"Claire, do you want to know where your mother and brother are?" A woman's voice asked me. I could hear her well but I couldn't see her.

There was a wisp of light in the center of the dark - this dark place to which I assume was a room. There were no walls, ceilings, nor floors. It was plain darkness tinted by one single light coming from the small wisp like a candle flame at the center.

"Yes. Please tell me where they are," I responded. Unexpectedly, my voice sounded calmer than I thought it would be.

I remember making a huge scene earlier, after all. My emotions were all over the place and my fear for my family's lives made me even more anxious. I couldn't help but lose my sanity and myself back then.

"They are in a safe place, Claire. But I am afraid to tell you, you can no longer see them in the world you're living in," the voice continued to explain to me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"They are not dead, but they aren't alive either," the woman replied vaguely.

I frowned, feeling something was wrong. I swallowed down my fears and bravely asked, "What's the cause of this? And what should I do to see them again?"

It didn't matter what the future held or what the things I would need to do were. If it meant being able to see my mother and brother―my only family members left―then I was more than willing to sell my own soul to the devil. Or whatever creature it was I was talking to.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you more than this as fate dictated you're already bound to know it all yourself. But as for the reason, I can tell you some things. I believe it is a curse, a dark spell given to your race after experiencing a rejection."

"A rejection?" I couldn't help but feel my body turned cold. Rejection? Why would I suffer from a rejection? From all I know, only mates could do something such as this rejection. And it was a painful process too.

"Your mate is an alpha," the woman said, making my eyes wide in surprise. "Unfortunately, your mate rejected you. And as a consequence, your mother and brother disappeared..."

"What did you say...?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Both my mother and brother... disappeared... because of me?

"It is something beyond your control, Claire," she said with a gentler voice, "A witch cursed your family race a long time ago. If one of you gets rejected by his or her fated mate, one or more of the other living family members and his or her mate's family members, will vanish. They or they may not continue to live in another world, lifetime, or timeline, as completely different people."

"What does that even mean..." I muttered between my breaths. I couldn't decipher what she was saying at all. Mates, rejection, living in another world...

In the first place, wouldn't this happen at all if not due to me and my recklessness? Just who was it that was rejected and caused the entire family's demise?

It was me. I was the one who caused it. All because I was rejected.

But by who? Who was my mate and why did he reject me? Was it because I was an omega? But how did he know? And when did he reject me? Didn't they say only after being confessed to about fated pairing and mating, could a werewolf "reject" his or her mate?

When did I ever confess my feelings to? And who was it that rejected me?

As I began to ask more questions in my head, the small wisp of flame before me began to disintegrate with the dark and slowly, I felt my eyes open. An unfamiliar white ceiling immediately welcomed me, paired with the soft fabric beneath my body.

Almost dying out of dehydration, I began to open my lips. My weak hearing that resembled an ordinary human failed to notice another person was, in actuality, in the same room I was in.

It was only after a while when I regained some more senses and strength to move my fingers that I realized the other person's presence. It was Ajax.

And he was sleeping right next to me.

With surprised eyes, my heart began to pound loud in confusion, anxiety, and fear. What was I doing in Ajax's bedroom?

From what I knew, this was the concrete house of the Larwoods family near the city. It resembled the ones being used by humans of high statuses like Alphas did in our pack. I had only been here for a couple of times and they were only whenever I and my family were asked to lend a hand in cleaning and doing some maintenance to this house. After all, such a huge house was ever barely used by the Larwoods family. As per tradition and origin, they still preferred to live near the Northern woods where their real territory was located.

Suddenly going to this mansion... Why was Ajax doing this? Didn't he hate this mansion?

I remembered it clearly. It was only an accident but I once heard Ajax arguing with his father. As it turned out, Ajax refused to stay in this mansion as he didn't want to live near creatures such as humans. He hated them for some reason.

But then again, after hearing his words earlier while I was begging to look for my family, it might be that I was wrong again.

Perhaps, Ajax hated us omegas more than he had hated humans.

