THALIA
On the day of my sister's funeral, I wasn't allowed to attend.
Father had returned home, his eyes sunken with sadness. "You should have died, not her," he had said to me, and my fragile heart shattered.
He walked past me where I stood quietly and Mother appeared after. She was draped in a black free gown that reached her ankle, and her eyes shot red when she looked at me.
"Mother," I called softly, my eyes shimmering with tears while she stared at me with contempt and hate.
I've never seen my own mother look at me that way since I was brought into existence. She marched over to me in one long stride, and a stinging pain shot through my face to all over my body.
I broke down in tears, I was trying so hard to hold on and looked at her.
"Don't you ever..." She pointed her index finger at me, her face burning with anger.
"Call me, Mother!" she yelled.
She threw a venomous look at me, "Witch!" she cursed and walked away.
I was left alone and tears streamed down my face. It wasn't my fault, or maybe it was my fault. I was just a little girl who wanted to make her baby sister happy.
Eleven years ago, my baby sister, Lena, and I had gone into the forbidden forest everyone had warned us about, but what did a six-year-old and five-year-old know?
Especially when Lena had begged me to take her over there so we could just peek a little.
Lena was the golden child and I had agreed to take her to the forest.
I was proud.
Proud to have her as my sister—to be her sister.
Not until I was found lying unconscious near the riverbank in the forbidden forest, and Lena was nowhere to be seen.
I had killed my precious little sister.
Every evening I would go to the lair of the forest and scream her name, hoping she would find her way back to me if she heard her big sister's voice at least.
Once the beta's daughter, I was demoted to being an omega, working as a slave to everyone, and even the slaves themselves, yet I took in everything that came my way.
I deserved it.
That was until Lena appeared suddenly in front of the pack's doorstep ten years later.
I couldn't believe my ears when the news reached me.
I barged into court chambers even when the guards had tried to stop me and with hopeful eyes, I glanced around and everyone was present. Father, Mother, the Alpha's sons, elders... everyone was there, and they all threw a scornful gaze upon my arrival.
I looked forward, and my attention caught the delicate backfigure in front of me.
Could she be the one?
How is that possible?
I stared at the long straight pearly white hair that flowed down to the lower waist, almost reaching the butt and when she turned her face to look at me…
I froze.
It was truly her! Her pretty face had always been deeply engraved in my heart that I dared not forget.
How could I?
She had grown even more beautiful over the years. Her sky-blue eyes sparked as she turned to me fully. "Sister," she smiled, and tears sprang to my eyes.
There she was... my baby sister was back, standing right in front of me.
"Lena!" I choked, and she spread her arms out to me. My legs began to move one step at a time then two then fast. I ran over to her, covering the distance between us.
She engulfed me in her embrace and I hugged her tight. "It's you... It's really you," I cried.
It was a miracle.
Lena was... alive and well!
So, she had been missing for ten good years and not dead?
I was glad.
I was left in my omega position even after the return of my sister and was hardly noticed. Father and Mother still didn't allow me to come back to stay with them and told me I was better off in the servant's quarters.
My sister? Sighs...
She became more of a devil's advocate than the sweet, precious sister I was familiar with when we were kids. It was as if she were a whole new being, an entirely different person, but I loved her, nonetheless, it was my fault she was that way in the first place.
Who knew the hardships she had gone through since then? I don't blame her. Being lost and all alone would have taken a huge toll on her, and she never failed to rant about it, so everyone could pity her more.
It was breakfast, and I served Alpha Logan and his sons—the quadruplets; Sage, Ryder, Mael, and Derek. They were known as the Quad Claw, feared and respected by all members of the pack.
If handsome was a sin then the quadruplets were all sinners, cold-hearted and ruthless, they looked identical except their eye colors which were different, making it easier to tell them apart.
My parents and Lena were also present, and they were all seated around the huge glass dining table except me who was three feet away watching them.
Since the arrival of my dear sister, the quadruplets had been all over her, worshiping every place where she set foot. Each brother fought and competed against the other to win the heart of my dearest sister.
While I?
I wouldn't exactly say jealous, but there were times I'd been jealous of my younger sister, she always had the best life even before she had gone missing. I've only always longed for a wish that could only come true in my dreams.
I was hoping that at least I would have my mate who would save me from this hellhole I've been attached to, but someone as unwanted as me could only have an omega for a mate and give birth to an omega.
My eyes met with Mother, and she scoffed, giving me a demeaning look before she glanced away. I sighed inwardly, wondering what I could do to make her open her heart back to me and look at me once more with the same loving eyes she shared with my sister.
A small smile appeared on my lips, staring at them even though I was forbidden from joining them at the table, I was happy,
Father's lively eyes with sparkles had returned, and Mother had started to look healthy.
"I'm sure Lena would make a fine Luna for one of your sons, Alpha Logan," Father chuckled as he cut the steak on his plate carefully.
