CHAPTER 17: A VOW

Emira’s smile was one no one in the pack had ever seen before. Not even the other Omegas who called her a ’friend’. It was pure victory and anticipation...Unlike what she had showed outside of someone who only wanted to die and had nothing to look for.

She was an Omega. Yes. She was also the weakest in the hierarchy of the werewolf pack. The lowest rung. The one they all trampled over without a second glance or a thought.

But that did not mean her promise was any less. It didn’t make her vow worthless. If anything, it made it sacred. Because her promise was the only reason she was still alive. The only thing she clung to even as she endured beating after beating. Humiliation after humiliation.

Her smile faded slowly as she wiped the last trace of tears from her cheek. The silence in the cabin wrapped around her like a blanket and instead of feeling uncomfortable, she cherished it. Because that silence assured her that everything had gone according to her plan.

Carefully, she crawled toward a small corner of the room. Her hands reached out to the base of the wall, fingers feeling along until they found the edge of a hidden panel. She slid it open with a soft creak, revealing a tiny, forgotten cupboard tucked behind the boards.

Inside was a small metal box, old and rusted at the edges. She pulled it out with care, as if it were the most precious treasure on earth.. She glanced once over her shoulder and sniffed the air, confirming that she was completely alone and no one would disturb her...Then she opened the box.

Inside lay the only two things that ever truly mattered to her: a small picture frame and an amethyst locket. Her fingers hesitated before lifting the frame. The photo was faded now, almost fragile, but she could still make out her mother’s features. The gentle smile. The kind eyes. The love etched in that one captured moment.

Her chest tightened. A fresh wave of tears stung her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall this time. She cradled the frame against her, pressing it to her heart.

"Mama," she whispered, voice raw but steady. "I’ve kept my word. I didn’t forget. I never could. I’ll bring them down-every last one who stood there and did nothing. Who laughed while you begged for your life." Her fingers brushed over the photograph. "And it starts with the Moonville Pack."

She sat there for a moment, holding the picture in silence. Then, slowly, she opened the locket. Inside was a tiny tuft of hair, a pale strand she’d cut from her mother’s body before they took it away. She closed her eyes and held the locket to her lips.

They thought Omegas were weak. Lesser. Submissive by nature. But they were wrong. And the fools did not even know it.

She looked down at the picture again, her expression hardening.

"Those fools," she said quietly. "They thought they could abuse me again. That I wouldn’t notice how they were planning to use the arrival of the Stormhold Princes as a distraction while they ruined me. But what they don’t know is that the idea was mine all along. On how to leave the gates open so that I would escape.

She paused, her grip on the frame tightening slightly.

"I was the one who told her that I would run if given the chance to that woman who liked to report everything to them... I was the one who planted the idea that made them believe it would be a way to humiliate me again. That they could turn it into some kind of hunt. They thought they were in control. But they never were."

Emira set the photograph gently beside her and leaned her back against the wall. The silence around her felt more comforting than ever, as if her mother was right near her

"I chose the path on purpose," she continued. "I knew exactly where it would lead. Right into the territory where the Princes were camped. I knew they would be disturbed. I knew they would follow and hunt me down. The Stormhold Princes have been looking for the rogues who’ve been capturing Omegas to use for breeding and kill. And now, I will lead them straight to the truth."

Her hands rested on her lap as she spoke. Her voice no longer wavering as she smiled

"Step by step, I will show them what Moonville has been hiding. The same pack that pretends to be loyal to the Stormholds is the one harbouring and helping the rogues. They’ve been protecting the killers. Hiding them. Even using them. And when the Princes find that out, they will do what I cannot."

She reached for the metal box again and closed it with care.

"So what if I can’t fight the entire Moonville Pack on my own?" she said. "I’ll borrow the Stormhold sword. I’ll let the alphas destroy their own allies. Let them see the betrayal for themselves."

Carefully, she put both the things back into the box and then into its hiding place and sighed. "Alpha Soier thinks I’m weak because I’m an Omega. Even though he senses my defiance, he doesn’t think I can do much about it, believing that I will be broken out of it...

She looked toward the window, at the path from where she just run down... "The ritual is to burn the wolf of the Omega on her eighteenth birthday isn’t it? So that no Omega would be able to challenge the pack rules... On my birthday, something will definitely burn... As for what... Let the Moonville Pack experience it for themselves...