My head pounded as I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was a snarled mess, makeup smeared around my eyes making me look like a raccoon, and angry red welts peppering my neck, trailing down towards my chest. The shirt I wore was oversized, stopping at my thighs. The owner of said shirt was still in bed, snoring away. I smiled, fingertips running over the hickeys that had been left. The tinge of pain brought back memories that made my core clench, my smile widening. I was tempted to walk back over to the bed, wake the male up with sweet kisses and silent begging in my eyes...but I refrained. The primal, erotic magic of Lupercalia was fading with the rise of the sun, and I couldn’t be caught here. I shouldn’t have even participated in Lupercalia to begin with, I had another three months until my 18th birthday, but it was close enough that it was nearly impossible to stop my wolf.She looked back at me now in the mirror reflection, gold flecked eyes looking quite satisfied with herself. I couldn’t help but mimic the wolfish grin. No stories or lessons could have ever prepared me for the magic that had flowed through my body, Lupa calling to my wolf to worship her in the most primal of ways. Even now, if I closed my eyes, I could hear her call, her whisper to do it again, before the sun rose completely. I shook my head, opening my eyes quickly to look at myself in the mirror, those gold flecked eyes now looking at a very human reflection. I let out a silent sigh, running a hand through the golden locks of my hair, snagging on tangles and bringing tears to my eyes. I’d fight with it in the shower..at my own packhouse. I was in one of the guest houses, the one that temporarily housed the Evermaw pack. Their alpha heir slept peacefully in the queen sized bed as I walked around the room, picking up my discarded clothes and slipping them on. I debated on stealing his shirt, a playful way to remind him that I had laid claim to him this Lupercalia, but I decided it wasn’t worth the argument I’d no doubt get into with my brother when he saw me carrying a man’s shirt. I folded the shirt neatly, laying it on the dresser beside him, before slipping out of the bedroom.
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I was careful to shut the door silently, the click hardly audible to me, and I crept down the stairs. The newness of the packhouse prevented creaking stairs as I crept my way down to the first floor, then out the front door. Only those too young and too old were inside, meaning I had to dodge five packs worth of prime wolves to return to my own packhouse. While a usually daunting task, the intoxicating magic of Lupercalia made it easy. They’d be too exhausted to move until mid-morning, if any other year gave me a hint. No, sneaking across the field peppered with pack houses wasn’t the hard part, neither was creeping through the forest to get to my house. The hard part was ahead of me. As I approached my house, I slipped around the side, looking up the three stories to my bedroom window. I left it unlocked, I always did, but there was nothing to climb to reach it. The front door was locked, as were the first floor windows. I had a chance of my brother’s window being open, but he was also on the third floor. I couldn’t knock on the door and risk waking up the pups and elders. I’d never hear the end of it, and my father would most certainly get word back that I hadn’t been home last night. I sighed, walking around the large house and trying each window on the first floor anyway. None budged. Hope shot through me when I noticed the second floor bathroom window was open. It was small, I’d barely fit, but I was small too. It was my best chance. It was right above the porch too, giving me a way up. Expertly, I climbed onto the railing, scaling one of the support beams and rolling myself onto the roof. I jumped from the roof, grabbing the windowsill and hauling myself through the small window. I was panting by the time I tumbled in, a burning pain coming from my right arm. Looking in the mirror, I cursed softly. I had sliced my arm on the window.
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Walking over to the door, I locked it, and grabbed some toilet paper to hold over the wound. Now, I just had to get upstairs. I had memorized every creaky stair here, and dodged the worst ones. I slipped into my room at the end of the hall, grabbing some clothes and slipping into the third floor bathroom. Immediately, I turned the shower on, letting the hot water fill the room with steam. I had to get the Evermaw scent off of me before anyone noticed. With the water nearly scalding, I stepped under the burning spray, muffling my whine of pain as the water hit my new cut. Quickly, I soaped my body up, scrubbing at my skin until I was red. I then got to work at my hair, lathering shampoo into it, washing it out, then going through the painstaking process of brushing it out with the conditioner. A knock on the door had me startling, but I tried to hide the surprise in my voice.
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“Who is it?” I called out, the rip of the brush through my hair making me wince.
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“Hurry up Chey. I need to piss!” My brother’s voice was muffled through the door, and I scowled.
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“Use the other bathroom! I’m showering!” I yelled back, trying to muster my usual aggressiveness. I hardly got along with him, and I couldn’t let him know I was trying to hide something here. I prayed he wouldn’t notice the foreign scent lingering in the hall.
