The surroundings became hazy and my mind paused from thinking countless things, including my current position.

I couldn't see the expression on Ajax's face but I could feel his anger as in a swift movement, he appeared to my side and grabbed my arm. He probably was furious for seeing such a scene caused by an omega... Especially with the fact that there were two visitors, too...

Unexpectedly, I didn't hear any word from Ajax after that as he only seemed to have stared at me and my body, as if checking something from head to toe which I couldn't comprehend, before releasing me from his hold. Immediately, I was escorted by two omegas, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, back to the room I woke up in earlier.

While on our way, I heard the omegas whispering behind my back.

"Is she really the one...?" One of them asked.

"Sshh, we're not allowed to talk about her. You already know that," another said.

Two were female omegas I haven't seen before. There were few female omegas in our pack, the Crescent Glacier Pack. So these two new omegas... Who were they and why did Ajax order them to accompany me? Did he perhaps... wanted to end me?

"P-Please don't look at us with those eyes," one of them suddenly said, looking at me with nervous looks. "W-We're not bad omegas."

I realized I may have been looking at them with a face full of suspicions. Gulping down my own share of anxieties, I asked them, hopeful, "You... From what pack are you and why are you here?"

The two female omegas looked at each other, as if contemplating whether speaking was allowed for them.

"It's okay, I won't tell the Alpha Prince," I told them, thinking back on how Ajax hated omegas and it must be that these omegas had personally witnessed this fact as well.

To my surprise, one of them took a step near me.

"We're from the East's Crescent Lake. I am called Ether and this is Shila, my sister. Sorry for the late introduction, Luna..." she explained.

My eyes widened at how she addressed me. "What- What did you call me?"

"Aren't you the Alpha Prince's mate?" Ether asked, dubious of what she was even saying for a second. "You're Claire Hanzel, right? You are the next Luna. Our Luna."

More than being surprised for having called as a Luna, my body trembled as I heard those words ― Alpha Prince's mate.

I remembered Elias Thornwheel also labeling me as such earlier. It was probably due to my scent. Ajax... Just why did he even spread his scent all over me? Why were we on the same bed? For how long did we...

My chest paused from beating at the thought.

Did we really do it? But how could this happen? Ajax hated me. He hated omegas as much as he hated humans!

But why... Why would he sleep with me if he hated me this much?

"You're wrong..." I muttered under my breath, barely holding my emotions.

It was as if thousands of images began flashing through my brain once more, similar to that time when I was looking for my mother and brother desperately. That time, voices kept urging me to do something just like in my dream.

Ajax, he was a scum alpha. He was the cause of my demise. He was the cause of my only family members' disappearance...

Was he really my mate then? That curse―was it really fulfilled after Ajax rejected me? But how? Did he really know I was his mate, so he rejected me as soon as he discovered it...?

Alix... Call me, Claire... My name is Alix... I will tell you everything you want to know... Call me...

Alix. If I would call out to this person, would she really tell me everything? I wanted to know why and how did it come to this. How I was in this situation, and how I suddenly became Ajax's mate.

The moment the two female omegas left, I immediately went to check the room and looked for a candle. I didn't know why I suddenly had the idea of searching for one, but when I remember that small wisp of light like a candle light in the middle of a dark room, my heart and mind urged me to look for it.

It was as though I had long known how to speak to these people, or whatever they were called, and only by lighting one candle and calling out one of them, was the only way to know the truth, aside from talking through dreams.

Opening the wooden drawers and cabinets that were obviously barely touched but still well-maintained and cleaned, I searched through every level, wanting to find a candle. While searching for one and opened the lowest drawer near the bed, I found a worn-looking object which seemed to be a box. It was the only thing in the drawer.

Suddenly curious, my hand speculated the box, my fingers hovering over the intricate designs around it. The more I touched the box, the louder my heartbeat pounded. Just what was in this box and why was it hidden here, with nothing else next to or surrounded it?

