**Aria**
My name is mud.
Well, not really. It's Luna, but it might as well be mud for all the respect it gets me. Today started like every other day for the past thirteen years—with someone's foot in my face.
"Wake up, mudpuppy!" Stella's cheerful voice rang through our tiny servant's room as her toes poked my cheek. "Mrs. Greta wants us in the kitchen in five minutes, or we're dead meat!"
I groaned and rolled away from her foot, which honestly smelled like cheese. "Why do you always wake me up with your stinky feet?"
"Because it works!" She grinned down at me from her bed—yes, she got the bed while I got the floor. That's what happens when you're the lowest omega in the entire Shadow Creek Pack. Even the other servants think you're beneath them.
But Stella wasn't mean about it. She was actually my only friend in this whole stupid palace. She was the only one who didn't call me names or trip me in the halls or put dirt in my food just to watch me eat it anyway because I was too hungry not to.
"Three minutes now!" Stella sang, jumping off her bed with way too much energy for five in the morning. Her red hair bounced around her shoulders like flames. Sometimes I wished I had hair like hers instead of my boring, muddy brown mess that I had to dye every month with plant juice.
I scrambled up from my thin blanket on the floor, my bones creaking like an old door. Thirteen years of sleeping on stone floors will do that to you, even if you're only eighteen. Well, I would be eighteen in exactly... I counted on my fingers... six hours and twenty-three minutes!
"OH MY GOSH!" I squealed, then immediately slapped my hand over my mouth. "I mean," I whispered, "oh my gosh, Stella! Today's my birthday!"
Stella spun around, her green eyes sparkling with excitement. "THE birthday?"
I nodded so fast I thought my head might fall off. Today wasn't just any birthday. Today was the day I'd finally meet my mate! The day everything would change! The day someone would finally see me as more than just the mudpuppy omega who scrubs floors and empties chamber pots.
"You're going to find your mate at tonight's ceremony!" Stella squealed, grabbing my hands and spinning me around our tiny room. "And he's going to be handsome and strong and he'll take you away from all this!"
I laughed, feeling lighter than air. "What if he's ugly?"
"Then he'll have a beautiful soul!"
"What if he's mean?"
"Then I'll kick him in the shins!"
We giggled like the little kids we used to be when we first met eight years ago. Back then, Stella was new to the palace, and I was the only one who would talk to her because she was just a beta among all the beta servants who thought they were so special.
"TWO MINUTES!" Mrs. Greta's voice boomed from somewhere down the hall, making us both jump.
We threw on our servant dresses—mine was more patches than original fabric at this point and ran down the cold stone hallway. Our bare feet slapped against the floor because shoes were a luxury we couldn't afford.
The kitchen was already buzzing with activity when we arrived. The smell of fresh bread made my stomach growl so loud that three people turned to stare at me.
"Ah, the mudpuppy graces us with her presence," sneered Garrett, one of the beta kitchen boys who thought he was so cool because he got to serve food directly to the warriors. "Did you crawl out of a actual mud pit this morning, or do you just naturally look that dirty?"
I wanted to tell him that maybe I'd look cleaner if I was allowed to use the good bathing chambers instead of the old servant washroom with brown water, but I kept my mouth shut. Making enemies on my birthday seemed like bad luck.
"Leave her alone, Garrett," Stella said, stepping slightly in front of me. "Don't you have something better to do? Like pretending anyone actually likes you?"
"Ooooh," several servants chorused, and Garrett's face turned red as a tomato.
"Whatever," he muttered, bumping my shoulder hard as he passed. "Happy birthday, mudpuppy. Hope your mate takes one look at you and runs screaming."
The words stung more than I wanted to admit. What if he was right? What if my mate took one look at me—skinny, dirty, ugly little Luna—and rejected me on the spot? It happens sometimes. I'd seen it happen to an omega named Marcus two years ago. He never recovered from the rejection and ended up leaving the pack entirely.
"Don't listen to him," Stella whispered, squeezing my hand. "Your mate is going to love you."
I wanted to believe her. I really did.
Mrs. Greta, the head kitchen servant, waddled over to us. She was a large woman who smelled like onions and had a mustache that would make some men jealous. But she wasn't mean, just... strict.
"You two! Bread duty!" she barked, pointing at the massive ovens. "Three hundred loaves for tonight's ceremony. The Prince's birthday celebration must be perfect!"
My heart sank a little. Oh right. Prince Zander's birthday was the same day as mine. That's why there was going to be such a big ceremony tonight. It wasn't for people like me—it was for him, the heir to the Shadow Creek Pack. The prince who was so handsome that even the visiting princesses from other packs fought over who got to sit next to him at dinner.
I'd only seen him up close once, three years ago, when I'd accidentally spilled soup on his boots. He'd looked at me with those emerald green eyes, and for a moment, I thought he might hit me. Instead, he'd just said, "Watch where you're going, omega," and walked away like I was nothing.
Which I was, I guess.
"Earth to Luna!" Stella waved her hand in front of my face. "Come on, let's get started on this bread or we'll be here until midnight."
We worked in comfortable silence for a while, kneading dough until my arms ached. The kitchen gradually filled with more servants as the sun rose higher. Everyone was talking about tonight's ceremony.
"I heard Prince Zander has been saving himself for his true mate," giggled one of the beta serving girls. "Can you imagine being the lucky girl who gets him?"
"She'd become the future Luna of the pack," another sighed dreamily. "Living in luxury, wearing beautiful dresses, never having to work..."
"And Prince Zander is sooooo gorgeous," a third added. "Those muscles! That hair! Those eyes!"
I rolled my eyes so hard I'm surprised they didn't fall out of my head. Sure, Prince Zander was handsome, but he was also arrogant, cruel to servants, and once kicked a puppy just because it was in his way. Not exactly mate material in my opinion.
"What about you, Luna?" one of them asked suddenly, and I realized they were all looking at me. "Excited to maybe find your mate tonight?"
Before I could answer, they all burst out laughing.
"Can you imagine?" the first girl cackled. "The mudpuppy finding a mate?"
"He'd have to be blind!"
"Or have no sense of smell!"
"Maybe another omega will take pity on her."
"Do male omegas even exist? I've never seen one."
Their laughter felt like knives in my chest. Stella opened her mouth to defend me, but I touched her arm and shook my head. It wasn't worth it. Let them laugh. After tonight, when I found my mate, everything would be different.
At least, that's what I kept telling myself as I shaped the three-hundredth loaf of bread and tried not to cry.
—