The Cursed Omega; Bound By Two Alphas

Aurelia Point Of View.

My name is Aurelia Varyn, and if you're looking for the Duskwind Dominion's most decorated disaster, congratulations, you have found her.

That’s what they call me, anyway. 

A low life Omega,

A natural disaster,

A curse, and sometimes the walking omen.

I have been accused of many things in my twenty years of breathing, but the one they love most, their favourite bedtime story is that I killed my mother.

My mother, Serenya Varyn, was a very popular seer of the pack, a beautiful Omega like me, who caught the eyes of the late Alpha. 

The pack says she died screaming after giving birth to me. I apparently arrived in the world with the timing and grace of a falling boulder, crushing her life beneath me.

You would think giving birth was something that involved two people, maybe fate, nature, or the Moon Goddess herself. But no, why complicate things? 

It’s easier to blame the baby, as babies are perfect scapegoats, especially Omega babies.

I was the Omega of all Omegas, the lowest rank, weakest, and the perfect target.

They didn’t bother hiding it as I grew up, how they recoil when I walked into a room, how they gossiped behind my back, and spat the cursed word like it was a stain I smeared on their carpets.

Sometimes I wondered if they prefer I stopped breathing just to make their lives easier.

The truth is that no one can hurt me. 

I wasn’t alive because they pitied me or that anyone cared about me. 

I was alive because of a prophecy.

“The Omega’s death brings ruin to the pack, she must be kept alive.” the pack priest told the late alpha on the night of my birth.

Yes, that’s what they told me as I grew up.

My death, apparently, comes with the pack-ending apocalypse. 

Funny how that never stopped them from fantasizing about killing me anyway.

The late Alpha King, Vaelor Dravaris, kept me alive only because of that prophecy. He didn’t look at me and see a child. He looked at me and saw a ticking bomb he couldn’t afford to detonate. So he fed me, clothed me, and then shoved me into the cracks of the pack where no one would trip over me. 

A servant. 

A maid of the royal home. 

The day he died, I didn’t cry.

Everyone was too busy preparing the coronation of his son, Kaelthorn Dravaris.

Alpha Kaelthorn was no improvement.

If anything, he inherited his father’s distrust, and was worse than his father. 

Kaelthorn didn’t hide his dislike, all my life even before he became Alpha, he stared straight at me with those sharp, cold blue eyes and made it clear that I was a burden he never asked for and certainly never wanted in his pack. 

I would say it hurt, but my feelings developed calluses years ago.

So here I am, Aurelia Varyn, the cursed Omega who apparently brings doom.

“Aurelia! Aurelia Varyn! Useless girl, where are you?” A loud voice yelled my name down the hallway. 

I quickly recognized mistress Haldena, the pack chief maid. 

I moved back even before I lifted my head from the laundry basin. My hands were pruned and red, the water was cold enough to make my bones ache, but the chief maid insisted the royal linens be washed the old-fashioned way, which I suspected meant the way that hurts Aurelia the most.

I straightened my back, wiping my hands on my apron just in time for her to stomp into the laundry hall.

“There you are,” she snapped, eyes narrowing on me with that familiar disgust. “I swear, you could disappear in a room made of glass and still manage to be late.”

“Sorry, mistress Haldena,” I whispered.

In my head, Lyra, my wolf, muttered, “She didn’t call you, she yelled like a maniac, there’s a difference.”

I smothered the smile that threatened to escape. Smiling in front of mistress Haldena was like asking for a death sentence.

She shoved a basket into my stomach so hard I folded slightly with a soft, embarrassing "Oof."

“We need some produce for the Alpha King’s dinner tonight. Fresh ones, not the bruised, pathetic things you usually bring.”

“I’ll do better,” I said softly.

Lyra hummed dryly, “Better than perfect? Shall I grow wings and fly us there?” she growled showing her hatred for the chief maid. 

I kept my eyes down. “Yes, mistress.”

“You better try not to embarrass the royal household,” Mistress Haldena continued, voice dripping with venom. “Seeing your face on market day is already enough bad luck for the pack.”

I swallowed hard. “I’ll be quick.”

“You’d better be,” she hissed, leaning close. “If you come back late, I’ll have you scrubbing chamber pots until midnight. Now go.”

I bowed my head. “Yes, mistress Haldena.”

As I hurried out, Lyra whispered, “One day I will bite her ankles.” She howled. 

“Lyra,” I murmured under my breath, “Please don’t make her angrier.”

I got to the market within a few minutes. 

