Chapter 1 New Beginnings

Elowyn

Mornings in the Ashwood Pack are always the same. An alarm goes off at 4 am in the Omega quarters, and the hustle and bustle of the day starts. Before long, someone is already outside chopping wood, and someone else is arguing about feed rations with their bed neighbor. None of it feels particularly important if I’m being honest.

I throw my legs off the bed, sitting there for a moment as I pull on my boots. One lace is shorter than the other, but I tie them anyway. I attempt to smooth out my clothes, even though they are wrinkled beyond saving. I don’t have much in the way of clothes or personal belongings. I make do with what I have. When I step out of the Omega building, a group of runners nearly trample me. They mutter curses under their breath and move around me like a stone someone hasn’t moved yet. I’m used to their insults. Useless human. Stupid worm. Worthless girl. Probably more that I’m not aware of, too.

“Sorry,” I say automatically, but none of them acknowledge me. 

I move along to the wash house, where I am assigned to help wash, dry, fold, iron, or whatever else the ranked members' clothes require. It’s already hot inside with the sound of splashing water bouncing off the walls. Steam clings to every surface. No one even looks up when I walk into the building or when I kneel at an empty tub and push my hands into the cold water. I just scrub. I don’t think about anything because thinking makes things harder. I am halfway through my second bundle of clothes when a shadow falls across the water.

“Elowyn Hale?”

My stomach drops. I know that voice. I stand quickly, lowering my eyes as I face the Ashwood Alpha, Idris Ashwood. His voice is calm, but he always seems calm until he’s not.

“Yes, Alpha?”

“A word.”

People are watching now, and I can feel their stares without even looking at them. None of them are overly concerned about me, but they are curious, and I know they will whisper amongst themselves once I leave. He turns on his heel, and I follow him outside, the morning air feeling much colder now than it did when I arrived at the wash house.

“The Lycan Royal Family has requested the annual servant offering be fulfilled,” he starts, and I nod. “I have selected you to go to Elaris and serve in the palace.” My brain stalls at his words, my head jerking up to look at him.

“Alpha, I haven’t been trained to work in the palace,” I say, and he shrugs.

“Elowyn, don’t make this difficult. You are unmated. You have no family ties here. You have no position of importance. For all we know, you don’t even have a wolf. You are going. You will not be missed by the Ashwood pack.” He smiles slightly, each word spoken kindly, even though not a single one of them is kind. 

“Yes, Alpha,” I say, dropping my eyes back to the ground. “When do I leave?”

“Tomorrow,” he says, and I nod because nodding is easier than arguing. “It’s an honor to be selected for palace service.”

“I understand,” I tell him, and he looks satisfied with my answer.

“However, I can’t have you going to the palace looking the way you do,” he says, a hint of disgust in his tone. “Come with me. We will get you cleaned up and make sure you have proper attire for traveling to Elaris.”

“Yes, Alpha,” I say, following him as he walks to the packhouse. I haven’t ever been allowed in here. The packhouse is strictly off limits to low-ranking wolves like me. He takes me to a room, instructing the women to scrub me clean and make me look presentable for my trip to Elaris. The women aren’t rude or cruel, but they’re definitely not warm and cuddly either.

I’m stripped naked and put in a shower where they scrub every inch of my body until my skin is raw. They measure me and dress me in clothes that actually fit me before setting me down in a chair to manage my hair. 

“You have a lot of breakage and dead ends. Will you be upset if we have to cut it short?” the woman asks as she looks at me in the mirror. My eyes go wide at the question. My hair goes well past my butt, and I don’t know what I look like with shorter hair.

“Oh. Um. How short?” I ask nervously. The girl looks at my hair for a moment, tilting her head side to side before ultimately putting her hand between my shoulder blades.

“It’s like 12 inches of hair, but it’ll be healthier,” she says, and I nod.

“O-Okay. That’s fine,” I say, and she gets to work. Once it’s all cut, she takes me to a sink and scrubs my head until it feels like she might rip my scalp off. When she turns me around in the mirror, I don’t even recognize the person staring back at me. My red hair shines like fire in the light, and my pale skin doesn’t have a single spec of dirt tainting it. Even my eyes have a more emerald hue to them now. I smile, fighting back the tears. “Thank you.”

