NATALIE'S POV
"Natalie! You're just a beggar adopted by Alpha, stop pretending to be a princess!" A male werewolf, who I had pinned to the ground on the training field, spat at me.
"Princess, oh my god! Look at her strong body, she could crush a man to death, who would treat her as a princess?" The she-wolf next to him joined in with mockery, feeling proud of her slender body.
As I heard their insults, I felt devastated. This was not the first time; I worked hard to become strong so they wouldn't ignore me, but when I was powerful enough to defeat them, they found a new angle to humiliate me.
It was as if my existence was a mistake. No matter what I did, I could not earn their recognition. What made it worse was that not only did the male werewolves see my strength as a mistake, even the female werewolves thought so too.
I was a freak in the pack, I didn't have any female werewolves as my friends. The only reason I persisted was because I had a good warrior friend who was also one of the candidates for beta in the pack. He was different from all the other werewolves in the pack, he recognized my efforts, and he believed my training skills were the best in the pack. Naturally, I had a crush on him, but he didn't know that.
I became active mainly because of him. I only wanted to become stronger for him, and I hoped that I could fight alongside him, drive out the rogues, and protect our pack.
Fortunately, neither of us had found our mate yet. Simon joked that if he hadn't found his mate before 22, he hoped we could mark each other as mates.
And tomorrow was his birthday, maybe I should end training early and pick a beautiful dress to wear on his birthday party.
"Natalie! You're here, I have news for you." A familiar voice came, filled with excitement. It was my beta friend, Simon.
His handsome face eased my pain, and I let go of the male werewolf on the ground and stood up.
When he walked over and saw the situation, he frowned and immediately scolded them, "Stop being childish, Natalie is stronger than any of you. If you don't want to be seen as pitiful baby girls, then show your strength, and don't use words to insult others like teenagers."
Simon was also very strong, and when they heard his words, they didn't dare to say anything. I looked at him and smiled. "Simon, what's the good news?"His voice was very excited just now. Could it be that he wanted to tell me that he would announce our mutual marking at his birthday party tomorrow?
"Simon, did you tell Natalie about us being mates?" Before Simon could speak, a she-wolf's voice interrupted. I saw my least favorite she-wolf, Regina. She was the biggest culprit in the insults I received in the pack.
I saw Regina come out from behind him, taking Simoun's arm and announcing the shocking news to me.
"WOW!!! Congratulations!!! " Before I could react, the soldiers on the training ground swarmed around them, two of them standing on the center by the joyful cheers of the people. And I was squeezed into the corner where no one even noticed.
My eyes cast at the two people standing in center of the crowd with bright smiles plastered on their faces.
I felt my heart being torn into pieces the more I watched them together. I bit my lower lip, trying to stop the tears that start to the brim in my eyes.
I saw Regina looking at me with a provocative look and I knew she was doing it on purpose. She just wanted to see me break down on the training ground, and I couldn't let her get away with it.
"Quiet! " I shouted, and the scene quieted down as I had hoped, and attracted everyone's attention.
"Do I announce the end of today's training? Everyone stays for enhanced training today. "Everyone, perhaps intimidated by my severity, stayed put.
"Miss Natalie, forget it. Today is a day Simoun and I deserve to celebrate, so how about you consider it a gift to us? "Here we go again, this is not the first time she played the role of a gentle and nice person, Regina is really the best actress in our pack.
"Miss Regina, I hope that in the future on the battlefield, you can also go begging for rogues to show mercy for the sake of the warriors. "I deliberately mocked.
"Natalie, you're too much. Regina only means nicely, don't be so aggressive. " Simoun said to me seriously as he shielded Regina behind him.
Yeah, they were the mate, I was the bad woman.
The only thing that I could hear was the loud thump of my chest. i didn't even notice that I was clenching my hand so tight that my nails cut the flesh in my palm, letting the red liquid come out.
I turned my head to the soldiers who looked down on me and stared at them coldly, and I knew they were too afraid of me to disobey my orders.
Within a minute, the whole group returned to the line and resumed training. （Maybe my gaze was too intimidating, so they didn't dare to rebel against me like before. Simon also said that when I was serious, even he felt scared.）See, this is where the power comes in, I don't need anyone's help and protection at all.
I ignored Simoun and Regina as if they were air, and turned around to enter the training ground. That's when Simoun called out to me.
"Tonight, Ree and I are having a celebration party, will you come and bless me?" He looked at me expectantly.
Before I could speak, Ree stood up. "Of course, Natalie will come, unless that rumor is true."
"What rumor?" Simon and I looked at Regina in confusion.
Regina smiled wickedly. "They all say Natalie likes you, luckily it's not true. I thought it would hurt Natalie."
She was deliberate, she deliberately wanted to humiliate me in this way, to trample on my self-esteem.
Simon burst out laughing. "Don't be ridiculous, the scars on Natalie's body would make me soft in a second. How could I be with her, right Natalie?"
There was a taste of blood in my mouth, and I bit my tongue hard to stay calm. I never thought I would be hurt so much by the person I liked. My pride, which I had always held high, had become his reason for mocking me.
I still smiled at them, I couldn't let them see my feelings. This was my last bit of self-respect. I told them Alpha Lock needed me and left the training ground.