Claimed By The Mistborne Alpha Chapter 1: Parthenn

"Get the fuck up, rat," a boot slamd into the side of my stomach, sharply and deliberately.

I groaned, curling in pain for a mont and then scrambling to pull myself up from the concrete floor before the next kick landed. The circumstances of my dirty surroundings made sigh but then I imdiately sat up smiling.

My back ached from all the beatings that I had endured the day before. Sharp lashes and midnight threats, the guards threw around like a rag doll when I failed to get their coffee right. But none of that mattered anymore.

Because today was the day.

Today I would be going to the Parthenn do.

Yesterday night, the guard supervising our sector had co into our dorms, where twenty to thirty tal bunk beds were stacked together with no bedding or proper lighting. He had looked disgusted to even be anywhere in the vicinity of our stinky bodies.

He then proceeded to read sothing off a file that he had brought.

"Maeve Lester. You’ve been upgraded due to mutation changes from a rat to an oga. You may be allowed to serve the residents of the Parthenn do from tomorrow. Make sure you’re ready to leave in the morning," the guard sneered. "Be any more late, and you will be left behind.

Then he had left as if he hadn’t just turned my world upright.

I couldn’t believe it.

The others had stared at with obvious jealousy, sharp as knives. They hated that I’d managed to get out of the most ruthless lower sector of our rankings, the rankless, but they called us rats, and that too for no talent or effort of mine. After all, everyone there took the sa efforts. They had to or they were raddled with suffering. The guards made sure of that.

I was so scared that I might sohow end up being late or the others might tie to the bed in a fit of jealousy that I had taken a quick shower, scrubbing myself of all the gri and suffering, packed my bags the mont after that, and waited by the transport deck the night before. And fell asleep miserably on the cold ground.

"You are one pathetic little girl, you know that?" A different guard now looked down at . She was tall and slender with blond hair braided down her back. She wore the trainee uniform of the guards, crisp and neat with the howling wolf and crescent insignia gleaming on her chest. She was a delta, still in training to beco a fully ford beta.

I realised she had her hands stretched out to help up and I took it cautiously.

"Thank you," I murmured, straightening my simple uniform.

"Do all of you rats get this excited to lick the feet of those assholes at Parthenn?" She asked, smirking. Clearly, she thought of my eagerness to not to be late as a factor of great amusent.

My cheeks burned.

"If you had lived the kind of life I did for the past three years, you’d understand," I said slowly. "Because then, you would do anything to get out of it."

That earned a raised eyebrow. And maybe a small flicker of sympathy too.

"I’m Lesra by the way. What’s your na?"

I took a sharp breath. None of the guards ever cared enough to ask our nas, more or less talk to us unless it was to mock or beat us up.

"It’s Maeve," I replied ekly.

She smiled. "Well, Maeve. Hopefully we’ll et again in Parthenn. Be a sweetheart until then," she said, giving a mock salute and walking back to the other guards in her rank.

Sothing warm blood in my chest. Never, in the last three years had I felt or experienced kindness in any form, but I would take it. This was, after all, a new beginning.

The train that took to Parthenn was fast since it ran on magnetic rails. I was accompanied by a guard who kept giving stony looks every five minutes just for the sake of it.

Now, I stood in front of the high tal gates separating from the huge glass do city. The glass do inside the glass do they said. Beyond the glass, I could make out glimpses of towering glass buildings and overgrown green-tinted spires.

The mont I entered, I could feel the difference. The air was cleaner, fresher, and more fragrant. Nothing like the dust and gri of my daily life. Everything was brighter and well-maintained. There was so much light that I almost had to shield my eyes.

The delta stationed at the gates took one look at and sighed.

"This is the new one, Rein?" he asked the guard accompanying . "Seems a bit too small, don’t you think?"

Rein laughed. "I thought so too but orders from above...couldn’t say anything. But hey, if it were up to , I would just keep her in my room to polish my boots."

I gulped.

Orders from above.

I had no idea why that had happened.

What did I do to get this privilege?

"Okay, then. She has to first be taken to the captain of her sector as usual. After that...we’ll see if this situation ends up being a boon or a curse for her," the delta said, laughing cruelly.

I was quietly ushered into a tall glass tower building in the northern sector. It was so tall and wide and I could also see my reflection on the tal doors on the front.

Once in, we passed through enormous halls with wrought iron chandeliers, carved stone pillars, and glass structures, went up a few floors until Rein finally stopped at a thick tal door with a na plate hung on the side. My eyes widened the mont it landed on the na.

Rein knocked imdiately, pushed the door open, and shoved inside the enormous high-ceiling office with glass panels and steel furniture. Shadows spilled across the walls from the soft city lights outside.

My chest burned. Because inside, also stood a tall figure, facing the high glass panels of his room. His shoulders facing , sharp and broad and familiar. The entire office was well lit, but still felt dim compared to the light glow that radiated off his figure, the glow that accompanied every Lycan who was either a beta or an alpha.

He turned slowly and looked at . And my world stopped.

Valden.

"She’s all yours Captain Malawitt," the guard said flatly before leaving and letting the door shut behind him. The sound of it made my stomach clench, I was all alone with him now. I was alone in his heated presence separated by only a few feet.

My heart hamred.

I had loved him once. Three years ago before he was dragged away and everything went to ruin. I still rembered how he used to kiss , how he touched , how he swore he’d co back for . Every single mory we had lashed at from where I had buried them deep.

But now, his eyes were soulless and glowed green, just like the rest of the Lycans. And when they landed on ...nothing. There was no recognition. They looked at just like every other Lycan did. Like I was filth and as important as the dirt underneath his boots.

"Take off your clothes," he said, voice cold as steel. "Let’s see what they brought this ti."