CLAIMED BY THE SAVAGE TRIPLET ALPHAS

I stand at the edge of the marble balcony with my fingers gripping at the cold stone while I hear laughter and music coming from below.

Our pack is the Velaris Hollow pack and right now, lanterns sway gently in the evening breeze, casting a golden sort of glow over the courtyard where the higher pack members dance.

I can smell the scent of wild peonies and roasted meats and I glance around a bit but of course no one notices me, actually no one ever does.

My dress is a pale gray thing that hugs my thin frame too tightly at the hips but it is nothing compared to the jeweled gowns of those downstairs.

Elayne walks in through the crowd in silver and sapphire with her golden hair curled to perfection as always and her lips parted in that perfect curve of a smile that she always leaves on them.

She's spinning in the arms of a young Alpha and laughing as he dips her low.

Of course, Elayne gets the Alpha, she always does.

She's the beta's daughter after all, the highest rank in the pack aside from the Alpha's----- measly people such as myself can't compare to her in any way.

“She looks like a goddess,” a girl sighs from behind me.

Two Omegas who are girls I recognize from the washing quarters lean against the wall to look down as well at her while trying to balance the trays of desserts to get a better view of her.

“She’ll be chosen first tomorrow you know. Everyone knows it.”

“The Moon Goddess might as well carve his name into her skin tonight,” the other one adds.

They both giggle but I don't.

I only press myself deeper into the sides of the pillars beside me as I feel the night wind stings my cheeks, or maybe that’s just the burn of shame I feel.

I don’t know anymore, actually I shouldn’t even be up here.

This balcony is for bloodline Omegas, and even then, it's only for those who are invited first by ranking families.

My mother would skin me alive if she found out I’d crept away from cleaning the dining hall.

But I just had to see, maybe to pretend, even for a second, that I belonged in a higher rank than that of a lowly Omega.

“Don’t look at her,” I whisper to myself, turning my gaze from Elayne’s beautifully carved face.

“You’re not in her world, Iryn, you never were.”

But even as I say this, I don't tear my eyes away from the courtyard below.

The music starts again and just as I wonder when it had stopped in the first place, I hear strings and wind and flutes playing while the crowd parts to form a path.

I feel the aura before I see him, Lord Theron, Alpha of Velaris Hollow, pack, and I subconsciously lower my head in submission even when he hadn't commanded me to.

Lord Alpha Theron