The surroundings became hazy and my mind paused from thinking countless things, including my current position.

I couldn't see the expression on Ajax's face but I could feel his anger as in a swift movement, he appeared to my side and grabbed my arm. He probably was furious for seeing such a scene caused by an omega... Especially with the fact that there were two visitors, too... 

Unexpectedly, I didn't hear any word from Ajax after that as he only seemed to have stared at me and my body, as if checking something from head to toe which I couldn't comprehend, before releasing me from his hold. Immediately, I was escorted by two omegas, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, back to the room I woke up in earlier.

While on our way, I heard the omegas whispering behind my back. 

"Is she really the one...?" One of them asked.

"Sshh, we're not allowed to talk about her. You already know that," another said. 

Two were female omegas I haven't seen before. There were few female omegas in our pack, the Crescent Glacier Pack. So these two new omegas... Who were they and why did Ajax order them to accompany me? Did he perhaps... wanted to end me?

"P-Please don't look at us with those eyes," one of them suddenly said, looking at me with nervous looks. "W-We're not bad omegas." 

I realized I may have been looking at them with a face full of suspicions. Gulping down my own share of anxieties, I asked them, hopeful, "You... From what pack are you and why are you here?" 

The two female omegas looked at each other, as if contemplating whether speaking was allowed for them. 

"It's okay, I won't tell the Alpha Prince," I told them, thinking back on how Ajax hated omegas and it must be that these omegas had personally witnessed this fact as well. 

To my surprise, one of them took a step near me. 

"We're from the East's Crescent Lake. I am called Ether and this is Shila, my sister. Sorry for the late introduction, Luna..." she explained.

My eyes widened at how she addressed me. "What- What did you call me?" 

"Aren't you the Alpha Prince's mate?" Ether asked, dubious of what she was even saying for a second. "You're Claire Hanzel, right? You are the next Luna. Our Luna." 

More than being surprised for having called as a Luna, my body trembled as I heard those words ― Alpha Prince's mate. 

I remembered Elias Thornwheel also labeling me as such earlier. It was probably due to my scent. Ajax... Just why did he even spread his scent all over me? Why were we on the same bed? For how long did we... 

My chest paused from beating at the thought. 

Did we really do it? But how could this happen? Ajax hated me. He hated omegas as much as he hated humans!

But why... Why would he sleep with me if he hated me this much?

"You're wrong..." I muttered under my breath, barely holding my emotions. 

It was as if thousands of images began flashing through my brain once more, similar to that time when I was looking for my mother and brother desperately. That time, voices kept urging me to do something just like in my dream.

Ajax, he was a scum alpha. He was the cause of my demise. He was the cause of my only family members' disappearance... 

Was he really my mate then? That curse―was it really fulfilled after Ajax rejected me? But how? Did he really know I was his mate, so he rejected me as soon as he discovered it...? 

Alix... Call me, Claire... My name is Alix... I will tell you everything you want to know... Call me...

Alix. If I would call out to this person, would she really tell me everything? I wanted to know why and how did it come to this. How I was in this situation, and how I suddenly became Ajax's mate. 

The moment the two female omegas left, I immediately went to check the room and looked for a candle. I didn't know why I suddenly had the idea of searching for one, but when I remember that small wisp of light like a candle light in the middle of a dark room, my heart and mind urged me to look for it. 

It was as though I had long known how to speak to these people, or whatever they were called, and only by lighting one candle and calling out one of them, was the only way to know the truth, aside from talking through dreams.

Opening the wooden drawers and cabinets that were obviously barely touched but still well-maintained and cleaned, I searched through every level, wanting to find a candle. While searching for one and opened the lowest drawer near the bed, I found a worn-looking object which seemed to be a box. It was the only thing in the drawer.

Suddenly curious, my hand speculated the box, my fingers hovering over the intricate designs around it. The more I touched the box, the louder my heartbeat pounded. Just what was in this box and why was it hidden here, with nothing else next to or surrounded it?

