1. Dashed Hopes

Mia

“Mia! You lazy idiot! Run here and prepare breakfast! How dare you sleep in on a day like today?” That is the voice of Agatha, my sister calling and hitting me.

I had slept at around one this morning, we can't call that night, right? and it is now four in the morning.

I am supposed to prepare breakfast for everyone that lives in this house and that's about twenty or so werewolves who eat like they are starving.

This is the palace of The Crimson Pack and there aren't that many living here but the number fluctuates depending on who is visiting and such. 

My family, Beta Grayson's family, lives here.

He's the beta to the current alpha.

I know you might be wondering why I am being beaten by my sister and being woken up at four in the morning to prepare breakfast for the house, right?

Well, let me put you in the know.

My name is Mia Grayson and I am turning eighteen today.

I am the first daughter of Beta Grayson and I have one other sibling: My younger sister Agatha. 

Agatha is nineteen and we used to be the closest since we don't have such a huge age gap anyway. 

Cray, who used to be my best friend and the alpha's second son, doesn't really hurt me but he never does or says anything whenever any one of them is beating or mistreating me.

He doesn't even talk to me. He treats me like air.

My sister is the worst of them all.

She treats me worse than the toilet she uses. She beats me and doesn't leave me until she sees blood.

Agatha is in love with the son of the current alpha, Josiah.

Josiah is my age mate and we used to be friends in the past when we were children until everything changed.

He, like everyone else, treats me like a packless rogue who doesn't have any family. And it's true. I live like an orphan here.

I feel tired but I have been holding on and waiting for today.

Today is the day I turn and get my wolf. It is also the day I get to meet my mate and that's the reason why I never quit.

I am praying that the Goddess will give me a good mate who can take me out of here and save me from all this suffering.

I am hopeful that the mate I will be given will love me.

I start going downstairs in a stupor since I am still half asleep as I tie up the apron and start the day.

I must make omelettes, bacon and sausages and bake bread and brew coffee and make latte tea for everyone.

That's the breakfast for today and everything must be ready by six in the morning.

That means that I have less than two hours to be done. 

I overslept today and didn't even hear the old alarm clock at the head of my bed ring.

My bed, by the way, is the same one I have slept on since I was ten when my mother died.

I have since outgrown it but no one notices or even cares.

That happens with everything that is mine.

Even the dress I am wearing today is old and torn and very short for me but who cares?

Agatha only passes me her clothes when they are very old or torn. Sometimes I even think that she tramples on something and tears it before giving it to me.

But I have a special dress I have been saving for today.

That was the dress mama wore when she turned and she had given it to me and I hid it until today.

I smile as I go downstairs and then I hear footsteps behind me.

“Move! Bitch!" Josiah says as he runs past me and he pushes me and I go tumbling down the stairs.

I scream as I fall on my knees and hands and I scratch my hand and graze my knee.

There is so much blood and the pain is numbing.

“Stop screaming and clean that up and make breakfast. So lazy!" Agatha screams and sneers at me as she rushes out after Josiah.

They are going for the morning training which I am never allowed to attend.

Not that I would have time seeing that breakfast must be ready by the time they come back.

I drag myself to the kitchen and take a mop and a bucket and go to clean the blood.

I clean it slowly as the others go out and none of them even acknowledges me.

Cray comes by and he looks at the messy me and almost says something but he seems to change his mind and walks away.

I finish and then drag my hurt leg to the kitchen and I start dressing the knee and the hand and I am late.

I am very late because it's almost five in the morning and I have one hour to get breakfast ready.

I don't want to be beaten but I know it's inevitable today.

If it's not my father, it will be the alpha or Agatha or Josiah or someone else who feels like getting out whatever is making them angry.

It's not that I am afraid of being beaten, it happens almost daily, it's just that I am afraid of going to the turning ceremony later in the day with fresh scars on my face.

And I know I will be beaten because I cannot even rush because my hand is hurt.

I can't crack the eggs fast enough nor can I make the dough for the bread fast enough.

I don't even think that I have enough time to allow the dough to rise.

I feel tears sting my eyes in preparation for the beating that is about to come.

I try as fast as I can and by the time I hear the door open with the first person coming in, the bread is still in the oven but the bacon and omelettes are done.

I check the coffee brewer and the content is brewing too slow for my liking.

The tea latte is also ready and I start carrying everything to the table before they come down from taking their after training showers.

“I hope that your wolf turns out to be a very big black alpha. It will go very well with my black gamma, don't you think?" Agatha is asking Josiah who is looking at her as if the sun shines from her face and I avert my gaze before they accuse me of spying on them.

They walk upstairs hand in hand and I arrange everything on the dining table as quickly as my injured hand and left arm can go.

By the time they start streaming down for breakfast led by the Luna and my step mother, the coffee and the bread aren't ready yet.

They sit in their respective chairs and I hear the Luna call me.

“Mia! Come here!" No one ever calls my name without screaming in this house.

That's because they either call me when I haven't done something as well as they would have wanted or when they want some entertainment and the greatest source of entertainment in this house is me screaming in pain.

I limp towards the dining room and stand at the door ready to run though I know that I can't really outrun any of them.

“Where is the coffee? Where is the bread? Do you expect us to just eat bacon and sausages?” The Luna shouts and I don't even dare look at her because then I would be accused of insubordination.

“The Luna is talking to you. Answer her!" My father hits me at the back of my head and I see stars as I fall on my face since I can't use my hand to break the fall.

I feel as if I am being thrown about but I don't register any pain and I am glad that I am in the dark.

It feels peaceful.

I hope that I am dead.