Frowning a bit, I was about to open the box when I heard the door opening.

With my heart almost dropping down the floor, I quickly placed the box back inside the drawer and closed it. Then I immediately got up from my crouching position and faced the newly arrived person―the person that filled my heart and mind, the person who turned out to be my mate but rejected me.

"Alpha Prince," I called out.

Ajax stared at me with a pair of eyes that held no intention of letting me ask questions. I knew others would surely tell me to ask him, to ask the very person who seemed to be the one who knew everything, but when I looked at his eyes and he stared right back at mine, I could feel the dread of doing such a thing.

Because those eyes only meant one thing: I, an omega, did not have the right to ask questions and get answers from an alpha.

"Why were you with Elias?"

"Huh?" I blinked, looking at him. I was almost dumbfounded at what he asked all of a sudden.

To my surprise even more, Ajax began taking steps to me which caused my heart to start pounding loudly. I started to take steps back as a reflex, eyes looking at him directly as I watched him move. Ajax stepped closer and closer until he reached me, his towering figure looming over my smaller stature.

"I asked a question," Ajax said again, his tone clearly disapproving rooms for humor, patience, and deception.

The alpha pheromones he was releasing made me feel weak in the knees, almost wanting to fall down and embrace myself in protection. Why was he asking me such an odd question? I only bumped into Elias Thornwheel and nothing more. More than that, Ren and Zen, his betas, they kept on telling me everything was my fault. Could he at least tell me the reason why they said those words?

Ajax―our Alpha Prince―can he at least tell me, if he truly was my mate?

"Claire―"

"Is it true?" I asked, finding the courage as I lifted my head up and looked at his face.

As expected, Ajax still wore those eyes that told anyone he was superior, he was in a different world, he was unreachable. His eyes were unreadable this time though as they bore into mine, his lips parting, "What do you mean?"

I swallowed down my fears more as I looked at him with clenched fists, "I... I am your mate. And you, you rejected me. Is it true?"

I could hear my own heart beating louder and louder it almost felt like leaping right out of my chest. Every second seemed to be a thousand year as Ajax only looked at me and I looked at him.

His clear, cerulean blue eyes that reminded me of those good, summer days, seemed to have turned to a dark, stormy night as he answered me, finally.

"It is."

Air seemed to have escaped my lungs and my whole body began to turn cold. So it was true... Ajax... The person whom I had been liking far afar ever since I was young, was my mate. But just as predicted, for being an omega, for being in such a low status, I was rejected.

Before hot tears could even flow down my cheeks, I suddenly heard him spoke once more.

"It doesn't change anything though," Ajax said, hands moving up to touch my face.

My eyes widened at his action. Looking up, I looked at his face and almost felt my chest breaking even more.

With an almost crazed expression paired with a low, dominating voice, Ajax caressed my cheeks, his alpha pheromones increasing in every second, filling every breath I took, owning all of my senses. "Whether you're accepted or rejected by me, the fact that you belong to me will never change."

He was a great alpha and I was a mere omega. He was the man I had love for a long time and vowed to stay with in the future until the day I die. Being his servant was something I was tasked to, whether I liked it or not. But because my heart couldn't stop loving him, I took the task naturally and willingly.

But because of fate, these things could no longer be the same. Whether it was yesterday's smiles or tomorrow's hopeful beams―everything shattered because of fate.

Clear, blue eyes lit and reflected my messed up face as a low, magnetic voice penetrated my ears. "Do you understand now, Claire? Even if you object, even if you want to leave, I will never let you go."

With that, Ajax drew me closer, hand cupping my cheek. "You're mine, Claire. Fate says so and neither one of us can change it."

If I look up now and make a howling sound, a sound that held my numerous questions, of alphas and omegas and fates and rejections―would it reach the Moon Goddess, answer my prayers, and wipe away my tears?

I met Ajax when I was six years old. He was seven that time but among all the other alphas born, he was the smallest and weakest in looks. Naturally, even betas began to question whether he was a real alpha or not.