Just thinking about this possibility made a twinge in my heart. I couldn't believe I was too blind to see for myself. Ajax clearly didn't like us, omegas, not even a bit...

So that led to the question―why did he bring me here? And why was I in his bedroom?

A thought began to cross my mind. An extremely ridiculous one.

With a heart almost jumping out of my throat, I slowly looked down at my body, beneath the white covers. My face almost fell and my whole world stopped as I found out―I was naked.

And when I glanced over Ajax, I found out that he, too, didn't wear any single clothing...

Alarmed, I tried to move slowly, eager to leave. But before I could produce any sound or make a move, Ajax's eyes opened. Blazing, deep blue eyes stared right back at mine as he slowly parted his lips.

"Where do you think you're going?"

My mind was too hazy and I could feel my bones tightening against my skin. Just how did I end up here? Who brought me here? Ajax―why in the world would he...?

To my surprise, Ajax, with his magnetic and low voice, asked, "Where do you think you're going?"

I almost jumped out of shock. "Y-You're awake?"

"The entire time," he said. His tone was serious and held no humor in it. Slowly, he got up, revealing his naked chest and six pack abs.

I hesitantly looked away, covering my own self with some apprehension. With my chest pounding a little louder than before, I asked, "Why... am I here?" What did the Alpha Prince want me, a mere omega, here for?

I did not want to see his expression so I remained looking far and away from him. I could feel he was already standing and in the middle of getting changed. His movements didn't comfort me nor made me think I was safe.

In a while, I heard him finally respond.

With an icy tone, Ajax said, "From now on, you're going to live here."

Thousands of images flashed back to my mind. If this was the me from a year ago, I would've already jumped from joy upon hearing such things. He was, after all, the person I've been loving from afar. But now that things have changed and I knew how Ajax saw me as...

I gripped hard at the white sheet covering my body. Bravely, I responded, "Would I be living as your personal servant?"

From what I knew, it was rare for servants―omegas―to serve the masters in bed. This was a rare occurrence since Alphas rarely wanted to mate with low races like omegas, but it was still a plausible reason in my current situation as such, there were only few female omegas in our pack and only there was only me who was around Ajax's age. I just didn't fully understand why Ajax would do this all of a sudden and out of so many people.

"That's right. You're a servant," Ajax said, his tone devoid of any warmth, the complete opposite of what I've loved and dreamt of before. "You're here to be my servant and nothing more."

I bit my lower lip while listening to his words. Again, I was treated like this. A servant, someone who couldn't even do what she wanted, someone who couldn't even say NO no matter how she desired...

Before anything else happened, I heard Ajax's footsteps and soon, he was already leaving the room. He paused, seemed to be glancing over me, before he finally exited and closed the door behind him.

I breathed out a sigh. Just what went wrong to this simple life of mine?

I remembered being content to some degree and living a life where much complications did not exist. Even if I was only an omega and was treated badly by those people at the academy, I decided to endure. This much, I could do and always thought I would willingly do.

I thought to myself, that time particularly, that I could and would not ask for more. Because I was part of the unpriviledged. Because I was an omega.

*"You're here to be my servant and nothing more."*

Recalling Ajax's sentence pricked my heart, slowly stabbing it repeatedly until it began to bleed. Did I ever ask to be treated this way? Did I ever wish to be brought along to this house and what, serve him in bed?

Suddenly, I remembered Selene Alcarez, the beautiful member of the pack living near our pack's territory. The she-wolf everyone expected to be Ajax's future Luna.

She and Ajax... They had mated.

I couldn't be wrong. I saw the fresh mark on her neck that time. They really had done it for real. They were now mates.

Then why was I even here? Why did Ajax bring me to this place? If he had a mate, shouldn't he bring her here instead? Didn't they say, once mated, a wolf could only live and engage sexual activity with him or her?

This wasn't right. I should tell Ajax this wasn't right at all.

Springing from the bed, I grabbed the only set of clothes placed on the table that I saw and quickly wore them. In a speeding movement, I half-walked half-ran to the door and opened it.

*Where is Ajax?* I needed to tell him he was wrong and he shouldn't be touching me anymore, else, he would suffer from the consequences from the moon goddess!

