Mate by Fate Bound by Love

********************

Lena's Pov

"Lena! Get down here this instant!" I heard the voice of my Uncle's wife calling me.

My heart began to beat irrationally as I started to think what I must have done wrong this time around. I began to make a mental note of all the things that I was supposed to do and check them in my mind.

(I had washed the clothes, fetched water, scrubbed and cleaned the bathroom, I had mopped the floor and was in the kitchen making breakfast.)

It came as a surprise to me to hear my Uncle's wife calling me in such a manner.

With haste and without thinking about anything else, I quickly dropped the spoon that was in my hand that I was using to stir the pot of stew on the fire and dashed out of the Kitchen.

The sight that greeted me when I got to where my Uncle's wife was made me gasped in horror. All the clothes that I had just finished washing and hanging on the line were lying on the floor, wet and dirty. It was as if someone had deliberately dragged them out of the rope and threw them on the floor, then the person went ahead to step on them with his or her feet.

"What happened?" I asked in shock with my hands covering my mouth.

"Really? Are you the one that is supposed to be asking me that question or I should be the one asking you?" My Uncle's wife asked.

"But, I washed these clothes and hung them to dry some few minutes ago before I went to the kitchen to make breakfast." I explained as I went to the clothes and started raising them one by one.

I was heartbroken. Just when I thought that I was almost done with my work for that morning, someone had deliberately decided to be wicked to me. I sniffled as I struggled to fight back the tears that were already gathered in my eyes and were threatening to spill out.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" A loud scream came.

I could recognise the owner of the voice and I raised my head to see my cousin Lauren running towards me.

"You wrench!" She cursed at me as she gave me a dirty slap.

Shocked by the unexpected assault, I held the spot where she had slapped me. She had slapped me with so much force that I had to struggle to keep my balance and in the process the clothes I had picked up fell to the ground again.

She stooped down to pick a white dress from the floor and showed it to her mother.

"Look mother, see what this useless wrench had done to my white dress that I was going to wear to the mating ceremony tomorrow!" She screamed.

"Ah, what have you done?!" My Uncle's wife asked.

I was not surprised to hear them blaming me. It was not my fault and the rope did not cut, it was still standing strong so someone must have deliberately removed the clothes from the rope and threw them on the floor.

"But it's not my fault ma, this is the handwork of someone who hates me, someone deliberately did this." I cried out.

"You good for nothing child! I always knew that you were jealous of my daughter, but I never knew it was up to this extent. I will make sure to teach you a lesson today!" My Uncle's wife said in anger.

"Please ma, it was not intentional, I did not do it." I begged.

"Shut up! You will be dealt with today and nobody will be able to save you." Lauren mocked.

"Holy s**t!!!"

It was then I knew that Lauren was the one behind the fallen clothes. She had deliberately done it just to make sure I was punished. I just stared at her with disdain.

"Lauren, go and get me a very good cane." My Uncle's wife said to Lauren.

"With all pleasure mum." She replied and went to look for a cane.

At that moment, I knew I was done for, because she will never let me go off the hook so easily. I mentally prepared myself for the punishment to come. Just as my Uncle's wife was coming towards me with the cane in her hand, the fire alarm in the kitchen started blaring. We looked up to see smoke coming out from the kitchen window.

Damn! I shouted. In my haste to answer my aunty's call, I had forgotten to lower down the fire and I was so engrossed with the fallen clothes that I had forgotten that I was actually cooking before coming down.

My Uncle's wife, who I also call my aunty, looked at me in surprise and shock. Without another word, she ran inside the house followed by her daughter, my cousin and I ran after them too.

We entered the house to see that my uncle had already put out the fire. He had been reading in his study room while all the commotion outside was going on and so he was able to quickly put down the pot from the fire and switch it off before any of us that were outside could come inside.

I shivered violently as my uncle moved to where I was. He looked at me with so much hatred and gave me a resounding slap. The slap was so painful that I screamed and fell on the floor.

"Even if I sell you a thousand times, it will not be enough to buy back this house or even rebuild, you cursed child." My uncle said it was venomous.

"Please uncle, I am sorry, it was not intentional." I tried to plead with my uncle but my pleas all fell on deaf ears, it was clear my uncle was ready to deal with me.

"Guards!" He called and some of the guards in our house immediately ran to where we were.

"Yes sir!" They answered in respect.

"Take this useless piece of nobody out of my sight and lock her up in the dungeon!" My uncle ordered.

I gasped in shock, no way! Tomorrow is the mating ceremony. How was I going to find my destined mate if I am locked up in the dungeon?

"Uncle I am sorry please don't do this to me, I promise I will be a good girl!" I shouted as tears began to spill down my face.

"Take her away this instant!" My uncle ordered and the guards started dragging me away despite my pleas for mercy.

I looked at my cousin's face and saw an evil smirk on her face and then I knew that she had been the architect of my misfortune today.