The pack market was already in full chaos: colorful stalls, grinding wheels, the scent of spices, fresh meat, and baked bread all swirling in the cool air. Wolves from neighboring packs mingled with Duskwind wolves, buying and trading.

“I hate this.” I muttered to myself as people began to stare at me. 

Well, I was the ugly stain on their beautiful clothes.

Everywhere I walked, people stepped back like I carried sickness. A mother shielded her pup, and a merchant pretended not to see me even when I stood right in front of his stall.

Lyra’s tail curled protectively in my mind. 

“Ignore them, Aurelia.” She growled.

“I’m trying,” I breathed.

Still, I kept my head down, moving quickly through the market.

Soon I bought all precisely what mistress Haldena demanded.

When it came time to pay for the fish, the fishmonger wrinkled his nose.

“You again?” he grunted. “Touch anything and I’ll charge double. Bad luck sticks to you like dirt.”

I nodded politely. “Understood.”

“Oh, I see,” Lyra muttered angrily.

“Today we’re going with insults wrapped in customer service.” She scoffed with a growl. 

I paid quietly and collected the last of what I needed. The basket grew heavy, cutting into my palms, but it didn’t matter because at least out here, I could breathe without someone ordering me around.

I was halfway back toward the royal home.

“Aurelia Varyn.”

The voice crawled along my spine.

I turned around and saw three young wolves blocked the lane ahead of me. 

They were sons of the most powerful hunters in the pack. 

I swallowed hard, “What do you want?” 

The crowd behind them paused, sensing something entertaining was about to happen.

I lowered my gaze and clutched my basket. “Excuse me… I need to return to the royal home.”

“She speaks,” one mocked. “Careful, cursed one, your voice might kill someone too.” his eyes glittered as he smirked. 

At once a roar of laughter erupted from the crowd, all eyes fixed on me as people made a circle around us. 

Lyra growled low. “Ignore them, and keep walking.”

I nodded and tried to leave but they stepped in front of me again.

“Going somewhere, death-bringer?” one asked. 

“Doesn’t she look guilty? Like someone who murdered her own mother.” the other laughed. 

“Should’ve left her in the dirt where she came from.” 

My throat tightened as the words hit their mark, just as they always did.

I whispered, “Please… I just want to pass.”

“Oh, we know what you want,” the tallest wolf sneered. “But we’re tired of letting you roam the pack like nothing happened.”

I moved back, frightened. “I didn’t… I didn’t do…” I stammered. 

He raised his hand as if to strike me, but before he could, something inside me snapped. 

“Move!” Lyra’s voice sharpened.

Before he could hand could touch me, I ducked and stumbled sideways. The basket hit his thigh, hard enough to surprise him. I slipped past him with a speed I didn’t know I had.

For a moment they were too shocked to react.

Immediately, one of them yelled. 

“She’s running away, catch her!”

They all screamed at me as a hot pursue unfolded. 

“Get the cursed rat!”

The crowd scattered as shouts echoed behind me. I sprinted down the market lane, my heart pounding, as my breath burned in my throat.

I pushed into the thickest part of the crowd, weaving between bodies and stalls. The wolves chasing me were stronger, and faster. I ducked behind a merchant wagon, slipped between two stacks of crates, and pressed myself against the rough wood. 

My chest heaved as I hid behind a corner, my palms trembled violently.

I stood still and watched the wolves ran past without noticing me.

Slowly, painfully, the market noise drowned out their shouts.

I sank down on a crate, hugging the basket to my chest, even though half the contents were smashed.

Tears filled my eyes, the kind that falls because there’s nowhere left inside to store my pain.

Lyra whispered, gentle now. 

“This isn’t fair to us, none of it is.”

“I know.”

I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand.

“I can’t keep doing this,” I whispered.

I lifted my head and looked toward the path leading away from the pack. 

After hiding for two hours, I decided to leave my hiding spot and go back to the royal home. 

By the time I reached the palace courtyard, my legs ached and my palms burned from gripping the basket too tightly. 

The lanterns around the stone arches flickered in the wind, throwing long shadows across the walls.

I had almost made it to the kitchen door when mistress Haldena stepped out, her arms crossed, and her foot tapped like a death drum.

“You.” Her voice sliced the air. “Where have you been?”

My heart dropped to my stomach. 

“I…I came straight back,” I whispered, lowering my gaze. “The market was crowded.”

“Oh, of course it was,” she mocked. “Market day, and yet, somehow, you managed to be the last one to return knowing fully well that I need those produce for the Alpha’s dinner!”

“I’m sorry, Mistress. I tried…”

“Don’t speak, just hand me that basket.”

