"Mummy, why can't I let everyone know I have a wolf now?" The little girl asked, her lashes twinkling with curiosity as she stared at her mother. Her mother smiled, reaching her hand out to ruffle the girl's short golden copper-brown hair. The girl ducked a little out of habit.
"Because the only way to keep you safe is to make sure no one ever knows you can shift. Now, what is the one rule you must never break, sunshine?"
"No matter what I do, regardless of what situation I find myself in, even if facing death, never let anyone know or see my wolf. I cannot shift, I have little strength, little speed and no wolf. Staying alive is my number one priority."
"Very good, darling, excellent. And remember…" she cupped her daughter's rosy cheeks with a teary smile, "Mummy will always be here to protect you."
______
She lied.
She left me, she left me to face the cruel world all on my own. And it pains me most to know that it was my fault. If only I took her regular wolf colour, if only I wasn't me, she would still be alive. She left to find any possible solution to my problem but never came back alive. She's dead, she's buried, and I'm alone.
"Sandy! Sandy!" I raised my head, lifting my gaze to the door. I knelt on the floor, trying to scrub a deliberate stain off. I don't know how they expect me to get permanent ink off the wooden floor. "San… oh, there you are!" I nodded, raising myself to sit on my legs properly. The female's face turned into a scowl, briefly eying my position and work. "You're still trying to clean this!" I nodded. "How do you expect to get permanent ink off? It's called permanent for a reason." I tilted my head, giving her a look. "Right, those sisters of mine. Stand up, forget about this. I'll handle them if they try to cause you trouble. Mother needs you in the kitchen, so hurry."
Nodding my head obediently, I slowly rose to my feet. "I'll get another omega to deal with this, you just hurry before you get in trouble." I bowed in appreciation and daintily walked around the slippery floor. I didn't speak, I didn't show any emotions. I'd never been one to speak, I was always more of a listener and observer, never a speaker. But over the years, especially after my mother died, I lost my voice.
I'd forgotten how my voice sounded, as I didn't speak to myself. I had no reason to and had no one to talk to. Even when I did speak, it only make my pain double. For almost six years, I'd spoken only in my mind that I forgot how to speak. I never actually attempted to speak, and I wasn't going to. The pack chalked it up to grief, but it was more than grief, more than the pain of losing the only person in the world who loved and cared for me. She was the only one who cared enough to know what I had to say, the only one who would listen, so why bother?
Ranked as an omega because to them, I had no wolf, I was treated like one but slightly worse. My inability to speak and show emotion irked most of them. Not only did I not have a wolf, but I was also disabled. And, as the females would put it, “a threat to their mates.” Physical abuse was levelled to a average; just slaps, punches and kicks, and a few hair pulling and ultimate starvation, but nothing worse. They, however, made up for that with the excessive work we are given, especially me.
Everyone was the same, treat the omegas badly, emotionally and physically abuse them because they are under your feet. The only kindness we received was from the kind children, Luna, and the Alpha's first daughter. They weren't exactly the nicest, but they were nice enough to barely starve, overwork or hit us. It was good enough for me.
I made my way downstairs, to the kitchen, to assist the Luna. She hummed as she moved around the kitchen like she always did, her blonde hair packed into a ponytail and dancing behind her. A male omega knelt on the floor, trying to cut the large meat given to him for the preparation of the food. Looking around the kitchen, I could see how much of a mess the omega and the Luna were making. Luna was a fabulous cook, but she was extremely terrible with tidiness. I hate it.
Moving first to the omega, I tapped his shoulder and then placed my hands on my hips. He raised his head from the meat. His eyes brightened when he saw me. The poor guy must have been struggling for hours. "Thank God!" He exclaimed, causing the Luna to turn around. She smiled when she saw me.
"Sally, nice of you to join us! Please, save me!" I smiled a little. She, after all, was the only one that can draw a half smile from me, only when she was in chef mode. If I could speak, I would have reminded them all that my name is Sapphire, not Sally, Sandy, Sadie or any other Sa name. They didn't remember my name, just knew it started with an 'S' and an 'A'. Typical.
"Hey, Maurice, get lost." The guy stood up gladly. I took over, starting by picking up the board and taking it to the kitchen island. I went ahead to change the knife to a larger one, before proceeding to butcher the meat. After that, I helped her with cutting the vegetables, handling the pastries—since she was not so good with that—and then cleaning up the kitchen. She left me to set the tables, which I would end up resetting anyway, while I washed the dishes.
When done with the kitchen, I left another omega in charge to make sure the food didn't get burnt. I reset the table according to order like it had been literally slapped into my head by the alpha. While arranging it, alpha junior—a year younger than the first daughter—walked in. He was a bigger ass than most males in the pack.