*************************************************

Lena's Pov

The guards dragged me to the pack's dungeon amidst the mocking stares of the people. The people booed and mocked me as the guards dragged me towards the dungeon. While some of the people hurled awful words at me, some hissed and so even went as far as telling the guards to release me a bit so they can pour dirty water on me, but thankfully, the guards were under strict orders of my uncle not to stop until I have been thrown into the dungeon.

"Wait!" Came a loud shout from behind us and we stopped. It was my Uncle's wife and my cousin.

"My father had ordered that she should be wiped fifty times before she is taken to the dungeon!" My cousins said.

"But...." the guards tried to disagree but my Uncle's wife cut them short.

"But what? Are you trying to say my daughter is lying or are you planning to go against my husband's command?" She asked.

"No ma, we are sorry ma." The guards apologized and took me to the flogging arena.

The people cheered as they followed us from behind. They began to throw stones, leaves, and tomatoes at me. They insulted me and called me names.

I wanted to beg for mercy but I knew it was only going to add to my humiliation. I told myself that no matter what, I will not break down. I will not allow them to get to me but I was wrong.

The guards made me go on my knees as they brought out the cane.

"Stop!" My Uncle's wife ordered and the guards stopped immediately.

"Let her lie down on the stone, that way, the cane will not miss landing on her back and use this instead." She said and threw a wire at them.

I shrieked in fear as I saw the wire that was being given to the guards. It was a very hideous thing with five heads so that one strike of it was equivalent to five strikes.

"No, please, please, don't do this to me." I started shouting and pleading but it seemed my shouting gave the people more energy to deal with me.

The guards roughly threw me on the stone and without pausing, they started flogging me. I told myself that I was not going to cry but I could not bear it. I cried and screamed till I fainted.

I woke up to see the guards carrying me straight to the dungeon and handed me over to the palace guards in charge of the dungeon. Every noble family in the pack was given permission to own a personal prison where they could put their slaves or people of lesser mobility than them but my uncle decided to put me in the Pack's dungeon which was more harsh than his own.

The guards in charge of the pack's dungeon looked at me in disgust and threw me inside and locked the door. The tears that had ceased before started falling again and I sat down on the cold floor crying bitterly.

I know you might be wondering why I was being treated this way and I will tell you. It is simple, I am being treated this way because I am an Omega. But the thing is, I am not the only Omega but my case was worse because of my late parents.

My father was a rightful member of the pack but my mother was not. She came from a neighboring pack that our pack's members were forbidden to have anything to do with. My uncle who was my father's brother warned him against marrying from that pack but my father was too in love to listen to the warnings and so he was punished and demoted to the rank of an Omega by the Alpha.

The people began to see my parents as law breakers and the Alpha instructed that they should be treated as outcasts even though they live in the pack. I would have preferred that they were banished but the Alpha felt that the best punishment for my father was for my father to be treated as nothing in a pack where he was once honored, he felt that the Shame would be enough to kill my father.

The Alpha was wrong. It was not shame that killed my father, it was heartbreak. When I was to be born, it was hard labor and my father could not get any of the pack's midwives to come help her deliver. My mother fought with her last strength to have me delivered and when I was finally born, she died.

My father had been heartbroken, he could not forgive the pack members who refused to help him and instead gloated at the death of his wife, my mother who they had called the outcast. My father tried raising me on his own but it was not easy, he told me about his life and my mother's and he also told me to go stay with my uncle if anything happens to him. He told me that the house my uncle was currently living in actually belongs to him but it was given to my uncle by the Alpha when my father was demoted.

I was ten years old when my father died of heartbreak. He mourned my mother for a very long time and one day, he could not take it any more. He ran away after bringing me to the doorstep of my uncle with a letter begging my uncle to please look after me. My uncle had gone to the Alpha to complain and the Alpha had sent guards to go bring back my father for severe punishments.

The guards went out to look for my father but could only come back with the bloody clothes of my father. I cried and wept for the death of my father. The Alpha told my uncle to take me in as his slave and do with me as he pleased.

My uncle indeed took me in as a slave and never missed an opportunity to publicly disgraced me. My back aches badly from the pain of being flogged. No food was given to me that night except a dried piece of bread and little water but I was too weak to complain and slept off.

I did not know how long I slept but I noticed someone pouring cold water on me. I opened my eyes to see that it was the head of the palace maids.

I struggled to stand and sit up but the pain was something else. I wondered why the head of the palace maids had come to meet me. I did not work in the palace and so I was not expecting her to come and meet me.

The head of the palace maids was someone I always avoided because she had a personal hatred for me. According to what I was told, she had been my father's childhood friend and crush. She had a crush on my father and was hoping that my father would one day marry her, but to her disappointment and shame, my father had chosen my mother who was from a different pack over her.

I was also told that due to the closeness she and my father shared, she was the first person my father told about my mother. She warned my father against marrying my mother but my father refused to listen. People said she did it out of concern but I would always say to myself that she did it out of jealousy because when she saw that my father was not willing to listen to her, she went to report my father to the Alpha.

