“Oh, right.” She laughed, the sound awkward. “Come in.” She held the door open for me to enter so I did.
The Luna of a pack was supposed to be a mother to all the wolves in her pack but this woman was nothing but a vain person who only cared for herself and her vain son. One didn’t need to look hard to see who Noah got his awful personality from.
“Carrot, are you sick?” The Alpha entered the room and did a double take.
“No.” My voice came out in a monotone. “You called for me?” I asked and his face hardened.
“Right, yes.” He cleared his throat. “There’s something we need to discuss. Let’s wait for Noah – Ah, here he is.” Noah came down the stairs with water dripping from his hair and a discreet smirk on his lips.
“You’re here.” His voice was cold but his eyes laughed at me.
“Yes,” I answered like a broken doll. “The Alpha called for me.”
“Ahem, as you know,” Alpha Howard started, “Red Lake is trying to form alliances with other packs.” I didn’t know that. The only thing I knew about this pack was the location of the things in the kitchen and the laundry room. Those were the only things I needed to know. “Alpha Norman of Silver Lake just lost his mate so he is looking to mate with someone else. Noah has suggested you as a good fit for the Alpha.” The cold in my body spread through my bones. “We sent him a letter last night and he responded early this morning to show you how eager he is.” Howard was the eager one if his broad smile was anything to go by. “Alpha Norman has accepted you as his next mate. The Mating Ceremony will be next month, after Noah’s succession ceremony.”
“Okay,” the word easily slipped from my lips. Stunned silence met my word. I looked at the three people sitting across from me and they all wore varying expressions of surprise. “Is that all?” I added. The Luna was the first to recover from her shock.
“Ah, of course not.” She gave me a smile sweeter and falser than Bella’s. “My room is a mess. I was going to call someone from your sub-pack to arrange it but since you’re here, you’ll help me out, won’t you, sweetie?” She fluttered her lashes.
“Okay,” I mumbled.
“Is that the only word you know now?” Noah shouted, jumping up from his seat between his parents. “What the deuce -“
“Noah -” Alpha Howard cut him off with a stern glare.
“I’ll go clean the room if you’ll excuse me.” I stood and climbed the stairs to the Luna’s room without looking back. It was a house I had cleaned over a hundred times so I knew my way around.
When I entered the room, a cool breeze blew in from the open balcony. I walked over to close the balcony door, picking up clothes as I went but when I got to the balcony, I paused.
Holding the railings, I looked down at the ground beneath me while my hands trembled. I’d never considered it before but I was so tired that morning. Was it because I spent the previous night crying instead of sleeping or was it the rotten lemons life gave me? Either way, I wanted to close my eyes and sleep.
“Do you want to jump?” A soft voice tinged with laughter tickled my skin.
“It’s funny,” he started, his eyes cold and cruel. “Until yesterday, you held your head high and spoke with indifference but now -” He stopped with a quick burst of laughter. “Now you seem dead.” His eyes twinkled. “I wanted to see you broken but it’s no fun if you break this easily.” A menacing expression took over his face.
He stepped closer to me, forcing me to take a step back. My back hit the cold railings.
“Do you now know your place, Carrot?” He snorted with a grin fit for the devil’s lips.
I always knew my place. Never once did I attempt to reach higher than my status. I didn’t even ask them to pay attention to me nor did I ask them to love me. When they hit me, I told myself it was because I deserved it and when they took food from my table, I urged myself to do better, to be better.
Red Lake was never my home and I knew that even as a child. I had no family here, no purpose and no relevance. I thanked the Alpha and his Luna for letting me stay in the pack even when I did not shift at fifteen like every other wolf.
I knew my place in this pack. My place was to serve but no matter how hard I bent over, it wasn’t enough. I didn’t like to bow my head. Bending over to please these people hurt me but I learnt my place early so despite how difficult it was to swallow my pride, I did it all the time, to the point where my pride was easier to swallow because it was almost nonexistent now.
“Am I not talking to you, Carrot?” My gaze snapped up at the sound of rage in Noah’s voice.
I blinked up at him, his outline a blur in front of me. He was too close, dangerously close and despite how much I hated it, my body was attuned to his. The heat emanating from his body warmed the cold spreading inside me but it was not enough. The cold was greater. It spread faster.
Carrot.
It was my name. Not a nickname but the name I was given at birth by my mother who promptly abandoned me in the hospital. I didn’t have red hair so my name had no justification. Did my mother like carrots? Did she eat a lot of carrots while pregnant with me? Or did she hate carrots? I’d never know because I never met her.
“The Luna asked me to arrange her bedroom,” I responded in a monotone, hollowness spreading inside me. “If you’ll excuse me -” I tried to step past him but he stopped me.
“You saucy chit,” he growled with eyes flashing. “It would be better for you to jump.” Strong hands shoved me and my world titled on its axis as I went into free fall.
For a split second, my mouth opened in a scream and I reached up a hand trying to grab at him, at the railing, at anything. When my widened eyes met his laughing ones, the scream died in my throat and the cold void inside me spread. I closed my eyes and everything faded to black.
**
Beep. Beep. Beep.
An incessant and annoying sound reached me through the darkness. After the sound, pinpricks of discomfort pushed into my skin. My throat burned and my head pounded a rowdy rhythm.
“You’re awake.” An unfamiliar man stood beside me with a blinding white dress and a subtle scowl. “Do you know your name?” Even in my ringing ears, he sounded impatient.
“Carrot,” I mumbled with a tight throat.
How was I still here? Noah pushed me off the balcony and though it was only a one-storey, I thought I was done for. So, except the afterlife looked like a hospital ward, I didn’t die.
“Yes, Carrot.” His gaze grew even sterner. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Two,” I responded. He pursed his lips and jotted something in his notepad. The waves of anger wafting off him made me shiver. The cold inside me earlier had receded, leaving me with a clear mind. “What -” I wanted to ask the doctor what happened but he cut me a sharp look.
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