Frowning a bit, I was about to open the box when I heard the door opening.

With my heart almost dropping down the floor, I quickly placed the box back inside the drawer and closed it. Then I immediately got up from my crouching position and faced the newly arrived person―the person that filled my heart and mind, the person who turned out to be my mate but rejected me. 

"Alpha Prince," I called out. 

Ajax stared at me with a pair of eyes that held no intention of letting me ask questions. I knew others would surely tell me to ask him, to ask the very person who seemed to be the one who knew everything, but when I looked at his eyes and he stared right back at mine, I could feel the dread of doing such a thing. 

Because those eyes only meant one thing: I, an omega, did not have the right to ask questions and get answers from an alpha. 

"Why were you with Elias?"

"Huh?" I blinked, looking at him. I was almost dumbfounded at what he asked all of a sudden. 

To my surprise even more, Ajax began taking steps to me which caused my heart to start pounding loudly. I started to take steps back as a reflex, eyes looking at him directly as I watched him move. Ajax stepped closer and closer until he reached me, his towering figure looming over my smaller stature. 

"I asked a question," Ajax said again, his tone clearly disapproving rooms for humor, patience, and deception.

The alpha pheromones he was releasing made me feel weak in the knees, almost wanting to fall down and embrace myself in protection. Why was he asking me such an odd question? I only bumped into Elias Thornwheel and nothing more. More than that, Ren and Zen, his betas, they kept on telling me everything was my fault. Could he at least tell me the reason why they said those words?

Ajax―our Alpha Prince―can he at least tell me, if he truly was my mate?

"Claire―"

"Is it true?" I asked, finding the courage as I lifted my head up and looked at his face. 

As expected, Ajax still wore those eyes that told anyone he was superior, he was in a different world, he was unreachable. His eyes were unreadable this time though as they bore into mine, his lips parting, "What do you mean?" 

I swallowed down my fears more as I looked at him with clenched fists, "I... I am your mate. And you, you rejected me. Is it true?"

I could hear my own heart beating louder and louder it almost felt like leaping right out of my chest. Every second seemed to be a thousand year as Ajax only looked at me and I looked at him. 

His clear, cerulean blue eyes that reminded me of those good, summer days, seemed to have turned to a dark, stormy night as he answered me, finally. 

"It is." 

Air seemed to have escaped my lungs and my whole body began to turn cold. So it was true... Ajax... The person whom I had been liking far afar ever since I was young, was my mate. But just as predicted, for being an omega, for being in such a low status, I was rejected. 

Before hot tears could even flow down my cheeks, I suddenly heard him spoke once more. 

"It doesn't change anything though," Ajax said, hands moving up to touch my face. 

My eyes widened at his action. Looking up, I looked at his face and almost felt my chest breaking even more. 

With an almost crazed expression paired with a low, dominating voice, Ajax caressed my cheeks, his alpha pheromones increasing in every second, filling every breath I took, owning all of my senses. "Whether you're accepted or rejected by me, the fact that you belong to me will never change." 

He was a great alpha and I was a mere omega. He was the man I had love for a long time and vowed to stay with in the future until the day I die. Being his servant was something I was tasked to, whether I liked it or not. But because my heart couldn't stop loving him, I took the task naturally and willingly. 

But because of fate, these things could no longer be the same. Whether it was yesterday's smiles or tomorrow's hopeful beams―everything shattered because of fate.

Clear, blue eyes lit and reflected my messed up face as a low, magnetic voice penetrated my ears. "Do you understand now, Claire? Even if you object, even if you want to leave, I will never let you go." 

With that, Ajax drew me closer, hand cupping my cheek. "You're mine, Claire. Fate says so and neither one of us can change it." 

If I look up now and make a howling sound, a sound that held my numerous questions, of alphas and omegas and fates and rejections―would it reach the Moon Goddess, answer my prayers, and wipe away my tears?