Sprinting down in hopes to look for Ajax, I looked around and ran through the hallways, the huge white t-shirt I wore almost falling from my slender body but I couldn't care. I needed to see Ajax and tell him, perhaps he had forgotten about it, so I should remind him...

"Ow," due to the thoughts continue swirling in my head, I didn't notice another person when I made a turn to the left, bumping my head against him.

A tall, handsome man looked down at me, his eyes a deep hazel brown, almost similar to mine. I realized it was his chest that I bumped into and immediately apologized, "I'm sorry!"

The man, who looked like nothing far from my and Ajax's age, said in a magnetic, low voice, "It's fine. Watch where you're going next time."

I bowed still, wary of my status once again, and apologized. A little while later, I heard the man began to walk away, only to stop midway. He turned to look at me and I saw him flash a gentle smile―something I haven't seen in a while.

"Are you Ajax's mate?" He asked me with a gentle tone. "My name is Elias Thornwheel. I came to talk to Ajax about his and my territory."

His territory...? So he was―he was an Alpha?

Elias seemed to have noticed what I was thinking and stared deeply in my eyes. "Yes, I'm an alpha, but I'm about to be the king yet. My father sent me to have a talk with the North pack's leader, Ajax Larwoods."

"But Ajax isn't the leader..." I murmured to myself. There was still his father, Thomas Larwoods.

A look of surprise painted on Elias' face. He gave me a look that neither belittle nor mock me out of my ignorance. Instead, he patiently explained, "Mr. Larwoods, his father―he went missing few days ago. Haven't you heard about it?"

My eyes widened at what I had heard. Ajax's father... was missing? Our pack's leader was missing??

"Aren't you his mate? How come you didn't know? His pheromones are even all over you and that cloth... or was I mistaken?" Elias asked, more to himself.

In my desperate need to know more, I grabbed his arms and asked. "Where's Alpha Prince Ajax?"

Elias did not utter a word for a few seconds, his eyes only landing on the pair of hands that suddenly touched him. "How would I know? I'm also looking for him."

I need to see Ajax and ask him about our pack. What happened and why was I brought here. No, why did he keep me in the dark? Why did he not tell me about the Alpha King, Mr. Larwoods', disappearance?

Wait. His father disappeared, too. Just like my mother and brother did...

No, it couldn't be, right?

Slowly, the words of the woman which I assumed to be a witch or a mage, who visited in my dream as a wisp, came to my mind.

"A witch cursed your family race a long time ago. If one of you gets rejected by his or her fated mate, one or more of the other living family members and his or her's mate's family members will vanish. They or they may not continue to live in another world, lifetime, or timeline, as completely different people."

My mother and brother's disappearance, and Ajax's father's disappearance... It couldn't be... There was no way they had something to do with each other... Right?

In the South Eastern woods, near the river that connected the two biggest lakes in the world, lived the Thornwheel Clan―or in the wolf term, the Crescent River Pack.

Just like Larwoods family or the Crescent Glacier Pack, Ajax's clan in the North, Elias Thornwheel was a part of the Thornwheel Clan occupying the largest area in the South Eastern Woods they had claimed as their territory. Elias, similar to Ajax, was also someone next to the throne and was prophecied to become the next Alpha King. Both Elias and Ajax were responsible to rule, especially when the Alpha King suddenly went missing.

Just as what was currently happening.

I later found out that the Alpha King Thomas disappeared after battling a group of humans with lethal weapons while trying to scout the barriers of the place where everyone in the pack resided. According to Kid, the beta and right hand of our Alpha King Thomas Larwoods, the humans tried to use their bullets and some even made use of special crafts while trying to invade the territory that we all knew Mr. Larwoods had protected for hundreds of years.

I myself couldn't say much about humans since I rarely interacted with them. I was an omega who was raised to serve the greatest leaders of our group and no matter how I wished to know more about such a race, I could only ever do so through reading books.

Of course, such books were just lent from a beta friend who had the privilege to own them. This didn't hide the fact, however, that humans were creatures filled with so much greed and other evil intentions.

