Cursed Alpha Seed

Winter’s POV

I held my wet, shivering hands to my face, feeling the sting of the hot slap that just landed on my cheek. The burning sensation seemed to have sent a spark into my brain. I kept my eyes on the floor, and the tears blurred my vision. My mouth wobbled as if the gates of pain were soon going to break loose from them.

“I said pick it up and eat!” Dorra bellowed again.

I nodded quickly, sniffled, and bent slowly to the floor as I packed some of the food that had poured on the floor into my mouth. The tiny particles from the broken ceramics cut my hands; my blood mixed with food as I shoved it in.

I couldn’t bring myself to chew it because it was mixed with blood and glass, and I was scared my throat would be torn all the way down to my stomach if I ended up swallowing it.

I was feeling nauseous.

Just then, Dorra pulled me up from the floor with my hair. It was as if a million pins fought over my skull. A sinister look flashed in her green eyes as her grip stayed firm on my hair. I winced in pain with a mouthful of food, my body already wrecking with sobs, and my head tilted mercilessly to the side because of how she pulled on my hair.

“I said shove—it—down!”

I managed to shake my head pleadingly. By this time, bits of food were making their way down my throat, and it stung. I sniffled and folded my bloodied hands in a plea for her to have mercy.

Dorra scoffed, “You even dare to look me in the eyes?”

I closed my eyes immediately and cried, shaking my head quickly. I choked from the stiffness in my throat.

“I guess I’m going to have it forced down your throat if you can’t do it yourself,” she threatened.

No, actually, it wasn’t a threat.

Dorra, the alpha’s only daughter, was capable of this and much more. She had done worse to me in the past. This was happening because a plate of hot food slipped from my hands. She was just as evil as her beloved stepmother, who was the alpha’s second mate. His first mate had died from a rogue attack a few days after giving birth to Dorra.

When Dorra said those words, I knew it was better for me to swallow the food than have others force it down my throat. I mustered some resolve and started swallowing, more tears pouring down my face. In that instant, I wished for someone to appear and come to save me.

The sound of approaching footsteps interrupted us, and I noticed her grip on my scalp lessening slightly. My eyes were still closed as I was still busy trying to swallow.

“The Alpha asked for you,” came the voice.

Dorra pushed me off with a scoff and walked away to heed her father’s call. Meanwhile, in that moment of respite, I fell weakly to the ground and threw up everything. Sobbing and feeling all kinds of pain searing from different parts of my body.

Growing up as an omega with no father and a sick mother back home may not have been the most unfortunate thing in my life, but it certainly was worse when there were people who loathed me more than the several hundreds of servants in the packhouse for a reason I had absolutely no clue about.

There was a burning sensation that erupted in my chest, and I tugged at it, standing up from the pool of my own vomit. I sniffled, wiped my eyes, and started to clean everything up.

When I finally got into my tiny and dark room, it was already night. I collapsed tiredly on the withered mat with a sigh. My hands pulsated the rhythm of my heartbeats due to the several blisters that I had earned on them. My stomach grumbled slightly to remind me that I hadn’t eaten anything all day. There wasn’t any food left to eat by the time I was done with my share of the chores—which happened very often.

“Just hold out till tomo…” I muttered to myself and tapped my belly gently, but my voice trailed off as I remembered I still had a few loaves of bread I had kept some nights before. I had managed to get my hand on some left over scraps of food from the feast the Alpha had held for his visitors.

Crawling on all fours, I moved from the mat towards a corner of the room where all the things I had were tied in a small bundle. I undid it and pulled out a handkerchief where I had hidden the bread. Thankfully, the mice I shared the room with hadn’t gotten to it before me. I brought the loaves to my nose; they smelled stale. But I wasn’t a beggar with a choice, so I started munching hungrily on them.

The moonlight seeped slowly into my room, illuminating it a little. I turned to the window and saw how the moon was peeking from somewhere behind the black sky. For some reason, the loneliness in my heart seemed to lighten.

I rested my back against the cold wall and continued a series of munching—slight choking—munching again.

The faraway sound of drumbeats reached my ears alongside the cool evening breeze that was dancing in through the window. The music was coming from the main square of the packhouse.

It was that time of the year again.

Whenever any of the children of the alpha’s home turned ages 15, 16, 17, and 18, there was a special ritual usually held for them at the square. There was a rumor about an old prophecy I grew up hearing. It was believed that a child with a special alpha seed would be born into the alpha’s family.

Alpha seeds were a rare kind of gift the moon goddess bestowed to a lineage. They were a special kind of power that normal werewolves didn’t have. This power was usually for the purpose of saving the dynasty of the alpha family or pack to which it is given in a time of danger.

According to what I heard, it was only gifted to an alpha blood. Another rumor I heard was that the seed would leave its host as soon as its purpose has been fulfilled and travel to the future to wait for another host who has not been born yet. Apparently, that ‘future’ was already around the corner.

The last person who had an alpha seed was the grandfather of the present alpha. So, to preserve whoever in the alpha’s household may have been gifted this seed, a special ritual is always held.

Nothing about the ritual concerned an omega like me anyway. I just needed to finish eating my bread, go to sleep, and wait for another episode of torture tomorrow.

I coughed.

I hit my chest slightly as if to send the lump of flour down my throat. The jar of water next to me was empty. I coughed again, rising to my feet to go and get some water to drink outside. My body seemed unusually heavy as I made my way to the door. My footsteps echoed in the silent hallways, and the fires on the lamps danced as shadows on the wall.

I coughed again; this time, I felt so choked that I had to stop to collect myself for a minute. My head pounded slightly, and I staggered, holding the wall for support as more coughs came pouring from my throat. They became more gagged and painful; they seemed to be snatching away breath from my lungs with each passing second. My knees grew weaker, and I dropped to the ground, my palms on the floor as I inhaled and exhaled deeply to ease the suffocation. The shattering sound of the jar filled the silence.

What was going on?

Surely it wasn’t the stale bread causing all of this, right?

My eyes grew heavy, and my sight doubled and blurred. A piercing pain shot up my back like I had just been shot with an arrow. I screamed and fell face down on the floor. Sweat beads had now enveloped my skin, alongside goosebumps. I cried loudly from the pain. I wanted to call out for help, but I couldn’t make out words.

Was I going to die? I thought to myself as I lay sprawled weakly on the floor.

The sounds around me were starting to grow distant, fading away into somewhere unknown—it was as if I was going deaf. The blackness of the corridor started to change into a blurring red. As much as I was confused, I couldn’t concentrate on that confusion because every part of me at that moment had been displaced.

Like a bolt in the blue, a strong wind enveloped me, it’s force so blinding and heavy that I suddenly found myself getting lifted off the floor. My whole being became completely livid, and I simply surrendered myself to fate. The whirlwind continued to swoosh me around in the air; its strength started seeping into my bones.

I felt hot from within; there was so much energy building up inside me that I knew I was going to explode any second. I screamed at the top of my voice from the searing pain that was tearing through from my insides all the way out.

Another heavier force yanked me from the grip of the wind and sent me hurling across the long corridor. I hit my back heavily on the wall, my wrecked body dropping back to the floor.

I remained on the floor like a shattered piece, my soul seemingly gone. The next thing I awaited was death. It would be good if I was dead anyway, I thought to myself. But then, I saw a bright blue wolf making its way towards me. Its eyes burned bright red in the dark, and it stopped right in front of me.

I blinked my heavy eyes.

I was definitely hallucinating; I had to be.

I didn’t remember what happened after that point, but I felt several hands tugging at my body and heard voices calling out my name as everything went black.