me a small parcel. I open the parcel, inside is a golden locket on a thin chain. I take it out and put it on, it sits perfectly. Its not too big and not too small, it looks gorgeous. I turn and jump on my brother, he ends up stepping back form the impact but quickly regains himself. His arms wrap around me. “Thank you so much.” I say, my head laying on his shoulder. “Nothing is too good for my little sister on her special day. Now come one, time to head down stairs.” Matt puts me down and pulls me out of the room, knowing I have been delaying this moment. Being the centre of attention never appealed to me, actually I hate it. That’s why I didn’t want a big party or anything for my birthday, the fact that this party for Alpha Inga and his men is today was just a coincidence but it gave my brother and father a reason to spoil me in the arty wear department. “Oh, here comes the naivety of the family. Just stay away from me at the party, naive.” Melanie spits at me as soon as I enter the living room, turning on her heel and storming out of the house. “Just ignore her, Alpha hasn’t been available all day and that’s made her angry.” Dad says, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Why?” I ask. “Because he has been ignoring her.” Matt says, coming to stand on the other side of me. “Come on Em, lets go.” Dad says, handing me a jacket. “Thanks pops but I am going to stay here a while. My friends are due any minute as they wanted to walk in with me today.” I say, smiling. Matt and dad smile at me. “See you at the party.” They say and walk off, closing the door behind them. Not long after Jacki and Luke turn up and we head out to the great hall. I walk into the hall with Jacki and Luke, Jerry and Kyo already being at the party as they were there as guards in training earlier. When we enter the party is in full swing. “You look gorgeous.” A man says as he passes by, stopping to bow and take my hand in his and give it a greet, making me feel like a princess. “Why thank you sir.” I say smiling, curtsying in jest. “Anything for a pretty lady.” He says before bowing again and walking away. “Who was that?” I ask, I have never seen the man before in my life and I would definitely remember such a handsome man. He was tall, dressed in a dark green suit with a white shirt. His blue eyes sparkled like diamonds and his raven black hair complimented his angelic face. “That was Alpha Inga.” Jerry says, coming over to join us. “You look beautiful Emma.” “Thank you, no way was that Alpha Inga. I heard he was frightening, but he was really charming.” I say. “He was more frightening this morning, I can tell you. Even Kyo was scared, and he isn’t scared of anyone.” Jerry comments. We all head onto the dance floor, Jerry and Jacki dance together and Luke and I dance together. I am sure that Jacki and Jerry will be mates, it’s the way they have both had a crush on each other since year dot, and the way they look at each other. The moon goddess would be blind not to match them. As we dance around the room I keep getting a faint whiff of a lovely scent. Then all of a sudden the scent hits me strong when we go near the buffet table. I look around, the scent of pine and chocolates filling my nose and making a foreign feeling creep into my body. I look around, trying to find the source of the scent. MATE! MATE! Ruby says, prancing around in my head like an excited puppy. I quickly walk over to the group of people where the smell is coming from. I am shocked to see that it is Alpha Inga, Beta Edward, Melanie and Alpha Eric with some of Alpha Ingas’ men. But who the scent was coming from was the most surprising of all. “Mate” Alpha Eric says, turning and looking at me. The moment of happiness is short lived. Before I can do anything, the words no one wants to hear are spoken. “I, Alpha Eric Zanner, hereby reject Emma Belle Locke as my mate and Luna.” Alpha Eric says, looking me right in the eye. I can see the pain start to take effect as he stumbles from the pain, but I cannot feel anything. I am taking the pain. Reject him now Ruby says to me. He is not worthy of us. She growls. “I, Emma Belle Locke, reject you….” But before I can accept the rejection Alpha Eric gives me a lesson across the face. “I alpha order you NOT to accept my rejection.” He snarls at me. “What? Why would you be so cruel?” I ask, tears flowing form my eyes while Melanie simply looks on, smirking at me. “Because I need an heir, and that is what you will give me. You will become my personal asistent, be happy easy girl. I am promoting you from easy girl to asistent, you should be happy.” Alpha Eric says to me, grabbing my face and digging his claws into it. “But I am innocent!” I shriek. “Yeah right! Melanie has told me all about your escapades with the local men, never getting enough of them. You disgust me, why the moon goddess saw fit to mate me with you I will never know.” Alpha Eric snarls. “Obey easy girl! You are nothing but an easy girl, a good machine for our great alpha. God, he might even let you pleasure the men. Afterall that is your favourite past time.” Melanie sneers at me, glee evident in her eyes. “Is that really necessary? In front of your guests?” Alpha Inga asks, looking at me with such sadness. “She is my pack member and I will do with her how I see fit Alpha Inga.” Alpha Eric growls. “I will not be part of this. This is disgusting. She has not even done anything to you Alpha Eric other than be your mate. The accusations you have thrown her way are ridiculous, and if an outsider such as myself can tell that then I worry about the future of your pack. I will not have an alliance with you.” Alpha Inga holds his hands up and takes a step back, mouthing ‘sorry’ as he and his men walk away. I wish Alpha Inga could take me away with him. But I know to do so would mean war, and Alpha inga is right to leave. If I was in his shoes, I would do the same. “Guards, take this naive to the dungeons!” Alpha Eric orders. I don’t even fight them, I just stand up and let them take me, leaving my heart and reputation on the floor. Emma POV When we are out of eyesight from Alpha Eric and Melanie, the two guards let go of my arms. I look at them and realise that they are Jerry and Kyo. Jerry grabs me and embraces me in a huge hug, while Kyo rubs my back as my tears just continue to flow. I grab on to Jerry for dear life, he is the only thing that is holding me up right now. “I am so sorry hun, I cannot believe that the alpha believes that you would behave that way. What he said was completely out of order.” Jerry says, holding me tighter. “I… Don’t… get… it… I have not… even spoken to him… until today…” I say in between my tears. “Melanie got to him, that is what has happened. That girl is poison, and if Eric does not realise that soon then he and this pack will be doomed