When The Alpha Demanded My Silence

Everyone in the city knows that Gael Foster, the Alpha of our pack, has a wandering eye.

Beautiful women flow into his chambers like a river, only to be sent away just as quickly.

Each time one disappears, Gael's status in the werewolf community rises.

I, too, would have been sent away.

But I am mute.

==============================

My mother, Kaeli Payne, died in the third year after she was brought into Gael's house.

She was chosen by Gael as his temporary mate, a title that held no real significance.

But when she passed, there wasn’t even enough to give her a proper farewell.

Gael didn’t come when she died.

Only Mabel, the Alpha Queen, sent her attendant to take a look, and then called for some pack members to take my mother’s body away.

I was being held by a maid back then.

When I saw them covering my mother’s body with a white cloth, I struggled down and fished out a few crumpled bills from my pocket.

With tears in my eyes, I begged them to give my mother a proper burial, one that would honor her in some small way.

The pack members hesitated, glancing at Mabel’s attendant.

A few bills couldn’t even buy much, let alone a decent burial.

For a woman with no status, not even a proper chosen mate, a shroud and a shallow grave would be considered generous.

The attendant, a woman named Clara, saw me stubbornly holding out those pitiful bills.

Finally, she sighed, “This child is loyal to her mother.”

Because of Clara’s words, my mother got a proper burial and was laid to rest with some semblance of respect.

I was also moved out of the little room where we had lived.

I was grateful to Clara.

I heard that the very next day, a new woman moved into that room.

She was brought back by Gael from the nightlife district, costing him a hefty sum.

She was worth more than my mother.