A Valkyrie's Cry

My legs ache, my back aches, even my toes ache...every inch of my body is completely done in. I wish I didn't have a million chores waiting on me. I would happily collapse back into the little pile of ratty torn blankets that my "bed" consists of.

Happy 23rd Birthday to you Valkyrie, here's hoping it's not as traumatic as last years was.

   Last year my step-monster and half-sister Jessica beat me until I couldn't walk, and then dumped me just outside of the forest on the far side of the island. If it had been the side of the forest closer to town I could have found help. Unfortunately for me, only the fae sea folk lived where they dumped me, and they were notoriously unwilling to help those outside of their own faction.

I had to crawl broken over hills and through streams, where I almost drowned, to get back to pack land. When I finally got there, I was met with jeering and ridicule from the pack-members who watched me crawl through pack lands broken and bloody before them. No one offered me any aid. I was left alone to my pain. Left alone to heal. All because my wolf was latent.

I sigh as I get up and begin my morning routine. Tie back my rebellious mane of frosty white hair with it's weird electric blue streak.

My mom claims my strange hair and my neon blue eyes are a result of my having been poisoned by some rare poison as an infant, she also says that's why I haven't gotten my wolf yet.

Awesome, I'm the freak with unnatural features and no wolf, and with his highness Beta James Alden AKA Step-dad running the show, I'm also relegated as the only omega in the pack. Basically I'm the pack slave, and it's just ridiculous.

Rushing though getting dressed, I throw on a baggy hoody and a pair of skinny jeans, with work boots and brush my teeth. There, ready to face hell once again. I gritted my teeth and faced the mirror to give myself a quick pep talk to make it through the day. Eyes cataloguing my features, hair hidden under hoody, check. Freaky neon eyes covered and hidden with plain hazel contacts, check. Nothing I could do about the delicately arched white eyebrows, my hair and eyebrows are dye resistant and trust me I have tried every brand available. It just slides off like oil on water. But I can darken my lashes at least.

My full wide lips are naturally rosy. My cheekbones high. With a heart shaped face and dimples that show fleetingly when I smirk or grin, I would have been considered exceptionally lovely by most human standards. Unfortunately, to Lycans, beauty is measured by power. As an omega I am considered the least attractive person in my pack.

So I hide my differences as best I can, and I survive. Because surviving is all that matters right now. My mom needs me, she's broken. She's been broken since we came here. Something happened at our old pack, my memories are blurry but I remember a different mom. A smiling one who loved me, one who was fierce and brave.

I stay for her, and only her. Otherwise I would have left this wretched dump years ago when I turned 18. I had planned to as well. I was going to move to the town on the north side of the island, but Beta James warned me ok more like threatened me that he would turn my mother into an omega and force her to take my place if I left. With the mate marks she can't just leave him, and he has the trust of the alpha. His lies always hold a tiny strand of truth and he weaves them well. It's how he has gained so much control inside of the pack. I'm frightened of what he could do to her if I try to leave.

I run down the five flights of stairs from the tiny attic room on the east side of the pack house that serves as my bedroom, and slid my way into the kitchen just in time. Beta James prowls around the corner at precisely 5:45am to give me instructions for the pack breakfast and my duties for the day.