Chapter 1 The Wench.

Leora

"Scrub the floors well, you lazy wench!" My stepmother, Amarie, head of the Alpha King's household cleaning department, bellowed at me as she brandished her whip. "I'll be back in a few minutes, and you better be done."

The pack house was full today, and for some weird reason, I felt queasy. There was no big meeting, and it was too early for the evening hunts. But yet, everyone was here, including my father, who sat in a corner like a pariah, gazing forlornly into space. My heart ached as I stared at him through my peripheral vision, remembering how happy he was when Mother was still alive.

My name was Leora, and once upon a time, I had a happy family. I was the Redwood Pack's beloved princess. But ever since my mother died, and I crossed sixteen without shifting, my life has shifted. They said my wolf was weak, worse than an omega's, which was the lowest rank in our caste. I'd never been able to understand it. My parents didn't either. Nothing about my birth was unusual, and growing up, there were no abnormalities with my development. So how could the Alpha's daughter be weaker than an Omega? Where did she get that from?

Mother became ill a few weeks after this discovery and died. Father, in grief, refused to remarry, and according to our Pack laws, an Alpha King wasn't allowed to function properly without a mate. Father rejected all the young females the Pack Elders brought to him until he was forced to step down, and the title passed on to a new family. Eventually, Father got married again, and Amarie came into our lives. At first, she was sweet and all that. But with time, she showed us, me especially, her dark side.

Amarie despised the thought that I was weak and carried me off to the new Alpha, Alpha Brennan's house, to become a maid. There were talks about our family being exiled, but I becoming a maid for the new Alpha King stopped that.

Father didn't fight for me to stay with him.

He resented me.

Rightfully so.

I'm weak. Pathetic. A runt.

And my mother had died because of me.

Wolfless and hated, I'd learned to keep my head down and do my chores. I always requested heavy-duty cleaning tasks, like scrubbing down every bathroom in the Alpha King's quarters. It kept me out of sight unless someone entered the bathroom I was cleaning. Some days, Amarie took me to the pack house to clean the bathrooms there, which were way dirtier and harder, but I didn't mind at all.

"Slow girl." I heard her biting snarl just before I felt the rope whip slash hard across my bare back. I closed my eyes and clamped my teeth over my bottom lip as pain engulfed my entire body. Hot tears sprang to my eyes, but I shut my eyes again, not letting them fall. It's no use.

"You've been scrubbing at that particular spot for hours; the other girls are done with their chores!" Amarie screamed. "Get moving, you idiot!"

The whip slashed across my back again, and I stifled a groan. In the tight quarters of the bathroom, the leather switch cracked with a sonic boom that echoed. A chorus of high-pitched sounds accompanied the whip crack, cackling behind me as my back arched from the pain. My body fell forward onto the slick floor, slick with soapy water, and I threw my hands out to catch myself before hitting my face, cracking against the hardwood.

"I said, get the hell up!" I felt the smooth leather of a boot connect with my left cheek, sending me sprawling across the wet, soapy floor. My head hit the bucket of water, causing some to spill over the edge onto me. Splashes hit my back, and I hissed at the new sting from the soap against my open wound. Foamy water got into my eyes and burned like hell. I heard a few things crack, and I knew some of my ribs had fractured from hitting the ground. My wolf's weakness came with a side effect that ran deep - all the way to my bones. It was easy to break things if someone hit me the right way.

This assault was just one of many reasons I stayed away from everyone in this pack. They all knew how easily they could break me and how fun it could be to shatter something fragile. How simple it would be to put me in the infirmary with every bone snapped in half. I could heal in a few short days, and the process could repeat itself all over again.

I only had one person I could trust not to make me feel this way in my pack, but she couldn't save me right now.

I was glad I always wore older clothes while cleaning instead of anything nice. As I lay on this grimy floor, my clothes absorbed the water and filth around me. The dirty water soaking into my clothes would be hard to wash out, along with the blood on my back. There were even things on this floor that I couldn't identify before I started, and now they coated the front of my shirt.

