"Get the fuck up, rat," a boot slammed into the side of my stomach, sharply and deliberately.
I groaned, curling in pain for a moment and then scrambling to pull myself up from the concrete floor before the next kick landed. The circumstances of my dirty surroundings made me sigh but then I immediately sat up smiling.
My back ached from all the beatings that I had endured the day before. Sharp lashes and midnight threats, the guards threw me around like a rag doll when I failed to get their coffee right. But none of that mattered anymore.
Because today was the day.
Today I would be going to the Parthenn dome.
Yesterday night, the guard supervising our sector had come into our dorms, where twenty to thirty metal bunk beds were stacked together with no bedding or proper lighting. He had looked disgusted to even be anywhere in the vicinity of our stinky bodies.
He then proceeded to read something off a file that he had brought.
"Maeve Lester. You've been upgraded due to mutation changes from a rat to an omega. You may be allowed to serve the residents of the Parthenn dome from tomorrow. Make sure you're ready to leave in the morning," the guard sneered. "Be any more late, and you will be left behind.
Then he had left as if he hadn't just turned my world upright.
I couldn't believe it.
The others had stared at me with obvious jealousy, sharp as knives. They hated that I'd managed to get out of the most ruthless lower sector of our rankings, the rankless, but they called us rats, and that too for no talent or effort of mine. After all, everyone there took the same efforts. They had to or they were raddled with suffering. The guards made sure of that.
I was so scared that I might somehow end up being late or the others might tie me to the bed in a fit of jealousy that I had taken a quick shower, scrubbing myself of all the grime and suffering, packed my bags the moment after that, and waited by the transport deck the night before. And fell asleep miserably on the cold ground.
"You are one pathetic little girl, you know that?" A different guard now looked down at me. She was tall and slender with blond hair braided down her back. She wore the trainee uniform of the guards, crisp and neat with the howling wolf and crescent insignia gleaming on her chest. She was a delta, still in training to become a fully formed beta.
I realised she had her hands stretched out to help me up and I took it cautiously.
"Thank you," I murmured, straightening my simple uniform.
"Do all of you rats get this excited to lick the feet of those assholes at Parthenn?" She asked, smirking. Clearly, she thought of my eagerness to not to be late as a factor of great amusement.
My cheeks burned.
"If you had lived the kind of life I did for the past three years, you'd understand," I said slowly. "Because then, you would do anything to get out of it."
That earned me a raised eyebrow. And maybe a small flicker of sympathy too.
"I'm Lesra by the way. What's your name?"
I took a sharp breath. None of the guards ever cared enough to ask our names, more or less talk to us unless it was to mock or beat us up.
"It's Maeve," I replied meekly.
She smiled. "Well, Maeve. Hopefully we'll meet again in Parthenn. Be a sweetheart until then," she said, giving me a mock salute and walking back to the other guards in her rank.
Something warm bloomed in my chest. Never, in the last three years had I felt or experienced kindness in any form, but I would take it. This was, after all, a new beginning.
The train that took me to Parthenn was fast since it ran on magnetic rails. I was accompanied by a guard who kept giving me stony looks every five minutes just for the sake of it.
Now, I stood in front of the high metal gates separating me from the huge glass dome city. The glass dome inside the glass dome they said. Beyond the glass, I could make out glimpses of towering glass buildings and overgrown green-tinted spires.
The moment I entered, I could feel the difference. The air was cleaner, fresher, and more fragrant. Nothing like the dust and grime of my daily life. Everything was brighter and well-maintained. There was so much light that I almost had to shield my eyes.
The delta stationed at the gates took one look at me and sighed.
"This is the new one, Rein?" he asked the guard accompanying me. "Seems a bit too small, don't you think?"
Rein laughed. "I thought so too but orders from above…couldn't say anything. But hey, if it were up to me, I would just keep her in my room to polish my boots."
I gulped.
Orders from above.
I had no idea why that had happened.
What did I do to get this privilege?
"Okay, then. She has to first be taken to the captain of her sector as usual. After that…we'll see if this situation ends up being a boon or a curse for her," the delta said, laughing cruelly.
I was quietly ushered into a tall glass tower building in the northern sector. It was so tall and wide and I could see my reflection on the metal doors on the front.
Once in, we passed through enormous halls with wrought iron chandeliers, carved stone pillars, and glass structures, went up a few floors until Rein finally stopped at a thick metal door with a name plate hung on the side. My eyes widened the moment it landed on the name.
Rein knocked immediately, pushed the door open, and shoved me inside the enormous high-ceiling office with glass panels and steel furniture. Shadows spilled across the walls from the soft city lights outside.
My chest burned. Because inside, also stood a tall figure, facing the high glass panels of his room. His shoulders facing me, sharp and broad and familiar. The entire office was well lit, but still felt dim compared to the light glow that radiated off his figure, the glow that accompanied every Lycan who was either a beta or an alpha.
He turned slowly and looked at me. And my world stopped.
Valden.
"She's all yours Captain Malawitt," the guard said flatly before leaving and letting the door shut behind him. The sound of it made my stomach clench, I was all alone with him now. I was alone in his heated presence separated by only a few feet.
My heart hammered.
I had loved him once. Three years ago before he was dragged away and everything went to ruin. I still remembered how he used to kiss me, how he touched me, how he swore he'd come back for me. Every single memory we had lashed at me from where I had buried them deep.
But now, his eyes were soulless and glowed green, just like the rest of the Lycans. And when they landed on me…nothing. There was no recognition. They looked at me just like every other Lycan did. Like I was filth and as important as the dirt underneath his boots.
"Take off your clothes," he said, voice cold as steel. "Let's see what they brought me this time."