In the past, I escaped countless rape attempts by him and his gang, until his sister found out and reported it to their father. Of course, the alpha made a declaration that if they wanted sex badly, they were only allowed to get it from the willing omega females, which was practically all of them. And being the only unwilling one protected by Luna, I was safe.
In fact, her protection was the nicest thing she has ever done for me.
"Sabbath," he called, throwing his leg on his father's chair, a cocky smirk on his face. "What are you doing?" I looked at him, then back at the cutleries in my hands. I pointed the cutleries to the table. He wasn't that dumb, but he would do anything to get a reason to punish or hit me. Avoiding him, avoiding all of them, was my number two priority.
"Hmm, what did Mother make for dinner?" I blinked, not replying to him was the best. He hated hand signals, and couldn't understand it to begin with. "Is there meat?" I nodded.
He kept throwing stupid questions my way, while I tried my very best to avoid anything that would warrant any form of punishment. After arranging the table, I walked past him, but he smacked my ass. Flinching a bit, I scurried off to the kitchen.
Deep breath.
‘I really don't see why you put up with them,’ my wolf, Zinnia, scoffed.
‘How about keeping us alive?’
‘Humph.’ She went back to where she came from. I was fairly lucky. Even though I had a wolf, except if I decide to let her presence be known, I smell like a human. It was the one thing that kept me alive, apart from how good I was at hiding.
An hour later and the huge pack house was packed with self-righteous members. Like the rest of the omegas, I stood with hands clasped in front of me and head bowed, never to look into the eyes of anyone because I was ‘below’ them. I served them along with everyone else, ignoring when the males rubbed their palms on my behind or reached forward and groped my breasts. The clever thing to do was to step back after serving them, don't react, don't cause a scene.
"Urgh!" Alpha's second daughter screamed with annoyance, shifting backwards in her seat. She spilled her drink on herself. I didn't need to be screamed at before I set to work.
Grabbing a wet wipe, I walked over to her. I always carry one because they always stain themselves. They had all gotten so used to getting pampered and taken care of by the omegas, that they didn't know how to wash their own underwear.
I knelt down beside her and scrubbed lightly on the stain. It wasn't enough, even if I knew that from the start. At least, I tried. "Get away from me, you wolf-less scum," she snapped, giving my body a hard push. My head hit the thick edge of the table, causing a few seconds of dizziness before it stopped. "You're useless! You can't ever get anything right! All you know how to do is take up space in this house, eat our food and be useless. You don't have any markings, heck, you are not even a shifter!" I slowly rose from the floor and bowed apologetically. "Just get out of my sight, your worthless form is irritating me."
I don't know why they keep trying. A little to none of their words ever affect me, why do they keep trying? I didn't need to let it get to me. I had a wolf, I cook the food she eats and take care of the pack and alpha apartment. All she ever did was sit still and look pretty. Why should I be intimidated?
"Edna, leave the omega alone. You are fully aware that there is no way she can wipe that off, just like she can't wipe off permanent ink from the floor." Eloise, the first daughter, spoke with a small glare her younger sister's way.
"Even still—"
"Enough, girls, no arguing over meaningless people." Alpha spoke. I didn't suppress the sigh that left my lips. My mother used to call me the most special. From special to meaningless. Rock Bottom is a terrible place to be.
"You all know what is going on with Alpha Ajax, how he was angered to the point of wiping out Parempi susi and Must Kuu hing Pack, and how he recently enslaved most of Alpha Reece's pack. I'm afraid his anger might push him towards us next. So, I've decided to give him a call and make an offer to show that we don't want trouble. Alpha Kash and Alpha Larry did it and it worked for them, so I'm doing it too."
"What is it, Father?" Eloise asked worriedly, fear apparent in her eyes. I had a feeling she knew already. "Scratch that. Father, you know they gave up their warriors and high-ranking wolves to be simple commoners, including acting as sex slaves to his monstrous warriors. Are you really going to do that?"
"Something like that. My offer is this instead. His men can come into the pack to search for their mates, and if none is found, he can take four selected members of the pack as omegas."
"Alpha—"
"I'm not telling you all this to object, but so you can prepare yourselves. I'll be giving him a call tomorrow evening and hope he accepts the offer, or there might be serious trouble." I hope the alpha accepts and takes his children away, maybe then he would understand the true meaning of his statement. Anyway, it wasn't my business, I already had my miserable life to deal with.
I hated my life, I hated having to hide all the time when I shift to let her out for a few minutes, but I had no choice and I would never have a choice. My wolf is cursed, I am cursed, and the life of hiding is our destiny.
