A Maiden For The Lycan novel Chapter 1

Sometimes all it takes is one revelation to change someone’s destiny.

And I was about to learn that lesson the hard way.

I was a nobody to the pack, a nuisance, even worse than the lowliest omega – I was wolfless. For most of my teenage years, I was ignored, overlooked, and rarely bullied, almost as if I was invisible.

While many of my peers excelled in sports and physical activities, I was more into academics. After all, I needed to prove my worth somehow… or so I believed. I wasn’t born to be a fighter, a warrior, but surely that wasn’t all packs were about?

I was sorely mistaken.

“Cora,” the headmistress of the orphanage called for my attention at breakfast, snapping me out of my musings. “You better be on your best behavior tonight.”

Her tone was snappish to say the least, and though it grated on my nerves, there was nothing I could do about it, or say to it.

The woman wasn’t particularly fond of me to put it mildly. To her, I was nothing but a mistake, given that I was deemed wolfless and thus worthless. Naturally, she didn’t care for me as much as she did for the other orphans who weren’t that many to begin with.

Am I ready for tonight? I thought to myself, wallowing in dejection.

“I will be,” I told her softly.

Tonight, the pack was holding a party for the return of the lycan prince. He had been away from the pack for roughly five years. He had once been a friend, a confidant even…

But that was then. And I wasn’t foolish enough to believe I could even approach him now.

Back then, I was like any pack member – although I was an orphan. It was only on my fifteenth birthday when I didn’t get a wolf that things changed for me. And then, a year later, when I didn’t shift, that sealed my fate for the worst.

I became an abomination. A mistake. An outcast. And no one wanted to associate themselves with me. Almost as if I was carrying a curse or something.

Sure, they didn’t hurt me physically, but the fact that I was barely acknowledged hurt just as much, if not more. Werewolves were community-loving creatures, and I was no exception, but I was denied the pleasure of mingling.

Sometimes, I wondered if my life would have been the same if my parents were still alive and kicking. I was told they had died in a vicious rogue attack back when I was three. And I sadly had nothing to remember them by except for a necklace which I always wore. I cherished said necklace greatly and treated it like a lucky charm.

And if luck decided to be on my side sometime soon, I just wished for a better life, a better path.

There was barely a couple of months left before graduation, before I became free of this pack. I could only hope these two months would pass peacefully, without a glitch.

Wishful thinking on my part? Maybe. A girl can hope after all. I often dreamed of freedom, of love and acceptance.

I soon enough left for school, and it was approximately five songs away by foot.

My day was uneventful as usual. Nobody approached me or even talked to me since it was a werewolf-only school, and I had no one to call my friend.

When the last class came to an end, I hurried out and headed to the orphanage straight away. I was assigned to be one of the waiters attending to the guests. No surprise there! And it was supposed to start in about an hour.

I slipped on the required uniform which was a rather classy black suit. Sadly enough, it was too tight for me on the chest area, and I had to leave the jacket open. But even then, the white shirt stretched almost painfully across my bosom, and I feared it would burst open at the first given occasion.

Shaking my head to dismiss the thought, I quickly did my long auburn hair in a simple updo so that I won’t be bothered by it.

When I was finished, I only had half an hour to get to the pack house before the start of the welcoming party. Thankfully, I arrived with 5 minutes to spare.

The Luna wasn’t impressed upon seeing me if her glare was any indication. I fiddled with the button of the suit’s jacket, and was quick to greet her with all the respect I could muster and the deference she was due, “Good evening, Luna. It is quite the honor to be attending to the guests tonight.”

She let out a disgruntled humph at me and then started barking orders. I didn’t even bat an eye at her harsh tone. That was the norm. Seeing as I was nothing but an orphan – a wolfless one at that – and yet had somehow earned the favors of her only son – the lycan prince – she had never liked me much.

Soon enough, the open field which was littered with tables and chairs began to fill with guests, and my job began.

If it wasn’t for the sudden hush, about an hour or so later, I would have failed to notice the lycan prince, Aiden, making an entrance, a she-wolf dangling off his arm proudly.