Slave or Lover?

Emelia Lane ‘s POV

I live in a distant town. This is a place called “The Midnight Empire”. It is a place governed by werewolves. We do not have the Internet here. Even the highways are under the werewolves’ control. We can not get in touch with the outside world or ask them for help. No one in the outside world knows our stories.

This is a kingdom of werewolves. Humans here can only be slaves, servants, and other humble things, but we can never be the owner of the kingdom. We know this is unfair, but we gradually get used to it. I always thought that my life would continue to be like this, peaceful yet boring. However, something happened to me. I did not expect that my life would change completely because of this.

“On September 29th, 2022, the midnight empire is about to change its king. The current Alpha will soon pass his title off to his son, Cody Stark, who is 17 years old.” Our neighbor Finley Galloway comes to visit us. She always pays attention to the news related to werewolves. We all know it is because her daughter was killed by werewolves.

My mother looks indifferent and hands Finley a cup of tea to welcome her. “Oh? Really?” Finley frowns, “ Do not you know what it means?” My mother shakes her head. We do not pay attention to news related to werewolves very often.“ This means the annual slave-choosing ceremony this year will be specially designed for Cody. Cody doesn't have particular interests. About the age of the slave, as usual, he chose 16.” My mother’s eyes are wide open. I lower my head.

We all know that I am 16 this year.

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I sit in my room, looking at the things on my table. I am stunned. My head is blank. I know I am nervous. “ May I come in?” My mom knocks on my door. I say, “Yes.” “Oh, my poor girl, all human girls at the age of 16 should go to the slave-choosing ceremony today,” Mom says with tears on her face.

“Slaves must be miserable, right?” I ask. Mom stops crying. She tries to comfort me, but she can not think of any good words. She shakes her head and says, “In the world of werewolves, we humans are humble and miserable all the time, no matter whether we are slaves or not.”

I frown. “ Why do werewolves treat us badly? They need us, right?” My mother thinks for a while. “I heard that in ancient times, humans treated werewolves badly. So they take revenge.” I nod, but I think that I shouldn’t be treated badly since I have not treated werewolves badly.

“Mom, if I treat werewolves well, will they treat me well?” My mother stares at me as if she doesn’t understand what I am talking about. “Honey, never think that way. The revenge between humans and werewolves will never end. What you should do, or pray for is that the future alpha will not choose you, and you can come back to our home just as I did before.”

“If I were chosen, I mean if, what would happen?” My mother frowns. “Maybe you will die... like Finley is daughter…”

I am not the only child in my family, but I am the eldest daughter. No daughter in my family has ever attended the ceremony. My mom attended it when she was young, but she was not chosen by anyone, so she knows little about what will happen after being chosen. Our knowledge of the ceremony and the tradition is mostly from hearsay.

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I am dressed in a gorgeous dress, with delicate makeup. I know that werewolves like beautiful girls and the best thing I pray for is not to be chosen. I dress up just because I have to. If I do not dress up for the ceremony, I will be beaten up.

I sit in my room waiting for the werewolves to pick me up. I see my parents crying. The depressing atmosphere makes me want to cry too, but except for the fear because of my mother’s story, I am not as afraid as I think. After all, I do not think I will be chosen because I look common. I am not a beauty. There are plenty of beautiful human girls, even in the town. I do not think werewolves will be so blind to choose me.

I look in the mirror. I am wearing a bubble dress. My face looked fair, with a little pink on my cheeks. I look like a yummy cupcake. I like myself, but I do not think the future Alpha likes me as much as I do.

Cody is said to be handsome. It is said that he looks cold and superior when he looks at others. When he smiles... No one has ever seen that. But it is said that when Cody was little and knew how to smile, his smile was warm and impressive. If someone is loved by Cody, she may always see his beautiful smile.

Talking about love, werewolves are known for their love and loyalty. When I was a little girl, I read novels and history books about werewolves' impressive love and sensational loyalty. So when I grew up, I could not believe that they were hungry for human slaves for sex.

I suddenly thought of something and turned to my weeping father.

“I have read that Werewolves were not lascivious like this in ancient times. They were loyal to their mates and would not have sex with others when they were single. Why are they like this now?”