Slave or Lover

Emelia Lane ‘s POV

I live in a distant town. This is a place called “The Midnight Empire”. It is a place governed by werewolves. We do not have the Internet here. Even the highways are under the werewolves’ control. We can not get in touch with the outside world or ask them for help. No one in the outside world knows our stories.

This is a kingdom of werewolves. Humans here can only be slaves, servants, and other humble things, but we can never be the owner of the kingdom. We know this is unfair, but we gradually get used to it. I always thought that my life would continue to be like this, peaceful yet boring. However, something happened to me. I did not expect that my life would change completely because of this.

“On September 29th, 2022, the midnight empire is about to change its king. The current Alpha will soon pass his title off to his son, Cody Stark, who is 17 years old.” Our neighbor Finley Galloway is coming to visit us. She always pays attention to the news related to werewolves. We all know it is because her daughter was killed by werewolves.

My mother looks indifferent and hands Finley a cup of tea to welcome her. “Oh? Really?” Finley frowns, “ Do not you know what it means?” My mother shakes her head. We do not pay attention to news related to werewolves very often.” This means the annual slave-choosing ceremony this year will be specially designed for Cody. Cody does not have particular interests. About the age of the slave, as usual, he chose 16.” My mother’s eyes are wide open. I lower my head.

We all know that I am 16 this year.

———————

I sit in my room, looking at the things on my table. I am stunned. My head is blank. I know I am nervous. “ May I come in?” My mom knocks on my door. I say, “Yes.” She walks in. “Oh, my poor girl, all human girls at the age of 16 should go to the slave-choosing ceremony today,” Mom says with tears on her face.

“Slaves must be miserable, right?” I ask. Mom stops crying. She tries to comfort me, but she can not think of any good words. She shakes her head and says, “In the world of werewolves, we humans are humble and miserable all the time, no matter whether we are slaves or not.”

I frown. “ Why do werewolves treat us badly? They need us, right?” My mother thinks for a while. “I heard that in ancient times, humans treated werewolves badly. So they take revenge.” I nod, but I think that I should not be treated badly since I have not treated werewolves badly.

“Mom, if I treat werewolves well, will they treat me well?” My mother stares at me as if she does not understand what I am talking about. “Honey, never think that way. The revenge between humans and werewolves will never end. What you should do, or pray for is that the future alpha will not choose you, and you can come back to our home just as I did before.”