Her fingers snatched it from my grip before I could finish. She rummaged through the vegetables, muttering out cusses.

“What is this?” she snapped, yanking out a handful of carrots. Two were cracked, and one was snapped clean in half.

My stomach dropped as I remembered the chase at the market. 

“I..I didn’t mean to, someone pushed me…”

Before I could finish speaking, she cut me off with a sharp slap that sent my head jerking to the side. 

A sting spread across my cheek, and my eyes watered immediately from the shock.

Mistress Haldena leaned in, her breath sour with onions and bitterness.

“Do you ever do anything right?” she hissed. “You ruin everything you touch, even vegetables.” She shook the broken carrots in my face as if they were proof of my useless existence.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, the words catching in my throat as I tried not to cry in front of her. 

“Incompetent girl, cursed girl!” She flung the carrots into the basket with a thud. “You should have died the day you were born. Your mother probably realized what you were and chose death rather than look at you!”

The words hit harder than the slap.

My throat closed and my vision became blurred.

Lyra whimpered somewhere inside me, wounded, but mistress Haldena was not finished.

“Everyone knows it. Serenya Varyn was too pure for the filth she brought into this world, and the Moon Goddess knows we’ve paid for it ever since.”

My knees felt weak and I could barely held myself upright.

“That’s enough for tonight,” she said sharply, as if she were tired of hearing her own cruelty. “Go to the servants’ quarters, there will be no dinner for you, and you better keep your cursed tears off my floors!”

I turned away quickly, pressing my hands to my face so she wouldn’t see the tears already slipping out. I walked through the dim corridor, hearing only the echo of her voice inside my skull.

When I reached my small cot in the servants' room, I sat down and finally let myself break. The sobs came in quiet waves, small, strangled sounds that barely left my lips. I pressed my face against my pillow to muffle them, as my whole chest shook.

Lyra curled around my mind.

“Aurelia… don’t listen to her. Please don’t listen.”

“I can’t stay here,” I whispered through tears. “I can’t… I can’t do this anymore.”

I cried until my throat was raw, until my eyes stung and my breath trembled. When I could finally sit up again, the pillow was damp and my hands trembled with a different kind of realization.

“I’m leaving the pack,” I whispered. “Tonight.”

*

Hours went by and soon it was midnight. 

The palace halls were quiet at midnight as  other maids slept in their chambers. The guards patrolled the front gates, but I knew paths they didn’t.

Immediately, I packed a small satchel with the few clothes I owned, a threadbare dress, a shawl, an old shirt that had belonged to one of the kinder cooks before she died. I added a piece of bread wrapped in cloth. My whole life fits into a bag no bigger than my ribs.

My hands shook as I tied the strings together.

“Just breathe,” I whispered.

Lyra pressed close. “I’m with you.”

I slipped through the back garden, where the moonlight made the dew on the leaves shine like tiny silver tears. I moved silently across the cobblestones, slipping behind a hedge and toward a forgotten passage hidden behind overgrown bushes.

I had found it years ago, a crack in the outer wall, just wide enough for a thin girl to squeeze through, but I never dared use it.

Tonight, I didn’t hesitate.

The stones scraped my shoulders, and thorns snagged my sleeves. By the time I emerged on the other side, my breath was coming fast and wild.

But I was outside the pack. 

“I am out!” I said in disbelief and excitement, this was my very first time outside the pack. 

I stepped into the woods, my heart pounding, with tears drying on my cheeks.

“This is it,” I whispered. “I’m free.”

Lyra’s voice trembled with quiet pride.

“Yes, Aurelia, we are.”

I walked deeper into the forest, away from Duskwind, and away from the life that had crushed me since birth.

Away from everything I had ever known, and I didn’t look back.

Aurelia Point Of View.

"Where am I?"

The forest looked much different once you were inside it. From the pack borders, it always seemed gentle, cool leaves, a place to hide from chores or Haldena’s sharp tongue. But standing there, alone in the dark, the trees felt like tall, silent witnesses judging every stupid step I took.

“It's so cold out here.” I muttered rubbing my palms together. 

I wrapped my arms around myself as I walked, my boots crunching on dried leaves.

 “Where exactly am I going?” I murmured to no one, because no one was here but Lyra.

“Forward,” Lyra responded, though her voice trembled. “Anywhere but back.”

“Forward,” I repeated, nodding even though my feet felt like they were wandering without me. “Right, forward because that always works.”

A few more hours passed.

My sense of time had vanished the moment the palace disappeared behind the trees. My throat h