During those times, I still didn't know the line between alphas and omegas. All I knew was I was a kid and he was a kid. And no kids deserved to be treated harshly, whether by actions or words.

When the kids went away and all that was left was Ajax, I hid myself from one of the trees, peeking and waiting for him to get mad or cry after being bullied. I waited and waited, but the birds flew and the clouds changed their colors, yet Ajax remained silent.

I realized he wasn't the type to cry nor get mad easily.

Even when people began questioning his abilities when he turned sixteen and transformed, Ajax only silently listened to them. On the day of the annual battle training, he defeated the same people who had doubted his skills as an alpha. Not even once did he give his time to lecture them face-front nor did he explain himself.

From then on, I had assumed Ajax to be a person who chose forgiveness over grudge, sympathy over ridicule, peace over war. In my eyes, Ajax was the exact description of a "Prince", similar to those princes in the tales I have been hearing and reading secretly. A prince ready to understand his people, a prince willing to listen and protect his members, a prince with a kind heart and good temperament.

But I was wrong.

Because the "Prince" I had dreamt and assumed to be the best person in the world... turned out to be the worst being I had ever come across with.

"I asked you a question, Claire. Answer it," Ajax ordered in a low, ragged breath, his skin close to mine as we connected.

I could feel his member going in and out of my lower region, my mind mushy and about to turn to a big lump of bread from the sensation. It had been half an hour since we began yet it seemed as though Ajax wasn't near satisfied with both my answer and the times we had done it.

"I said I, I bumped into him," I answered, my face red as I tried to bite my lip but failed as Ajax suddenly grabbed my head, turning me to face him.

There was a deep frown on his face as he glared down at me, "You know I hate liars, Claire."

I wanted to tell him I wasn't lying at all but he didn't give me the chance as he bit my lip once more. Ajax kissed me as if he was punishing me―deep, suffocating, and full of anger.

When and why did I ever think he was the most gentle and kindest "prince" that needed protection and adoration?

Everything was a lie.

The entire room was filled with the smell of our sexual intercourse, dominated by Ajax's alpha pheromones that continued to attack my entire being.

His thrusts became much hurried as we both moaned and fell into a deep craze filled with lust, whether it was because of "fate" or whatever it was, I couldn't decipher anymore.

Moaning in pleasure, my hands were about to hang onto his shoulders when Ajax gave me another glare, stopping my movements. There was no time to feel my heart break as he suddenly plunged in too deep, hitting the softest spots deep inside me. I could almost feel like a softening potato, my insides melting slowly.

Not knowing where to put my hands on, I tried to grab the sheets underneath me when Ajax's hands grabbed mine, his thrusts even going rougher in every move while staring down at me and holding me in place.

As he did this, I couldn't help but feel my broken heart pounded, a lingering hope wanting to appear in a desperate plea.

"Ahh!" I almost screamed as he brutally attacked the deepest spots inside me.

Ajax grunted with low facets of movements, moans escaping his lips as he pulled me up.

I felt my entire self melting, my heart softening, as Ajax embraced me close, his arms circling me possessively. With a final, deep thrust and a guttural sound of release, Ajax met his climax, filling me up to the brim.

With our bodies connected and with lust and passion leaking out of our systems―whether due to fate or something else―Ajax stared right through my eyes, the deep hatred I was looking for missing.

It was gone as fast as it came though and with my body soft and swollen all over as I lay down the bed naked, I felt Ajax's figure moved from the sheets. My half-lidded eyes caught sight of him dressing up, then immediately, almost as if he was eager to go, Ajax opened the door and left the room.

My heart was probably too dumb and numb, for hating him didn't arrive. At that moment, no matter how I wanted to scream at him for doing things as he pleased, my body softened and I couldn't help but pull him closer as he held me closer.

It was too far from making love but the idea that we connected and Ajax looked at me with that pair of―almost loving―eyes... froze whatever loathing I was keeping inside.