"Or you mean all four of them," Alpha Logan joked, a smirk appearing on his old face, and Mother smiled to herself while briefly looking at Lena with pride in her eyes.
A pang of pain and aching sorrow crossed my chest as I watched them.
It was no news that Lena had been groomed to be the future Luna of one of the Alpha's sons the moment she was born. It was the reason why everyone had hated my guts the moment she couldn't be found.
It was hard to believe their precious jewel was gone.
"Ouch!" We heard a loud yelp and my heart skipped a beat.
The cry came from my sister, and everyone had shot their eyes worriedly at her.
"Why is the tea so hot!?" She complained bitterly. I rushed over to her side, and so did Mother.
So, hot?
I had made sure the water was warm before preparing the tea.
"Are you alright?" Derek, the fourth of the quadruplets, asked, his brows furrowed, looking at her.
"I almost burned my lips, but thankfully I was cautious before drinking it," she sulked.
Ryder sprang up from his seat, he was the second of the quadruplets, his handsome countenance hardened as his dark eyes stared at me with contempt.
"Did you do this on purpose, Thalia?" he glared dangerously at me, and my eyes widened in shock.
What?
"No! I-I made sure the water was warm before preparing the tea," I explained, sounding confused, glancing at everyone while they scowled at me.
"You witch!" Mother spat at me with horrified eyes.
"Are you trying to kill your sister again after the moon goddess was kind enough to bring her back to us?" she screamed.
I shook my head, my eyes welling up.
I will never want to kill my sister, I love her so dearly
"No!" I gasped.
"I-I made sure the water was warm," I tried to explain, my voice shaking.
"Then explain this!" Mother grabbed the cup, Lena set beside her plate, and splashed it on me.
I screamed at the contact of the liquid on my skin.
It was so hot, and it burned me, but how?
Mother moved close to me, grabbing my hair tightly against her fist causing me to wince, and my eyes glistened with tears.
"Now, explain that."
*
I cried and cried, burying my face deep into the pillow. My heart ached with an unbearable pain that coursed through my nervous system.
How could Mother be this cruel? Even to her own daughter?
Right now, I was starting to think if I was ever her child.
After crying my heart out for endless hours like it wasn't going to end, I rose from the bed.
I sniffed, using the back of my hand to wipe away my tears, they were useless anyway. No one could ever see the pain I'd endured all these years.
I walked over to the small mirror hanging on the wall of the small cubicle room I had turned into my safest harbor over the past ten years. I inspected the scalded burns on the side of my face down to my chest area.
It stings and hurts so much, but not nearly as to what I was feeling in my wounded heart.
My eyes brimmed with tears again. I hadn't gotten my wolf since I was yet to turn eighteen, but I should in a few months' time, so, until then, I would have to carry these burns about.
But my question remained unanswered...how was that tea so hot? I was sure the water was warm before preparing the tea.
A weary sigh escaped my lips as I couldn't get a rebuttal to my question. I was confused.
Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door and I waddled over. I opened the door and saw a fellow maid standing in front of me.
"Yes?" My voice came out barely in a whisper as I stared at her. Her eyes fell on the burns on my skin and her eyes twitched with pity, but she masked it away, immediately replacing it with a neutral expression.
It's been announced that anyone who showed even the slightest bit of care to me would be severely punished.
And no one wanted to get on the bad side of the Alpha or Mother, especially.
"Lady Lena requests your presence in her room," she informed, and my face twisted into a frown.
Ever since the return of my sister, she had turned me into her personal maid and I did it wholeheartedly just so she could forgive me but calling me after my mother had splashed hot tea on me was uncalled for.
"Why?" My voice sounded harsh.
"I don't know. You will find out once you reach there," she worded and turned around abruptly.
I watched her retreat, and I clutched my fingers tightly against the side of my worn-out uniform.
My eyes became teary, and I threw my head back, batting my lashes vividly to hold the tears in place.
"This will be over soon once I have my mate," I muttered to myself.
I inhaled sharply.
I just need to stay calm as I used to.
I closed the door behind me and proceeded to go see Lena, wondering why she had called me.
Something had been different about her, something I couldn't point at even if I wanted to, and no one would listen to me if I said this wasn't the same sister I was familiar with during our early childhood days.
I halted in front of the door leading into Lena's room and took a deep breath, and just as I was about to knock on the door. I heard loud moans coming from inside.
I bit on my lower lip and knocked on the door regardless, despite not wanting to or knowing my broken heart would even be left in a greater despair.
"Come in," her sultry voice came through after seconds, and I braced myself for whatever I was going to see inside.
I turned the door knob, opened the door, and walked in.
A speechless gasp escaped from my mouth as I stared at the unseemly scene right ahead of me.
There lay my sister on the master-sized bed in her room, with two of the quadruplets with her; Ryder and Mael.