Protectors of Her Heart

"Good afternoon, Luna," A tanned young lady greets.

"That's not who I am, Clare." A timid voice mutters almost inaudibly. Turning around to see the only maid assigned to her, Dyah sighs. Even though being made her maid was an act by the Alpha's mother to demote her, Clare never acts like it. In fact Dyah can only guess the extent of Clare's disgrace.

To be assigned to care for the one popularly referred to as the 'slutty mate of the Alpha'.

To be made to clean up after her vomit and to wipe off her bruises.

Clare must hate her but she so perfectly covers it up with a smile. Dyah knows because she hates herself. She has no memory she wishes to cherish. Do you know how much it hurts, every time she thinks about the night she'd given herself to the alpha? She'll forever burn with an internal hatred for herself. A self loathe that's impossible to scrub off no matter how hard she tries.

"But that's who you'll be once your pup is born." Clare smiles. Always optimistic, the nineteen-year-old.

Dyah quietly faces the mirror once again, mostly in a bid to hide the tears in her eyes. She'll never be more valuable than she is.

Brushing her hand through her hair, Dyah cringes, noticing how her hair looks two times shorter than it initially was the night her parents sold her to her fate. Then she'd felt pretty. Yes she'd been unwanted but she'd at least felt pleasing to look upon.

Now? Now she's just plain disgusting. Her left cheek is discolored from Ziporah, the princess's hard punch. Red lines decorate her neck since it seems to be the alpha's mother's favourite place to squeeze.

Only eight months with the alpha family and she can barely remember how she looked without so many bruises. Dyah's fingers slide down her neck, to her burning chest. Honestly she can't remember what happened there but it hurts so bad. Slightly but visibly nonetheless, her lips raise in a smile as she rubs her swollen belly. In three months her prince charming would be here– finally someone who would want her, love her.

She'd make sure of it. She will give him all the love she was never given. Comfort him like she was never comforted and remind him everyday of how much he's wanted.

Clare's cold fingers cover her own. "He sure is going to be a strong pup. He's survived all the abuse with you, keeping his mama strong." She says.

"I don't feel too strong." Dyah whispers, knowing Clare heard.

"I'm sorry." Clare responds before taking a sit on the floor beside her leg. "I tried telling Alpha Erik but I got caught by a guard. I received the punishment of my life last night." Her voice breaks.

Dyah's eyes widen with fear. "They didn't touch you like that, did they?"

Clare smiles sadly this time, "No, no they didn't. They only tied me up to a tree and flogged me. I was lucky the pups where having an excursion in the woods or it wouldn't have been only ten strokes."

"Did you get it treated." Dyah questions, her heart aching for her frie...maid.

Clare rubs her elbow, her previously hidden sadness freely slipping through. "Yes, someone helped."

Dyah takes her hand, "I'm sorry," She says, knowing it was her fault. If she hadn't fainted last night, no one would have gotten hurt.

As if reading her thoughts, Clare places her other hand on top of Dyah's smaller one. "No, it's okay. It's not your fault I'm hated around here. And I can take it. I heal much better and faster than you do. It's really not that bad."

"It's not..." Dyah starts, not liking where the conversation was suddenly heading.

"You are an omega. A pregnant one at that." Clare cuts her off. "You need extra care, not daily beating. Whatever I got to do to help, I'll do it. Anyways you should eat the meal I brought you. You have a meeting with the Alpha family in two hours." She informs, looking at the watch on her wrist.

Two hours later and the hallway seems to be closing in on Dyah. Disgusted glances from those standing around or walking by, greet her, causing her to drop her head, her dark brown eyes stay fixed on Clare's worn-out shoes as she leads her to the royal meeting room.

The smell of vanilla becomes overwhelming as she gets closer to the meeting room. It's so bad that for a while she has to take a pause to breathe in and keep her emotions in check.

She should be happy. Her mate is within those doors. But she's not, because once again the stench of vanilla is so strong. "He's been with her–" Just like he'd been before he had sex with her on their first moon.

"Dyah? The doors are open." Clare informs gently. Her eyes turn sad when she turns around, getting sight of what Dyah is now staring at.

Within the room, at the top of the round table, Alpha Erik is sitting with Zarina, his chosen mate. The woman he'd declared his mate after taking her virginity. But then, it's not something Dyah shouldn't have been expecting. She is only a breeder anyway.

The sight breaks her heart but she says nothing and simply walks into the full room, with her head bowed.

"Omega," The alpha's mother slurs, "I see you have a lot of makeup on. It's not healthy you know, one might think you are too eager to falsify your beauty. I mean, everyone does it but yours is just alarming." She chuckles at her words. Pearl, alpha Erik's youngest sister follows suit with a loud laugh.

"That's enough mum, she looks good as she is." Alpha Erik says with a frown that vanishes the moment Zarina pulls away from him with a pout. "I'm sorry love," he quickly adds, pulling her back into his arms, "No one is as breathtaking as you are." He says before placing a kiss on her lips.

With the same lips he'd used to kiss Dyah that night. The same words he'd told her. For a moment she'd stupidly believed him, offering herself up willingly. He was wise– she would never had gotten pregnant if she wasn't in complete agreement with the sex.

Even at that Dyah knows there were obvious signs of his deceit. it was a mistake right from the beginning. He wasn't bothered about how her back scraped the harsh forest sand with every one of his thrusts. The way he'd covered her mouth when she cried from the sudden intrusion.

But she was blinded. Blinded by his soft kisses to each drop that fell from her eyes, the way his tongue played with hers, how his eyes shined with hot desire, those needy words that dropped from his lips as he chased his orgasm. She'd been blinded and beautifully so.

Hell! She'd never known any feeling better than that.

The meeting begins but she barely hears what is being said as her heart aches loudly watching him– the man that's supposed to care for her, cherish her, love her– give what's hers to someone else. Her mother was right, no one would want her, not even her mate...

"I will marry you as is tradition but I won't mate with you. Zarina on the same night we wed, would be marked my mate." Erik's words filter into Dyah's hearing and her blood freezes. Her lips part but Zarina beats her to it.

"Oh my Alpha, I love you. I'll make sure to bear stronger pups than any weak omega could ever dream of." She cries with a smile into his shoulder. Erik pulls her closer and into his laps.

"Aren't they so perfect?" His mother asks, looking Dyah in the eye.

"No one, can take her place. Talk less of an omega."

The tear that slides down her cheek is scalding and immediately followed by another. Erik doesn't even notice, he's too busy sticking his tongue in another woman's mouth.

Dyah's legs move before her brain registers it, and in a minute she's out of their sight and running to her room.