“Alpha’s orders,” she says with a tight smile. “He also told us that you needed new clothes so you don’t embarrass the Ashwood Pack. This suitcase has literally everything you need. 7 pairs of underwear, 7 pairs of socks, 7 bras, 7 shirts, 7 pairs of pants, 7 pairs of pajamas, a pair of low black heels, and all black tennis shoes. Is there anything else you don’t have?” Clearly, 7 is the magic number here. One outfit per day.

“I don’t have much of anything, Miss,” I admit, lowering my eyes in shame.

“Well then, I’ll just pack another bag with toiletries and hygiene products. We really don’t need the Lycan family sending you back because you’re gross,” she sighs before walking away to collect whatever she plans on sending me with. I end up with a suitcase of clothes and a small duffel bag with basic skin care, basic hair care, deodorant, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. “Follow me to the room you’ll be in tonight. Alpha Idris doesn’t want you or the new belongings tainted by the Omega quarters.”

I follow her to a small room in the main hallway, and she leaves me there with not another word. I close the door behind me, dropping the suitcase and duffel bag beside the door. On the nightstand next to the bed is a note with my name on it.

Do not leave this room until someone comes to escort you to the car for transport. There is bottled water in the mini fridge, along with some fruit and a couple of turkey and cheese sandwiches wrapped up for your dinner. You are prohibited from wandering about the packhouse. 

Alpha Idris Ashwood

I sigh, dropping the letter back on the nightstand and walking over to the mini fridge. I don’t know what kind of threat he thought I would be to the packhouse. I have no friends, and I don’t know where anything is in this place. Staying where I’m at is what I planned to do anyway. I grab a bottle of water, one of the sandwiches, and a bag of sliced apples before closing the fridge and moving back to the bed. There’s a TV in the room, which is something I’ve never had, so I grab the remote off the dresser and turn it on. I don’t bother trying to look for something to watch. I just settle on the bed and watch the game shows that are on the screen until I fall asleep. No one comes to check on me. No one comes to say goodbye. Nothing. I drift off to sleep knowing that my entire life will change tomorrow, and there’s not a person in the world for me to talk to about it.

— Scene Break —

The next morning, a loud knock on the door to my room wakes me up. I jump so hard I end up falling on the floor, scrambling to answer it. I open the door, and the girl on the other side looks me up and down with a scoff.

“Get ready to go,” she says. “Your ride will be here soon. Don’t embarrass Alpha Idris.” She walks away before I can respond, so I close the door quietly, grab the bags I brought with me, and move to the tiny bathroom attached to my room. I carefully shower and change my clothes, folding the ones from yesterday and putting them in my suitcase before packing all of the toiletries away again. Another knock comes, and I answer the door immediately, my bags in hand to show that I am ready to go. “Oh, good. You listened. Follow me.”

A black SUV pulls up in front of the packhouse, the driver coming around and putting my bags in the trunk before opening my door. I slide into the middle seat, taking note of the two older women and one younger girl sitting in the back. The car pulls away, and I don’t look back as we leave Ashwood. Not because I’m brave, but because there is nothing for me to look back at.

“First time leaving your pack?” a voice asks, startling me as I turn to see the younger girl from the back sitting next to me. I nod in response, and she smiles at me. “I’m Mara. I’ve been training for palace service since I was a kid. I’m so excited they finally chose me.”

“Oh,” I say quietly. “I’m Elowyn. Alpha Idris just wanted me out of the pack, I think.” She studies me for a minute, searching for something in my face.

“You’ll be okay. Most mistakes come from talking too much. Just listen and observe,” she says quietly, and I nod again. I can do quiet. Not like I have had anyone to talk to for most of my life anyways. 

Mara sits next to me for the entire ride to Elaris and she doesn’t stop talking once. Everything gets bigger the further from Ashwood we get. The roads are wider, the stone markers indicating new pack territories get taller, and the scents in the air get stronger. The sun is beginning to set when shiny, golden gates appear in the distance and behind them a huge white house. If you can even call it a house being as big as it is. 

“Wow…” I whisper as I look out the window.

“This is Elaris. That’s the palace,” Mara says softly. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

The palace is bigger than anything I have ever seen. It’s beautiful and intimidating all at once. I don’t belong here. This isn’t meant for someone like me. I don’t know what I’m walking into and I don’t know what I’m going to become here at the Elaris palace, but I do know that whatever life I had in Ashwood is over and something new is waiting for me here.