LYCANS VERDICT

ARIA'S POV

Life can be funny sometimes.

In that world of pure darkness, I wanted to do a lot of things. My memories kept on pestering me, showing me things I couldn't do any longer after death had arrived.

Now I was back in the living world, but I didn't have the energy to even blink.

Even if I tried as hard as I could to deny it, I couldn't change the fact that I had somehow got stuck in a girl's body. No matter how hard I pinched my cheek, I couldn't wake up from this dream. It just made my cheek swell up.

The sky was so blue, and the wind felt warm to the touch. It was a great day to go out, a hundred and eighty degrees in contrast to my feeling at the moment.

The universe was clearly mocking me. I yelled another string of profanity at the sun.

"Umm... are you okay?"

"Huh?" I turned my head and snapped. The guy who had approached me flinched a bit before stopping, his eyes widening in shock.

"Are you still angry? I know how you feel... but it's the Alpha's order. As Omegas, we can only follow his commands."

He was saying in a coaxing tone, but it only made my frown deeper. No, man, you wouldn't understand! I lost my johnny. My johnny! How would you know how that feels? Did you have yours cut off too?

"Fine. Aria, if you want to blame someone, blame me! It was my decision as the representative to choose you for the tribute. The other Omega's didn't know about it!"

No, man, like I said, I don't think you can be responsible for this kind of world-shattering occurrence.

You didn't look like the guy who could wield such cosmic-breaking power like raising people back from the dead ...

Wait, did he say tribute?

"Uh... what do you mean by tribute...?"

Ah, d*mn, I couldn't get used to this voice. It was far higher than usual. I kept thinking that someone else was talking in my ear.

The guy stared at me as if I had grown another head. Then he started eyeing me from head to toe.

Uhh... that's creepy. Stop it.

"Did they hit her too hard? Maybe she's still confused."

I could hear him thinking out loud. I just stared blankly at him, waiting until he was done. In the end, he seemed to have arrived at a conclusion.

"I'm not sure if that could happen, but... tell me, Aria, do you remember who I am?"

I shook my head. In the first place, I didn't even know this guy. How could I remember him?

"Memory loss, is it... I knew it; those guys are too much!" He groaned.

Memory loss? No, I didn't lose my memory. I still remember everything..

After I gave it some more thought, this place didn't seem to be my pack's territory.

I know all of my pack members by heart, so if I didn't recognize this person, that means he wasn't mine. This girl's face brought nothing to mind either.

In conclusion, it might not be the same world that I knew. Rather than acting silly, it might be better to go with the flow for now and assess the situation at hand.

"Y-yes, my memory is a mess right now. Can you tell me where this is and who I am?"

I tried to put on a troubled expression. Was that too unnatural? Thankfully, it was enough to make the guy talk.

His name was Jack. This body's name...my name, for now, was Aria Blake.

Both of us, or rather all of us living in this clearing, were Omegas, the weakest members of the Mountain Moon pack.

Jack acted as a self-appointed representative, fighting for whatever leftover scraps he could get for us within the council.

The pack wasn't doing so well these days, especially with threats from other packs looming in the distance, so the Omegas had been turned into punching bags on top of their usual work.

The Alpha turned a blind eye to this. As stress piled up with each passing day, the abuse turned nastier and nastier.

Incidentally, this body's previous owner was the worst of the bunch.

She was an orphan found and raised by the Omegas some years ago.

Even though she had the scent of a werewolf within her, her wolves never showed up no matter how long she had waited.

It weakened her even than the Omegas, since she couldn't tap into her wolf's spirit's power. Naturally, that painted a big crosshair on her back.

.

Was that why I felt so heavy? I thought I was just groggy after waking up. Without a wolf, I wouldn't be any different from an ordinary human after all.

Hmm? But I felt a presence within my psyche, though... then again, maybe it's just Draco. I still need to wake that stupid mutt up though; he kept on ignoring my call.

"Is your body alright?" Jack pointed at my arms.

Apparently this body had to be beaten up so badly by some random people just now. When I inspect, I can see bruises littering the body's fair skin. They were healing up, but some traces remained.

Eh, it wasn't a big deal. Nothing compared to getting your heart ripped out!

... I might have to lower that standard a bit for the future's sake...

"I'm sorry... we're too busy protecting the children, and... and..."

Yeah, I got it. You were afraid of getting hit as well, weren't you? If the majority could get away with sacrificing a few, these people wouldn't hesitate to do it.

Despicable, but what can I say? Can't really blame them.

"What about the tribute?" I inquired. That was my original question, after all. We'd gone a bit off-tangent.

Jack sighed.

"I don't know the details, but a strong pack had demanded us to yield under their rule. Of course our Alpha rejected, so the pack gave an ultimatum instead: we'll be left alone as long as we give them a member of our pack. A hostage, to put it plainly."

"And it's supposed to be me??"

An Omega. A werewolf who couldn't even shift. I imagined the Alpha was overjoyed with this rare opportunity to throw this girl away.

The more I heard it, the more I detested him.

Well, then. I guess I'd heard everything that I needed to know.

"W-where are you going?" Jack hurriedly asked as I abruptly stood up.

"To my hut. I want to be alone for a while."

I brushed him off and walked back toward the shack from earlier. The door was busted, so I just picked it up and leaned it against the frame.

My bad for whoever's gonna inhabit this place next...

My eyes quickly scanned through the muddy ground before finding a faint red stain at the corner of the shack. If I remembered correctly, that was also the spot where I had woken up. A quick sniff confirmed my suspicion.

"Blood, huh?.."

ARIA'S POV

There were no cuts on this body, only bruises. Most likely, it was internal bleeding. There was indeed a jolt of pain when I squeezed my waist. Broken ribs? Or the damaged organ? It seemed I had missed it earlier because I got too excited.

I was reminded of what Jack had told me just now.

Today, after breaking the news about the tribute, some members of the pack physically abused her.

They punched and kicked the poor girl until she couldn't move anymore. After that, they simply tossed her limp body in the corner of her shack and left. The rest of the Omegas didn't dare to help, as expected of cowards.

"So, that girl really died. Did my soul enter her body at the time?"

But why though... I said I wanted to return as a lingering spirit, not hijack a corpse...

Though calling this girl a corpse wasn't right either. 

Her heart was still pumping, her bloo