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I heard him mutter something, and his footsteps as he trudged down the stairs. I let out a breath, continuing to fight my unruly hair. It’s what I got for last night, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be frustrated.
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It was at least a half an hour later when I finally stepped out of the bathroom, steam billowing behind me as I walked down the hall to my room. Water still dripped from my hair despite the vigorous scrubbing of my towel, soaking the back of my orange turtle neck shirt. My black leggings clung to my legs, giving me the seductive look I was aiming for. As we said farewell to the other packs, I knew he’d see me, standing with my family at the front of our pack. A part of me wanted him to know who I was, I was well aware of who he was.
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Once I threw the towel in the hamper in my room, I made my way downstairs, my mother already working on breakfast. I was pleasant to her, greeting her a mumbled good morning as I grabbed a piece of toast. I shared her long blonde hair and her petite stature, our noses were identical too, small and round. My eyes though, those were my father’s. I stared into her green eyes, admiring her beauty for a moment before looking out the window. The pack was trudging through the field, coming to the house. I let out a sigh. Hand in hand, my father walked with his mate, the Luna of the pack. As they entered, he didn’t even so much as look at my mother, ignoring her completely as if she was some maid, and gave me the briefest of glances. I looked back at him with a gaze almost daring him to say something. He didn’t, walking to the table where his place was already set with steaming food. His mate sat beside him, looking quite pleased with herself. I only cast her a glare before turning my back to them. I sat at the island counter while they sat at the large table, easily enough space for thirty. Every space was filled within fifteen minutes, and my mother puttered around, keeping the food and coffee coming as the hungry wolves ate. The longer it went on, the more my blood boiled. Hatred filled my chest for the Luna, my father, and my mother. I hated them all, how they acted like this was normal.
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Eighteen years ago my mother was a rogue. Eighteen years ago she got pregnant on Lupercalia with my father. Eighteen years ago she went crawling to him, begging for a place in his pack. He almost denied her…but she called upon the law of Heir Claim, stating she carried the Alpha’s heir. She was granted protection until I was born, and when it was proven through scent that I was the Alpha’s first born heir, she stayed under his protection. She was nothing more than a maid now, discarded once my father found his mate. I hated the entire situation. I was a bastard child, tolerated because no one could deny I was my father’s daughter.
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I couldn’t take it anymore, I felt those eyes boring into my back, waiting for my outburst. I wouldn’t give them that satisfaction.
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“Thank you for breakfast mother.” I’d say, loud enough that a few tired wolves looked over. I kissed her on the cheek before walking out of the kitchen and up to my room again. I hadn’t verbally acknowledged my father. Anyone else would have been scolded. They were used to me. I made my distaste for them all clear, I had since I was fourteen. It was giving my mother affection that earned me the low growl from my father. I had taken the time to greet who the pack whispered to be the “whore”, the lowest of the low in our pack, but not the Alpha or Luna. I ignored the warning, raising my head higher in my infamous disrespect, and walked up the stairs without another word.
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I only showed my face again two hours later, when we gathered to wish the other packs farewell. The holiday was over, school would resume in two days, and the other packs had to get home. I stood in the field, beside my brother, in front of my mother and father. I hated how she was a reminder to everyone that I was a bastard, that she was baggage my father had no choice but to carry. I understood why, he had to take responsibility for impregnating my mother, but it was a constant reminder that I would never be treated normal. I would never be alpha, I couldn’t even be married off to other packs. I was the alpha’s, but I was not the luna’s. I was a mistake.
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I pushed the thought away as one, two, three packs came up, one after the other, the alpha families thanking my father for his hospitality. We hosted Lupercalia this year, the next, it would be one of the others. Big holidays were hosted by the packs to keep peace, but it was always tense. Evermaw was the last, the alpha a looming man with black hair so dark it looked like it absorbed the sun. His son shared that same hair, and those bright blue eyes. Those eyes landed on me, seeming stunned to see me standing there. I gave him a mischievous smile, one that earned me one back. I hardly heard what our fathers said to one another, those eyes had captured me and the rest of the world faded. Heat ran through my body as I remembered what those lips now turned up in a smile, could do. I couldn’t stop the shiver that ran through me, and he winked as he turned to leave with his family. A quick side eye to those around me told me no one had noticed the moment, and I let out a quiet sigh. I was playing a very dangerous game, but so far, I hadn’t been caught.
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