soon. Of that I am sure.” Kyo states with certainty. After a few more minutes, once I have calmed down, we head off in the direction of the dungeons. I want to escape, to leave the pack but I know that I would not be able to survive. And even if I did, I would never truly be free as Melanie and Eric would always come for me. The cell I am placed in is horrible. There is no bed, no covers, nothing. “I am so sorry Em, we have been ordered to place you in this cell. I wish there was something we could do.” Kyo says, looking at the floor. I reach out and lift his head up, “It is ok. Eric has ordered you too, and no matter what happens to me I want you both safe. Do as he orders, just stay safe. Please.” I say. Kyo nods his head. They both give me a greeting before the cell door is shut and locked. I lean against the wall and fall to the floor, pulling my knees up and sob. I cry for everything I have lost- my home, my mate, my place in the pack and so much more. I have no idea how much time has passed, the cell I am in does not even have a window so I cannot tell if it is still evening or morning yet. I take a deep breath, stand up and look up at the ceiling. I need to get my thoughts in order, but there is one thing of which I am sure. I will not stay here and wallow in self-pity. Instead, what I will do is withstand whatever they throw at me and when I can, I will get as far away from here as I can. I refuse to let them defeat me, I will not be broken by them. No matter what, I will fight with every breath I have. It has been six months since that bad night that my mate rejected me. For the first week I was left alone, only seeing another living person when the guards came to feed me. Many of the guards heard what happened and over the last six months have been helping me by tending to my wounds and trying to protect me, even though if they are found out they would be punished or worse, ended. I thought that after such a spectacle at the party the pack would turn on me and side with Alpha eric, but it appears that is not the case. From what the guards have told me the pack retaliated, they may not be able to stand up to their Alpha, but they can make it hard for him to rule the pack. Once you lose the respect of your pack, it is hard for you to get it back and even harder for you to rule them effectively. Mainly because they no longer want you. Luckily no one has done anything big enough to warrant any punishments, from what I understand its more like they just refuse to stand by him. As of my second week in the dungeon, I have been visited by Melanie every day. She takes pleasure in telling me what she and my so-called mate have been up to. Not that the pain from them mating doesn’t tell me, and I know that their life is a very active one. Not even the guards can take my screams anymore, many of them sneak me in sleeping to knock me out when the pain starts. When Melanie visits me every day she comes into my cell and injects me with wolfsbane, she then let me not covered and drags me through the dungeons and into the torture room. There she chains me up and then spends hours teaching me and trying out other ways to cause ç harm to me. Every day it is always the same conversation between us, it is getting tiresome and boring. “Submit to me, easy girl.” Melanie shouts. “No.” I reply. “You will.” “No.” “I will punish you, then what will you do?” Silence. I only ever answer her with “no” as I refuse to say anything else to her. When she is done, she leaves me until a guard is instructed to come in and get me down. They take the time to then treat my wounds and help me get dressed again, constantly apologising every time I flinch or let out a whimper. “Hello tramp. How does it feel? To finally be where you belong.” The nasally voice asks me, the voice I will know anywhere. “Hello Eric.” “It is Alpha to you, you little girl.” “You are no Alpha of mine.” “Oh, but I am. I am your Alpha, your superior.” “My ex-mate, therefore I owe you nothing.” I reply. Eric growls at me and leaves, ever since that first night I pledged to myself to never call him Alpha ever again. He would only ever be Eric to me, and no matter what he did I would stand by that pledge. An Alpha is someone who is worthy of the title and he will never be worthy of it. I know that sounds like I am being spiteful, and at first I was. But as time went on I realised that even if I wanted to call him Alpha my wolf Ruby would not allow it. I cannot count the amount of times I have apologised to Ruby for her life, on her first day of life she found her mate, got rejected and then imprisoned. You did nothing wrong, it was that useless ex-mate of ours. But he is still our Alpha, maybe we should relent and give in. Never, you are destined for great things Emma. I know that right now everything seem bleak, but trust me there is a future out there for you, waiting for you. All you need to do is believe and wait until the time is right. Then you will find it. You mean we, don’t you Ruby? We are destined, don’t forget you are a part of me. All I am met with is silence, what on earth? Why would Ruby make it sound as if I will be on my own soon? I get the feeling that she knows something I don’t. Today is the day that Melanie wants to see me in the pack house. I wonder what they want, maybe another way to try to break me. I am dragged through the pack by my hair, many pack members look on in horror and with pity in their eyes. I do not want nor need their pity, if they truly wanted to help then they would. Instead they stand there watching on, watching as an innocent girl is dragged around like a traitor. No, even traitors are not treated this poorly. I am dragged up to the pack house where Jerry steps forward. “Adam, release her now!” “But the Luna ordered…” Adam starts. “I don’t care about what that woman ordered, Emma is innocent and you could have just walked her through the pack. Not treated her like this. Some guard you are.” Jerry mutters the last bit. At least Adam has the decency to look down in mortification. “Do you know what they have planned for me?” I ask. “I am so sorry Em, I do not. I just wish there was a way to get you out of here.” “Not without risking your life, and you know I would never do that.” I say. “I don’t get it, why would the Alpha and Melanie do this to you? You have never done anything to them.” Jerry says, leading the way through the packhouse and to the Alphas floor. “I do not know. Melanie once told me that she hates me, never gave me a reason just that she hates me. I have always wondered if it was something I did, or said or what but for some reason her and mother have always hated me. As for Eric, I have no idea.” I reply, I am in the dark about their behaviour as much as the next person.
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