Gross.

"The Redwood Pack is no place for a lazy Omega. You're not even worthy to be regarded as an Omega, as you're not as strong as they are. You will never beas strong as them. You will always be a mess. A pathetic, little runt, and I will make sure you clean these bathroom tiles for the rest of your miserable life."

She exited the bathroom, and I leaned against the wall, trying to numb the searing pain all over my body.

While I sat there, contemplating my next move, I heard the footsteps of someone approaching. I looked up, my vision blurry, as the Alpha King's son, Caleb, stepped into view.

He growled. "What is the meaning of this? You were meant to be done with this place hours ago."

I bowed my head in shame. "I'm so sorry, Alpha. I-I-I got...I got carried away. I'll make sure I scrub the floors extra hard and be through in the next five minutes. Just...just give me some more time."

Caleb stayed quiet, and I could feel his eyes glued on me. Tears and soap stung my eyes as I waited for his response. He wasn't as violent as his father,r Brennan, the Alpha King, but he wasn't exactly nicer. I knew better than to say anything more than I already had. It wouldn't end well, as it would feel like I was disrespecting him.

At last, as he sighed. "It's fine. Clean up in here and then go get yourself treated at the Pack clinic. There will be a party later, and I would like to get dressed, so please hurry up."

"Yes, Sir."

When he disappeared, I drew my legs up, so my knees were hugging my chest, tears stinging my eyes. "I deserve better. I-I know I do."

I heard new footsteps, and my heart stopped again as I waited to find out who they belonged to. A chocolate scent filled the room, and I let my breath out slowly. I knew this scent. It belonged to the only person I could trust in this pack.

"Coda, thank the goddess you are here."

She gasped as she took in the sight of me. I turned to face her, and she stared at my back, her steely gray eyes wide. "What the hell happened to you?" she asked, pulling a hair tie from her wrist and gathering her wavy brown hair into a messy bun. "It looks like Amarie came in here and did her worst just for the hell of it."

My wolf whined at the memory of what Amarie had done. She hated that she couldn't help me more. If we could ever grow strong enough, she would be the first on my list. It felt great knowing my wolf wanted to kill for me, but I doubted that could ever happen.

I winced as I turned my body so Coda could get a better look at the injuries. "It's my fault. I got carried away."

Coda growled. "It's not enough to get beaten up like this. You're bleeding so bad. And she got your bottom lip too!"

I brought my hand up to touch my lip. Sure enough, there was a little cut there, and blood was seeping out of it. Coda hated Amarie as much as I did.

"I might forgive your father for letting you come work here with people like me, but I would never forgive him for getting married to Amarie. Of all the Omegas they'd given him to choose from, he'd chosen the devil's spawn." She took something from her pocket that looked like a small container filled with a white liquid. "Face away from me. I've got something to help with those wounds."

Coda was best friends with the pack doctor because she wanted to be trained as his assistant. So far, she hadn't been selected for that role, though another nurse would be retiring soon. But she'd received some creams and other supplies to help with wounds from him. They helped with some of the injuries the pups got from playing. Their wolves not having emerged yet meant they didn't have the rapid healing. The salve Coda carried was the only thing that could rival having a wolf. She did her best not to hurt me during her gentle application of the salve, but I still stifled growls and winced as she worked.

I'm feeling tired and even a little numb from it all.

During times of high stress or pain, I escaped to that field in my mind. There was a field near the pack territory that I liked to visit on the rare off days I received. It was a gorgeous patch of soft green grass, feeling like a bed to lie on, surrounded by trees and secluded. There were times I even dreamed of this place.

Each time I did, a tall, broad male would always be there with me. He had jet black hair and golden eyes I could stare into for days because I'd get so lost in them. The power that radiated from him always made me feel safe, as if nothing and no one would ever hurt me again as long as he was around. That feeling alone made me not want to wake up.

He wraps his arms around me, kisses me on the forehead, and tells me he'd kill anyone who would hurt me from that day on.

If only dreams came true.