"Get your lazy self out of there and follow me, today is the mating ceremony and all slaves must come work in the palace." She ordered and walked away.

*************************************************

Lena's Pov

I quickly stood up from the floor and followed the head of the palace maids. When I came outside, I was shocked to see that it was morning already, not just early morning but I saw that the sun was already overhead. The dungeon had been a dark and gloomy place that I did not know how bright it was outside.

It was not only the brightness of the day that struck me. It was the festive mood of the pack. I could see different decorations already going on at the pack's Square. It was in sharp contrast to the ordinariness of the day before. It was as if a massive change had occurred overnight.

Everywhere was bustling with people as everyone was very happy. In addition to the fact that today was the mating ceremony, it was not just an ordinary mating ceremony. Today's mating ceremony was special because the Alpha's son was also going to choose his mate today.

Everyone was happy and eager to see who will become the mate of the Alpha's son for she will also be the future Luna. The Alpha's son Ethan was a very handsome and good-looking man. He was loved and respected by all but he was also one of my bullies.

He always made sure to treat me with disdain that shows I was beneath him. Among all his harsh treatment towards me, one of them was the worst of all. It was the worst treatment anyone had ever given to me, not even my wicked uncle and his wife.

That day, I was sent by my Uncle's wife to fetch water for one of the noble families. Though I was made a slave in my Uncle's house, my Uncle's wife was never satisfied with my work. She felt that the work I was doing at home was too little and she never wanted me to be idle even for a few minutes.

So what she does every time is that whenever I am done with my house chores, she always sends me to go work in the houses of her other noble friends. So that fateful and unfortunate day for me, I was done with my chores for the day and was resting in my room.

"Stand up, you lazy piece of rag!" My Uncle's wife ordered as she stormed into my room.

I quickly stood up from the cloth I had spread on the floor as my bed. Though my uncle was well to do, they made sure my room lacked everything a room was supposed to have. There was no bed for me to sleep on so I had to make use of one of the wrappers my father had left behind for me saying it belonged to my mother.

"I am very sorry ma." I apologize even though I still did not know my offense or what I was apologizing for.

"Keep your stupid apologies to yourself." She said, "Now what are you doing here?" She asked me to look around the sparsely furnished room with an irritated look on her face.

"I was done with all my chores for the day ma, and so I was just resting a bit." I explained, sounding timid.

"Resting uh! I can see that you are now so used to the work in this house that it is now too small for you, that is why you have time to rest." She said.

"No ma, that is not what I meant." I tried correcting her.

"You must be very stupid to think that I did not understand what you said. Now take your lousy self out of this room and go fetch water for the Micheal's family." She ordered.

I quickly ran out of the room before she could hit me. On my way to go give the water I fetched to the Micheal's, I mistakenly stumbled on a stone and fell down. It was a very busy part of the town and there were people around. I heard people gasping in shock and I thought it was because of my fall.

I was too busy trying to get myself up when a hand suddenly dragged me roughly by my hair. I stood up to see that it was Ethan, the Alpha's son. I knew I was in deep trouble.

"I am very sorry your majesty" I immediately went on my knees to apologize.

When I stumbled and fell down, the water I was carrying had splashed on Ethan who was taking a stroll with my cousin and was unfortunate to pass by me at that moment.

"You bitch!" Ethan kicked me violently. "I will make sure you regret this day!" He threatened.

And true to his words, he really made me regret that day. Whenever I remember the inhuman treatment he subjected me to, I always get nightmares.

"Go bath and change, you stink." The head of the palace maids said to me,

"You will be given a cloth to change into, be fast with it and come out, there is work to be done." She added.

"Yes ma." I replied to her as I made my way to the common bathroom that the palace maids used.

I pulled the clothes I was putting on and saw that the wounds from yesterday's flogging was trying to heal itself. My healing was slow due to the fact that I was an Omega and my wolf was a weak one. Though we Omegas had weak wolves, mine was weaker due to the physical, emotional and psychological pain I was being subjected to daily.

I quickly took my bath and winced at the pain as the water touched my injuries. I put on the clothes and ran outside to meet the rest of the maids for the work to be done was indeed much.

At exactly 8pm, people started going to the square for the mating ceremony. A bonfire was made at the center of the square and people gathered around it. Today's mating ceremony was special to me because I was going to find my mate.

Getting my mate was the only thing that was going to remove me from my present situation because when I finally get married, the people will stop seeing me as the daughter of an outcast but instead I will take my mate's family name and things would change for me. I was happy because I would finally mean something special to someone.

Suddenly, I felt a pull. It was the pull of the mate bond. It was so strong as my heart began to beat. My legs moved on their own accord and I began to look around for my mate. I was too engrossed in my search for my mate that I did not know when I stumbled into Ethan. Because everyone's attention was on Ethan to see who he was going to choose as his mate, they all saw me stumble into him.

"Mate!" We both said together and I staggered back as the people all gasped in shock.

Ethan looked at me in disgust as I expected.