Ch.04

TIA POV It was just past ten in the evening, and I knew the Alpha floor had fallen asleep—time to run. My bedroom used to be a lot closer to the rest of the family on our floor, but after I returned altered, as they labelled it, they thought it was best to give me my space and privacy by moving me from my princess's suite closer to all of theirs, and placing me on the opposite end of the floor, all by my self. The room next to mine was the private Alpha library, a room I spent most of my time hiding in. No one ever went there, and I suspect that's why I was stuffed there. There would be no risk of chance interactions with me way down here. It was initially sad, but I have learned to grow up on my own. It was evident when I was a toddler and young child, but once I returned, I was considered damaged in the eyes of my family, and I was pushed even further out to the sidelines. From the proverbial sidelines, I watched as my mother dotted over my sister, Hilary. Everyone knew who my mother's favourite pup was, and it was Hilary. They wore matching dresses, had hair and spa dates, had hundreds of shopping trips, and always came back laughing as though they didn’t care in the world. I watched as my father taught my brother, Simon, to become a strong Alpha leader. He was shown how to stock and trade livestock, hunt and fish off the land, and focus laser-like on our business empire. We may be a peaceful pack, but we have been financial leaders due to savvy trading and alliances formed over the years. With my parents hovering over their chosen favourite pups, I was often forgotten and abandoned for a better option, always a back-burner thought to both. The only one who invested in me as a child was the very omega who stole and then sold me. Imagine that. I knew that my kidnapping affected them both. Not in the way that they cared or were heartbroken by my abuse. No, they would need to spend time with me and learn what I endured for that to happen. They never had the time or the patience for that. No, how my kidnapping affected them was pretty simple: image. The world has always seen us as kind and pacifists in matters of war. Our pack had always been protected, as we were the food suppliers for our surrounding pack allies. They kept us safe because of this. After I was reported missing, it was quickly revealed that the marriage was troubled and the pups were neglected. The world was wrong, however. It was just me who was overlooked. It’s okay, little one. You still have me, my wolf, Meadow whispered as we stealthily walked across the hallway and slowly down the steps leading to the main floor. I knew Meadow was right. I wasn’t entirely alone. She was my truest and best friend. I have had Meadow since I was kidnapped. She was the only reason I survived. The men were planning on breaking me in after giving me the puberty injections. It was something I didn’t like to reflect on anymore. I was just grateful that the Goddess protected me by giving me Meadow when she did. I suspect it was a combination of me possessing the blessed wolf, and the serum they injected us pups with had something to do with it, but I can’t be certain. Regardless, those perverse men came into my cell with foul intentions to get me ready for transport to whatever club they sold me to, but something took hold, and before I realized what was happening, my room was coated with crimson. I was covered in it. Meadow had pushed through and forced a change. She was feral in her attacks, but we were alive. We remained untouched, and we saved many pups that night. I was still haunted by the screams of the men as Meadow tore through them all, unrelenting. She was an unstoppable beast when they came into my room with their malicious and dirty intent. I still remember that night in vivid detail, no matter how much I tried to block it out, but I can’t tell anyone. Meadow isn’t like other wolves; receiving her at such a young age was impossible to explain to anyone. I had to protect her the way she protected me. I couldn’t tell a soul about her. Females don’t receive their wolves until they are eighteen; males get theirs at sixteen. I would never have suspected that the Goddess would be sexist in her design, to be honest. Why would she delay females when, mentally, we develop so much sooner than our often more immature counterparts? Why make them a weapon when they’re too dumb to figure out life's simplest things at that age? Personally, if it were me, I would reverse it. Females should receive their wolves sooner. We shouldn't be left vulnerable longer and forced to rely on males to keep us safe. In my opinion, it is a flawed system. The books I read in the library state that they were designed this way due to reproductive development and balance. Women are often viewed as docile and more studious, so delaying their shift allows the female to develop for mating and her heat cycles without the added pressures from her wolves. It also allows the female to focus on intelligence to assist their brute mates; males are built to be warriors and need their wolves sooner to defeat packs. Traditionally speaking, males were the defenders of packs. Hogwash, if you ask me! I would have loved to train as a warrior, but Cherry Ridge didn’t allow women to train in combat. Another reason I have been hiding Meadow is that she was a formidable beast. If my parents discovered her abilities, they would surely send me away. Or sell me off for a much higher arrangement. My parents