I was dumb. I knew I was. There was no way Ajax would love me. But for just this once, just this once, let me taste what affection meant...

Hugging myself in a fetus position as I lay down with my naked body, I silently, slowly, let myself fall asleep.

"Are you really going to let this pass? Claire, your family needs you. The omegas are suffering. All of them are being treated miserably... Wake up, Claire! Do you really want to see how your race meet its end?"

A voice of a woman woke me up and when I opened my eyes, I found myself in a dark room once more. There was a wisp of light at the center but this time, the color and temperature were different.

It seemed as though she could read my mind as she spoke. "I'm Ursula." I noticed it was a different voice from last time.

The woman who called me last time was called "Alix" if I could remember it right. This one was Ursula... Just what were they?

"I'm a witch," Ursula explained. "I've been dead for ages. You may not believe it but I've been watching you ever since you were a kid. I know things about you other people do not know that well. Your dislikes, your personal desires, your beloved... but these aren't important. Claire, I know you treasure your race and treat them as your own family. Right now, they are suffering under the hands of other races. You yourself experienced it. I'm here to tell you that you are the only one who can save them. I'm asking you, in the name of the Jaderoot Order, to save your race."

I almost wanted to shout, but my response came a lot calmer as I expected. "What do you mean?"

Why did I have to do with these things? First, I was blamed for our "pack's doom", now I was the only one who can save my omega race? Who would believe such things? And what did she mean by Jaderoot Order? What was that?

The light dimmed a little, flickering against the dark. "You may be confused right now, but you shall not fear, Claire. You will be safe as long as you listen to me. I can help you accomplish everything. I will guide you in every step."

Then with a lighter tone, the wisp began to integrate with the dark. "First, you need to stop harboring good feelings for your mate."

Stop harboring feelings for my mate... I needed to stop loving him.

Stop loving Ajax... Can I really do it?

"No."

In the midst of almost being controlled by whatever it was that enveloped me in this dark place, I clenched my fists. My desire of wanting to know more lessen as my mind kept going back to Ajax's eyes that stared at me with warmth.

No matter how little, no matter how absurd, I must cling onto it and not let it fade.

"Claire...!" The voice called me once more.

But I remained unbothered. How can I listen to these voices when I didn't even know them? What if they were only lying and trying to control me?

I wasn't born to be someone to let that happen.

More than anything and anyone, I knew myself and understood what I wanted.

And right now, I chose and want to understand Ajax.

With a resolute mind, the voice of Ursula who claimed to be a witch and member of the Jaderoot Order, slowly faded. In another second, my eyes opened.

"Ah, you're awake!"

A voice of a young woman came to my ears. When I glanced at my side, I found the female omega from before. I remembered her name being Shila.

"W-Water, do you need water?" Shila asked, anxiously looking at me.

I realized then that my body felt heavy and I couldn't move that well. What happened?

I heard the door opened and watched as another woman arrived with a basin and new set of clothes. I remembered her name being Ether, another female omega.

"Shila, how many times I have to tell you not to raise your volume like that? Luna Claire is having a rest!" Ether scolded Shila in a lower voice which I still caught nonetheless.

"B-But she looks in pain and having a nightmare...I wanted to wake her up..." Shila mumbled and kept glancing at me.

A smile forming in my lips as I watched the two sisters' interaction, remembering Navi and I whenever we argued.

Slowly, I tried moving my fingers and motioned them to help me move my body. Thankfully, the two immediately understood and helped me get up from the bed. In a swift yet careful movement, Shila gave me a cup of water, assisting me to drink it.

"Are you okay?" Shila asked, her big round eyes looking worried as she stared at me.

I glanced up and noticed Ether was also waiting for me to speak. She was holding the pair of clothes, probably to change me into newer ones.

"I'm okay," my voice sounded hoarse as I responded.

My sore body felt heavier each time I moved but I dared not to stop from moving up. Even if I had to feel pain all over, I still had things to do. Therefore, I must move.

