Chapter 2 Act 2

He walked toward me with that swagger all the ranked wolves seemed born with. Twenty. Built. Dead eyes. The future Beta and current pain in my ass.

"Still no wolf?" he asked, like it was a joke that never got old.

I didn't answer. He didn't care about answers.

He leaned in, close enough for me to smell the arrogance on him. "Don't worry," he whispered, "maybe someone'll throw you a bone on your birthday. Or just put you down."

Laughter followed. His, and the two other idiots who hung off his shoulders like accessories.

I walked away. Didn't flinch. Didn't cry. Not in front of them.

I waited until I was in the bathroom, stall locked, fingers gripping my backpack so hard it hurt.

Three days, I reminded myself. Three more days. Eighteen.

If my wolf didn't come by then... I didn't know what would happen. But I had a feeling I wouldn't survive it.

Not in this pack.

The other omegas showed up not long after me, all of us dragging ourselves through the cold like ghosts that never left the pack house. No one spoke. There wasn't much to say. We were all exhausted, all stuck at the bottom of the same shitty food chain, all barely hanging on.

Head Omega Miriam came in a few minutes later, pinched as always, already barking orders before the front door had even clicked shut behind her. She acted like she ran the whole damn world, but really, she just ran us. And she loved it.

"Selene your cleaning the upstairs-Alpha's quarters again," she snapped, flipping through the clipboard in her hands like we were names, not people. "And do it right this time. I won't have Marissa complaining about streaks on her mirrors again."

Streaks. On her goddamn mirrors.

I bit my tongue and nodded. No point arguing. I didn't want to draw more attention than necessary. Just get through it. Get out.

The rest of the girls split off to scrub the kitchens, polish the entryways, handle the bathrooms that would be used by wolves who wouldn't even wipe their own paws if they shifted indoors. There was no glory in being an omega. We weren't the ones people bowed to. We were the ones people stepped over.

The Alpha's rooms took forever. Sheets had to be pressed, floors scrubbed to gleam like glass, curtains steamed even if they weren't dirty, and everything had to smell like pine and sandalwood or Marissa would lose her mind. I didn't even have time to breathe, let alone eat anything before rushing back out of the house, heart pounding as I realized the clock was already pushing past 8:15.

Late. Again.

I sprinted down the gravel path that led from the Alpha's estate to the main road, my boots slipping in the wet dirt as I tried to make up time. The wind bit at my face. My shirt stuck to my back, damp with sweat and effort, and the stink of bleach clung to my skin like shame.

By the time I made it to school, I was a mess.

Hair sticking out from where it had fallen loose from my braid. Shirt wrinkled, stained at the cuff. One knee of my pants ripped from kneeling too hard on the stone floor. I looked exactly like what I was-an omega who'd just spent the morning scrubbing toilets.

And of course, right as I stepped through the school gates, I spotted ava.

Perfect Ava. Tall, blonde, eyes the color of a glacier-sharp and cold. The beta's daughter. Everyone thought she was beautiful. I thought she looked like a knife.

And she was already heading straight for me.

I didn't even have time to dodge. She slammed into me, shoulder-first, knocking the breath right out of my lungs and nearly sending me to the ground. Her friends were right behind her-Talia, Mel, Dana-all laughing, like this was the best part of their morning.

"Oops," Ava said sweetly, brushing nonexistent dust off her pristine white blouse. "You should really watch where you're going, Selene. Or are your human eyes not working today?"

I didn't answer. I just kept walking.

That pissed her off more than anything.

"You know, it's kinda sad," she called after me, her voice sugary and cruel. "Almost eighteen and still no wolf. Maybe the Moon Goddess just skipped you altogether. Maybe you're not even meant to be one of us."

Her friends giggled.

I kept walking.

Don't give them what they want.

I made it to the classroom and slid into my seat at the back, biting the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste blood. I could feel their eyes on me, like fleas crawling over my skin. I didn't look up. I didn't want to see the smirks, the whispers behind hands, the gleam of superiority in Ava's eyes like she'd won something.