Jessie's Point of View
For years, I lived under Alpha Draco's roof—a ghost no one cared to see. A shadow. A silent servant to his vast, indifferent house, fed, clothed, and utterly ignored. Better this way, I told myself, a cold comfort. Better than wandering the forest alone, or worse, ending up dead in some ditch, forgotten by all.
I swore loyalty to him, to the Alpha. What did that truly earn me? Silence. Loneliness. Just a fragile, continued survival.
Until Elara arrived.
A new maid. Young. Silver-haired, with eyes that held a strange, luminous glow, even in the dim hallways. She smiled at me—actually waved at me—on her very first day.
"Hi," she said softly, her voice like warmth. "I see you there."
She could see me. The invisible girl, the shadow everyone overlooked. That simple kindness, that single moment of recognition, was all it took. It cracked open the wall I had built around my heart.
I watched her from the shadows, my usual silent vigil now focused on her. It didn't take long—barely two weeks—before she was transferred to the Alpha's chambers. My stomach knotted with unease. That place wasn't safe. Not for someone like her. Not for anyone so open.
I knew what others didn't. The whispers behind closed doors. The things that happened when the moon hung low and shadows lengthened.
I knew of Beta Silas and Omega Tatiana's secret meetings in the eastern wing. They thought no one noticed the way they slipped away, their figures furtive, when they thought the house slept.
But I did. I always did. My silence made me invisible, but also incredibly observant.
One night, a chill dread in my gut, I dared to follow. I crouched low behind the old tapestries near the cellar stairs and listened, my breath held tight.
"She needs to be silenced before the Alpha realizes what she is," Tatiana hissed, her voice sharp and venomous.
"She's worth more dead than alive," Silas muttered, his voice smooth and cold as polished stone. "If we push Tiara hard enough, she'll do it for us. No blood on our hands, no blame."
I covered my mouth, my heart hammering against my ribs, a frantic, terrified drumbeat. They were planning to kill Elara... and use poor, broken Tiara as their unwitting weapon, their scapegoat.
I should have turned away. Pretended I never heard. Survival meant keeping secrets, staying hidden. But Elara had seen me. She smiled when no one else did. She treated me like a human.
I couldn't leave her to die. Not like that.
When Tiara moved back into the servants' quarters—into the very room I once shared space with Elara—I knew the end was near. Tiara had the prison keys. She would go to Elara that night. And that would be the end of her, a final, brutal curtain call.
Unless I acted.
So I did. My hand, surprisingly steady despite my pounding heart, reached for the heavy iron skillet by the hearth.
I pretended to help Tiara search for her lost ribbon, a simple, mundane task that hid my desperate intent.
"It must've fallen under the bed," I murmured, my voice soft, innocent.
When she bent low to check, her head perfectly positioned, I raised the iron skillet and—crack!
She crumpled to the floor like a broken doll, a heavy, lifeless heap. My hand trembled, but I didn't hesitate.
I slipped away through the hidden passage behind the fireplace. I knew every secret corner of this sprawling, ancient house. No guard would spot me. Not this ghost.
I found Elara's cell. "Elara," I whispered, unlocking the heavy door. Her terrified eyes, wide and luminous even in the dim light, met mine.
"Jessie? Wh—what are you doing here?" she gasped, her voice hoarse.
"Helping you live," I breathed, pulling her out, urgency in every syllable. "Cut your hand. Bleed on this cloth. Tie it tight after. We're faking your death."
Her hands trembled violently, confusion warring with terror. "But—"
"No time. Do it!" I hissed, pushing the dull blade into her hand.
She obeyed, slicing her palm and soaking the cloth with her blood. I shoved it in her hand, dragged Tiara's unconscious body into the cell, smeared the spilled blood on her mouth, her fingers, her face. I even splashed it on the walls, tore Elara's few clothes into shreds.
When I was done, even the Goddess herself would have believed Elara was dead.
"You have to run, Elara. Now. To the forest. Don't stop. Don't look back. Jessie will cover you."
Tears welled in her glowing eyes, blurring them. "I'll come back for you, Jessie. I promise."
I smiled bitterly, a sad, knowing curve of my lips. "No one ever comes back for ghosts. Go."
She fled into the cold night, a silver streak vanishing into the darkness.
When the guards came, alerted by the commotion I subtly made, they found Tiara sprawled in blood, groaning in confusion. The perfect murderer. The perfect, horrifying scene. Even the Alpha... his pain was real. I saw it flicker in his steel-grey eyes, a raw, undeniable agony.
"She's gone," he whispered, his voice hollow, broken. "My mate... gone."
The pack court condemned Tiara without mercy. They hanged her at dawn. I watched from the kitchen window, a silent, unseen witness, as her body swung in the cold wind, a grim sacrifice.
Elara's escape had cost a life. A life I had taken. I wondered if I'd damned myself in the process, traded one soul for another.
Tatiana smiled as she watched Tiara die, a cruel, triumphant smirk. Silas grinned, thinking his plan had worked flawlessly. Fools. They never noticed the missing shoes. What kind of beast eats a wolf's footwear? None I know.
But the Alpha... he felt something was wrong. I saw the doubt in his gaze, a flicker of suspicion, when the guard listed the visitors to the prison. I saw his eyes flick to Silas... to Tatiana... to Vivian's wicked, barely hidden smile.
He suspects. But not enough. Not yet.
I have the power to crush them all. To whisper the truth in his ear.
What if I told him? What if I broke my long, desperate silence? What would I become then?
"Jessie... what have you done?" I whispered to myself, alone in the shadows, my voice barely a breath. "What have I become?"
The ghost smiled sadly, a flicker of peace in her eyes.
At least someone out there was free.
Elara.