As it turned out, the humans that Alpha King Thomas battled with wanted to clear the entire forest, cutting down all the trees present and claiming them as their own. Enraged, Ajax's father did everything he could to protect the North. The battle went on for one entire night, right about when it was full moon. So every member of the pack present were in their strongest forms when they did face the trespassing humans.

"Are you really from the Crescent Glacier's pack? The Larwoods' territory?" a werewolf named Timothy, a beta standing beside Elias Thornwheel, asked as he looked at me in suspicion. Elias who stood tall and mighty was also staring at me.

I couldn't refute these reactions at all. I wanted to tell them I, too, was surprised to find out these things only today. But I kept these to myself since I knew nobody would dare listen to my story anyway. It was a long one and people mostly wanted to hear what they wanted to hear.

For an omega to share what's on her mind―this was a book that nobody would ever pick up and read in this world at all.

As someone who was barely noticed aside from casual mockery and belittling times, I told them simply, "There are some things not everyone is allowed to hear... Anyway, forget about me, let's find Alpha Prince Ajax."

I really thought these people held great importance to what was happening in our territory, most especially to the Alpha King. Perhaps, they were here to lend a hand, or discuss some more important things... No matter what it was, I believed only alphas like Ajax would purely understand.

Luckily, both Elias and Timothy agreed and we all began to head towards the garden. While trying to look for Ajax in each corner of this massive mansion, I've realized something that made me even curious than I already was.

There were no servants or other people to be found.

Why?

It was only when we had reached the exit to the eastern wing side of the gigantic, concrete house, that I noticed four familiar people from our pack. These people were betas and if I remember it correctly, two of them were the closest to Ajax. They were male werewolf twins named Zen and Ren. One had golden eyes while the other had greyish eyes.

"Where's Alpha Prince Ajax?" I tried to ask them, using the same voice and greetings I usually used when I talked to them during the days Ajax would order me around.

One of the beta twins, Ren, the one with golden eyes, gave me a glare as if I had done something bad, while Zen, the one with greyish eyes, gave me a somewhat pitiful stare.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Please tell me, where is Ajax?" I bravely asked once more.

Ren frowned deeply as he took a step forward, almost wanting to attack me with his eyes. "It was all your fault, you damn omega..."

"Ren!" Zen called, stopping Ren from even moving towards me. "Stop it, Ren. Claire doesn't know anything."

Ren removed the arm grabbing him and began to look at me with some more disgust. "Ha, she doesn't know? Stop protecting disgusting things. If not for this crazy omega wanting our leader's son-"

"I said quit it!" Zen warned.

"Why should I? Zen, this bitch is the main cause of our pack's doom! It's all her fault!" Ren roared, eyes full of fury.

"Why...?" I asked softly and suddenly, making everyone stopped and looked at me. I could feel all their eyes―Zen, Ren, the other two betas, and even Elias and Timothy―on me.

"Why?" I began to mutter once again. With head hanging low and eyes staring at the ground, I began to feel the formation of something hot at the back of my eyes as I clenched my trembling fists.

Slowly, I turned my head up to face them, uncontrollable hot tears strolled down my cheeks as I desperately begged for an answer to my forever question.

"I'm just an omega trying to live... Why am I being blamed?"

Then came out a soft, almost breaking into a whisper voice that I could barely recognize as my own.

"What did I do to be hated this much?"

Must all hate fall into us just because we were considered the 'lowest' kind? Why must we all face such discrimination and loathing?

What did I―we―ever do to be hated this much?

Being an omega and trying to live in peace―was it a sin after all?

"What's going on here?"

In that confusing moment where I could no longer feel my own self, I heard a familiar voice. A voice which paused all things at once as if he was made to make everyone turn to him and give full respects to. A voice which I know, whether my eyes were open or not, would never fail to bring me back to the present.

"Alpha Prince...!" I heard both Ren and Zen call out.

I saw Ajax standing there, with two more betas in each of his side and one old man who I presumed to be one of the elders in our pack.

"Claire, come here," I heard Ajax order.