"L-Luna, please don't move too much! You need to rest more!" Ether exclaimed.

"Where's the Alpha Prince... I mean, the Alpha King?" I asked them while forcing myself to reach for the clothes Ether was holding.

As if they could no longer watch it, Ether and Shila sighed and started helping me dress up.

"The Alpha King headed to the Southeastern Woods two days ago. Master Ren and Zen mentioned it will probably take five days before they return," Ether explained.

"We were tasked to accompany you wherever you go... You've been asleep for two days. How do you feel? Do you need more water?" Shila moved closer, the cup of water refilled in between her hands.

I shook my head as a response, wanting to ease the atmosphere with a better glance at them. They must have been worried about me while waiting for me to wake up. According to them, Ajax fled after having a meeting with Elias Thornwheel, guided by the elders of our pack. It wasn't Ajax but his right hand in command, Zen, who instructed Ether and Shila to look after me. Ajax didn't see me after what happened between us and not even once did he ask about me...

Feeling a heavy block stuck at my chest at that, I faced Ether and Shila, "The omegas, the omegas of my pack. Have you heard any word about them?"

Ether and Shila exchanged glances before Ether directly faced me. "Do you love the Alpha King, Luna?"

"Ether!" Shila called, hand about to grab Ether.

I was surprised myself at the sudden question. "Why... are you asking?"

Ether nudged Shila's hand away from her and said, "The Alpha King... hates omegas. He hates us more than anything in this world. Your mother and brother disappeared because of him, too, right?"

My eyes widened at her words, questioning looks throwing at them. How did they know about that?

"We've heard from other omegas from your pack," Ether said. "Before they were taken away."

My heartbeat stopped. "What?"

Shila grabbed Ether's arm, as if trying to hold her back and refrain her from speaking more. But I was the one who moved closer to them, my silent weakness diminishing in every beat.

"They're taken away? The omegas of Crescent Glaciers?"

"Enough is enough, Shila. Luna Claire deserves to know what happened," Ether exclaimed, her face turning to me once again. "Luna, the omegas are suffering under the Crescent Glaciers Pack. You've been detained in this mansion for weeks. During your disappearance, there are plenty of omegas taken away by force. Until now, nobody knows where they were taken to. One of them is named Lagand, he stutters all the time. Do you know him?"

My body turned cold at what Ether has explained. A broken whisper escaped my lips, "Yes..."

Who would forget that man child who always beams the brightest smiles despite having a speaking difficulty? Out of all the omegas in Crescent Glaciers Pack, he had the kindest and purest heart.

"Lagand is the one who told us about your family's disappearance when we first came to North. That day, a month after the blue moon where the Alpha Prince, Ajax, was supposed to say his mate's identity but failed to do so, alphas of different packs came. As they left, they took some omegas with them. Lagand thought you're one of the omegas taken away and so he," Ether glanced at me then looked down, "He followed after them."

I felt my head becoming dizzy for all the sudden information I had heard. Omegas were taken away, even Lagand was one of them. But why? And who did it?

"That's why, Luna Claire... Please answer our question. Do you love the Alpha King?" Ether once again asked.

I stared back at her, unable to form words for a response. I wanted to ask them what did it have to do with the current situation. But her words even surprised me, waking up something that had been sleeping inside me all along.

"The Alpha King has changed. Can you really love and accept him nevertheless?"

"But we can't disagree with him," I told Ether, my heart twisting.

"Then do you accept the treatment he gives to us omegas? Luna Claire, remember what he did to your family. He separated you from your loved ones. Who knows, they may also be part of why those omegas were taken away by force. Aren't you afraid something might happen to them while you're here, staying with the Alpha King, who doesn't tell you anything at all?"

"Tell me, Luna," Ether added, eyes filled with emotions deeply rooted from something I failed to notice.

"Loving and trusting someone who only causes you pain and misery. Is it really worth it?"