Chapter 3 Enemy Within

Raven's POV

I woke up the following day in a better mood. I wasn't going to allow the Luna and Maggot to dampen my morale that week. If I could not get a deserving birthday celebration, I could at least be allowed to be happy before and on my day.

I would be eighteen in two days and finally get to meet my wolf. No matter how weak or small it was going to be, I was ready to accept it. My wolf will be an addition to what I could call mine. I already had Bella and April, but with my wolf joining the train, I was going to be very happy.

I walked into the Omegas' meeting room to wait for those I would be cleaning with. I wasn't happy with the heavy burden placed on me but I had no option. If I refused to work then I might face more dire consequences.

'What is this curse doing here?' Lina one of the Omega girls asked once she entered the meeting room.

'Who knows? Maybe she is here to make her curse pour on the ground like rain,' another girl said.

'I just hope she is not in the group,' Lina said again.

I just bowed my head refusing to look up at them. I was used to their bullying. Sometimes they hit me as well. April or Bella wasn't there to defend me so I had to stay out of their way. Bella was in the group to serve food and drinks during the ball while April was in the final clean-up group.

There was a time that I would have responded and fought if need be. But since the day I fought one of the girls and I was reported to the Luna, I had stopped letting them provoke me since then. That day the Luna refused to hear my side of the story and asked one of the soldiers to flog me. I was given twenty strokes of a horsewhip.

I almost couldn't walk the following day. Bella had tended my wounds with tears in her eyes while April sobbed quietly. April would not stop asking me why I fought the girl in the first place. A question I couldn't answer myself. I could have just walked away.

To avoid a recurrence of that day, I avoided them and took their bullying without complaint. I knew the Luna wanted to kill me but she couldn't due to the Alpha's insistence on sparing me.

'What are you doing here?' The head of the cleaning team asked. I was startled because I was lost in thought.

I quickly stood up and apologized. 'I am sorry ma'am I was waiting for instructions,' I nearly stammered.

'You were put on the cleaning team this year? Why?'

'I am also on the hospitality list and also the cleaning up team.'

She was silent for a while. I looked at her to see that she was deep in thought. She was one of the few people who paid me no mind. She neither showed me love nor hate.

'How old are you?' She asked quietly as if trying to avoid being heard.

'I will be eighteen in two days ma'am,' I answered quietly too.

She came closer to me and held me by the shoulder. 'A major event is about to take place in your life. The journey will be tough and rough but when the storm starts be more weary of the enemy within than the one outside,' she said in a voice so low that only I could hear and understand her clearly.

She left me thereafter and divided us into smaller units to get the work done. I was the only one in my unit. I guess the head cleaner was trying to save me from being bullied by the other girls.

I diligently did my work and when I was through, it was inspected by the head cleaner. She was pleased with my work and she asked me to go and report the next morning without coming late.

April and I had agreed to go to the stream when we were through with our work to have a thorough bath. We only cleaned necessary parts in the morning before going for our duty so we made it a point to go to the stream to bathe once a week.

Bella, April's mum insisted on following us so we had to wait for her to finish up in the kitchen before we could set out.

When we got to the stream, we took out our bar of soap that was handed to us once a month. There was no long hair to wash as all Omegas were expected to keep their hair cut low both young and old. Even Maggot's hair was cut low.

When we were through with our bath, we sat relaxing by the stream when I remembered the head cleaners talking about the enemy within so I decided to ask Bella about it.

'Mum'

'Yes?' She answered giving me her perfect attention immediately. I wonder most times how she was able to love me as much as she loved her biological daughter.

'What is the meaning of the enemy within?'

'It can mean a lot. Why are you asking?'

'The head cleaner today told me that a storm was coming and that I should be more wary of the enemy within.'

'The head cleaner?' April asked. She was previously not paying much attention but when I started talking about the head cleaner she paid attention.

'Yes,' I answered her.

Bella took a deep breath. 'I have heard rumors around the pack that the head cleaner has the gift of vision.'

'Really' I asked looking surprised. 'I thought an Omega was not supposed to amount to anything.'

'That is a very bad way of viewing your present condition, Raven. Irrespective of the condition one is in, one must be optimistic,' Bella reprimanded me.

'I am sorry Mum. I just feel very hopeless sometimes.'

'You don't have to feel hopeless. Truthfully our present condition is hopeless yet we must not give up.'

I nodded and apologized for my words again.

'Now to what the head cleaner told you. You must not forget when you begin to face the storm. Do not trust anyone. The enemy within is the person close to you like your friend who in the actual sense is an enemy.'

'Close friends?' I asked.

'Yes. They are the ones who know your strong points and your weak points. They are the ones that can easily sell you to the external enemy. All the head cleaner is trying to tell you is that, you should trust no one when the time comes.'

' Thanks, Mum,' I said smiling happily at her.

We decided to head back to the pack's house in case we were needed there since the preparations for the upcoming ball was all everyone could think of.

As we arrived at the pack's house, we caught sight of Luna Laura talking to Maggot about something. She was gesticulating angrily. Bella immediately changed our destination.

We dodged the Luna and Maggot because the Luna would have something to say about us walking around aimlessly. I am not proud to say that my Luna was mean and arrogant. The thought of what the head cleaner said crossed my mind. Since Luna Laura had always been my enemy, could she be the enemy within?