weren't bad people, but they lacked foresight. They were too comfortable with the world protecting them because of our livestock and crops. No, we would have been safer for now if we had kept everyone at bay and not let anyone in. Trust was something we couldn’t afford. The pack had already betrayed us, and Meadow was confident that more would eventually come out into the light. We just needed to play our part and watch from the shadows. Once I was outside, it didn’t take Meadow long to pull us into the trees, taking over and shifting into her beautifully rare shimmering wolf. We were too large for a female wolf, even with Alpha genes. I had seen my brother and father's wolves, and I would dare to say that we were slightly larger and not at all similar in colouring. I didn't resemble either of my parents in either wolf or human form. Like many others did when comparing my appearance to my family, I used to wonder if I was adopted. Still, through my own investigation, I discovered I was a living image of my mother's grandmother. She was also recorded as a blessed shimmer wolf. She was hunted until she was mated. Shimmer wolves were believed to be extinct. I figure there had to be more out there if I were a shimmer wolf. They were hiding just as I was. We were the selected few tasked with maintaining balance on Earth and coveted for our strength and abilities in battle. Shimmer wolves also chose their own mates; they weren’t assigned a true mate, like regular wolfen shifters. It is written that your wolf will know who they wish to match with, but the human doesn’t. Shimmer wolves also gave their pack their blessings from the goddess and strength. If no shimmer wolf resides within its assigned blessed pack, the pack suffers significant losses. For example, should my family marry me off and send me away, there is no more shimmer wolf to maintain this pack's sacred space. It was considered against the Goddess to attack a shimmer wolf-sanctioned pack, and your pack was doomed for ruin if you tried. The Goddess would unleash her Dark Sister to exact her vengeance. But thanks to our parents, the world already knew neither Simon nor Hilary held a shimmer wolf. Now that they believed I would not shift, I was curious to see how my family proceeded. This was their test. If they were wise, they would leave me be and allow me to live my own life within the pack. My family were too vocal. They let the world know there was no shimmer wolf in our pack; they would become unprotected if they decided to send me away. My father shamed me for being cold and unapproachable, but failed to see that it was for their benefit as much as it was for my own. If I were a heartless b.itch, then no one would want to take me away as a chosen mate, especially if I had no wolf for them to claim. Meadow gently settled our sprint to a calm trot over to our usual spot, deep in the forest. We found it shortly after we returned, as we needed to escape the drama of the family fighting back and forth. It had a peaceful stream and nightly creepy crawlers that chirped, screeched, or cooed a soft lullaby to a lonely girl as she lounged high up in her tall willow tree. No one ever found me here, not that anyone would be looking for me. To keep Meadow and me a secret, we couldn’t afford friends. That was why we had to let them believe I was now wolfless, to solidify that no one in this pack would know my secret. Maybe if I were still sent to the Raven Peak pack to marry Delta Allan, I would gain my first true friend, but I was still skeptical. He was supposed to arrive for my birthday, but that didn't happen. It was probably for the best, though. My parents' look of embarrassment was enough for one night. It’d been a few days since, and they still have not tried to seek me out. The message was clear: I was Delta Allan’s problem now. That is, if he still wishes to collect me. To be honest, I was nervous. I haven’t even met my fiancé, but he was coming in a few days to claim me? Was this normal? Does this mean I was off the hook? Was I now free from that contract they signed? I wasn’t really sure. I knew that arranged pack marriages weren’t as common nowadays, everyone wanted their true mates, but since I technically didn’t have one, maybe this was the Goddess’ way of pointing Meadow and me on our correct path? But I doubted it. Why would she take the only shimmer wolf from its blessed and protected lands? I was forcing myself to remain hopeful, and Meadow was silent. What a deluded pair we were. “Meadow, do you think we’ll be happy with our betrothed mate?” I asked as I settled high up in our tree. I slept better out here than in the room they assigned me. Let’s call it residual trust issues. It’s not as if anyone tried to earn it after I returned; they just swept it under the proverbial rug and pretended it hadn’t happened. We will be happy on the path we are led down once it is presented. We must remember to stay alert and vigilant, little one. I sense something approaching, and we must be prepared to stand tall when it does arrive. Meadow never revealed too much, just enough to keep me on guard. I knew what the pack said about me. I knew no one liked me, but it made it easier to be the brat I needed to be to keep myself and the pack safe. All I needed was Meadow. For now, someday we will be loved by others, little one. Meadow’s soft words and humming lulled me into a deep sleep. Nothing around to stir me from the slumber I fell into. Not even the screams—.